Titi Iku: Until Death (Sequel To Irikuri)

24-Until Reconciliation

The benefit of having a tracker on your man for safety purposes was that you could abuse that power. I stepped out of my bodyguard's car to find myself at a public park. Ade didn't have many opportunities to be a true child growing up or go to parks, so he loved them. I should've known that was where he'd go. I walked through the park and found him sitting under a tree by himself. He noticed me from a distance, but didn't look up to make eye contact until I reached him and tapped his chin.

"I was expecting you to be here sooner or later. You really have to stop using that tracker for your own purposes." he sighed

"It wasn't for my own purposes! You're out here all alone, that isn't safe."

"Nki there are three security guards behind that tree over there, another one by that fountain, another on that bench, and Jimmy here is sitting right on that tree branch above your afro puff."

"Ah! What the fuck?" I jumped "Well okay, I guess you're safe. But I can't worry about you no more? You ran off so suddenly and-"

"You can baby, and it's okay. You don't have to say anything. Let's go back."

"Just like that? No fight, nothing?"

"I'm tired and I'm stressed. About so much more than just this. Work is kicking my ass right now. What's done is done. I will do my best to protect my family."

"A-are you sure? Why is it that I haven't heard much about work lately? What's stressing you out? I feel like you're not telling me something..."

"Let's just say this. I was a fool to think there was an ethical way to accumulate this much money without suffering the consequences."

"What?"

"One crisis at a time. Come on, let's go." he reached his hand out for mine, but all of a sudden unease took over my body, and the feeling didn't go away even when we arrived back at the house. Things were getting bad, somehow, and I could feel it. Ade and his mother left for the private airstrip to get Feyi while I helped Rashaad finish up dinner. About an hour later, the door opened, and a modelesque, dark skinned woman burst through the door and into Rashaad's arms.

"Feyisayo! My babygirl!" he cried "Look how grown you are now!"

"Pops! I missed you!"

"We have a lot of catching up to do my friend. But first, this is Ade's wife, Nani." As he spoke I braced myself to meet her. It wasn't just about how important she was to Ade. The girl had been through a shit ton and was still standing. I felt like I already understood her in a way.

"Nani, it's so nice to meet you-" she turned to me and we caught a glimpse of each other's faces for the first time. Instantly, our expressions dropped into those of awe.

"I know you!" we said at the same time

"Sayo? You? You've been-?"

"Nkiruka? Oh my god." instantly we flew into each other's arms and before anyone could even process to ask questions we were walking away to catch up on lost time. "Feyi", or Sayo as I used to call her, became a close friend of mine when I spent the summer of third grade in Nigeria. She was about two years older than me, but her grandmother lived next door to my aunt, so we became fast friends. We were both sent away to relatives over the summer due to our 'issues'. I was supposed to 'clear my head' after my 'incident' with abuse, and Feyi was getting over her father's death. She told me her mother and brother stayed in the US that summer because they didn't care to come to her father's funeral. Of course I didn't know at the time that her brother was my future husband. Over the summer we came to understand each other better than anyone else. If not for Feyisayo, I may not have healed from my abuse. Of course Ximenes came and fucked all that up, but at the time she was beyond helpful. Even after we both left Nigeria, we wrote to each other for years after. Soon I had a phone, but I realized Sayo's family couldn't afford one for her. It didn't deter me. If anything, it made our friendship all the more special because I communicated with her in a way I didn't with anyone else. Over the years we got worse and worse at writing consistently, and by the time I was twelve we only seemed to write every couple months. Then, one day, I sent my last letter, and I never received a response. In the back of my head I was worried. Maybe my first true friend had given up on me. But I decided to push it out of my mind. Over the years I began to forget about her. Until she was there, six years later, standing in front of me. Now I knew exactly why she had stopped writing back. My soul was crushed. We were two girls who first met in the aftermath of major childhood traumas and managed to get through them together. Only to reconcile almost ten years later, after more major trauma way worse than our wildest nightmares. We were more fucked up than we were before. It hurt. Still, it was nice to catch up. I was enjoying listening to Feyi's story despite how painful it was until one detail stunned me.