"Thank you ma," I said as we exited the shop.
"Thank you, my dear" she waved from the door. "Take care"
The sky had gotten a little bit darker as the weather had drastically changed. It seemed like a heavy downpour was looming. As soon as I got around to the passenger side, Yinka unlocked the car and we both got in.
He turned on the engine and proceeded to put on his seatbelt. "Uhm... I need to stop somewhere quickly before dropping you off. You don't mind, right?"
He spared me a glance before re-focusing on clicking in his seatbelt. I was also doing the same thing on my end.
I shook my head. "No problem"
It was funny he was checking with me like I could say no in the first place.
He released a short breath before moving the automatic gear stick away from Parking. As we drove out of the junction, I saw an eatery across the road and somehow got reminded that I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast.
I glanced at the dashboard for the digital clock. It read 4:05pm.
We wasted a lot of time at the tailor's place. It turned out Mrs. Coker hadn't finalized the styles she wanted to be sewn so we had to call her. I had to send a dozen pictures from the tailor's Ankara magazine to her and also received assorted designs to show to the tailor.
There was a lot of back and forth between them. Just when you think they've settled on one design, one absurd factor would come into play, and then they'll go back halfway into correcting the issue. It was exhausting.
Thirty minutes into the ride, it began to drizzle. The light shower gradually building momentum and the sky growing even darker. It was just a couple of minutes past four and it looked like it was six pm.
Yinka drove into an estate and right on the next street, he parked in front of a black gate.
"I'll be right back," he said as he unstrapped his seatbelt and got out of the car.
I, on the other hand, picked up my phone from between my thighs. An Instagram live notification of one of my mutuals popped up and I tapped on it to pass time. I didn't last up to five minutes on the live before exiting and just scrolling through my feed.
I looked up from my phone to rotate my neck that had grown a bit stiff and right on time, Yinka proceeded out of the gate. He had a black gym bag in one hand and following closely behind him was Prisca.
He must have said something funny because she had the smile that appeared after you just laughed on her face. As they got closer to the car, her eyes met with mine and her smile faltered. At this point, I didn't need a soothsayer to tell me, she felt some type of way about me.
Omo, see as I dey turn her belle. Innocent me o.
I averted my eyes to my phone and resumed scrolling on my Instagram. I heard the back door right behind me open and I peered through my lashes at the side mirror to see Yinka dropping his bag on the seat.
Seconds later, he pulled open the driver's door and got in. Before he shut the door, the light bang of the gate closing came in. As soon as he pulled away from the parking spot, it began to rain heavily.
I hope Oluchi packed all our clothes oo.
For the second time today, we met with another traffic, this one ten times worse than the former. It was a complete standstill. It was almost like the entire Lagos was retiring to their various homes. Yinka switched off the engine leaving the air conditioner and radio on.
Ehh... Wait o. Wait o.
I placed my hand on my lower abdomen as I felt my insides tighten. My cramps were slowly becoming more painful by the minute and then, it dawned on me. It was raining.
As weird as it sounded whenever it rained and I was on my period, my cramps become extremely painful. I've never understood why it happened that way but it was a regular occurrence. I usually took two tablets of Panadol and l would be fine.
At this moment, there was no Panadol around me so I could only hope that I would be able to endure the pain till I got home.
An hour passed by and we had barely moved. The rain wasn't pouring as heavily as before but the monster had already been awoken. I was finding it very difficult to contain myself, I bit my lip, shut my eyes tight, and rapidly tapped my feet against the floor to ease my pain.
"Are you okay?"
I opened my eyes to find Yinka watching me.
"Mmhmm" I nodded and held back on the tapping.
He narrowed his eyes at me. "Sure?"
I just nodded and looked out the window.
It's not like I could tell him I was having painful cramps.
Five minutes later, I unconsciously resumed my tapping and my stomach began to churn. There was a lot going on internally, I just wanted to curl up on the car seat. I swallowed hard, trying to hold down the bile rising up in my throat.
After a while, the uproar in my stomach finally settled down and I didn't feel the urge to throw up. I released a shaky breath and readjusted myself on the seat.
Ah, thank God. Finally.
Despite the air-conditioned car, small beads of sweat had formed on my forehead. Using the back of my palm, I patted them away and glanced at the time. It was now 6:30pm.
At last, the road began to clear up, and just before I could inwardly rejoice, a second downpour began. In less than two minutes, a sharp pain went through me like electricity. It was so intense, it felt like my cervix was dilating.
"Argh" a whimper escaped my lips.
"Are you good?" Yinka asked
There was no way I could pretend like something wasn't wrong and talking seemed a bit excessive at this moment so I just shook my head.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Can you pull over?" I rushed out.
The bile I had previously suppressed had returned with ferocity and if I didn't let it out any minute from now, it would let itself out.
"What?!"
"Please pull ove—" I slapped a hand over my mouth and pointed towards the side of the road.
Yinka immediately got the message and pulled over to the side of the road. As soon as the car stopped, I unstrapped my seatbelt, pushed the door open and bent over to empty out the contents in my bowel. I hadn't eaten anything since morning so I had no idea what I was even throwing up.
I could feel the cold rain drumming against my back and soaking up my hair. I started dry heaving when there was nothing left to throw up so I pulled myself back into the car.
The top half of my t-shirt was soaked up by the rain and it stuck onto my body. I noticed that the air conditioner in the car wasn't as cold as it was before.
"I'm so sorry. This is so embarrassing" I said with my hand covering my mouth for obvious reasons.
"It's fine" he had a worried expression on his face. "Are you not feeling well?"
I might as well say it. Especially after this wonderful display.
"I am... It's just... cramps" I said a little breathless.
Throwing up had a way of zapping energy from one's body.
He twitched his head to the side with utter confusion written on his face.
Do I really have to spell this out for him?
"Period cramps" I added
"Ohh," he said and then paused. "Wait. That was cramps? Like it's always this bad?"
I was trying so bad to sit straight on the seat to avoid wetting the seat but I just wanted to lie down so I succumbed and leaned back on the seat.
"Not every time" I replied
"Wow," he said completely bewildered.
I let out a dry chuckle.
"Uhm. Can we stop at a pharmacy?" I asked
The vomiting might have given me a little relief but I knew it was only a matter of time before the cramps resumed. I need any form of pain relief, I could possibly get my hands on.
"Sure. There should be one along the way" he said
He restarted the engine and continued the journey. Five minutes into the ride, I leaned against my window and dozed off.
"Hey... hey" I felt a hand gently shaking me awake.
I inhaled deeply and exhaled before opening my eyes.
Yinka held out a small white nylon bag and a bottle of water to me.
"Thank you" I muttered as I collected them.
We were parked in front of a pharmacy and it was completely dark with the exception of the lights in front of the building. The pharmacy had a transparent door so I could see some shelves with drugs on them. I opened the car door, then opened the water bottle and took a couple gulps to rinse out my mouth.
Once I was satisfied that my mouth didn't smell like a rat died in it, I sat back in and shut the car door.
"Here"
I turned to see Yinka holding out a mustard yellow nylon bag.
"I realized that we both haven't eaten anything so I stopped to get food," he said
"Thank you" I said as I took the bag from him
He reached into the backseat and brought out another nylon, identical to mine. The sweet aroma of Jollof rice filled the car in minutes. I was already salivating just by look at the food.
"You don't need to come to the house tomorrow," Yinka said. "I'll let my mom know"
"There's no need for that. I'm not sick" I replied, taking a spoonful of rice
"Still. I feel like you should take the day off" he said
I chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Once I take some pain relief I'll be good"
"This was just one of the bad days" I added
"If you say so," he said.
We ate comfortably in silence before getting back on the road. The road was now free and it took us half an hour to get to my place.
"Thank you so much for today," I said as I got down from the car.
He nodded.
I waited till he drove out of viewpoint before heading into my apartment.
"Finally! Where have you been? I've been calling your phone" Oluchi sat up from her bed immediately after I walked in.
"Omo, you will not believe the day I've had"
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