Yinka picked up his favourite scent and applied it a couple of times at the side of his neck, on his wrist and around his chest area. He placed the cologne back into his wardrobe, turned around and scanned the room, going back and forth from the wardrobe and his bed. He picked up his pillows one after the other and dropped them back in frustration.
"Ah, found it" He exclaimed under his breath and picked up a hairbrush from his dressing table.
I watched him brush his hair, seated on the edge of his bed with my legs crossed and my elbow placed on the crossed thigh. My chin resting on the palm of my wedged up arm. He followed the patterns of his hair with the brush then move down to his stubble.
He turned around to face me and flexed his arm, carefully adjusting his white dress shirt. "How do I look?"
I eyed him, menacingly and kissed my teeth, loudly. "What's that? First of all, why is the top of your shirt unbuttoned? Secondly, the perfume is for what? Ehn? See as you almost finished the whole bottle for a date that 'you don't really want to go on'. You're even brushing hair and beards—"I clapped my hands in incredulity and laughed sardonically. "—Hei, God o. Who are you deceiving? Me? You must not know who I am?"
I switched to a singsong tone. "You must not know bout me, you must not know bout me. Rubbish. Abeg, abeg, abeg, don't ask me stupid questions"
"Neye?" His voice brought me back into reality.
"Hmm?" I blinked and refocused on him.
He had his eyes narrowed at me as he searched my face. "What are you thinking about? I was asking if I looked okay."
"Oh," I said and ran my eyes over his frame.
The white dress shirt was slightly transparent, in my opinion. Some people would say there's nothing wrong with it but I say, he should wear an inner shirt, singlet or something. The light blue jeans were nice, I guess. He paired it off with fancy white Nike sneakers. The whole outfit on him was chef's kiss but it just felt like it was too much.
"It's okay, I guess" I replied after much deliberation
He cocked his head to the side. "You guess?"
He pulled open his wardrobe and stood before the in-built mirror on one of the doors. He smoothened out the folded part of the sleeves and stared at the outfit.
"No, no. I mean—"I fiddled with strands of the high puff of my hair. "—I can't really tell you how to dress but... don't you think it's a bit much"
"You think this is much?" he raised an eyebrow at me then returned his gaze to the mirror, perusing the outfit.
"As I said, I can't tell you what to do. If you feel it's casual then go ahead" I said and picked up my phone.
"Okay, so what would you prefer I wear?" he said
"Hmm?" I looked up at him with feigned indifference. "Oh, I don't know. Anything else... Maybe another shirt, I don't know"
He turned to his wardrobe and after a few seconds of scanning through clothes, he pulled out a black, long-sleeved button-up shirt. "What about this?"
"Mmm," I drawled on, tilting my head in thought.
"No?"
I rose from the bed and walked over to his wardrobe. "Let me find something for you"
I didn't know how tedious it was to find decent clothes in this large wardrobe of his. After minutes of diligently searching, I was able to find a large black T-shirt that looked good enough to be worn on a friendly hangout.
"This is better" I beamed as I lifted the shirt to him.
"Really?"
"Yeah" I lowered the shirt to find a smug smirk playing on his lips. "What?"
He sauntered over to me, picked the shirt out of my hands and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him. "I see what the problem is?"
"What?" I placed both palms against his chest in an attempt to push out of his embrace.
He tightened his hold on me. "You're worried"
I looked at him like he'd suddenly grown two heads. "Me? Worried? Why would I be worried?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, you are. And you don't have to be"
I pushed again and turned my face to the side. "I don't know what you're going on about" He loosened his hold on me and I put a good distance between us. "I'm not. Why would I? Give me a reason why I should be worried?"
I pointed at him. "In fact, your actions determine whether I should worry or not—"The wide grin that lit up his face, indicated that he didn't believe a word I said and my rambling wasn't exactly aiding my case.
I placed my palms behind my neck and massaged. "See, all I'm saying is that, it looks like you made too much effort. If you don't care about this meetup, like say you don't then I don't see why you should turn up, like this"
I put up my hand in mock surrender and added. "Still, I can't tell you what to do so..."
He nodded then slightly raised the shirt. "So you'd rather have me wear this?"
I shrugged a shoulder.
"I wear this to work out, sometimes" he added with the gentleness of a parent trying to make the child see reason.
I blew out a raspberry and sank my shoulders in defeat. "You know what? Forget I said anything, you look fine. Just go, you're going to be late"
He studied me for a quick second then began to unbutton his shirt.
"Wh—what are you doing?" I held out a hand to stop him.
He paused his actions and looked up at me. "If you want me to go in this—"he shook the plain shirt in the air. "—then that's what I'll do"
He resumed the unbuttoning and I had to rush over to him to stop him from completely taking off the shirt.
"No, no, stop" I held his arm away from the shirt. "Don't take it off. Seriously, it's fine"
He eyed me cautiously. "I'm not sure if I should believe that"
I snickered and rested my head against his chest, releasing his hands to fall to his side. In no time, they were snaked around my waist.
"I think the truth is I don't really know how to feel about this date. I can't be upset because I understand it's not your doing but I can also help feeling..." I lifted my eyes to meet his and almost got lost in the adoration that filled them.
I smacked my lips and released a heavy sigh. "You don't have to take this off, it has nothing to do with the shirt" I began to button the shirt back up. "Just go and get this over with."
As I buttoned up the shirt, he began to run his hands along the sides of my torso. A smile crept up to my lips at his subtle way of comforting me. I gently patted his chest once I was done and widened my smile. "You're set"
He leaned down a placed a soft kiss on my lips. I giggled and leaned back but he pulled me back in with one arm and placed the other hand on the side of my face. I slightly moved my head to the side and shut my eyes in preparation for a heated kissing session. And he really went in for it, like we weren't going to see each other after today.
After we ended the kiss, our foreheads remained against each other and eyes still closed, at least mine were. My mind still reeling from the kiss as I made a back and forth motion with my thumb, caressing the sides of his face.
He took my hands from his face, pulled away slowly, and brought them together before lips before placing light kisses on them.
"I'll let you know how it goes"
I nodded and whispered. "Okay"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I checked my phone for the fourth time in the span of ten minutes. The vulnerability that comes with relationships was a beautiful but nerve-wracking thing. And at this moment, it was tilting towards the latter. I wasn't loving this feeling one bit, none of my previous relationships ever had me feeling utterly restless.
Imagine my surprise when Yinka had informed me that his parents insisted he go on a date with the daughter of their family friend. No matter how Yinka tried to butter up the delivery, I saw it for what it was. They were playing matchmakers with their children.
Every time I thought I'd gotten a comprehensive list of all the hurdles this relationship came with, another one would just come rearing its ugly head. I always knew at the back of my mind that our relationship wouldn't be one his parents would appreciate and I'd probably never get to be introduced to them as his girlfriend, but this takes the cake.
This was just the first girl. What happens when this set-up falls through and they decide to resurrect another family friend's daughter? When does it end?
"Ugh!" I dropped my phone back unto my side
I trust him, and that's all that matters.
Before I could send myself spiralling down another train of discouraging thoughts, my vibrated against my palm. The flash had nothing on me with the kind of speed I used to bring the phone back to my face but was slapped with disappointment. Uju's name flashed across the phone's screen.
"What's up?" I said in a chirpy tone as soon I answered, every trace of gloominess suppressed.
"I'm boredddd!" her voice rang out
I chuckled. "Ndo my dear" (sorry)
"This stupid drip doesn't want to finish" she cried out dramatically. "I never knew that I could get tired of social media"
"Sleep then" I said
"You think I haven't tried that. I don sleep tire, sleep don tire for me" she replied, a shuffling sound in the background following right after. "I don't like being around sick people" she added in a lowered voice.
"Eyah, pele" I tried to sound sympathetic. "Isn't Tope supposed to be there with you?"
She kissed her teeth loudly. "Don't mind her. She left me here alone and took Feyi with her too". There was a short pause followed by a lot of movements, then I heard a faint male voice come in and by the little bits I heard, I concluded that it was her doctor.
As discreet as we were about the abuse, Tope still came to find out. I mean, it's not exactly easy to hide a black eye and head wound from your close friends. Tope insisted that she had a CT scan, even after visiting the clinic, all expenses covered by her. The only time she used her rich girl card.
Her CT scan came out clean thankfully but her full body work up at the clinic discovered that she had malaria and typhoid, cue the drip line. It was a wonder that she hadn't been exhibiting symptoms.
"Sorry" her voice came through. "The nurse came to check on the drip's progress. Also, Tope has returned with Feyi so I can dump you now. And they brought food, bye"
"Stupid girl" I shook my head as she ended the call with a loud kiss.
I turned over on the bed and rested on my stomach. Now, I was back to being with my thoughts. I glanced over at my sister's empty bed, she had gone to visit one of her numerous friends. I needed to be distracted, dwelling over something as fickle as this was getting annoying.
I rolled unto my back and stared at the ceiling, then moved down to my reading table. My black KJV bible rested atop a pile of books called out to me and I tried to remember when last I picked it up to read, other than Sundays in church.
What a wonderful child of God.
I arose from my bed and picked the bible. Light specks of dust had settled on the front cover so I used the bottom of my shirt to wipe it clean. I settled back on my bed and began to flip through the edge of the pages, whilst muttering a short prayer. I stopped at a random section, opened up the page and picked the first chapter my eyes landed on. Isaiah 64.
I muttered the scripture under my breath as I read. "Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presen—"
A clanking sound against my metal gate pulled my attention away from my reading. I silently climbed out of my bed and tiptoed over to my sister's side of the room and pulled the window drapes slightly. From my angle, I couldn't quite see who it was so I had no choice but to speak out.
"Who is it?"
"Me" A much too familiar voice replied
I chuckled at Yinka's response and grabbed the gate keys.
"I didn't know you were coming over. You said you were going to let me know how it goes" I said, walking back into the room after unlocking the gate.
"Yeah, I was going to let you know, in person," he said, following closely in tow.
I settled down on my bed, my legs folded beneath me and looked at him with expectancy.
"I was expecting a hug or something but—"he started out, his hands settled on his hips. I didn't rise from my spot on my bed so he added. "—okay, straight to business"
I pointed to the spot across me and moved my bible to my side, so he had enough space. He smiled and shook his head at me before obeying my silent command.
He sighed as he settled down. "Where do I even start? It was nice, like proper nice yeah"
"Really?"
"Yeah. You know, when I met her at the house, I thought she was quiet and reserved but she's not, actually. She's actually really funny and her laugh, oh my days, it's even funnier, just like yours..."
When I tell you, I was struggling to keep a straight face while he yapped about how wonderful the date was. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not with the look on his face. What made it even more annoying was the very pronounced British accent he used to narrate the experience. He always did use the accent but it wasn't so intense and his Nigerian one had begun to water down the acquired accent since his stay in Nigeria.
Suddenly, he burst out laughing and I was taken out of my thoughts.
"What?" I asked, not sharing in the amusement
He threw his head back and belted out a burst of even louder laughter whilst holding onto his stomach. His laughter was infectious and I couldn't help but chuckle along even though I had no idea what was going on.
"This is-- exactly what I-- expected" he wheezed out, took in a deep breath and relaxed. "It was a joke"
"Ahahahaha, so funny" I said, my face as hard as bricks.
"I'm sorry" he moistened his lips and leaned back, placing his arms behind him to keep his upper body wedged up. "She actually watches my YouTube videos so she knows about you. I think she was more interested in us and if we were actually a couple"
My hard resolve broke apart and I leaned in with interest. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm" he wiggled both brows alongside his response.
"What did you tell her, about us? I mean, did you tell her about us?"
"Yeah"
I stared at him with wide eyes and raised brows.
"She promised to keep it to herself though" he added quickly.
Her promise didn't necessarily hold weight to me but for my peace of mind, I chose to believe it.
Yinka leaned forward and picked up my bible from beside me and began to skim through it. He stopped a few times to read the neon green highlighted passages.
"I was about starting my bible study before you came in" I pointed out.
"Yeah?" he caught a glimpse of me before returning to the bible. He flipped through it some more then held it out to me. "Go ahead"
I took it from his hands and placed it beside me. "I can do that later"
"No, let's do it together" he said
For some reason, I froze. I didn't know why but the fact that he suggested bible studying with me, rendered me speechless and stunned.
"You want to join me? Like the two of us? Me and you?"
He smiled cheekily. "Why is it so shocking?"
"I—"I opened and closed my mouth, not sure how to respond. "Never mind, let's start" I picked up the bible and flipped it open till I landed on the page I was previously reading. I cleared my throat and began to read out loud. "Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens that thou wouldest come dow—"
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I laughed, covering my face with the open bible.
I had made the mistake of looking up at him and he had this comical smile on his face, almost like he was on the verge of bursting out with laughter.
He joined in on the laughter, almost immediately. "You look so uncomfortable"
I fell forward laughing and holding unto the center of my torso. A minute or two later, I came back up for air and tried to calm myself down but every time I saw his face, I would be sent reeling forward with laughter.
"I'm sorry" I managed to say as I sat back up. I cleared my throat and blew out puffs of air then stabilized. "It feels a bit weird. I've never had to bible study with someone I was seeing before"
He nodded in understanding.
"I'll be serious now," I said and lifted the bible to resume my reading.
I would occasionally look up to see if he was actually paying attention and much to my surprise, he was. At that moment, I couldn't explain the sensations that went through me. The way I felt just being with him in every passing second, I don't think I'd ever felt like that for anyone, ever. It was overwhelming, so overwhelming that it made me emotional.
I've found my person.
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