I waited until Kemi's sister came and picked her up. We exchanged phone numbers and waved each other goodbye. When she left, I went home. While I felt sad about Nancy leaving, when Kemi showed up, that sadness was quickly transformed into happiness. I was extremely happy, I had to share the good news with my husband.
I got home to find him sitting down and watching TV. I guess he must have waited for me a lot. I went over to him and kissed him.
"You stayed out quite a bit. What kept you out there so long?" he asked.
"I had to wait until Nancy went through the departure gate."
"So she finally left? And who knows when we'll see her again." I sighed when he said that.
"I guess we'll miss her. But you know what?"
"What?" he asked
"I met my twin sister just as I was about to leave the airport." I guess by saying twins, he must have really thought I had a twin sister.
"And you are telling me now?" He asked observing me.
"Well she's not really a twin sister. She was my very best friend in secondary school. I met her at the airport. She said she just arrived from traveling." There was silence as if I had said something offensive. Ola scrutinized me like he knew who I was talking about.
"So what are you saying? With Nancy gone, you still have someone you can talk to, right?" I nodded.
"Oh well, I pray she's as good to you as Nancy was."
"Aha, this na my correct friend. We dey call ourselves the twins. You go like am, her name na Kemi." Ola jolted when I mentioned Kemi's name. I was surprised and shocked at the same time.
"Ola I hope I didn't say anything offensive?"
"Like what?"
"I saw your reaction when I mentioned Kemi's name. Do you know her?"He kept quiet and then stared at me seriously.
"And why would I know her. Was I your friend before we met and got married?" he asked.
"So now that you married me I'm not your friend anymore, abi?"
"See as you dey turn and twist everything upside down. Ha Tola? I go dey call MIss Mass Communucation o."
"See Ola dey find my trouble again o."
"No, just say I keep you hanging." I looked into his eyes and saw them full of desire. I kissed him.
"Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure."
"What do you mean you are not sure?" His hand quickly searched me and I knew he was asking for only one thing.
"Ola you dey find my trouble o." He didn't listen. Before I knew it, he held me to a sensual kiss that got me aroused. My eyes were full of lust and desire. He saw it and got up.
"Where are you going Ola?" I said lustfully. He ignored me and went into the bedroom. I got up and went in there and found the bed empty.
"Ola? Ola?" He came from behind the door and closed it. He embraced me and started kissing me. We soon found ourselves on the bed making love. When it was over, he was still hugging me. But while he did so, I was deep in thought about his reaction after I mentioned Kemi's name. Did he know her? Have they ever met before? I wasn't sure about that.
In the following days, I was able to meet with Kemi and invited her over to my house. I had come out of work and was on my way home. I decided to stop at the supermarket and pick up a few things. It was there I met her. She was coming out of the supermarket while I was about to go in.
"Kemi?"
"Aha Tola? So you also come to this supermarket?" She asked me
"Yes, and infact it is quite near to my house. Are you in a hurry?"
"I was just passing by this area and stopped just to get a few things o, my dear sister."
"Ah okay, now that you are here, abeg you are coming with me to my house."
"Tola, you don start again. I no say na gist you wan gist."
"Abeg wait jor." I went in and picked up a few things and then came out and met her.
"Kemi are we going or not?"
"Tola, if I say no now, na quarrel so let's go."
"Better. You know I won't rest until you follow me." She took her car and then followed behind me. Once we got to the house and parked our cars, I led the way in. Luckily Ola was at home when we came in. He welcomed me with a kiss.
"Ola, we have a visitor." I told him.
"Who?" he asked. Kemi came in and stared at him. He also stared back at her.
"Ola this is Kemi, my very best friend in school." Ola held out his hands to shake her.
"Kemi, welcome. She says both of you are twins. Is that true?" Kemi smiled as they shook hands.
"Is she giving you problems? Because like twins, we are very troublesome, o." She replied.
"So I'm going to face double trouble now is it?" He asked laughing. Kemi looked at me and I looked at her. Both of us looked at Ola. We all laughed.
"If you want it, you go get am." We both said. Ola stared at us.
"See bad girls. Bad girls no dey changed o. They are bad girls for life." He said. We all laughed and then sat down. I brought some drinks for the three of us and as we drank, Kemi and I started talking about the old school days. I asked her if she saw any of our classmates again since we left.
"Haba, you know I left immediately after we finished school now. So I have not seen any of them."
"Even me I have not seen any of them o. And they are all in Lagos."
"How do you know that they are in Lagos?"
"They should be in Lagos. Where else will they go if they are not in Lagos?"
"Tola, you mean Lagos is their final bus stop in life?"
"And how would I know where their final bus stop is?" After staying for a few more minutes, Kemi said she was going home. She bid Ola goodbye and I accompanied her out. When she left, I went back into the house. Ola had cleared the table and had come back to sit down.
"So how do you find my twin sister? Isn't she cute?" Ola laughed
"Don't laugh o. She's single. I want to make sure she settles down with a correct guy."
"Did she tell you she's single?"
"Ola dis na chopper. She no get time say make she settle down. In fact she no wan take eye see man at all."
"Aha, why?"
"You know how you men promise and don't ever keep your promises."
"Abeg Tola, no talk like that. Me I no keep my promise? Didn't I marry you?"
"At least you tried."
"I tried? See Tola o, you dey find my trouble?"
"All I'm saying is. she has no time for man. You see her now? In about a week, she'll be out of the country again." Ola frowned when I said that.
"And what does she do to travel so much?" He asked getting interested.
"She hasn't told me yet. It's something I have to find out. But gist dey, we have a lot to talk about." With Kemi there was always a lot to talk about.
And I knew we would first talk about our common past as secondary school students. We would then talk about other things. Truly, we were going to talk a lot, and we were going to have fun. Just like in the past.
I didn't care about the limits imposed by my status as a married woman. I cared only about having fun in the company of my very best friend. I knew Ola would get angry, and most likely tell me to stop seeing her. But I'm sorry Ola, you just have to make this an exception. I'm going into Kemi's world to see things for myself.
After that first visit, Kemi traveled out of the country like she said she would. She didn't come back until about three months later. During the three months of her absence, a problem had emerged. My marriage with Ola was smooth and we got on quite well with each other. In fact after 5 years, we were able to buy a small apartment in a housing estate. This was to be our weekend retreat. With time, we always went there to spend the weekends together.
But after 5years into the marriage, there was demand on the part of my mother for a grandchild. And she was extremely insistent in her demand. I couldn't bear it any longer.
If I had kept quiet for long, now, I had to tell Ola about it. One evening, as we were watching TV, I told him about it. Ola simply laughed when I told him.
"Ola so all you can do is laugh about it. You are not even taking it seriously, abi?" I asked him
"And how serious do you want me to take it?"
"I'm here worried and you are simply joking about it."
"So what do I do now? We better have more sex." He said laughing.
"And what do you mean by having more sex. aren't we having enough already?"
"Maybe we are not doing it right." He kept laughing making me get angry. I left him and went into the bedroom feeling more worried than ever. Here I was disheartened about what my mother was telling me, and he didn't feel my worries.
It reminded me of how he felt unconcerned about not seeing his father. I lay down on the bed asking myself if he ever worried about anything.