Photo credit: Tomiwa Adebisi
"Maria, hurry up. We're going to be late," Tilewa stared into her mirror and adjusted her gele putting in the last pin. She was good to go, dressed in an off-the-shoulder burnt orange lace gown with a knee-length slit. She put on her black pumps, carried her matching purse and stepped into the living room looking hotter than fire. Now it was her younger sister she had to wait for.
Maria had come over from her workplace the previous night to sleepover at her place mainly for emotional support and she could bet Uzo and Eno were behind it, but Maria insisted the reason was that Tilewa's place was closer to the venue of the event and she did not want to stress herself by going straight from her own house.
The bride, Atinuke was an acquaintance from their university and the girls had planned a reunion of sorts at her wedding. Tilewa could not wait to see all her friends she had finished university with and Maria was taking her time. She patiently stepped out of the bathroom and sat in the living room, watching as her sister scurried back and forth, getting one thing or the other. Tilewa watched her apply her last layer of mascara as she asked: "Sister mi, am I good to go?"
Tilewa gave her a once-over. Her sister was 6 months pregnant and her glow was at its peak. Dressed in burnt orange Iro and Buba, Maria had complained about not wanting to sew any new clothes with her bump because she was not going to stay pregnant forever and did not want to burden herself with adjusting her clothes when she was back to her normal size, so she had opted for the traditional one-size-fits-forever attire. Giving a nod of affirmation, Tilewa took off from the couch and helped her sister out of the house.
***
The church wedding had just ended. Guests immediately began to troop to a nearby event centre where the reception was going to take place: where the real party was going down. Tilewa and Maria were carpooling in Uzo's car with Eno and another friend from school, Hauwa. On their way there, everyone was upbeat and excited, the banter in the car was easy and friendly as everyone told the other what they had been up to in the past year.
"Tilewa, I still can't believe Maria ended up getting married before us," Uzo said from the driver's seat."I still remember when she used to come and visit us with your mum when she was still in secondary school and even all the running around we did during her matriculation."
Tilewa laughed at the memory while Maria smiled politely. All the girls had gone to the same university and Uzo had taken Maria under her wing like she was her little sister.
"How far gone are you?" Hauwa, the pharmacist in the group asked nodding at Maria's belly.
"25 weeks," Maria breathed, unconsciously touching her belly as Uzo pulled into the parking lot.
"Hope you've been doing the exercises I recommended?" Eno asked, receiving a nod from Maria.
"We're here," Uzo announced.
Five of them got out of the vehicle one after the other. Uzo drove a maroon coloured Honda Accord Cross-tour which was a perk of being one of the most celebrated lawyers in her law firm. She had received the official car last year and it was a huge status booster for her everywhere she went.
The ladies all danced into the reception hall to the highlife music that was being played by the band. The space was strewn with white and gold coloured decorations, while black table cloths covered the circular-shaped tables which had six chairs around them, plated delicacies sat at each place with a gold-coloured centrepiece in the middle. the front of the hall had an elevated platform with a beautiful green backdrop which held the names of the couple: Tinu & Brian printed in gold, a cream coloured love seat for the bride and groom lay in front of this backdrop, on the level ground, to the right side of the stage sat a wonderful gold six-tier cake with a miniature model sculpture of a bride and groom on top.
The bride and groom were yet to arrive, and the mc stood on the stage cracking jokes and telling stories. The girls sat down and began taking pictures and digging into the small chops and fruit cocktails that were already on the table.
"Oh my God!" Uzo exclaimed causing everyone to look in the direction she was facing. Coming right into the reception hall was none other than Tilewa's ex of fewer than 2 months- Jeremiah Ubong and attached to his arm was his new girlfriend. all eyes instantly fell on Tilewa who lowered her gaze to her lap as she fought back the tears.
"Are you alright?" Eno asked.
What a dumb question, she thought. She had not expected this and she was resisting the urge to look up at him again. He was dressed in a burnt orange south-south attire that made him look super attractive.
Jerry was a very good-looking man. He was not too tall at 5"11, but he had broad shoulders, and a buff body and Tilewa had always teased him that God took extra time to craft his face to make humanity jealous. As she thought about this, different emotions coursed through her being, this was the first time she was seeing Jerry since the break-up and everything in her wanted to walk up to him and just cause a scene. A slap right across his cheek and a full-blown temper tantrum would also be a nice idea, but she willed herself to stay put, fighting off all the emotions she focused on being numb. She was not going to ruin somebody's wedding because of her misfortune.
"Who even invited him?" Senami, another of their friends, asked no one in particular.
"I guess he's friends with the groom. I ran into them together sometime last year," Maria quipped.
The girls continued to make idle banter, trying to ease the tension in the atmosphere and make the situation at the table less awkward.
"Tilewa what do you think?"
Tilewa looked up at Uzo who had asked the question and was instantly jolted out of her reverie. All eyes were on her, and she knew the girls were trying to make her engage in conversation and get out of her head but she was not in the mood for anything. Instead of answering the question, she stood up abruptly, picked up her purse and made a beeline straight for the bathroom. She was not going to deal with this any longer.
Immediately she got to the bathroom she put her hands over her face, careful of her make-up as she looked into the mirror, she then dropped her hands and leaned on the sink, her reflection was beautiful. Make-up aside, she was beautiful and she knew it.
Why did Jeremiah leave her?
She was beautiful enough, she was smart, she was talented, she knew how to cook his favourite traditional dish: edikaikong soup.
What was it that Esther had that she did not possess.
The sound of her phone ringing in her purse stopped her from tormenting herself further as she fished it out.
"Hello," she answered the call before checking the caller ID.
"Hello, beautiful." Ekene's voice came to her from the other end of the line. Hearing him call her beautiful made her smile.
"You think I'm pretty?"
"I think you're pretty? No, I think you're the most gorgeous human to ever walk this earth," he stated as a matter of fact.
"I was just thinking the same thing"
"Modesty at its peak," Ekene said sarcastically.
Tilewa laughed "No, no, I didn't mean to toot my own trumpet or anything, I was just wondering why Jerry could just leave me the way he did-how Jerry could leave me the way he did if I'm so beautiful."
"Oh," Ekene could only mutter as he had not seen that coming "Why are you even thinking about that son of a-"
"He's here!" Tilewa cried into her phone. "I'm at the party with my friends and he just arrived! He knew I was going to be at this party. We had planned to come together because I'm a friend of the bride and he's a friend of the groom, but I-I-- can you imagine he even came here with his new babe? I feel so humiliated!"
"Calm down Tilewa, stop crying. Where are you exactly?"
Tilewa gave him her location.
"Just calm down, dry your eyes and go enjoy yourself with your friends okay?"
She nodded as she sniffled, realizing he was not in front of her and could not see her nod so she let out a sound of affirmation. After calming her down a little more he hung up the call.
She had dreaded coming to this god-forsaken event in the first place. She had envisaged that he was going to come but she let her friends talk her into this shit show! There was going to be no recovery for the disgrace Jerry had bestowed on her!
"Tilewa!"
She looked up at the sound of her name to see Eno's head peeking into the restroom, her eyes landed on her friend almost immediately and she stepped in.
"Don't look at me with those pity eyes, I'm sick of it!" Tilewa said, voice croaking as she reapplied her make-up, erasing the tear tracks from her face.
Eno stood with her hands up in the air like a criminal, earning a strangled laugh from her friend. "Come on, let's get back to the party."
"Go back to what na, Eno? I told you guys I didn't want to come to this rubbish wedding! I knew I was going to be humiliated. I guess I just didn't think far enough to imagine that the bastard will show up here with that rubbish, that rubbish-" her tears drowned out whatever words were going to come out next. They were not sad tears, they were hot, angry tears, full of pain and rage.
"Tilewa, calm down. This is not you," Eno cooed patting her friend's back.
"I don't even know who I am anymore," she sobbed.
"Well, I do. You are strong, you are brave, and you are beautiful. You are courageous. And you are definitely not going to let Jeremiah ruin this day for you. You came to celebrate with a friend and have fun with your other friends. He left you... well, that's his loss and it will bite him in the ass someday. Now you are going to leave here with your head held high and have the time of your life. Do you understand?"
Tilewa nodded, drying her tears yet again.
"Good, now let's go show that douche-face that you're better off without him."
Tilewa laughed as Eno held her and guided her out of the bathroom.
As they approached the table, Tilewa felt the awkwardness creep upon her, countless people in this party had known that she and Jerry were engaged, yet the fool decided that this would be the best place not just to publicise their break-up but also his new girlfriend. Unconsciously, she began to scan the crowd for him and when she found him, he was not looking in her direction, but Esther was. The two ladies held eyes for a brief moment before Eno bumped into Tilewa from behind causing her to break-of the contact.
She did not know what she had hoped to achieve by staring daggers at Esther, but it had been worth the shot at least now that she was sure looks could not kill. She got to her seat and instantly began to make conversation with Uzo about how beautiful her floor-length gown was. Anything to distract herself from her present situation.
"Hey, your phone is ringing," Senami said motioning to Tilewa's phone, which was vibrating on the table. She had been so focused on distracting herself, she had become engrossed in the conversation she was having with Uzo and Senami. Picking it up she checked the caller ID, it was Ekene.
"Hey."
"Come outside."
"What?"
"I said come outside."
She was about to say something before she heard the hang-up tone. She stood up and immediately headed for the exit in sheer confusion. She stepped out into the scorching sun and saw him standing afar off. Dressed in a black shirt blue jeans and his signature palm sandals, he approached her.
"What are you doing here?" Tilewa asked as she closed the distance.
"You sounded like you needed some cheering up so I came."
"Wow," she breathed closing the gap between them and enveloping him in a hug "that's so thoughtful of you," she said with the side of her head pressed against his chest.
"Sure," he replied patting her on her back, he had not expected that sudden display of affection.
"Come on, let's go inside," Tilewa said, once she noticed how much the sun was burning her skin. Taking his hand, she led him into the event centre, her mood suddenly lifted as they walked in together. The people who were seated closest to the entrance recognised her suddenly and began to whisper among themselves. She saw Mayowa and Roland, who were friends of her ex eye her as she passed by their table and mutter something to themselves and then laughed out loud. She was so furious she wanted to turn back and ask what was so amusing.
"Relax," Ekene whispered in a soothing voice as he rubbed his thumb against the base of her palm in a circular motion. He had noticed their gesture and her resulting unease.
Whatever he was doing was working because she was soon able to overcome her negative emotions. Reflexively, she searched for Jerry in the crowd. This time he was looking at her, but not into her eyes. His gaze was trained on her hand in Ekene's and he could see from where he sat how Ekene was rubbing the base of her palm. Something in her wanted to run over to him and get that pensive look off his face, tell him that she was nothing but friends with Ekene, then she remembered just how much he had hurt her. Her gaze flickered over to Esther. She seemed very bored as she stared around blankly. Tilewa bit back a smirk when she looked back at Jerry and their gazes met.
"Is that him?" Ekene whispered, trailing her eyes. She gave a subtle nod in response, and he nodded in return.
***
"Oh my God, Tilewa, where did you find this guy?" Senami said, between laughs. Ekene was telling a story at their table and was not holding back on the humour. All the girls were laughing at his story and were getting comfortable with him. Tilewa could not help but compare to how they had never laughed like this whenever Jerry was around. It was all she could think about instead of following Ekene's story.
Her friends had mostly been cordial and polite with Jerry, all except for Uzo of course, but as she watched them warm up to Ekene she could not help but compare the two men. Was it possible that her friends had not liked Jerry even when she was still with him but simply tolerated his presence because of her?
"How come you never told us about him?" Eno asked drawing Tilewa away from her thoughts, earning a shrug in response.
"Tilewa, so you have started keeping things from us abi?" Eno pressed further.
Tilewa turned to Uzo, hoping to have her get Eno off her back. That was when she noticed Uzo was busily typing away at her phone. Come to think of it, Uzo had been unusually quiet since Ekene had joined them.
"Uzo, how far na?" she said, calling her friend's attention. The look on her face was quite passive.
"Hey, I don't think I caught your name," Ekene said to her.
"Uzo," Uzo quipped.
"Ah, nwanem nwanyi," Ekene said trying to curry her favour by speaking their shared native language.
Uzo scoffed at that and returned to what she had been doing on her phone, Tilewa looked to Eno for help. This was totally unlike her. She was usually the first one to warm up to any new person and make them feel at home and all of a sudden she was acting so cold and distant. As she made eye contact with Eno, the look in her friend's eye made it seem as though Eno knew something she did not.
"So tell us, how did you meet?" Maria asked all of a sudden.
The couple looked at one another and Ekene could see from the look in Tilewa's eyes she did not want to go down that lane ever!
"We bumped into each other a week after Jerry dumped me." She stopped it there knowing now one would want to press further on such a sore topic.
"Oh," they all muttered proving her suspicion to be right.
"Let's dance!" Senami announced as the DJ started mixing jams. The speakers were booming and people started trooping to the dance floor.
"Come on, why don't we get out of here and go somewhere fun," Ekene suggested after a couple of minutes on the dance floor. She agreed and followed him out through the side entrance of the hall.
"Tilewa," an all-too-familiar voice called out as she exited the side door.
She steeled herself as her ex stepped in front of her. Ekene paused and slowly looked at him from head to toe. Both men would have had a stared themselves off till one of them died from it had Tilewa not interrupted.
"What now, Jeremiah?" she said in her iciest voice.
"I-I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for...uh... for how things turned out between us," he stuttered.
She had dreamt, cried, hoped, begged and wished for this moment, every day for the past 5 weeks, but here and now she saw just how unworthy of her Jerry had always been, and at that moment, she realized that she had been pining after a shadow of what once was; all those years he had spent with her, she realised had been nothing but him rebounding from his own ex and he had strung her along till the dying minute when he realised he could not go on with the lie. He got out unscathed of course, society is always merciful to men regardless of how the break-up turns out, but the woman is always the one left to face the pain and humiliation of a failed relationship. As she embraced this new-found realisation it dawned on her that if given another chance, Jerry was a mistake she would never have made.
"Is that all?" she asked.
"Yes, that is all," he replied, bewildered.
"Then excuse me," she said and strutted off, Ekene trailing behind closely, at her heels.
______________
And that's a wrap!
Special thanks to Tomiwa for permitting me to use her pictures for my aso-ebi girls🤩 (check her out on IG @tomiiwa_xo)
I really love how this story is taking shape, and there are (maybe not definitely) ten more chapters left.
I'll be doing an FAQ section next week to publicly address some questions I'm asked often, so feel free to send in your questions in the comment section or in my dm, I would love to hear from you all.
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xxx,
Mure👑