©️Opeyemi Akintunde
I found it very hard sleeping that night. Her words were haunting me. Was it possible she was my soulmate? Was it possible she married wrongly and I was the best man for her. I lost my sleep thinking about her. I kept going over her picture in my head…MY heart was swelling in love. I wish I could adequately explain how I was feeling just thinking about at her…
” God, why this temptation? I have never had issues with ladies, Why is that the first woman to make me feel this way is a married woman”
My phone beeped, it was a message. I checked who the message was from and it was her.
” I don’t know what to do, I can’t sleep. Your thoughts are haunting me…Promise”
Promise! I finally got to know her name. I knew her as Mrs Anthony
” Can we chat?” I replied her text.
” Yes, on which platform?” She replied
” WeTalk” I replied. WeTalk was a chatting platform.
In less than 3 minutes she sent me a private message on my WeTalk. That was the begining of a very friendly but intimate chat. We chatted about everything possible. I got to know more about her, all the schools she ever attended. I didn’t tell her I grew up in an orphanage. I just told her I was an orphan with a sister.
If things were normal, Marrying Promise would have been the sweetest thing to ever happen to me. At some point , I noticed she wasn’t chatting again. I beeped her but she wasn’t picking up. I concluded that she fell asleep. I decided to force myself to sleep.
By morning, I still had not seen any message from her. On getting to the hotel, Titobiloluwa was the first to attack me…
” What happened to her?” Titobiloluwa asked
” Who?” I asked feigning innocence
” Mrs Anthony… She and her husband left looking sad “
” Left? ” Those words felt like a dagger had been thrown at my heart.
” I thought they were staying for two weeks” my heart racing
” Well maybe the husband saw something at the Blue Carnival”
” Blue Carnival?” I asked wondering how she knew about that. I moved closer so I could hear more. I was afraid if it had anything to do with me.
” Yes, After his wife left , he came downstairs asking me to get a Taxi that could take him to Blue Carnival. He said he wanted to go surprise his wife….but surprisingly he came back after 15 minutes without his wife. One look at him yesterday, you could tell something must have gone wrong at the Blue Carnival, Maybe they had a misunderstanding”
” No they didn’t fight, He never came there, I was with….” I had stupidly rushed those words…
” You were with her!” Titobiloluwa sreamed in a whisper
I slapped myself for being stupid…
” Guy! What is wrong with you? What if he saw both of you, F.D, you should be happy the guy is a good guy. Some wicked men would have you assasinated. Guy, he must have seen you both and instead of causing a scene he came back to the hotel. He is such a gentleman…”
” Maybe! But, we were not doing anything out of the ordinary, we were just talking”
” Guy, I am not a child… “
” Titobiloluwa, I am just the victim here, she is the one into me..” I lied
” Tell that lie to someone else. Guy , you are flirting with a married woman. F.D, my life is the way it is because of flirting…”
” You Flirting?, you rigid bone!” I said in disbelief as Titibiloluwa was always very formal
” Not me, my mother”
” Oh!”
” My step father is Late Alhaji Farouk”
“AL-Far Properties? Are you joking with me? You can’t be related to him and be working here!”
“My mother was the second wife, my mother flirted her way into becoming his wife. She left my father for him. When He died, he had bequeathed sixty percent of all he had to her, while the first wife and his five sons got twenty percent. The remaining 20 percent went to charity.
After he died, my mother saw hell. She started seeing things, she became delusional to the point that she ran away from the house we were living. It was during the period of looking for a solution to her insanity, a prophet told us, the children of the first wife had gone diabolical. The Prophet advised my mother to give them everything, so she does not lose me and her. F.D, all that my mother had flirted her way into getting , she gave back to the sons. Though as a wife , she was entitled to something, but my mother insisted that she didn’t want anything from them. That’s how I returned from Grace back to Grass.”
” Wow”
” Yeah! that’s why I work here as a receptionist, so I congratulate you that your admirer has left. I hope she doesn’t have your phone number.”
” Phone Number!” Exactly what I needed to do. I needed to call her so I can hear what really happened..
I moved away from Tito to the Concierge office. Fortunately, no one was there.
I dialed her number, and with every ring my heart ached…
” Hello!” I heard her beautiful voice but was laced with sadness. You could tell she had been crying and I couldn’t explain why tears started dropping from my eyes…
” God! Don’t tell me I have lost this lady!” I broke down in tears over the phone and all I could say was…
” Why are you marrried?”
To be continued….
