King

Remote in one hand, butt planted firmly on the sofa with my other arm resting on the edge, I stared at the blank screen in front of me. The doorbell rang and I jumped up, causing the remote to clatter to the ground.

Two Red, Tiger head batteries fell out of the Black remote, one of which rolled to a stop under the table. The other one disappeared out of sight. I bent to retrieve the batteries and for some reasons, I hesitated in picking them up. Instead, I stayed put in that crouched position, eyeing the lone battery with a strange fascination. Perhaps it was the fact that they now had more freedom than I did, no board or a despicable CEO to answer to or boss them around. But, I let them be.

My eyes trailed to the TV, it was off. I ran a palm across my face, letting out a deep breath as I did that. Not only was I standing in the middle of my parlour, hands on my waist, looking like a damn fool who lost his way back home, I was also watching TV that was never turned on. How wonderful!

Give it up for King Daniels, first of his name, second to none.

Second to none until Wole.

I tried to shake that comparison off but it settled over me like dew on the green grass. Idleness was a strange phenomenon to me and so was suspension. The words tasted like vomit, an abomination that should never be spoken out loud. This was my first suspension and hopefully, the last. 

The rest of my thoughts were centred around getting busy, figuring out what to do with all of these free time before I lost my shit. Concentrating on a task was now like a battle for me. One more look at my laptop screen, another day being idle and I would explode from inside out. 

It was even more strange that I didn't want to go out. I was on self-imposed isolation because none of the Fantastic Five really wanted to talk to me. They were the only humans I wanted to see and my SOS messages had been ignored. We all had busy lives, I knew that but I couldn't help the hurt or the tightening of my chest, I would have at least called or visited.

The doorbell rang again, I stilled and my thoughts receded to the back of my mind; if only they could stay there forever. My movements were slow as though I was waiting for the person behind the door to disappear. Only thing I got in response was the continuous ringing of the doorbell.

If I didn't know better, I would have guessed the person at the door to be Junior. He was the only one who had the guts to ring the bell like it was some sort of musical instrument. I was still mad at him, he picked some random girl over me. Never. You never ever did that to a brother.

"Who's there?" A peek at the peephole revealed an empty compound.

"Junior," came the response.

"Go away."

Unusual silence greeted me back. I took another peek through the hole, there was no one. A few seconds passed, nothing happened. I unlocked the door, poking my head out to see if he really did leave, there was no sign of him.

Really, Junior? How can you just leave?

With disappointment heavy in my heart, I locked the doors. I turned slowly and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest at the sight of the person in front of me.

"Tomiwa," I breathed out.

His face remained stoic, unimpressed by my obvious shock. We stood facing each other, none of us saying a word. Tomiwa's whole expression screamed disappointment, annoyance and his eyes threatened to drill holes into my head. I couldn't handle the intensity so I averted my gaze. My feet tapped an uneven rhythm to the ground, my hands balled into a fist I shoved into the pocket of my white joggers. 

In a voice that was eerily calm, "your phone has been switched off. For days."

My phone? I didn't know where that thing was. It must have gone off at some point, probably buried under the pillows in my bedroom. The last time I saw it, the battery was low and I didn't care to charge it. I took another look at Tomiwa, his usually blank face was even more neutral, he was most definitely angry and I knew why.

Taking a break from people and social media was fine but without telling anyone prior to going off the grid, it wasn't. It was Tomiwa's only spoken rule since our friendship. I knew it had something to do with the prolonged silence before he found out about his parent's death.

An apology never made its way out of my lips because the word got stuck in my throat. If he or the others were worried, they should have come to check up on me. They all knew my address and apparently, have found a way into the house.

"Open up," Tomiwa's voice penetrated my subconscious. What?

His hands were opened up in front of him and he motioned for me to do the same. I did exactly as he requested, slowly withdrawing my hands from my pocket. Parts of the skin on my palm had chipped off, specifically where my nails dug into during the board meeting. I pursed my lips, avoiding his stare, he was not pleased.

"Are you okay?" His hands retracted back to the pockets of his plain trousers. I shook my head, failure was even worse than idleness and I didn't know how to handle it either.

Tomiwa took one step towards me, then another till he was a foot away from me. His guard was down, I could see the worry that was swimming in his eyes.

"Do you want a hug?" His voice was small, almost inaudible. On a good day, I would have laughed at his request, he hated body contact, never initiated it. I nodded.

Tentatively, his arms wrapped around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him. His body was stiff and so was mine, this wasn't like our usual bro hug where we tapped opposite shoulders to each other. It was strange, awkward and uncomfortable.

"Group hug!" The undeniable voice of Junior pierced the air before his arms came to wrap around us, pulling us closer. My body relaxed, I felt Tomiwa's own do the same.

We stayed that way for a couple more seconds, minutes and when we eventually broke off from the hug, I felt better than I did in days. The moment was short-lived as Junior's palm came crashing down on the back of my head. I groaned, massaging my skull as a scowl took over my face.

"You owe all of us an apology," Junior was unapologetic about his action; violent fool.

"Including the girl?" I arched an eyebrow at him and he nodded. Stifling a hiss, I turned to face Tomiwa, the most reasonable and least violent one, "Junior has a girlfriend."

Tomiwa laughed. He laughed, hands clutching his chest like I was a comedian telling his favourite joke. It was not funny. 

"Junior has a girlfriend," I reiterated like the whiny kid I had become of late.

What is so funny about that?

"She's not my girlfriend, she has not asked me out."

Now it was my turn to laugh. It was difficult not to with Junior's face looking so serious, he really was waiting on shortie to ask him out. Still wheezing with laughter, I placed a hand over his shoulder, "you play too much."

"What's wrong with her asking me out, eh? What a man can do, a woman can do better." He shrugged my hand off, his eyes narrowed and I laughed harder.

Nigerian women did better at so many things but not in asking the opposite sex to be their boyfriend. Some of them didn't even know how to respond properly to chats or keep the conversation going, all they were good at was sex. I laughed again.

"King, leave him alone," Tomiwa warned. Junior stuck his tongue out at me and I paid back with an eye roll; big baby.

"What happened?" Tomiwa asked, looking down on me from the sofa. We had moved to the parlour, I was sitting cross-legged on the floor while Junior was setting up the PlayStation.

A sigh escaped me, there was no sugar coating my next words. "I got my old job back. Wole is CEO."

Mr Adams was originally chairman of the board and CEO until he decided to take one step down. He nominated me, the managing director to take his place. It felt odd to refer to myself as the Managing director again, that was my post of six months ago until Tuesday.

The gamepad in Junior's hand fell to the floor and the parlour grew quiet until Tomiwa spoke, "how did that happen?"

"I thought that was already in the bag, unofficially official, is that not what you said?" Junior chirped in. He was now sitting on the same sofa as Tomiwa.

Did I say that? Damn your memory, Junior.

Another sigh. I thought so too until Wole. It was no secret that both of us were not the best of friends. But that was the least of my worries, I was more bothered by the fact that some of my orders would now come from Wole and some of my directives wouldn't be followed until he gave his approval.

"What will you do? You can't work under someone you don't like." I shrugged, I wasn't working under him, we were working together and we didn't have to see each other for weeks, the office was that big. "Will you resign?"

Tomiwa and I chuckled at Junior's question.

Resign? No way. I loved the job too much. Finding the perfect homes for new families, couples - young and old, helping entrepreneurs or new businesses with the best land options and locations that would skyrocket their sales, provided me with a sense of fulfilment, happiness and purpose. I couldn't give that up. I would just have to learn to deal with having Wole as a boss.

"It doesn't have to be now but think about it. Think about moving into the real estate business on your own, you have the money, connection, I don't see why not." Junior added, not discouraged by my lack of enthusiasm at his suggestion.

Did I really want to be in competition with Mr Adams? I shook my head slowly, not at Junior's idea but at the thoughts that were beginning to cloud my mind. Not all of us could freelance or work from home like him, I enjoyed leaving the house and coming back later in the day.

Tomiwa must have sensed my unease, he changed the topic, only to something much worse. "Does Uti know?"

Uti? I scoffed. Unlike him, we didn't have a Lola in our life that we told every little thing that went wrong. My response was clipped, "no."

"Why?" They muttered simultaneously.

"She's busy." Their eyebrows raised and I sighed again. I'm over it, I murmured over and over again to myself before responding, "she's busy making preparations for her wedding."

Tomiwa's jaw dropped, a record-breaker. He was a professional at keeping his emotions in check.

"You proposed?" Junior asked. I rolled my eyes; slowpoke. His voice raised, this time it was laced with accusation, "you proposed without telling us?"

Thankfully I didn't have to explain myself to him. Tomiwa nudged him with his knee and murmured a small, "she's getting married to someone else."

"Oh."

Yes, oh.

"We can crash the wedding, we will wait for the pastor to ask if anyone has anything against the union. Don't worry, I'll be the one to shout, just give me the date and venue of the wedding," Junior volunteered. I laughed. He could do it, I knew that and I was tempted to give the go-ahead.

Tomiwa had other ideas though, he slapped Junior across his forehead, sending warnings through his eyes. With a deep frown etched on his face, he asked, "how do you feel about the whole thing?"

"It hurts." I placed my hand above my chest where the pain was usually the strongest. Sometimes it felt like someone was squeezing my heart. My airways would constrict and I found it hard to breathe. The pain was like a dull ache that never went away and I wanted it to end. "I wish she said no."

"The King is in love," Junior cooed. Unfortunately, Tomiwa didn't hit him again.

Me, in love? No. Na. Never. Not possible. It can't happen.

"How will I know? How did you know?" The words were out of my lips before I knew it.

I was expecting a response from Tomiwa but it was Junior who gave one. "You will just know."

Very helpful, Junior. Very helpful.

Raising a brow at him, a scowl on my face, "since when did you become a preacher of love?"

The idiot stood up, stretched out his arms like one of the two thieves on the cross. In a loud voice, "I'm not a preacher of love, I'm a fight, I'm a war."

"Junior. Sit down," Tomiwa thundered, yanking him by his waist. I shook my head at him and he winked, the boy was slowly going mad. "Don't talk again."

Surprisingly, Junior nodded and my eyes widened, I sent him a knowing look which he avoided. He wouldn't have been this compliant if I was the one who asked. At least, we could have an adult conversation without his crazy interference that was probably as a result of spending too much time with women he claimed weren't his type. 

"You wish she said no?" Tomiwa asked, I nodded. "If she said no, what would you have done, would you have asked her to marry you instead?"

"No," I shrieked. "We are not even dating."

"Would you have asked her out? She says no to the proposal and then what?" Midway into shaking my head, I stopped. "What are you bringing to the table, Mr Daniels?"

"Stop it," I bellowed. He was using that voice, the one that was only reserved for his clients. "Stop therapizing me. I didn't ask for therapy or...or counselling. What if I don't want to get married?"

"Then you shouldn't be so angry that she's getting married to someone else." He responded with matched energy. My heart sank, my temples throbbed, he didn't have to be so mean or brutal about it.

"King," Tomiwa started again, his voice was softer. "If you want her to say no then you must be willing to offer something better. Otherwise, no woman in her right mind will toss a marriage proposal aside because of a playboy who took her out on a movie premiere once."

"I hate you so much right now, Mister therapist."

"My clients love me this way, you should be glad I gave you a free session." He stood and helped Junior up, I was still in mild shock that he kept mute all through. "Also, the truth hurts, baby boy."

"I'm not a baby boy," I murmured. All of a sudden, I liked Tomiwa better when he still had his mouth shut. He could be senselessly blunt in passing his point across.

"You are acting like one." He murmured something into Junior's ear and he disappeared in the direction of my room. "You only ever meet your true love once, don't fuck it up."

"What do I have to do?"

"Get ready for heartbreak, get ready to love like you have never been hurt before." What? Tomiwa continued like he heard my inner thoughts, "women are complicated and so is love. Sometimes, it's the ones that we love that will hurt us the most."

"What's the point if they will end up hurting you?"

"Dear young man," I rolled my eyes at his tone, if Uche was here I wouldn't even be asking him. A part of me knew that was a lie, Tomiwa was best for deep conversations; brutally honest and helpful. "You will have to take your chances. Even if you don't end up with her, let it be that you tried."

What kind of advice is this?

"We are already late," Junior announced his presence into the parlour by hitting me on the chest with a golf ball. He dropped the hanger containing my clothes on the couch, "please shave and dress up, you be looking like an ape."

I offered him my middle finger, then I ran my fingers over my overgrown beards. "Late for what, where are we going to?"

They were both dressed fancifully, Tomiwa was in black turtle neck that was tucked into his slacks with black sneakers. It was definitely Lola who dressed him up, if not, he would have been on a suit. Junior was in plaid trousers, white shirt and white sneakers.

"Where are we going to?" I picked up the outfit Junior dropped for me.

"You will see."

*****

I had to force myself to complete this chapter. I started it last week but I have been having troubles writing the rest of it. No, it's not writer's block. It's a slight disinterest, frustration and so many other feelings I can't identify.

By the time I'm done patrolling the streets of social media, I'm already too stressed TF out, so many bad news, both home and abroad. Tbh, it's quite draining and it's affecting my writing.

I'll try to update the next chapter because I like even numbers, then I'll take a break (seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks). We will see. Hopefully, the creative juices will flow better so we can crash a wedding. 

I can't think of any question to ask, so, you can ask yours instead. Story related biko.