King

Aggressive knocking on my door jolted me awake. I roused from the sofa and into a sitting position, pulling at the bridge of my nose with my thumb and index finger. My eyes roamed the parlour, settling on the carry-on bag that I had shoved clothes into in a haphazard manner. I must have fallen asleep before I got a chance to finish packing or arrange them properly. 

My phone buzzed and I stood to retrieve it from the table. Swiping up on my phone screen, the image that greeted me was that of the website I visited to book a flight. 

At the bottom of the page was a red button with book now written in capital letters. I spared a glance at the time at the top right corner of my screen, it read 4:30. If I booked now, I would be home before nine. 

One look at the notification that got me to stand up and I saw that it was from Mother. She wanted to know if I was still coming. I ignored the message, taking another look at that button. My fingers hovered briefly above it, stopped by the quick succession of rapid knocks at my door.

What if it's Junior?

The thought propelled me to hit the book button before twirling to ask, "who's there?"

I had not told any of them that I would be travelling for fear of them trying to change my mind. They would be informed once I got to the airport or back to Abuja. 

"Uti."

"What do you want?" I asked; she was the last person I wanted to see, assuming I ever wanted to see her again after last night. 

Seeing them kiss on the day he proposed to her had hurt like hell. It was a crushing sensation, likened to the feeling of having someone you cared about repeatedly stab you in your chest while you watch on helplessly in a silent plea. Hurt, immobile and overwhelmed by the betrayal. 

Yesterday, my body had listened and my feet had moved far, far away from them.

"King?" She must have sensed my hesitation as I was still standing in the middle of the parlour. "Please open up." 

The hand holding my phone lowered and I stared at the door, battling with the part of me that wanted to see her. I was certain my resolve would be weakened once I saw her face but it didn't stop my feet from moving to the entrance and my fingers, to the lock.

Pressing my forehead to the door, I assured myself that this was goodbye. One last look at her face wouldn't do any harm.

"Can I come in?" She asked once I opened the door with my body blocking the entry.

I really wanted to say no but my rebellious body moved aside for her to step inside. I followed behind her, eyes focused on the black, polythene nylon that she was holding rather than the gentle sway of her waist as she moved. Or the way her fingers fiddled with the sleeves of her kimono while waiting for me to join her.

My eyes lowered to the nylon she had dropped on the table and she volunteered an answer to my unspoken question.

"We made cupcakes, vanilla cupcakes."

"I'm off sugar," came my tart response.

Who was to say that she didn't make it with the help of Umoh? He was probably there when she made the cupcakes, helping her in ways I couldn't since I was terrible at anything that slightly resembled cooking.

She reached for the nylon with a straight face. "It's okay. I'll just tell Emma and Esther that Uncle Kiki is staying away from sugar so he can't eat any of these," she said while making another knot on the nylon.

"Leave it," I murmured before she could take if off the table. I couldn't reject gifts from Emma and Esther even if I was mad at their mother. And I loved cupcakes.

Uti smiled, I sighed. "What do you want?"

"You left; you didn't hear my response to your proposal." She coughed and looked away, "and you are not picking my calls."

Were we really going to act like she didn't run back into his arms after I bared my heart out to her? I shook my head, I was not doing that. Not now, not ever.

"You kissed him."

"He kissed me." She raised a hand up as if to support the point she was making but I remained unimpressed. "I didn't expect it."

"What did you expect after saying it was okay to get a goodbye kiss?" Yes, I followed them and maybe I shouldn't have but I was glad I did. "Fine, you didn't want to kiss him, so, why didn't you push him off?" She opened her mouth to talk, no words came out. Right, because there was no excuse. "You were in there with him for more than five minutes; I was waiting for you. No," I shook my head, "you kept me waiting so you could run off to kiss another man."

"It's not like that," her face contorted into one of hurt and I scoffed, she had to do better than that to convince me otherwise. I was furious and hurt and furious. "We broke up. He wants us to get back together, I said no. You are the one I want to be with."

"Good for you."

"King." She made to move close to me but I raised a hand to stop her. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry doesn't cut it," I replied; she didn't get it. "How do I know you won't keep running back to him for more goodbye kisses?"

"It was a one-time thing," she stared at me like my worries were unfounded, "it won't happen again. We're fighting over nothing."

"It's not nothin-"

"I promise," her voice raised, she took one step towards me, "it won't repeat itself."

Maybe it was my fear of commitment that was fueling my argument or messing with my sense of reasoning but I didn't believe her. At least, I was leaving before she could.

"I don't think I can trust you," I murmured.

There was a pin drop silence after my utterance. She placed one hand on her waist, eyes narrowed, nostrils flared. She looked cute. I reprimanded myself as soon as that thought appeared, that was what got me into this situation in the first place.

"You don't think you can trust me?" She jabbed a finger at my chest, "you asked me to marry you yesterday and now, you don't think you can trust me?"

"That was before you let him kiss you."

I doubt I could ever get over that. The image was forever imprinted in my brain and it chose this moment to replay. It hurt more than watching him kiss her the first time.

"So everything you said yesterday was a lie? What happened to the warm hugs on a bad day? The massages? The ... The school runs? All the promises you made, were they all lies?" With each question she asked, her finger threatened to poke a hole into my chest. I shook my head, they were not lies.

She continued, "you let her kiss you and I'm not giving you a hard time about it."

I knew who she was talking about without her even saying it out loud. I scoffed, ignoring her pursed lips that were inches away from me. Was that her excuse? That midget harassed me. And after what they did yesterday, I thought that was forgotten.

"Is that why you did it?" I asked; my fists were balled at my sides. "For revenge?"

Uti withdrew her hand from my chest, shook her head slowly and sighed like she just realised how futile this whole thing was. I agreed with her, maybe, now would be good to accept the fact that we were both wasting each other's time. My ringtone cut through the air, stopping whatever speech she had planned to give. I pulled it out of my pocket. Mother was calling.

"Mother," I said into the phone, taking steps away from Uti to get some privacy.

From my peripheral view, I saw her eyes widen slightly and I knew she would be listening in our conversation.

"Are you still going?" Mother didn't bother with pleasantries this time and I replied in the affirmative. "Which airline?"

I could feel Uti gaze on me so I turned away to give Mother an answer but it didn't stop her from trying to bore holes into me with her laser-like stare. After a few seconds of inquiring about my wellbeing, with me repeating the gesture, she ended the call.

"You are travelling." It was not a question, more like an order. There was no hint of accusation in her voice. I nodded. "When?"

"Today."

She came to stand in front of me, chewing on her lower lip. "What time?"

"6:30?" I wasn't so sure, I was unable to finalise my travel plans before her arrival.

Her face was devoid of any emotion when she asked the next question. "How long?"

"Four weeks." My suspension would be over by then. Plus, this was a vacation I should have taken a long time ago; I needed it.

"What ..." She trailed off to look at my bag like she was seeing it for the first time. I still had some more packing to do. "Will it matter if we don't want you to go?"

"We?"

"They," she corrected. "Esther and Emma."

So she was hiding under the umbrella of her children. "I don't think Esther cares and Emma wouldn't notice I'm gone."

I missed both of them. Esther, with her poor attempt at raising one of her eyebrows and commanding tone. Emma, with his lips that were always eager to spill secrets and his need to be carried everywhere. But at this point, I was tired of our back and forth.

"What if I don't want you to go?"

"I already booked my flight."

It was amazing how our roles had reversed. Last night, I was the one doing most of the talking. The one who was at the receiving end. I sighed, maybe I was being too hasty.

"You could cancel it, people cancel their flights all the time." She shortened the distance between us without touching me. Something akin to fear flashed in her eyes but it was gone before I could identify it.

"I'll reimburse you," she finally murmured.

I fought back the urge to smile. "Uti," I drawled, I could never take money from her. Even if the airline didn't refund me, but they would; I liked spending on her.

There was urgency in her voice when she spoke next and the rest of my resolve weakened. "Don't leave me, please stay."

"I keep seeing both of you, I can't get that memory out of my head." It was a weak argument but it was the truth.

She. Him. Their lips meeting even if it was only for a few seconds. That memory was driving me insane. She should have at least tried to push him, slap or shouted at him, not stay inside with him for a couple more minutes. They could have done more than kissing in that period, I would have if I was the one left alone with her. Even now, it was a big struggle to keep my hands to myself.

"King." I lifted my head at the sound of her voice. She was sucking on her lower lips and it did funny things to me, I wanted to be the one doing that, with my own lips.

My gaze wandered to her fingers that were slightly brushing against mine, probably unsure how I would react. Taking a deep breath, I reached for her pinky finger with mine, intertwining them; one step at a time.

She smiled shyly and I chuckled for the first time today. She was cute. She took a long look at my face then her kissable lips met the corner of mine, taking me by surprise.

Unlike yesterday when Straying hands did it, I craved for more. She kissed that spot again as if she could read my mind and in a small voice, she whispered, "we can create new memories, our own memories."

*****

BOTC: Child of the Red Moon by biolanicole. It's a Nigerian themed supernatural story, you would enjoy every moment of it. It's a promise.

This chapter, this was not what was in the first draft but I was not satisfied with it. I think King got tired of being the one always doing the chasing so I had to rewrite it. I like how it turned out sha.

Q: Pizza or Shawarma?