King

One. Two. Three. Four. My biceps swelled with the rise and fall of the dumbbells in each hand. Sweat formed under my armpit, going on to create a wet patch in the middle of my shirt. Exercises were no fun.

Veins appeared on my wrists, tracing a path up my upper arm before disappearing into the sleeves of my vest and my muscles screamed in protest when I continued counting after forty. Ten more to go.

The music playing from the speakers I had connected to my phone changed to Wizkid's Joro as I finished the last of the bicep curls. The floor to ceiling mirrors that covered a part of the wall inside Junior's home gym showed me in my black, loose short which was worn over long leggings of the same colour, grey vest with my tiny man nipples poking out and lastly, my Adidas sneakers.

After returning the dumbbells to their original position, I took a swig from my flask, grabbed my phone and strolled to the parlour where I was greeted by the click-click sound of Junior's fingers as it ran rapidly over the keyboard of his MacBook pro. His eyes were glued to the screen and he was typing as if his life depended on it.

I announced my presence by plopping on the single sofa opposite his, mirroring his cross-legged position with my arms on the handrest. "I'm bored."

His parlour was nearly the same size as mine with the walls coated in much more vibrant colours. When he didn't respond, I murmured something under my breath about Software developers and always pretending to be busy. What's he typing?

Junior only raised his head slightly from the laptop that was perched on his thighs. "Guy, you are disturbing my life. Be quiet."

"Do you have a life?" I fired back. When he kept quiet, I asked, "How far that thing?"

"Which thing?" His head whipped in my direction before a look of understanding crossed his face and he said, "Almost done."

His fingers moved faster on his keyboard and my presence was soon forgotten. I grabbed the remote, switched on his large TV that was propped on the wooden stand. Surfing the channels didn't take long because nothing of interest was showing. I was fucking bored out of my mind.

"I'm bored," I repeated.

"Call Uti."

A smile found its way to my lips and I felt that familiar squeeze of my heart. She was probably bent over a sewing machine, doing wonders on a piece of material that would blow its owner's mind off. I would have given anything to be around her while she worked but a part of me knew she wouldn't be getting any work done except it was a certain job that involved her soft lips or hands wrapped around an eager part of me. That was if she wouldn't mind doing it.

I missed her so much even though we saw yesterday. Hell, I would be more than satisfied with us sitting quietly in the same space, basking in each other's presence.

Uti was my new addiction, a quench to a thirst I never knew plagued me.

We were supposed to meet in the evening and time had slowed down. I spent over an hour in Junior's gym only for my phone to show me it was actually thirty minutes. With four weeks of free time, I wanted to spend every moment with her, Emma and Esther, creating new, pleasant memories.

"She's busy," I finally murmured, my voice taking on a sad edge. I missed her.

Junior huffed, placed his laptop by the side and stretched his legs. He moved to the TV stand, connected the PlayStation and threw a gamepad without looking at me. The pad hit my forehead and when I called his attention to it, he only shrugged. Idiot.

As always, he picked Chelsea while I changed my team to Barcelona. None of us spoke again until he scored a goal. To be honest, I wasn't paying much attention to the game, I was only playing to pass time.

"Have you two settled?" Junior asked; he had relocated to the tiled floors.

The corner of my lips lifted in a half-smile. "Yes, we have more than settled."

He paused the game, I didn't object but he didn't say anything like I expected him to.

When we didn't resume playing, my pad dropped to the floor and a question slipped from my lips, "Did Faith ask you out?"

A tiny scowl appeared on his face, guess that didn't work out. "I had to ask her out," he paused briefly before his scowl morphed into a semi smile, "I really like her."

His happiness was contagious and I found myself smiling along. None of us started this year with hopes of meeting that one for us. I was happy for him; no man was left behind but it didn't mean I wouldn't tease him.

"You are a goner, bro," I murmured when the smile remained on his face. After a while, I added, "I like Uti too, really like her. I asked her to marry me."

Junior's pad clattered to the ground and I chuckled, failing to mention that it happened before the kissing incident with that cocksucker. Thinking of him now made my blood boil and I redirected my thoughts to happy places. To the events of yesterday at Emma's classroom, his toothy smile that had everyone in the class doing his bidding.

The command in his voice when he instructed me to stand in front of his classmates while he did the introduction of Uncle Kiki had me smiling again. His kind-hearted class teacher had not minded and Samia had been the first one to introduce herself among the kids. I chuckled again; the chorus of bye Uncle Kiki from about twenty kids ringing in my ears.

Everything had been going on well until I returned to see Uti looking like she had lost an important bet. She had lied about being alright, if her twitch hadn't given her away, her avoidance of my gaze would have. Good a thing we were meeting today; I could find out the issue bothering my woman.

"King," Junior's voice broke me from my reverie, his hand on my knee successfully bringing me back to the present. "Marry you? You asked her to marry you?"

A frown marred my face at his questions; was that not what they both said to do? Not as if we would marry immediately, we were yet to even talk about it. Still, I nodded.

"What of her kids? I hope they are on board with the idea of having a male figure in the house, it's a big adjustment," he murmured, "you of all people should know that."

This big head just had to go there. Who asked me to tell him about her kids? I groaned. Why did Junior have to be so wise sometimes?

Of course, I knew all about adjustments, well, a little bit of it since I never really adapted to seeing Mother with different husbands. Emma would be fine with me being in their lives, I didn't need to worry about him but Esther; I sighed. Might as well get ready for the silent treatments.

I was trying to avoid the mistakes some of Mother's husbands made, for those who even tried. They wanted to be friends, they wanted me to treat them like a real father figure. I scoffed. As if I would want anything to do with the person standing in the way of my parents getting back together. At least, that was what my younger self thought. And the relationship I had with Mother suffered greatly for it. I wouldn't want a repeat of that with Uti and her children.

"Take them to the beach," Junior's voice pierced through my subconscious and my eyes raised to meet his. He must have sensed my internal conflict.

"Huh?" I heard him loud and clear.

"The beach, it's great for bonding," he said.

We used to all go to the beach. We called the private property I owned in some other part of this state the beach which was funny because the place didn't have any beaches, just a large swimming pool. Our relaxing spot, away from the world and our phones.

The last time we went there as a group was for Uche's bachelor night, maybe I could make it our new spot; mine and Uti.

Though the idea appealed to me, I couldn't help but feel uncertain. A weekend there with them would be great. "You think?"

Instead of replying, Junior, the idiot burst out laughing. "What's funny?"

"Don't sha burn the house because you want to impress Uti," he replied and picked up his laptop. I narrowed my eyes at him.

It was only one time and I was trying to help him out. Not my fault he failed to put enough water in the rice before asking me to watch it. I even tried by alerting him early, otherwise, well, we had to order in. No one could eat that Jollof poison.

"Fuck you," I murmured when he continued laughing. I would show him I could cook. Or maybe not. Cooking was reserved for some people and I was not on that list.

* * *

"What happened to you?" Uti asked.

She touched the slight bump on my forehead that had formed after Junior threw the pad at me, turning my head to one side as if to inspect for any more invisible damages. A zap of electricity shot straight to my groin at the contact of her skin against mine and my mouth shifted into a naughty smile as she fussed over me.

I took one look at the rear-view mirror, my index finger ran over my brows, it wasn't that obvious. "Junior happened."

Uti waited until I had opened the passenger's door, she got out, placed her hand in the crook of my elbow. Her shoes made her come up to the same head level as me and her feminine scent drew me in.

"What did you do?"

The garage was empty as we strolled to the entrance of the restaurant. We had a reservation for seven but we were a few minutes early. I could not wait any longer.

"How come I always get blamed?" I whined with a pout. I was the injured one here.

We neared the entrance and a security guard in brown and black uniform pulled one of the glass double doors open for us with a "welcome to Indrani's Palace."

"Maybe cos you're cute," she finally replied when we had found our way inside.

Not again. I didn't dress all dapper in my suit and brogues to be called that. "I am not cute, I am handsome. Say handsome."

"Okay, handsome," she murmured; I smiled.

There was no space between us in the long, plush sofa we were seated on, I wanted to be as close to her as possible, make up for our time apart. When she was not looking, I stole a peck and it earned me a smack across my chest. I laughed, it was worth it.

Our attention was directed to the live band playing on stage. The lead singer had his hand wrapped around the microphone with his eyes closed as he belted out the lyrics to one of Asa's love songs. The other member of the team had his lips around the trumpet, cheeks puffed as he worked his magic and the only drummer present was hitting the drums with practised precision. Together they produced a sound that was beautiful to the ears and refreshing to the soul.

Securing this place for us had taken a lot, more like a lot of money. But it had been done. This was our first proper date, I wanted it to be special and I was glad she dressed the part. She was stunning.

Who was I kidding? Uti would have looked good in anything but this blue gown did a special number on her. I shouldn't have expected anything less; she was the face of her brand. The gown fit snugly on her body and it looked like it would be easy to pull off which to me was the best part.

"Have you made up your mind?" I gestured to the menu in her hands.

A waiter already approached us but we had told him off with a promise to call his attention with the bell on the table. A complimentary bucket of champagne was on the table, our glasses were filled, none of us had taken a sip. I preferred water.

"No," she murmured, her eyes running over the pages of the menu.

"You should check out their frog legs."

The look of horror that crossed her face had me chuckling. Tears stood in my eyes and I hit my chest repeatedly to stop me from coughing. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

"I'll pass."

A few seconds passed, she was still perusing the menu. At Sugar 'n' spice, she had done the same until I came to her rescue and now, I wanted her to make a choice herself. Besides, the time she spent doing that gave me a chance to openly admire her.

"We should get married." The words were out of my mouth before it registered in my brain. But I didn't regret saying it.

She continued flipping through the pages like I didn't say anything important. Her eyes barely stayed on one page before she flipped to the next. She was not reading it.

"Uti?" I called, her hands stilled on a page.

"Are you sure?"

Even her? I laughed. It would seem as if the surer I became about a decision, the more uncertain the people around me grew. I was yet to decide if that was good or bad.

"If you will have me, yes."

The band stopped playing, Uti dropped the menu to the table. She gazed fixedly at me, searching. Searching for what? Seconds ran by, the band had not resumed neither had she given a reply. If I didn't see them from the corner of my eyes, debating their next song choice, I would have assumed they were also waiting to hear her response.

Her lips moved, they were coated in a more natural colour, I couldn't say for sure if she applied anything other than that shiny, colourless lip balm. I would find out soon.

"Yes," she smiled, "if you will have me too."

The smile that graced my face was the opposite of what I had been feeling. My shoulders sagged in relief, a breath I didn't realise I had been holding slipped from me and my hands reached out to loosen my bowtie.

At the board meeting, I had been half sure Wole would try something sneaky like what he did to get the CEO position but I had not been prepared for the demotion. I did get over it, better still, I was learning to live with it but I wouldn't have been able to do the same if Uti rejected me. I raised my eyes to meet her twinkling ones, she had me fucking wrapped around her fingers.

"Yes," I said with a genuine smile, I would have been a fool to say otherwise, "yes."

My excitement dimmed a little at her lack of enthusiasm. Other women would have been excited at a marriage proposal. The videos uploaded on Instagram always showed the women crying but Uti was just there. Or, was it the absence of a ring? Of course, that was the reason, only a dumbass like me would talk about marriage without a ring.

"So ... Marriage ... " I trailed off.

She chuckled. "You have to court me first."

I would never understand why I started laughing but by the time I was done, some of the tension in the air had disappeared.

"Yes, ma'am, you will show me how."

When she didn't share in my humour, the alarm bells in my head went off.

"What's wrong?"

It was the same question I asked yesterday, the one she answered with a lie. Maybe today's answer would be different. Maybe the smile on her lips would reach her eyes and she would stop casting furtive glances at her wristwatch.

The band resumed, the song was unfamiliar but it had a melody that made you want to carry your partner to the floor and dance till your feet hurts. Uti didn't seem up for that, she seemed anxious and we had only been here for less than thirty minutes.

She looked troubled and the major reason I had reserved this place was to make her comfortable, to feel at ease without the curious glares of strangers. 

I sandwiched her hand in between mine, cracking her knuckles while I waited, albeit impatiently for her to speak up.

"It's Esther." I brought her hand to my mouth now, taking turns to bite on each finger. "She thinks I'm spending too much time with you and less with them."

"Is that why you keep staring at your watch?"

"Maybe." A guilty smile danced on her lips.

"We can fix that."

"How?"

"First," I started, patting my legs, "you have to sit here." She rolled her eyes but indulged me. "Second, we have to make our order."

My hands reached for the bell. "Have you made up your mind?"

"Frog legs?"

"Good choice," I murmured against her arm, tracing a line down to her wrist.

She wrapped a hand around my shoulder, her forehead pressed against mine and with the pad of her thumb pulled down my lower lip. My hand around her waist tightened, her touches were doing that thing again, made me want to lose control.

"What's the third option?" she whispered.

There were two more options actually but only one was feasible right now. Her fingers migrated to my beards, she tugged on them and my lips parted. Her eyes followed my tongue running over my lips. She gulped; I smirked. She wanted to kiss me too.

"We could go to the beach."

Then I hit the bell for the waiter.

*****

Media: King's gym outfit.

BOTC: The Bridge by _mothawriter_. It tells a story about a man who tries to take his own life by jumping into the bridge, cue, the title. It's a good read, a Christian novella, you should check it out.

King was raging, he wanted to spend time with Uti but I was busy. Uti has refused to talk to me, God knows I am sha tired but here we are. Happy new month!

Also, I have not written a story of more than 40 chapters before, it's now doing me as if I'm losing interest when we still have a short-long way to go. Anyway ... I'm sha enjoying their love, I'll try to show more of it before party scatters.

Q: Have you eaten frog legs before? It's not as bad as it sounds.