FED UP!

(…continued…)

Mabel told him about her NYSC posting and then where she was working.

  “For you to be working there, you are a big girl na,” he said.

  “It is not like that o.”

  “It is showing on you.”

  “Na small small sha.”

                Ejike admired her for a while and then said, “I see you are not married.”

  “What?” Mabel asked, just to be sure she heard him well.

                Ejike’s friend nudged him as a sign for him to hold his peace. Ejike did not heed. He pressed further.

  “You are not wearing any ring,” Ejike said, “So I am guessing you are not married yet.”

                Mabel burst into laughter. Ejike and his friend looked at themselves, confused.

  “So you want to marry me.” Mabel said, still laughing.

                Ejike swallowed saliva and kept quiet, wondering what to reply Mabel’s direct question.

  “I just wanted to know,” he said. “Afterall, it will not be a bad idea if I win your heart.”

  “You have a very long way to go o. And to answer your question, I am not married.”

                Ejike smiled.

  “Do you mean to say that men are not seeing what I am seeing?”

  “They are o.”

  “Abi you are yet to see Mr. Right.

  “I am just taking my time. Men are funny human beings.”

  “Not all men o.”

  “That is what they all say.”

  “Try me and see.”

                Mabel looked at him and chuckled.

  “Ok oo.”

                A little girl came out to the gate from the compound and greeted them.

 “Have you seen aunty Cynthia this evening?” Mabel asked her after pleasantries.

  “No,” the girl answered.

Mabel checked her timepiece and asked, “Why is Cynthia not back by this time?”

  “But your mummy is around,” the girl said.

  “Ok. Tell her I am around ok.”

  “Ok.”

                The girl went back into the compound. 

  “I should be going in now,” she said.

  “So soon?”

  “I need to see my mother and then find out why my sister is not yet back.”

  “Don’t mind my poke nosing in your relationship. I was pulling your legs.”

  “No offence at all. It is so good to see you once again.”

  “Yes o. I hope we will keep seeing regularly before I travel.”

  “I hope so too.”

  “Let me have your number then, so I will call you tomorrow.”

                He brought out his phone to collect the number.

  “Is that phone not heavy on your hand?” Mabel asked, laughing.

  “My dear, na packaging o.”

  “You use it to deceive girl abi. Una dey try o.”

  “That one dey sha. But the packaging is mainly for the supply business. No one will take you serious if there is nothing to show that you are a big boy.”

  “I hear you.”

  “Don’t worry, I will get you one as big as this the next time we see.”

  “Are you serious? I can go inside now and come out again, then you give it to me.”

  “Not today o,” Ejike said laughing.

                Mabel gave him her phone number and saved his own.

  “I will call you tomorrow,” he said. “Do you do TGIF things?”

  “Nope.”

  “Please, for old time sake.”

  “Ok, depending on what you have in mind.”

  “Is that a yes?”

  “I wouldn’t know until you call.”

                A keke stopped in front of the compound and Cynthia came out. She paid the keke man and came to Mabel.

  “Are you just coming back?” she asked Mabel as she got close and put her arm round Mabel’s neck.

  “Not quite long ago,” Mabel replied.  “What took you so long?”

  “Dinma kept going out and coming back. I just had to wait to finish making the hair.”

  “The hair is fine.”

  “Thank you. Is mummy back?”

  “I think so. I have not entered the house yet.”

  “Ok.”

                She said ‘Hi’ to Ejike and his friend who stood watching with mouth open all the while Cynthia was talking with Mabel.

  “Ehe, sorry I forgot,” Mabel said. “Cynthia, meet Ejike, my course mate.”

                He offered his hand and Cynthia shook it. He held on to the hand a little longer than he should. Cynthia had to pull her hand out.

  “And his friend…”

  “Kome,” Ejike’s friend finished for her.

                Cynthia said ‘hi’ without offering her hand.

  “You are welcome,” she said to them. Then she turned to Mabel and said, “Let me go inside.”

  “Ok, I am coming behind you.”

                Mabel gave Cynthia her bag to keep for her inside the house. She turned back to Ejike and caught him staring at Cynthia.

  “Wow,” he said.

  “Wow what?” Mabel asked, smiling.

  “Your sister is something else.”

  “Is that a compliment?”

  “Yes it is o. Beauty runs in your blood.”

  “Thanks Ejike.”

                He opened the dial pad in his phone and asked with a babyish grin, “Can I have her number?”

  “You are not serious,” Mabel said laughing loud. “You want me, you want my sister. How much more confused can you get?”

  “I did not see her before I asked you out. I have changed my mind. She is the one I want to marry now.”

                Mabel laughed and hit him on his shoulder.

  “Then Kome will marry me,” she said.

  “Immediately,” said Kome, who had been observing and laughing all the while.

  “No o,” Ejike said.

  “You cannot marry two of us at the same time na.”

  “I am African. All things are possible.”

  “Ejyke bobo.”

  “I will spoil two of you.”

  “We will suck you dry.”

  “Never.”

                Mabel begged to take her leave.

  “Please let me be going,” she said. “It is getting late.”

 “It has been nice chatting with you,” Ejike said.

  “Same here.”

  “Till tomorrow then. Don’t switch off your phone o.”

  “I will not do that. I am not a child na.”

                Mabel made to go inside.

  “Won’t I get a hug?” Ejike asked with the babyish grin.

  “Nope.”

  “Kai.”

                Mabel went in laughing while Ejike and Kome stood where they were, watching her frame as she retreated. When she got to the building, she turned back and saw them still staring at her. She waved at them to go. They waved back, entered the car and left.

                Mabel went into the house and met Cynthia peeping through the window.

(…to be continued…)

-©2015.Chinedu Isaac