Beautiful Onyinye-Episode Four

Episode Four

A year after she had the dream, she was yet to see his shadow. Receiving his calls had become too cost a luxury for her. She would have given up on his return if she hadn’t seen him several times in her dreams standing at her doorstep, wearing his usual charming smile. But one thing she could not decipher from her dreams was the reason behind his arrival. She wished her dreams had been kind enough to furnish her with details of what the future held for them.

Onyinye was still in bed, enjoying the cool weather from a Saturday heavy downpour, when a loud, insistent knock at her door ruffled her nerves a bit. She looked at her wristwatch. It was 6.30am, a very inapt time to receive visitors. ‘Who could it be?’ She thought as she put in a couple of lethargic strides towards the door. When she asked for the person behind the door, only the wet sound from the heavy downpour was what she heard. She summoned courage, opened the door and her mouth at the same instant. She stood speechless till the drenched Emeka asked if he could come in.

Emeka was a smallish, warm and gracious man, but reserved.  The constant smile on his face had a way of making him look like a black, semi masculine doll. That doll-like look attracted her to him in the first place.  It was only a matter of a short while before she became bored of it. Her enthusiasm ebbed away. Added to his miniscule stature was this aspect of his life that had PRIVATE stamped all over it. It meant no twitter, no instagram. Not even a facebook account in his short name. He only managed a LinkedIn account because he found it professionally mandatory. She found it weird. She found it weirder that he did not have favorite movie, music… He didn’t even listen to music. The only time he did, the music lured her to sleep. His sense of humor, if he had one, bored her to death. He would rather bury his head in a motivational book than grind precious man-hours away in idle talk. His boredom was so infectious that her friends made music out of it in her ears. Ekaette could not stand a minute listening to his dreary words. In spite of these dreary details about him, her mother found a perfect man in Emeka. She called him ezigbo mmadu!

“Please, can I come in?” He asked again, his eyes blinking as he maintained a sober expression. That moment, Onyinye felt a lucid sense of guilt, knowing that she should have made the effort to accept him for who he was. Not wishing he had the vivacity and drive Adedamola boasted.

“Yes!” She muttered, almost reaching out to drag him in. That monosyllabic ‘yes’ meant more than just an answer to the question he asked. It meant she had finally agreed to let her heart absorb his love, regardless of how boring he was.  She was going to dance to his boring tune and accept him for who he was. Maybe she would stop looking for that thing in him that might interest her. She would try to spice things up instead of looking for what isn’t there. Although she had tried several times to make their relationship work, her effort had proved abortive. However, that moment, she was determined to put in more effort into making things fun. She was definitely going to stop making comparisons. Maybe, then, she would stop seeing Adedamola in her dreams.

 Emeka’s eyes were all allure as he walked over to her. That look made her feel she was the only one that mattered to him. He stopped at her feet, went down on one of his knees. Onyinye’s heart skipped a bit. He took her hand to say “I am sorry. I have made a big mistake to let you walk away. You are a very awesome lady. I know you will make a great wife. Please forgive me for whatever offense I committed.”

 “Emeka, it is all right,” she said quietly. Tears were welling up in her face, but she choked back her tears. “Please stand up.”

“I love you Onyinye.” Emeka said, still on his knee. “I don’t even know why we broke up, it’s obviously because we are coworkers. I won’t discuss work-related issues with you again. I promise. There are thousands of things to talk about aside from work.  Onyinye, I promise to be that perfect guy you want me to be.” Onyinye looked at Emeka and smiled. She loved the level of sincerity his eyes and voice conveyed. But then, there remained this nagging fear in her that he wouldn’t keep his promise. They would obviously discuss work because they seldom had things to talk about.

Not long after they got back together, Onyinye moved to another company, an insurance company. Several weeks after resuming work, the receptionist informed her that a visitor awaited her at the reception room. On picking up her phone from the spur of an unconscious hunch, she realised she had missed Emeka’s calls. He had called five times. Five times! She smiled as she whispered “Emeka” to herself before leaving for the reception room.

    

“Beautiful Onyinye!” 

 Onyinye had a kind of personality that only a thunderclap could breach. On this same day however, Adedamola’s voice from the blue had the same effect. She felt her heart torn into two halves. One half was excited to see him, whereas the other one had only anger for him. Her eyes widened in astonishment as she watched him move out the chair in the reception room to walk up to the doorpost where she stood looking dumbstruck.  He was wearing the Ralph Lauren Polo shirt she bought for him on their first valentine’s day. On his head was the same baseball cap she had written Onyinye and Adedamola together forever under its rounded crown. Or was she dreaming again? She could not just comprehend what she was looking at. Was that really him? When it occurred to her that she was obviously not dreaming, she felt like walking out on him.  Despite herself, she stood still like a tree, staring at him as he took every step to make up the distance between them. She was livid that his smile, beautiful eyes and mannish allure melted away the scorn she had reserved in her hearts for years. Once he approached her, he threw his hands round her. She tried to loosen his grip but he held on tighter. She looked around and was glad they were alone in the reception. Had it been any different, she would have been embarrassed. After a while, he loosened his grip on her, looked at her face again before he held unto her again.

“Beautiful Onyinye!” he exclaimed again.

 Adedamola rattled on about how she had grown bigger and more beautiful. Onyinye did not smile. She did not want to smile. And she didn’t say a word to him although she noticed some changes about him.  He had grown bigger and looked somehow aged with beards taking over what has become his chubby chin. She felt he’d look better with the beards off his face because they did not suit his personality. As usual, in his high-spirited nature, he reeled off on his long chats. As he talked on, his smile was bright and his countenance was really surprising. He didn’t look like the guy who broke up with her two years, six months and ten days ago. Almost three years! His sudden arrival and weird countenance made her think she was in a dream state.

“How did you find me?” Onyinye interrupted him when he started talking about her new job. “How did you know I changed my job? And how did you know I now work here?”

“I googled you.” He laughed.

“Whoa! Google knows everything now. I know who your Google is.”

“Ekaette!” They said together and laughed briefly.

“Why did you change your job?” He asked.

There was a brief silence as Onyinye was thinking of the right words to say to him. She didn’t know if she should ask him what he wanted or why he was at her work. She was confused and short of words. So, she said, “I need to go back to work.” She turned to leave. Before she could make her way out, he pulled her hand and their faces met. There was a brief silence which he ruined by saying, “I will come after work and we will talk over dinner,” he said quickly before she left.

They had dinner at a restaurant very close to Onyinye’s work place. Adedamola did most of the talking, while Onyinye simply listened. His words were a trip down the memory lane. She smiled reminiscing how they explored every restaurant in Abeokuta during NYSC days and the parties they went bubbling together. But when she thought about how he ruined everything, she was both angry and sad. He changed the subject to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and the outcome of the US election. His constant chatter about the United States’ election grated her nerves. When he asked for her opinions about the US election, she said she wasn’t interested in the US politics. Her response was rather harsh and she was happy. After her retort, only the cutleries made noise. They went silent.  After a while, he broke the silence by asking her why she had suddenly grown quiet. ‘What a question?’ she thought, staring at his bright face.

“What about your music career in America?” She asked.

Adedamola laughed a throaty laugh before he said, “Onyinye, please let us talk about something else.” A short silence ensued again. “There is something missing in your voice, countenance and in everything.” His words came out finally after he had been pondering on how to alter the silence.

She smiled like she had nothing in her mind, “There is nothing really.”

“There is something you are not telling me.”

“Adedamola, it amazes me the way you are acting like it wasn’t you who broke up with me two years ago.”

“Oh!” He exclaimed, and then took a deep breath before he said, “To be sincere, I was running away from that, but we are now together.”

 She nodded. “Alright!” The word came out unbidden. “So don't expect me to talk to you like you and I are still….” She swallowed the rest of her words and then turned to the glass cup on the table and for no reason known to her, she found her hand rotating the glass cup. She stopped when he cupped his palms around hers and the glass cup. When she looked into his eyes, he looked apologetic.

“I got a new house and I want you to see it,” he said.  Onyinye was disappointed with that line. She wanted him to talk endlessly on how he regrets leaving her but he never for once made mention of it. It hurt her really bad. “I don't want you to just see it; I want a woman’s touch in it.” He added. “Don't you want to see it?”

“Of course!” She exclaimed.

He drove her home, playing their favorite music ‘beautiful Onyinye’ in his car. “I need to tell Psquare how grateful I am for this music,” he said before he started singing. His voice and the song made her nostalgic. She couldn’t forget the first time they danced to the song. She could still picture how he held her so close that she could listen to his heartbeat as they slowly moved their bodies in a dance parody. Those good old memories had been marred by him.

The following day, after work, Adedamola took her to his mansion located in one of the most sophisticated areas in Lagos, Ikoyi. The house was a four bedroom duplex. Its exteriors and interiors were breathtakingly beautiful. The living room was stuffed with exquisite furniture and she loved the blends of colours; cream and brown.  She also liked the bedrooms because the walls were painted in cream, a perfect colour for her and it was spacious too. She liked the simplicity of the interior design of all the rooms. The house looked just the way she envisaged her dream house. If only she was in a good mood, she could have described the house comfy. But she nodded speechlessly as he showed her around the house mentioning ‘us’, ‘ours’, and ‘we ’instead of a personal pronoun, ‘I.  It was his house not hers. However, she kept quiet.

“Hold on for a second!” he said unexpectedly before she walked out of the well-furnished kitchen. “Why are you so quiet? I thought you would be interested in this kitchen. I will accept your silence toward the other rooms, but I won’t allow your silence here. This is your kitchen.”

“My kitchen?” She voiced out finally.

“Yes, your kitchen. This looks exactly the way you described the kitchen you’ve always wanted. I am sorry the bedrooms and living rooms have been well furnished before you arrived here. There are enough touches you can make to this kitchen. The utensils and other fixtures are still missing and I intentionally told the interior decorator to leave that in your hands.”

 A tense silence filled the air between them.“Say something,” he said, breaking the silence that had weighed on him. "Please say something."

“Adedamola, what do you want me to say?” She paced around the kitchen. “I hate the way you think that you have the whole world in your hand and you can decide to spin it in any direction without considering others. That is being callous, selfish and wicked.”

“What are you saying?” He looked surprised.

“What am I saying, right?” Onyinye shouted. “Why am I even here in the first place?” She turned to leave but he grabbed her by her arm. “Stop pretending like you didn’t break up with me. You left me heartbroken. I gave you my heart, my time and everything. But you used me and dumped me after you got tired of me. Now you want me to act as if nothing happened?”

“But I-” he stuttered. “While I was in the States, Onyinye, I called several times but you wouldn’t pick up and sometimes you hung up on me.”

“You never apologized to me!” She screamed.

“But I kept calling you.”

 “Why did you break up with me? Why?”

“If I don’t want you back, I won’t bring you this far.”

“The problem you have is that you think you are always right. You can never say 'I am sorry'. Rather than say you're sorry, you'd argue till eternity.”

“I am sorry!” He exclaimed. “You see? It was not hard for me to say, Onyinye. I am deeply sorry.'”

           

 “Adedamola, it is too late. I am telling you this so that when you meet another lady, you won't treat her like you treated me.”

“I don't want another lady, it's you I want.”

“It's too late. Or you think I am made only for you and no other guy is allowed. You are a big joker. ”

“Onyinye, I will make things right. Please! I was confused, lost and I needed to clear my head. That was why I went away. There was too much pressure from everyone around me.”

“Including me? I added too much pressure to your life?”

“No, beautiful Onyinye.”

“Don't call me beautiful Onyinye!”

“I didn’t leave you because I didn’t love you. I left because I was confused about everything.”

“But you have dated two or three other ladies after the break up.

“Just one and she was a big mistake. I made a big mistake leaving you. I am so sorry.”

“No, you didn’t. I was a distraction and you needed me out of your life.  Now you want me back when you think you need me. You are such a selfish person.”

“No, Onyinye. It is not what you think.”

“Then what? What?”

“Onyinye, let us just forget about the past. We have a great and beautiful future ahead of us. Those who have good relationships are those who forget their past mistakes. There is no point looking back. I am here now and-”

“I have a contrary opinion!” She interrupted him. “Sometimes, if we don’t correct the mistakes in the past, more problems await us in the future. I am not the type that forgets the past, I learn from it.”

“Alright! Onyinye, please let us just move ahead.” 

 They stared at each other’s eyes, hers was filled with hurt and disappointment and his with the frustration of trying to get her back. “It is going to be my Dad’s birthday next week Saturday and my family members want you to come. My parents want to meet you.”

“You want me to meet your parents again next week Saturday?”

“Yes, Saturday.”

“That is the day of my Introduction.” She smirked.

“Introduction?” He stood stunned. “I don’t understand.”

“Yes, Introduction. I will be meeting my fiancé’s family members officially. And I will be getting married in few months’ time.”

“What!?”

 To be continued..................