Kunbi and Sola walk into Wale’s apartment. Kunbi slumps into the settee while Sola sits gently by her side.
“Home sweet home. I couldn’t wait to get home from that maddening crowd at the airport. Oh God! I’m so tired and tomorrow starts another working week”. She says yawning. “I wish the weekend could go on and on”. She notices Sola is quiet and looks at him with surprise. “Helloooooo”. She stresses. “What’s wrong? Why are you so quiet?” She says nudging him.
“I’ve been thinking”.
“About what?”
“It’s nice to know someone cares so much about you”.
“Are you talking about Wales and I?” Kunbi asks smiling.
Sola turns to look at her. “Of course and frankly speaking, I’m getting jealous”.
“Oh dear. Jealous? Why?”
“You won’t understand”. Sola says as he takes a deep breath.
“I know you are finding it difficult to fathom what happened between you and your girlfriend but you have to get over it. Life has to go on”.
“Yeah, I know. I guess I was expecting too much”. He says looking morose.
“No, you weren’t”.
“Love sure hurts”.
Kunbi smiles as she holds his right hand and pats it. “It does sometimes. Take heart, you’ll meet your heartbeat at the right time”.
“I wish it were that easy”.
“It will be if you take things easily”.
Sola looks straight into her eyes. “Kunbi, I need you”.
She removes her hands from his and looks away. “Sola, we have talked about this before”.
“Yes, we have. But I never stopped loving you”.
Kunbi’s heart begins to beat faster. He just said he loves me. Oh Lord! My heart is already broken. I can’t handle this. “We can’t go through this again”. She says stalling her thoughts. “Besides, I don’t think this is the right time. We are both hurting”.
He turns her face to look at him. “I am ready to wait till you are ready”. He stands up and shrugs. “I should go home now”.
Kunbi keeps her head bowed and is unable to look at him. She cannot deny her love for him but she is confused. Deep down her heart, she still loves Ola, regardless of all he has done. She knows she should move on but her heart has refused to do so.
As Sola walks out of the house closing the door behind him, hot tears roll down Kunbi’s cheeks. “Why is love so complicated? I love Sola but I am scared of his non-commitment. And I still can’t get Ola out of my mind”. She decides to retire to bed and does so dreaming about Sola and what could have been between them.
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Sola picks up Kunbi from work every day and drops her home as promised. He also takes her for lunch as usual. He, however, keeps their conversations very simple and avoids getting intimate. Kunbi misses their intimate conversations but refuses to say anything about it. She knows Sola is still hurt but she is helpless.
Wale arrives from his trip a week later as planned and decides to take a taxi home from the airport. He expects to see Sola in his apartment but is surprised that Kunbi is home alone. He drops his luggage in his room and has a quick bath.
“I was expecting to meet Sola here”. He says walking into the living room and eyeing Kunbi as she hands him a glass of juice.
“Why?”
He shrugs. “He ain’t dating any longer, so I just felt you guys would keep each other company”.
“He obviously told you about the incident between himself and Tolu”.
“Yeah, we talked on the phone while I was in Abuja. I wanted to check up on you, so I called him”.
She looks at him with surprise. “You wanted to check up on me and decided to call Sola?”
“Yeah, you would have told me you were fine. But Sola, would have told me if there were any issues. It only made sense to call him”.
She sighs. “Wales, can I ask you something?”
“Shoot”.
“Erm….I don’t know how to ask this”. She breathes deeply. “Are you aware of Sola’s non-commitment to relationships?”
“Hmmm….no, I am not aware but I don’t think he has such intentions with you”.
“Why do I feel like I am the only one in the dark?”
“How do you mean?”
“Did Sola discuss me with you?”
Wale smiles. “Sola had made his intentions known to me from the beginning but you were too preoccupied with Ola to notice that he likes you”.
“I still love Ola”. Kunbi says looking away.
“Obviously”. He says wrinkling his nose. “I can’t help but wonder what hold the guy has over you. C’mon, when are you going to open your eyes and see?”
Kunbi moves towards him and picks up the empty glass. She goes to the kitchen refusing to respond to Wale.
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During one of Sola and Kunbi’s lunch breaks together the following week, she is chatting with Sola when she receives a text message. She looks at the sender and instantly hides her phone. Sola notices but feigns ignorance. On the drive back to the office, she decides to open the message. “Hello darling, I hope you are fine. I am sorry about the last incident. I still love you and will always do”.
She breathes in and out before typing back a response. “How could you? Your intention was to kill me”.
She receives a response immediately. “I would never do anything to hurt you again. Please come to Ibadan this weekend and let’s talk”.
She puts her phone away without responding to the last message.
As Wale and Kunbi drive home from work on Friday evening, Kunbi thinks of how best to discuss her trip to Ibadan. “Wales, I have missed mummy and I want to see her this weekend”.
“Okay. I would like to see her as well. It’s been a while. We can do the trip together”.
“You want to go this weekend?” She asks.
“Yeah, do you have a problem with that?”
“No, no. I just thought you might be busy”.
He looks at her curiously. “Busy doing what?”
“I don’t know”. She shrugs.
“Kunbi, is there something I should know?”
“No, why do you ask?”
“Cos, you have never been good at lying. Why are you going to Ibadan this weekend?”
“I told you already. I want to see my mum”.
“And?” He asks expectant.
“And what?”
“Are you going to see Ola?”
Kunbi refuses to answer.
Wale looks at her and shakes his head. “Would you be satisfied when Ola kills or maims you?”
Kunbi opens her mouth to say something but decides against it. It was no use as she knew she could never convince Wale as far as Ola was concerned.
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