Mide’s Abor with Olamide Longe
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“I went to his office and let him have it,” Adeola told Funsho as soon he opened the door and let her into his flat. Him was her fiancé Thomas, who had ended their engagement because as he told her, he wasn’t good enough for her.
“Why did you do that?” Funsho asked. It was late evening and he only just got home about 30 minutes ago. She’d called and asked if she could come over. He’d ignored his tiredness and agreed. His friend Thomas had left her in a bad shape. He was torn over it, too, and he planned to give her all the support she needed. “You shouldn’t have,” he concluded.
“Why not? He pretended to be noble when in truth, he is just a cheat.”
Funsho sighed. “I wouldn’t call him a cheat.”
Adeola was annoyed. “You should know he called you a proper bastard for telling me the truth.”
Funsho digested that bit of information with a soft laugh. Thomas must have been very angry. He wasn’t worried. He considered Thomas a proper bastard himself, for treating Adeola the way he did. Leaving her for an old flame and claiming that it was because he wasn’t the right man for her. However, Adeola still shouldn’t have gone to his office, even though he understood why she had done so. “I told you, so you could have closure. You don’t gain anything by going to insult him.”
Adeola scoffed. “I felt satisfied at that moment seeing his unhappiness at what he considered a betrayal on your part.”
“Well. And do you still feel better?”
“I don’t want to feel better; I just want him to be as miserable as I am.”
Funsho shook his head. “You told me you were not going to humiliate yourself over him.”
She scowled at him. Then her eyes filled with tears, she didn’t fight them. “I believed we were a perfect match. Thomas was the one with whom I was going to spend the rest of my life. It was settled. I had seen it; it was perfect. Now, everything seems bleak.” She hid her face in her palms and wept.
Funsho thought of all the positive words he could use to pacify her. He uttered none. He doubted if they would have any effect. He felt sorry for her, here she was miserable and Thomas had already moved on. It was callous. It wasn’t fair. However, there was nothing new about that. It had taken him a long time, but he’d finally accepted that life wasn’t fair; it had been a bitter pill to swallow.
Adeola would have to accept what had happened, heart wrenching as it was, and move on. He wouldn’t tell her that though, not when she was still feeling so raw. He would be a pillar of support, be there until she got back on her feet. However long that would take. However long it would take to make her forget she knew a Thomas.
At length, Adeola stopped crying. She got her handkerchief and cleaned up her face. Seconds later, without looking at Funsho, she apologised for burdening him.
“Don’t apologise, please. Feel free to express yourself. I am ready to assist you any way I can. You want a shoulder to cry on, I’ve got it. And I have quite solid ones if I must say so myself.” He winked, hoping to draw at least, a smile.
She just shook her head and tried not to start crying again.
He understood her. He knew exactly how it felt to fade into the background. “Have you had anything to eat?” She hadn’t touched the drink he’d given her. It was sitting there before her, going flat.
“I am not hungry.”
“I hope you have not been starving yourself, it won’t do you any good. Let me prepare some food for us, and even if you say no, I am still going to cook because I have to eat.”
“I have to leave.”
“Not yet,” he said firmly. “I will take you home, but after we have eaten. If you insist on leaving before then, you will only upset me.”
She considered it, and said with a shrug, “If you insist.”
“I insist. Besides, I am a good cook, I say so myself. So, if your appetite has been missing, my cooking will bring it back. You try and relax while I get started.” He turned on the TV and handed her the remote control before heading to the kitchen.
Adeola leaned her head against the chair and watched him as he walked away. What a good soul he was.
She wasn’t sure what she would have done without him all these horrible days. He’d somehow helped her bear them. A smile lit her face at the thought of him offering her his shoulder to lean on. The smile broadened. They were truly solid shoulders too, just as he said. He was quite attractive, too. He could have easily earned a good living as a model, instead of the boring desk job he did. And, even though he could have his pick of women, she’d never seen him seriously taken with any. They came and went with an alarming frequency.
One day, she’d teased him about this and he’d answered that he was hoping to find her identical twin.
She’d chuckled and said there was only one of her.
He’d said, “Too bad for me. Or, can I clone you?”
She’d laughed and dismissed it as one of his terrible jokes.
He’d always been extra attentive towards her.
She had believed it was for Thomas’ sake.
She sat straight.
Not anymore.
Dear heaven, maybe Thomas was right, after all.
There was only one way to find out.
She stood up and she made her way to the kitchen.
