A VALENTINE'S STORY (part 1)

I know I have not written as much as I should, but I am in the throes of completing a thesis is why. Today, this story gripped me and would not let go, so I decided to give in and do just this but then, it developed a life of its own and the second part seems like something those of y'all who are alone would like to get into later....so enjoy and thanks for reading!

‘Here, happy valentine’s!’ Segun said as he held out a gaily wrapped box out to her. ‘I don’t want it!’ She screamed at him. ‘I have told you I do not want symbolism, I want the real thing! And since it’s obvious you can’t give me that, I do not want it!’ Segun sighed, thinking how very comical his situation is and if he had a sense of humour, he would have laughed out loud but he had lost it recently, after every attempt to please Sola, his wife of three years had become an intellectual discourse. No one had to tell him she was dissatisfied with their marriage relationship. Even a blind man who spent an hour with them could tell as she moaned and bewailed everything he did or did not do. She was not always like that though and this was his motivation. That the sweet innocent young lady who had captured his very serious attention and held it in thrall ever since was somewhere in this person who stood before him.

Physically, she was unchanged. Slim, tall and strikingly attractive if well-defined facial features was your thing. She also was poetry in motion as she seemed to glide rather than walk when she moved. It did not help matters that she was well endowed whatever it was that was your fancy, breasts or a firm backside. She was perfect and even after two children; she maintained her slimness and seemed to do so effortlessly too. But someone had stolen her sweetness and left this grumbling woman in her place. Segun sighed again, ‘But, Sola, why would you refuse a gift I bought for you to show you how I feel about you, why?’ ‘Because I know you do not love me, Segun, else you would listen to me, ME!’ she spat at him. ‘Take your gift and do whatever you like with it but please, don’t patronize me!’ and with that she turned and stormed out of their bedroom. He stood there, unsure how to proceed. He knew there was nothing he said that would make it better.

He left the gift on their bed and walked out behind her. He was ready to leave for work and went to get his car keys hoping this would be the end till when he returned from work. He had a full day ahead and hoped that he could at least concentrate on his work which was the only time he had any respite from Sola’s moods these days. He said his goodbyes to the twins and made to leave. ‘See?! I told you you don’t care! So work is next on the agenda now right? Its work time!’ she said with a flourish and a sweep of her hands, ‘time for the crazy lady is over, switch over to work mode and deal with the crazy lady later, right?’ Segun sighed once more. Apparently, his desire to go and fend for his family was just one more thing he knew how to do wrong in Sola’s new rule book. ‘What would you have me do, Sola? What? Perhaps if you said it in plain words, I could then begin to try to do it because guessing at what will make you happy is becoming too hard!’

Taken aback at Segun’s vehemence as he spoke, Sola took a step back. She smiled secretly, oh! This guy is in for a huge surprise! Oh! Lord, help me! ‘What?! You want to beat me? I knew it! Before you even try? I will leave this house for you, okay?!’ And with that, she went into the children’s room, grabbed a bag she had pre-packed for the purpose and headed to her car and dropped it in. She returned 2 more times and collected each one of her sleeping children, Bayo and Sayo strapping them in their car seats and making a huge production of driving out of their house and looking like her whole world had fallen apart. She made it out of their estate and stopped to laugh hysterically and caught herself before she started to cry. She thought about Segun following her in his car and this made her to quickly drive off again. She knew exactly where she was going and into whose arms.

Segun looked on disbelievingly as Sola drove out and away and he just wanted to cry. He first flopped down into the nearest seat and then scolded himself. I am a man, he thought and I have been doing my best! She has just become so unhappy in the past month for no reason, he was no romantic but he tried! She will be back, she better be back later. There goes any chance of getting good work done now, he would worry and probably be begging her on the phone by lunch but for now, he was going to work and was going to forget about Sola. ‘As if that is possible’ mocked his mind. He got up, closed windows and doors and left the house with instructions to Musa, the gateman to call him the minute Madam returned. He left dejectedly and prayed that she would reconsider and be back. He was sure he could not live without her. He had taken one look at her and he had been lost and only being in her arms soothed that feeling. He sure was not letting her go.

He looked at the time for the umpteenth time and found that it was still noon. He called Musa and asked about Madam. ‘Oga sir, Madam it haff never cum’ was the same reply. He was getting worried and decided to call his mother-in-law and pretend to be saying Happy Valentine’s day to her. He called and she picked up almost immediately which gave him hope that she had been expecting his call. ‘Ah! Segun, oko mi, ba wo ni? Sola nko?’ and his spirits plummeted. He had no idea what he said but he hung up and was back to feeling worse than crap. Where was she? Would she leave me? Just like that? What did I do wrong? All of these questions swirled in his now very troubled mind. ‘Oh God, please!’ he prayed. ‘Please oh!’

Sola sped up to Tinuke’s house and parked her car in the pre-arranged spot, her pulse racing. She felt like screaming but was afraid to wake the children. Sayo stirred and opened her eyes, she looked over at her brother, smiled, inserted her finger in her mouth and promptly went back to sleep. Sola let out a breath she did not realise she had been holding. It was important that her babies were fine during this period. She would not be able to concentrate if she was called up to come and see to them. She had planned this day in minute detail for the past month after a casual chat with her best friend and sister. Tinuke had been with her from the first moment of her relationship with Segun. She had doubted their ability to overcome their glaring differences but had not reckoned on the power of their love. To Tinuke, Segun was too serious, he liked being a bookworm and was way too intelligent. If she had not persuaded Sola to come with her to the Science exhibition that fateful day, Tinuke doubted Sola and Segun would ever have met. But they had weathered their differences well, very well in fact, until now. She felt her friend and baby sister was disappearing beneath the ‘wife’ veneer and she was very worried as she had seen too many people lose their marriage that way. So she added fuel to the fire.

‘Madam wife’ she called out as she entered Sola’s house. ‘How is it going? This your marital experience.’ Sola was taken aback, she knew Tinuke well enough to know there was more to her statement than met the eye. Tinuke was her closest and best friend since she had been ten years old. They had grown up in the same neighbourhood but their circumstances had been like day and night. Tinuke had been brought from her village to live and work with relatives when her father who had not been doing a good job of raising his eight children, had been killed in a fight over a woman. She had told Sola how the light had gone out in her mother’s eyes because she had loved her father and believed they shared the same kind of love. Losing him had killed her and she had not lasted a year after that before she was found dead in her room, on the bed she had shared with their father. Tinuke was determined to make something of herself and not allow any man to mean so much to her. She became friendly with Sola who as an only child of very rich parents had no one to play with and always wandered around the estate they had grown up in. Tinuke had become her senior sister and adopted her. In exchange, Sola gave Tinuke whatever it was she wanted, not that Tinuke ever asked. They both remembered the number of times that Tinuke’s aunty had taken Tinuke over to Sola’s house to confirm that one thing or another that had been found in Tinuke’s possession had truly been given to her by Sola. After a while, Tinuke had been allowed by her aunt to live with Sola’s family and that had been the change in luck her life required. Sola’s parents encouraged her and paid her way through school and she had shown an appetite for studying that had surprised everyone.

Sola carried Sayo and then Bayo into Tinuke’s sitting room and smiled. ‘Were you successful? Tinuke asked, ‘Yes, I think so!’ and they both burst out laughing before quickly catching themselves and running into Tinuke’s bedroom so as not to wake the twins. She quickly brought out another pre-packed bag filled with all of the things she would need for later that evening. She sat down while Tinuke rehearsed the details with her and she listened and shook her head at how every tiny detail had been planned by Tinuke. She was grateful and could feel her blood singing with the familiar thrill of days gone by. She would show him! Oh! How she would show him! He would beg and beg and at the end, she knew he would find out he also could be romantic. She got up, slung the bag over her shoulder and was almost dragged down by its weight. ‘Ahn ahn! What else did you put in this bag, Tinuke?’ she asked turning around and rolling her eyes. ‘A few things you will need and he will like, now please go, let me enjoy having my nephew and niece for these few days’ as she smiled ‘and Tokunbo will soon be here, I also have some slave trading to do tonight, go, please!’ ‘But you told me you guys were not planning anything and that’s why I should bring the twins here. Are you sure you will not give my children cause to be in therapy for the rest of their lives?’ Sola asked looking very worried. ‘Please go, Sola, I said we are not planning. It’s slackers like you and your husband that need planning, we, hmmmm….every day is a conflagration, now go!’

Sola drove away from Tinuke’s house in a borrowed vehicle, another detail taken care of by Tinuke. She shook her head at some of the things she had put Segun through in this past month all in a bid to set the proper stage for tonight….She wanted to burst out in song! ‘Tonight is the night that you, make me a woman’ It was going to be perfect, she just knew it! Segun would be screaming when she finished and they would rediscover the passion, the wildness, enough of this stoic missionary stuff. She was Miss Hawt tonight and she was going to consume him totally……….

Now, I hope you enjoyed this, please do not read the second part if you have not done a physical in a while. I do not wish to be responsible for your loss of breath and subsequent demise.....later then!!!