They
followed her pointing and saw what looked like Segun’s car coming into the
compound.
“That looks like
Segun’s car quite alright,” Cynthia said. “But it may not be him.”
“He is not the only
one with that type of car,” Coker’s fiancée said.
“And we are not
seeing the face of the driver well,” Coker said. “So you can’t jump into
conclusion.”
“Even if he is the
one, so what?” Mabel said confidently.
“I wonder why you
were shocked in the first place,” Coker said.
“You don’t
understand what heartbreak does to a woman,” his fiancée said to him.
“Let us see who
comes out of the car first,” Cynthia said.
They watched
the car without talking. When the driver of the car parked and came out, he was
not Segun. Mabel heaved a sigh of relief.
“I told you it may
not be him,” Cynthia said.
“If it was him,”
Mabel said looking at Coker. “I will know it is a setup and I will not talk to you
again.”
“I know eventually
he will want to come back to you,” Coker said. “But I will not involve myself in
the process at all.”
“I know he will,”
Mabel said. “I wonder who will do for him what I did for him and who will tolerate
what I patiently took from him. Even if he comes back, it is too late. I have
moved on with my life.”
“Kemi is dealing
with him seriously. Last time I saw them, the way she was acting around him was
disrespectful. I wonder why he still chose her and is still with her. Sometimes
I think he is under a spell.”
“Spell indeed. He
made his choice.”
“What kind of choice
is that? Jumping from frying pan to fire.”
“So I am now frying
pan?”
They
laughed.
“I didn’t mean it
like that o,” Coker said.
“I get what you
mean.”
“But seriously, who
would give you up for Kemi?”
“He fell for bigger
body parts I guess.”
“Na him know o.”
Cynthia
and Coker’s fiancée just ate and listened as Coker and Mabel talked about
Segun. When they were done eating the food, Coker asked if they wanted another
round of food and drink.
“I am full,” Mabel
said.
“I don’t mind one
more bottle of drink,” Cynthia said.
He
beckoned on the waiter who came and took orders of what else to bring for them.
They drank and talked about random topics. After about an hour there, Mabel’s
phone rang.
“It’s my mum,” she
said when she checked it.
The
others nodded. She picked. Her mother asked her whether she had gone to the
market and she said she had not. Her mother told her few things to buy for her.
Then she hung up.
“I forgot that we
were meant to go to market,” Mabel said when she was done with the call.
“Me too,” Coker’s
fiancée said. “I want to cook something special for my sweetheart.”
“Ok na,” Coker said.
“I hope my money will not get involved.”
“Why won’t your
money be involved? Won’t you eat it?”
“Make it a
surprise.”
They
laughed.
“I am equal to the
task,” she said.
“But you will still
collect it back somehow,” Mabel teased her.
“Trust me.”
They
laughed.
“Finish your drinks
let me drive you to the market,” Coker said as he gulped his drink.
They
drank theirs. Then Coker beckoned on the waiter for the bill. She brought it
and he paid her.
“Shall we?” he said,
standing up.
“Come and move my
chair back na,” his fiancée told him. “You are not learning all the romantic
things I have been teaching you.”
“Are you disabled?”
Coker asked laughing.
She
laughed hard, got up and pursued him. He ran slowly and allowed her catch up
with him. Then she mildly beat him on his back.
“Lovebirds,” Cynthia
whispered to Mabel.
“That reminds me of
Cynthia and Chuka,” Mabel said.
“Who and who?”
Mabel
laughed as she got up.
“Carry your bag let
us go joor.”
Coker
came back to the table with his fiancée. She carried her hand bag and they left
the table to the car. When they were settled in the car, Coker drove out of the
place.
“Are you going
straight to the market?” he asked Mabel. “or you are going home first?”
“To the market,”
Mabel replied. “We are not buying too many things and there is no more time to
waste. If we are not home on time, my mum will be worried.”
“Ok.”
He
drove them to the market and parked in the parking space at the entrance of the
market.
“I know you will
come back in the night,” he said laughing. “You will search the whole market
for where they sell things cheap.”
“Yes o,” Mabel said,
laughing.
“Let us go na,” his
fiancée said to him.
“No o,” Coker told
her. “I don’t have strength and patience for all the walking around and
bargaining.”
“Who will carry my
shopping bag for me?”
He
touched her hands and said, “Your hands are functioning well.”
“Go away joor,” his
fiancée said, laughing.
“I will wait for you
in that bar over there,” Coker said pointing. “Let me watch the match going on
now.”
“Ok. Don’t take any
more alcohol o.”
“I will not. You
know I have daily limits.”
The
ladies left. Coker locked the car and went to the bar.
“I don’t know why
men like pretending,” Coker’s fiancée said as they walked into the market.
(...to be continued)
Nedu Isaac
If you want to start from the beginning, click here
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