When she got to
her door, she was taken aback by what she saw. She saw several notes left in
several places; under the door, on the window space, in a flower vase, and on
the floor. Her heart skipped and beat fast as she picked them one after the
other, wondering what they were all about. When she had all of them, she opened
her door and went in. She dropped them on her bed, took a bottle of water from
her fridge. She drank water, lay on her bed and started going through the notes
one after the other. Most of them were from her friends who came to check on
her the previous day after they heard what happened. They said they had been
trying to get her on phone but she was not picking. She read one from two of
her colleagues who had come earlier in the morning to check on her. They asked
her whether she would come to work, saying that they were worried about her. As
she read the notes, she replied with text messages acknowledging receipt of the
note and reassuring them that she was fine, and that they would see her soon. Some
called back immediately. She picked and spoke with them.
As she read
through the notes, she saw one dropped by Coker, Segun’s best friend.
“Coker came,” she said to
herself and started reading it.
It read; “Dear
Mabel, I was shocked beyond what words can explain when I learnt what happened.
I tried reaching Segun but he was not responding so I went to see him and he
said I should let him be. I don’t know what to say. I was here earlier to see
you face to face to tell you that Segun is not acting in his right senses. For
all I care, you are the best thing that happened to him. I plead with you to
give me some time to get to root of this. Please don’t do anything rash. -Coker”
“Rubbish,” Mabel said and
folded the note. “His mind is made up and so is mine.”
She sent an SMS
to Coker and then managed to read the remaining notes. She folded them and put
inside a magazine. Some minutes later, her phone started ringing. It was a call
from Coker. She did not pick. He called again. She sighed and picked the call.
He sounded worried. They talked for a while, him doing most of the talking. She
just replied in monosyllables. He reiterated what he had written in the note
and then tried cheering Mabel up. He asked whether he could see her. She
refused. He pleaded to meet with her with some other friends of Segun. She
refused. After encouraging her for a while, he promised to stay in touch and
then hung up. Tears rolled down Mabel’s eye.
“Why am I even crying,” she
suddenly said to herself.
She went to the
fridge, brought out a can of juice and began sipping it.
“Men are heartless. They are
not worth crying for.”
She flipped through the channels on her TV as she lay
on her bed.
“Cry for a man? No more!”
She was a mix of
anger and bitterness. She watched TV for a while but nothing seemed to interest
her. Her thoughts kept going to the incident no matter how hard she tried to
enjoy the TV programs. When she couldn’t watch anymore, she switched off the TV
and tried sleeping. She couldn’t sleep also so she got up and went to the
bathroom.
(..to be continued...)
Nedu Isaac
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