PART 19
“HIM, HER & I”
(A Love Triangle)
©?Opeyemi Ojerinde Akintunde
I played along, especially for my mum’s sake. I just wanted the five days I had left at
home to be over. I wanted to return to school to see Bro Kennedy.
Bro Stephen made my home a permanent abode. He and Mum would meet for the
evangelism and would return to my home at around 8am. He would stay with us till 6pm.
I wondered if he had a job…
“Yes, I do… I have a business people run for me,” he had said with a smile showing his
ever beautiful dentition.
“People run for you? You must be very rich!” I said teasing him, because he didn’t have
a car not to talk of a house. I saw him as a middle class fellow, who just knew how to
combine clothes.
When I was leaving for campus, my mum gave me a lot of money out of happiness that
I was happy with her choice of a man for me. Bro Stephen also sent some money into
my account, of which he told me to please consider his proposal.
He promised to call me in school and joked about being a stalker. He said he was going
to stalk my phone with calls.
The moment I stepped into the bus taking me to my school, I barred his number from
reaching me.
On getting to school, I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination, but people seemed nice to
me and there was no finger pointing. I was wondering if someone had wiped the story
from their memory. As I was unpacking my clothes, Mmesoma walked in with her
boxes…
“I am back,” she said smiling. I stood looking very surprised…
“Back?” I asked.
“Yes, God told me to come back here, He said I should be a sister to you.”
“Ok…” I said, “…but what if I don’t need any roommate again?”
“Unfortunately for you, this roommate has come to stay and she is not going anywhere!”
And indeed she proved that as she started unpacking. I wanted to ask her if she heard from Bro Kennedy but pride wouldn’t let me and it was
as if she was reading my mind…
“Bro Kennedy said he will stop by to say hi,” Mmesoma said.
“Really!” My heart was pounding fast.
“Yes! He is coming to do the right thing, we spoke a lot during the short break!”
Mmesoma said.
“The right thing?” I asked.
“Yes! He did the wrong thing that day…!”
I didn’t understand what Mmesoma was saying until much later when Bro Kennedy
came around. He apologized for shouting and saying some of the things he said at the
fellowship center. He was sorry for acting that way by not controlling his emotions… The
part that broke my heart most was when he stretched forth his hand for a handshake
and said,
“Friends?” he said.
I looked at the hand stretched towards me. I got the message he was sending across,
he wanted us to be friends; he was no more interested in me.
I swallowed hard and accepted his hand and from no where my tears dropped.
“Friends,” I replied.
Mmesoma chuckled in excitement.
My mother called later to find out if I had gotten to school which I answered her in the
affirmative. She added the statement I was obviously waiting for her to say…
“Bro Stephen said your line has been unreachable,” she said.
“It could be the network!” I replied.
Early the next morning, I got a shocking news that moved my life into a direction I
wasn’t expecting…
I received a phone call from home that my mother had been hit by a hit and run vehicle
and she died on the spot.
My life did not make meaning anymore. I rushed home and Mmesoma went with me.
My father’s family who were Muslims by religion buried my mother that same day.
I stayed back for three days with Mmesoma by my side strengthening me with
encouraging words. She met Bro Stephen and they exchanged pleasantries. My mother
had died in Bro Stephen’s hand as he witnessed the accident. You could see pain in his
eyes. He was always at our place with a sober look on his face. He wasn’t his cheerful
self anymore.
The night before we returned to school, Mmesoma was the one who spoke sense to
me…
“Timi, when do you plan on returning to school?”
“School? With what just happened?”
“Yes! Your mum is gone and your not going to school will not bring her back, besides
you are in your final year, you need to finish what you started,” Mmesoma had said.
The next day I returned to school. Since I had barred Bro Stephen’s number, I never
heard from him again.
I stopped attending the campus fellowship though Mmesoma didn’t like the idea. I
started attending a new church outside the campus. That was where I met Odi…
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