MY HEARTBEAT
****EPISODE 9****
Fiyin had been reading the same line of his medical journal for the past 3 minutes, he dropped the book and rubbed at his aching forehead. He wasn’t sleeping well at all. Since Monday, his dreams had been full of Femi and now, he couldn’t go anywhere without been reminded of her. He wasn’t even sure he liked her that much so he couldn’t understand this constant invasion of his dreams.
The crazy woman had probably made some vegetable for him and he ate it without knowing or what else could explain the hunger that had suddenly started beneath his belt when she was close by, or the heartache he had felt when she had come in on Wednesday looking sad or the excitement he tried to supress when Amanda told him she broke up with her boyfriend. God help him, he had the Femi bacteria.
Now, it was Friday and he wasn’t able to concentrate anymore because he knew that at this precise moment, Femi was back in his house teaching Amanda. And now, he wanted to be there, he wanted her to teach him something. Oh, God, he groaned and pressed his face into his table.
He either went home or he called Tiwa to go out with him. He didn’t know what to do about Tiwa, he still liked her and respected her but his initial romantic feelings had quickly subsided. He had come to realise Tiwa did not evoke half the feelings Femi did in him and Femi wasn’t even trying to get him worked up, she just happened to be succeeding at it.
Besides, he was disturbed by the fact that Amanda hadn’t seemed to like Tiwa, on their way after dropping Tiwa, Amanda had referred to her as “that awful lady”. But in a contest between Tiwa and Femi, Tiwa still what he wanted, not madam dream disturber.
In the end, he decided not to go home. He needed to exercise discipline over his body and put it under control. He could not keep allowing his body and heart slip out of his control every time. In any case, it was better he not see what Femi was wearing before his subconscious adds a new Femi with a different outfit to his dreams.
A few hours later, he was enjoying a pleasurable serving of suya and Smirnoff ice at a popular Suya spot with Tiwa and she was talking to him about Tola, a nurse at the hospital who had chased him relentlessly a while back. She informed him Tola was pregnant and she even told him who Tola was pregnant for. He didn’t really care but Tiwa seemed very excited at the prospect of the woman’s fall from grace.
“It’s not such a big deal” he said. “This is the 21st century, lots of women have babies without the fathers.”
“Oh, please, Fiyin, you make it sound like you would marry a woman who already had a baggage with her” Tiwa said with arrogant disdain.
Fiyin looked up at her, “Baggage? Is that what you call children? If it is, then I also have a baggage and I want a woman to marry me, don’t i?”
Tiwa realised she had put her foot in it, “Yeah but you’re a man, and a widower at that, it’s not your fault!”
Fiyin laughed, “Really, Tiwa? I used to think you were enlightened and all that. Honestly, that was a shallow thing to say.”
Tiwa looked at him angrily, “I am enlightened so I know most men don’t marry baby mamas.”
“Maybe they don’t but that’s because they are as unenlightened as you! They would rather marry a woman who has aborted series of babies to one who has kept her child, right?”
“I have never had an abortion!!” Tiwa was aghast.
“I wasn’t accusing you of that, Tiwa, I was just trying to make a point. You are right that her actions are wrong but you also seemed excited that her actions had brought her downfall and I don’t agree or subscribe to that…”
“Do you like her?” Tiwa asked suspiciously. “You’re defending her seriously.”
“So, that I defend her means I like her? Wow, Tiwa!”
The evening went downhill from there. Tiwa was unhappy that he had called her shallow and Fiyin realised he might have misjudged her. It came to him now that Tiwa always seemed to glory in other people’s misfortunes. And for her to refer to children as baggage. He had a child too for God’s sake. Is that why she didn’t get along with Amanda last week?
He wasn’t sure but he felt disappointed in her.
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