By the time Femi came in by 12, he was leisurely relaxing outside by the pool which was at the side of the house. When she saw him, she walked in his direction and he covertly watched her elegant walk. God, he had really missed her. Although he had been to the school on Tuesday under the pretext of seeing Mrs Ingalam. Seeing Femi in school was not the same as seeing her in his house. Somehow, she fit in here better.
“Good afternoon, Dr Arowolo” she greeted, wearing a long green alter necked gown that showed off lovely golden shoulders.
“Hey, pretty lady” he greeted, getting up to hug her.
She was shocked speechless and her cheeks coloured brightly. “Er……yes….. Thank you…… yes sir”
“How are you?” He asked as he brushed something non-existent off her shoulders, he really just needed an excuse to touch her.
“Yes, er, yes, I’m fine, here for Amanda, I mean”
“Okay, go ahead, I’ll be up in a bit” He sat down again and watched her run into the house.
He looked at his time and decided he would go and disturb her again in one hour.
In one hour’s time, he was sitting by Amanda- who was terribly excited- and was watching Femi in action, she wasn’t excited. He wasn’t saying anything but he could see she wanted him to go. She had asked him several times
“don’t you have something to do sir?” “Aren’t you going to work, sir?” “Isn’t that your phone ringing sir?” Each time he had quietly said nope.
He sat there watching her lips, her eyes, her hands as they moved and her gentleness with Amanda and he wasn’t bored for a second. When she and Amanda started singing a ridiculous rhyme, he closed his eyes and felt an amazing feeling of peace wash over him. He was in love.
*************
When they finished their classes by 3pm, Amanda rushed out to get her lunch and Femi started clearing their books up, Fiyin leaned back in his chair and kept staring at her. Suddenly, she dropped all the books and stared back,
“Sir, is there a problem?” She asked abruptly.
“For who?” He asked innocuously, pushing his chairs back on their hind legs alone.
“Why are you following me around and staring at me?”
“Following you around, how? This is my house, you know?”
“I know, it’s just you are kinda acting weird, I don’t know” she shrugged.
“Oh, that…” He said as he stood up, closed the door and came around to where she stood, looking scared.
“I have decided I want you” He said into the silence when he stood directly in front of her.
“You…..want me? She stammered.
“Yes, I want you….” he pointed to her chest and pointed to his “…..to be mine.”
“Rea…lly?” She croaked. “I think you’re joking.”
“I am? How do you know?” He asked grabbing her by her tiny waist so their bodies were touching.
Femi tried to hide her reactions but her body was shaking as she stared up at him. When he brought his head closer to hers, she closed her eyes in anticipation. When his lips touched hers, she heard a gasp but she couldn’t be sure who made the sound and she didn’t care because he took the kiss deeper and her hands that had been resting uselessly by her side, grabbed him and she was as much a mauler as she was mauled.
When he removed his lips from her softly swollen ones, she opened her eyes and saw a dazed look in his eyes. A look she was sure matched the look in hers. When he started to bring his lips to hers again, they heard the door open and she quickly pushed him away but he didn’t budge.
“Daddy!” Amanda called out, looking at the two of them suspiciously, “Why are you holding Miss Femi like that?”
“She was begging me to kiss her….” Fiyin said and Femi nearly fainted.
“Really?” Amanda asked with glee, “What did you say?”
“I said yes and I kissed her, Miss Femi really likes me.”
Amanda started clapping in excitement “I know she likes you, my spirit told me” she said with adult intelligence.
“I’m going home!” Femi said as she grabbed her bag before the crazy father-daughter duo dragged her into their special brand of madness.
“I will drop you.” Fiyin said as he followed her outside.
“Don’t you like me?” Fiyin asked Femi as they drove towards the express. Femi looked at him through the side of her eyes, she had tried to leave without him but he had been adamant about dropping her at home.
“No, I don’t like you.” she said with a nonchalance she did not feel.
“Sorry, I asked. I know you like me and I am crazy about you. You are single and so am I. We are adults and I was thinking we could be more to one another, what do you think?”
“Are you serious?” She asked, shocked. “Since when? What do you like about me?”
“Yes, I am serious, since maybe the first time I saw you, there was something about you that grabbed at me and put you on my mind everyday but recently, in the past few weeks, I haven’t thought about anything else except you. What do I like about you? Wow, that’s hard. The ideal question should be what I don’t like about you.
Is it your pretty face or your eyes that are always twinkling, or your voice or the way you stamp your feet when you are angry but don’t want to talk, the excitement you feel when you see chocolate or the gentle way you treat my daughter or your lips, jeez those lips, they have occupied my thoughts from the first time I met you. I really don’t know where to start…”
“Erm, you have tried,” Femi said clearing her throat. Unsure of what to say, she paused, could she really believe this man who could have any woman had suddenly started liking her overnight? How could he? What other motive could he have?
And then it came to her, he was bored! The stupid man was tired of his near perfect life and looking for some meaningless idea of fun! And he chose her? Why were men so disrespectful and contemptuous? What had she ever done to him to deserve this insult? He probably thought because she was fat and dull, she would fall for his nonsense, well, he had another think coming.
“What do you think?” Fiyin asked when Femi kept quiet for too long.
She waited until he got to her house and parked before answering him, with anger in her eyes, she turned on him “You think I’m stupid? That I don’t know what you want? I trusted and respected you but I realise you’re just like all the other disgusting men out there. You want to use me, right?”
“No, I…. wait….” Fiyin tried to interrupt her tirade.
“Please shut up sir!” She raised her palm up. “I know your type too well. After everything I’m doing for your daughter, you don’t care, you just want to hurt and disgrace me. When did you suddenly start liking me? You that called me fat and ugly? Why would I ever believe you? You must think I’m as stupid as I look! Well, I am not and I won’t be coming to your house again! Goodnight!” She finished and scrambled out of the car.
Fiyin got out of the car too, shocked and deeply hurt and called her before she got to her gate. “Please, don’t stop coming because of what I said, okay, please. If nothing else, come for Amanda. I’m really sorry if I offended you, okay?”
She nodded and went into her gate without looking back.
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Click 21 below to read episode 10