On her 2nd day there, returning from the tailor where she had gone to collect the clothes Ronke would wear at the naming, she was waiting at the side of the road after she had called an Uber taxi when a car stopped beside her and the driver got down.
“Femi!” The driver, a tall, handsome fellow with a bearded face shouted.
Femi turned around and nearly went into shock when she recognised Lanre Balogun, her runaway ex fiancée. She stared for seconds before she could respond, “Lan…. Re, right?”
“Yes…..” he said as he came around the car, “….don’t you recognise me? I know its been years but I recognised you right away….”
“I’m sorry, I was just shocked to see you, especially on the circumstances by which we parted”. She replied, still in shock.
His face dropped, “Femi, I am sorry. If I could rewind my life back, I would do that time again differently. Nothing else has really felt right since then. I am so sorry but I didn’t have the guts to tell you and I have not been able to forgive myself for that.”
“Why then did you do it?” Femi asked, suddenly very eager to know.
He scratched his head, “I… you know what, why don’t we go somewhere else? We can’t talk here on the main road.”
“Oh, I called a cab, an uber cab, I need….”
“Please cancel, let’s talk” he begged earnestly, “Please.”
“Alright.” She quickly made the call and followed him into his car as he drove to an ice cream shop, remembering her love for chocolate.
At the shop, he asked her what she was doing in Abuja and she told him about Ronke living in Abuja now and having a baby. He was happy to hear that for he had always liked Ronke and her boyfriend Ben. When she asked him the same, she learnt his company had a contract with the government and he was in charge of the Project’s execution.
After a short while of small talk, she learnt he was still single, which was a big surprise to her since she had always seen him as a pretty good catch. When she could stand the suspense no longer, she blurted out,
“Lanre, why did you end things like that? What did I do wrong?”
He sighed, regret etched all over his features, “Femi, I am so sorry, you did nothing wrong, I swear!”
“Then wanted happened?!” She almost shouted.
“I… you know what? I was stupid. You were the best thing that happened to me, since you, I haven’t felt with any other woman what I felt with you, I….”
“Lanre, what happened?!!!” She finally shouted.
He took a deep breath and went for it. “I slept with Tiwa and she threatened to tell you and everyone else at the introduction what we did. I told myself I will tell you the truth but I didn’t have the guts so I ran.”
“No, even Tiwa wouldn’t stoop so low, she didn’t even like you!”
“Really? You think I made that up?” He started laughing. “You think I want to rehash a big mistake for funsies? I don’t know what Tiwa told you about me but from the day I started coming to your house she chased me relentlessly, everywhere and everytime”
Femi couldn’t believe it, she shook her head, could Tiwa have done that?
“The mistake I made was that I never told you she was after me, I didn’t want to be the cause of a fight between two cousins especially because I knew your relationship with her wasn’t stable in the first place. I figured she would get tired and go away, I was wrong. She only saw it as a challenge and chased me harder.”
“She told me stuff about your family, how your brother had killed your parents, how….Femi, please don’t cry” He said as he moved closer to her when he noticed her eye start leaking, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry”
How could she do that? How could she? My brother didn’t kill my parents, I swear!” She cried out.
“I know, your uncle told me the truth, I asked him. I am so sorry, it’s just things happen, you know?” He sighed. “A week to the introduction, she suddenly appeared at my house, she had never been there before so I don’t know how she located it but she did, said she was running an errand for you, I didn’t believe her but I let her in thinking my will power was strong enough but I was wrong, very wrong.”
“Afterwards, I begged her to forget and let me marry you in peace but she refused and threatened to tell everyone if the introduction held. I think that was when I understood her. All along, I thought she wanted me but she didn’t really want me, she just didn’t want you to have me.”
“I promised myself I was going to tell you personally, I really was but when I looked at you that day you brought our clothes, I just couldn’t say it, I couldn’t, so I left, I ran away like the coward that I was.” He finished bitterly.
Femi was overwhelmed at the lengths her cousin was willing to go to hurt her and realised she had been foolish to think she and Tiwa would ever be friends. She promised she was going to woman up and have a very serious talk with Tiwa when she got to Lagos. No more peace-making, no more adjusting, no more concessions. If she wanted war, war she would get!
She covered Lanre’s hands on the table, “Lanre, I am sorry about what happened to you, to us. I take responsibility for not paying enough attention and for not dealing properly with a problem that was mine. For a long time, I blamed you for everything else that happened afterwards and I was wrong. You made a mistake and I forgive you, okay?”
“Right now, I am in a good, strong, healthy relationship that Tiwa is once again trying to mess up but I won’t let her, no way! I loved you and I am glad I knew you. Thank you for telling me the truth today, I wish you all the best.”
She pecked him on the cheek and stood up, she left the shop and never looked back to the very lonely guy who realised he had lost her a second time.
**********
They named him Nicholas Oluwasefunmi Itodo Onoja and the baby accepted the name by crying almost all throughout the ceremony. Afterward, Femi spent a lot of time on her knees picking up the money they sprayed on the mother and father as they danced. It was a position she was familiar with as she had done the same at their wedding.
Preparing for the naming had helped distract her from the revelations that Lanre had made to her and talking to Ronke about it had also lessened her anger. Her friend had been filled with righteous indignation on her behalf again and while breastfeeding her baby, had offered to come to Lagos and carve up Tiwa’s face. The picture of tiny Ronke with a baby attached to her breast carving up Tiwa’s face left Femi and giggles and made her feel better.
She really wanted to get back to Lagos but because she had promised Fiyin’s mother, she decided to visit his mom and also meet his dad. She understood from her last conversation with the man that he didn’t wholeheartedly approve of her and his wife had as much as said the same, she hoped when he met her, he would realise she was a good person.
And if he didn’t, that was fine too, she was done with approval seeking, what really mattered was how Fiyin felt about her and that was that.
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