THE EXCHANGE
Episode 35
My flight to London was quite smooth and uneventful. Segun had met me at the airport bcos he could not understand what was so important that made me cancel the lunch date & I told him Tunji came to see me & we had so much to talk about. I told him I was sorry I had to cancel at the last minute but I was too excited to think straight. He knew about Tunji bcos the first time we went out I told him all about him so he was not surprised to see my reaction to his coming around. Segun was quiet for a while & I looked up at him; there was a flitting look of sadness in his eyes which he tried to mask with a smile & began to talk about the final plan for the expansion we were planning for the first quarter of the new year. When it was time to board, he gave me a quick hug & wished me a safe trip. The family agent met me at the airport since I was carrying a box filled with Nigerian food, we cleared customs & I arrived home to my children & Grandma at about 10.45pm. It was a lovely reunion & they wanted to tell me everything that happened when I was away in one night but by 11.15pm, I finally tucked them into bed. Granny had already said goodnight & retired to bed, so I went into my room & had a soak in my huge bathtub. I had taken the phone with me to the bathroom so I put a call through to Tunji, which he picked up on the first ring. Hearing his voice was like sweet wine coursing through my veins, my stomach felt as if a thousand butterflies were fluttering around inside me & my heart thumped as though it was going to jump out of me. I couldn’t believe I would still feel this way after so many years, gosh! I must have loved this guy more than I realised. From the tenderness in his voice it seemed as though we had never separated. We talked until my bath turned cold & he said he would call me back that I should get ready for bed, I asked what he was doing & he said he was already in bed having a nightcap. He called back in less than 30 mins, I had barely pulled on my nightgown & tucked myself under the duvet but he laughed making that rich throated sound that had always thrilled me but it was now much richer with maturity. We talked about everything & nothing until the early hours of the morning. This became our routine all through my holiday in London, my days for my children & my nights for Tunji…
It wasn’t long before Granny saw the new glow in me; she tactfully asked me but I couldn’t tell her who the guy was bcos I didn’t know what her reaction would be but after weeks of loving asking me, I told her & she almost dropped her teacup. I had prepared myself for whatever she would say bcos by then I knew Tunji & I had a thing going on of which she would find out sooner or later but after the shock had worn off, she pulled me into her arms & begged me for all she did that took me away from the path God had ordained for me but I said there’s no situation that comes to man, which God had not sanctioned & we made our peace. My children also noticed I was extremely happy but they thought it was bcos I had missed them so much. We celebrated my birthday & my daughter’s 6th birthday together, we had so much fun & by the next week, I would be on my way home to Tunji. He would also be arriving Lagos a day before me & he said he couldn’t wait to see me again.
Tunji actually came to meet at the airport & took me home, he was amazed at how magnificent the place is & the security was so tight, it was like a fortress but when we entered the house, I explained that Segun had instructed that the company who handled it should make it so to keep BabaT out & there was a monitor that is connected to the “Area F Command” in case of break in or any form of distress call. He looked at me alarmed & was quite shocked at the state in which I had lived; he pulled me into his arms & tried to soothe the years of pain away. Our lips met & the 10yrs of which we had been separated just drifted away. It was a long hungry k!ss & we were both breathless when we pulled apart; from that moment, we became inseparable. We travelled together to Abeokuta to see my mum & other relatives; my father’s brother was the happiest, he prayed for us & spoke words to bind us together. We went to auntie Betty & she hugged me saying she had forgiven me.
BabaT’s drug addiction had ruined his business & his company had been taking over by his creditors he had lost 3 out of the 4 cars to drugs & he had descended into the lowest ebb of addiction that he was no longer focused. His mother & cousin tried to get him to go for rehabilitation but he did everything to avoid them but when he realised that he was in total ruin, even his house was going to be taken over, he took an overdosed of drugs & was found dead the next morning by Bola his cousin….
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