The Butterflies... Episode 9

Dapo must have been waiting for about thirty minutes. He was already getting pissed. He didn’t like being delayed for any reason; and not at a restaurant for that matter. The only reason why he decided to honour the invitation by Tade’s friend was because he wanted to hear out the tangible excuse Tade had to say this time around. He was really tired of the relationship; and Tade’s childish behavior. She was always having it her way anytime there was a misunderstanding and he was always begging and pleading till she felt he was already sorry enough. He was determined to call it quits if Tade was bent on having a break or whatever excuse she had this time.

As Ibinabo stepped into the restaurant, all smiles, Dapo’s eye immediately caught hers. She was indeed a beauty to behold, with her hair bowing softly to the back, and her long legs moving slowly towards his table; Dapo found himself smiling back so intensely at this fair skinned babe, he didn't even notice the lady she came in with.

“Hello Dapo Aborishade…” Dapo came back to consciousness. He felt a little embarrassed that he had been staring at Ibinabo for about 2 minutes. He hoped for the love of God that the ladies had not been sitting at the table for longer than he calculated. He squinted twice before realizing who it was that just called his name.

“Funmi…Tofunmi Badmus…” Dapo stuttered.

“Surprised?...” Tofunmi said with a smirk on her face.

By this time, Ibinabo was busy placing orders for them all. She had planned this well. She called up Dapo with the pretense to have him meet with Tade for them to sort out their issues, and Dapo had obliged. It was easy for Dapo to buy into the plan as it was Ibinabo that came to deliver his birthday gift. He couldn't understand what it was that was going down at the moment. His throat felt dry all of a sudden; he wished he could get himself out of the restaurant by some form of magic, or that this whole drama that was beginning to unfold was a bad dream from which he would wake up.

Dapo opened his mouth to respond to Tofunmi’s greeting but suddenly couldn’t find his voice.

The waiter had come back with glasses of chapman for the three. Ibinabo had begun passing the drinks. She really wasn’t there to say anything. She just wanted to sit there to show support for Tofunmi, who had grown to be her best friend. Tofunmi had vehemently refused to go see Dapo when Ibinabo relayed the plan to the girls after all the crying two nights before. Ibinabo had encouraged her to go face Dapo, her worst nightmare. There was one more thing Tofunmi was scared about that the others didn’t know about…

Ibinabo had cleared her throat to stop the awkward silence.

“Hello Dapo. I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself properly. I’m Ibinabo, Tofunmi Badmus’ friend. Yeah, you heard right… let’s drink up people. We can’t have this discussion here” Ibinabo said politely.

As they stepped out of the restaurant, Dapo wished he could zoom off, but there was no zooming off with the two ladies who stepped into his car. This was no longer funny anymore. Dapo found his voice, he couldn’t just sit mute and let these ladies gang up on him.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on here?... Errmm, Tofunmi, it’s been a while, how have you been?

“Please, enough of the greetings; just drive…” Tofunmi said as the anger within her started making its way out through her voice.

“Drive to where?...” Dapo asked confused.  Tofunmi gave directions to an high school field. She had so much fury to pour on Dapo and she needed somewhere conducive to do that.

As they got down from the car, Ibinabo stayed back in the car to let her friend and baby-daddy sort out their issues while she brought out her phone to surf the internet.

Tofunmi was brief enough as she accused Dapo of bailing out on her after she called him to inform him of the pregnancy.

“Dapo, you almost ruined my life... Anyway, there’s something you need to know… We have a son…” Tofunmi blurted out as she focused her gaze on Dapo.

“What?! We have a son? But I told you to abort the pregnancy, and even gave you money for the procedure…” Dapo cut in angrily pacing up and down the field.

“So you honestly believed I would abort my own child? I called you severally to let you know when I put to bed but you wouldn’t pick my calls. After some time, your number wouldn’t go through…Ayomide is 3 years old as we speak” Tofunmi went on without paying attention to what Dapo was saying and all his pacing…

“Ok, so what do you want from me now? What’s all these Ibinabo drill about? Who is she?” Dapo retorted angrily. He was tired of all these girly drama; he was beginning to lose his cool at that time.

“You need some more money to take care of the child or what? How do I even know that this child is mine? Are you done? 'Cause I have to be somewhere right now…”Dapo retorted as he walked towards his car to start the ignition and drive off…

Tofunmi was no longer scared of Dapo. The major reason she had delayed looking for him was because she was scared of him; she was scared of how he would react if he found out that she kept the baby and how he might eventually take the child away from her the moment he owns up to being responsible for the birth of the baby. But now, the game was up. The battle was no longer because of her son, but because of her only sister…

She pulled him back with all the strength she could garner.

“Tade Badmus… Have you touched her?” she said in the coldest of tones Dapo had ever heard his ex-girlfriend speak… Dapo was mute for 10 seconds…

“Answer me, you filthy beast… have you touched my sister?” Tofunmi shouted the more…

Dapo was done processing the information as he grew weak and had to hold on to the door of his car.

“Tade Badmus… is your sister?...” he stuttered…  “Oh my God… What is happening to me?”… Dapo went on soliloquizing.

By this time, Ibinabo was out of the car, standing behind Tofunmi just to make sure she doesn’t do anything silly. She had never seen her friend so angry and ready to burst, neither had she ever heard her speak in that tone. This was really getting somehow for Ibinabo. But she knew her presence at that point in time meant a lot to Tofunmi and she was ready to stay with her till all of these was sorted out…

“Dapo Aborishade, I ask you one last time… Have you slept with my sister?” Tofunmi said, this time holding Dapo’s shirt, pushing him back and forth as he stood speechless by his car… while she allowed the tears she’s been holding back to flow freely down her cheeks…

“Honestly, I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Dapo managed to speak as he held Tofunmi’s hand from pushing him further…

“You don’t know what?”Ibinabo was already pissed too.

“How difficult is this for you to understand, ehn, Mr. Fine boy? Tade Badmus, the one whose gift I came to deliver is Tofunmi’s sister. Have you or have you not touched the poor girl?” Ibinabo hissed.

“I haven’t…”Dapo finally said with a sigh. He suddenly developed a serious headache.

 “Ladies, this is a serious mix-up; an honest mistake. I didn’t plan all of this… gosh… can we sort this out like adults?”Dapo knew fighting or arguing won’t do anything at this time. He knew he had to control the situation before Tofunmi started another session of crying.

Ibinabo helped her friend to the car, sat beside her as Dapo explained everything he knew about Tade; how he didn’t know that the sister Tade always talked about was Tofunmi and her nephew; his own son. He went on to state why he hadn’t come visiting at Tade’s place as it was Tade’s wish to keep the relationship coded for a while. He apologized for how the whole situation turned out and obliged to come see Tofunmi’s parents to apologise for all his inactions these past years, when Tofunmi placed the demand.

***

Mrs. Badmus might have been excited about the huge success of her 50^th birthday celebration but she knew something wasn’t right with her daughters. She had noticed Tofunmi looking worried a day before her birthday and when she tried to find out what the matter was; Tofunmi had assured her that nothing was wrong. She had also heard people crying the night after the whole party and had heard voices coming from the girls’ room. When she tried to find out what the matter was, the three girls (Ibinabo inclusive) had told her it was nothing to worry about.

She had also noticed several quiet discussions amongst the girls. She had to find out what the matter was and she wasn’t going to have any more “mummy, there’s nothing going on” excuse this time. She walked straight to the girls’ room and found Tade packing and sighing.

She patted her daughter who obviously didn’t know she was in the room, and beckoned on her to sit down on the bed.

“Maami, good afternoon…” Tade managed to smile.

“Tade, you know there’s nothing you can’t tell me. I want to know what the matter is with you and yoursister, for the past few days now” Mrs. Badmus said calmly.

Tade rested her head on her mother’s chest, hugged her with one hand and let the tears flow. She knew she was good at coding, especially for her mother and especially with this whole relationship issue but at that moment, she needed to let it all out.

“It’s okay, my dear, just tell me what the problem is…” Mrs. Badmus kept on petting her daughter. She knew whatever it was that was making Tade cry like this must be huge.

Mrs. Badmus tried her best not to look too alarmed as Tade relayed the whole story to her. She just kept saying “oh my God… oh my God…” She held her daughter more closely. This was too complicated to process but she was the mum; she had to act like one,especially at this time.

***

Ibinabo and Tofunmi had walked into the room without either her sister or mum noticing. She knew Tade must have dropped the bomb. Ibinabo excused the sisters and mum as she helped herself to the sitting room to keep Ayomide’s company. She had completed her assignment; she had to go home the next day, she thought to herself.

Mrs. Badmus had thanked Ibinabo for coming and helping all through the party,later that evening during dinner. She had given Ibinabo a small gift bag to take along with her on her trip to Lagos the following day. The evening was quite lively as Ayomide entertained everyone with the new dancesteps he had picked from the Honeywell noodles advert. Ibinabo had also taken lots of pictures, thereby forcing the sisters to smile, pout and laugh for different poses.

Tofunmi was indeed grateful for this friendship. She couldn’t wait for this phase of her life to end and things get back to normal again. She prayed a short prayer before sleeping that her previous nightmare won’t come to pass.

***

Dapo had dropped the girls at a convenient areaclose where they would get a cab home; after which he sped off to kokodome to drink away his sorrows. As he drove, images of Tade and Tofunmi kept flashing across his mind. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he had a three-year old son somewhere… His life looked as though it was crashing down. He didn’t know how his parents would take the news when he eventually summoned courage to tell them about this development. The more he thought about how messy the whole situation he had found himself was, the more drinks he ordered and took. Dapo managed to help himself into the back seat of his car where he passed the night.

***

Tade had gone back to school the following day, with a determination to focus on her final lap and not meddle into any guy talks. As a matter of fact, she was done. She however knew there was no way she could hide from Dapo as he had agreed to come see her parents because of Ayomide.

She had sent Dapo a message that they should meet up one more time. They had met later on in the week. The meeting was very awkward as they both had nothing to say almost all through the time.

“I guess this is it, huh? I’m sorry about how this whole issue is ending. You know I could never hurt you; I had plans for us, babe; great plans but I …” Dapo finally said.

“it’s okay, Ade…” Tade had to consciously delete the “mi” she was always putting at the back of Adedapo’s name. This was really harder than she thought it would be…

“I’m sorry too. I guess we were not just meant for each other. I should go now. I’d see you around” Tade said, getting up from her seat and walking away to hop on the next available bike. She couldn’t let Ade go on with his valedictory speech and end up crying in the open; she had to move on with her life and this was the time.

Even though Dapo made efforts to call Tade back to offer to drop her back in school, she wasn’t paying any attention to him again as she walked very fast out of kfc, bodija. Dapo heaved a big sigh as he sat back to finish his drink before driving back to work.

He brought out his phone as he got into the banking hall, typed and sent a text message informing his mum that he’d be coming home that weekend as something urgent had come up.

***

Temiye had not particularly enjoyed his blind date with Franka, but he managed to stay put all through dinner with her. He had explained to Kuye when he got back that he wasn’t sure about her, but admitted that though she was beautiful and sounded intelligent, he just found the whole conversation they had boring. Kuye had laughed at him, taunting him that he was now certain Temiye was under a spell; a Tofunmi spell.

Temiye had kept in touch with Franka, nonetheless. He was determined to work on developing some sort of feelings for this pretty girl. Maybe Kuye was right about him being under a spell, he thought to himself. He was going to get over Tofunmi and make it work with some other girl, but first, he would see how far this Franka-move will go.

***

The Aborishades had called up Mr & Mrs. Badmus to fix a convenient time when they would come to Ibadan to come sort out the whole child issue between Dapo and Tofunmi. Chief Aborishade had not particularly taken Dapo’s news pleasantly. He was indeed furious that Dapo had gotten himself into such huge mess. But his wife had persuaded him to go with them to apologize to the Badmus’ for all the trouble their son had caused them these past few years.

Tofunmi was nervous on the agreed date. She felt like taking her son to go stay with a neighbor or somewhere far; she couldn’t shake off the nighmare she had. It had not been difficult relaying the whole story to her dad. Her father was indeed pleased that Ayomide’s father, whoever he was, was going to come and show his face and take up a bit of the responsibilities that they have had to shoulder alone. Tofunmi’s mum had encouraged her daughter to stay calm all through and be assured that they wouldn’t allow anyone take her son away from her.

Tade had also come back from school to show support for her sister and to help baby-sit Ayomide all through the meeting.

The two families had finalized arrangements on how to cater for Ayomide as he was going to resume school the following academic session. Tade had avoided Dapo all through the meeting, ensuring that she was in the room most of the time with Ayomide. She had only come out to serve Chief and Chief (Mrs.) Aborishade drinks and went back to the room.

Tofunmi was glad that Dapo’s folks were reasonable enough not to ask that they take the child to Lagos for schooling; in fact, she was happy that the meeting went well all through.

As she walked the Aborishades to the gate where they parked their car, she sighted Temiye who was getting down from his car to cross to the other side where Tofunmi’s house was situated.

*the butterflies

*Faith Tunde-Yara
*photo credit: dreamstime.com