A Couple of Three... Episode 9

December 2012

"You know the way to a man's heart..."
He gulped the water and placed the glass cup on the tray. He picked the tray containing the empty plate and glass cup and walked up to join her in the kitchen.

She laughed without turning back on the dishes she was washing. She had since moved out of the student residence after her second year at the University. She lived in a fully furnished self-contained apartment that was quite close to school. She loved it here, it was more convenient for her.

"Your wife material enh? 1 million yards..." He laughed. He was now standing next to her.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it; as always..." She smiled and collected the tray from him.

"I'm still waiting for you to confess o; maybe it's my food that brought you back to Pretoria, six months after your grad..." She laughed loudly this time, and he joined in the laughter.

He washed his hands, dabbed with a towel and went back to the sitting-room-portion of the flat.

It had been six months since Tade's M.Sc graduation, and a year plus since Fikayo's LLB graduation. Sewa was both excited and surprised that Tade was visiting so soon, but she didn't mind. The months after his graduation had been the most boring part of her entire stay at the University. Their clique (Tade, Fikayo, Felix, Sewa and Thando) seemed to grow smaller as the months went by, with three of them graduating in a roll, while Sewa and Thando remained in school but hardly ever saw each other. Sewa was grateful she had met the other four when she did, as they were quite helpful in showing her around and helping her settle down generally in Pretoria.

Shortly after he was back to his seat, his phone rang. He picked the call, spoke for a few seconds and walked back to where Sewa was standing.

"For you..." He handed the phone to Sewa.

It was Patricia on the line, Tade's wife. They all called her 'Trish'.
The ladies spoke for a while, and Sewa's countenance changed in quick successions all through the conversation. She did her best to be polite on the phone, but slammed the phone on the kitchen table once the conversation was over.

"What rubbish, Tade? So you came all the way to ask me this..." She spread her palms in disgust.

"Sewa, please hear us out. I beg you. Or at least, hear me out" Tade began his plea.

Sewa was familiar with the entire Durojaiye family. It wasn't so difficult to know them all, since Tade was the only child and he clearly came from a closely-knitted family (both nuclear and extended). On many occasions, she had spoken with his folks, and once he started dating Trish, she also got the chance to chat with her. Shortly after his graduation, he had sent her pictures of his small, intimate, yet classy wedding and Sewa had expressed her genuine happiness and excitement for him. She was however surprised that his entire family (and his new wife) could not find anyone else to request the enormous favour that Trish just mentioned over the phone.

"Let me get this straight. You both want me to help carry your child? Is that right?..." Sewa started.

"It would...."

"Or has the meaning of surrogacy changed?" Sewa cut in before Tade could go on with whatever he was about to say.

The discussion went on for hours, with Tade's mum calling to plead with her, after which his closest cousin called, and Trish for the umpteenth time. After four hours of going back and forth on how inconsiderate the Durojaiyes were (especially Tade), without taking cognizance of the fact that she was still in school and had her entire life ahead of her, Sewa stopped talking. The answer to the request was simple.

"I'm sorry but I can't..." She rested her back on the chair, stretched her legs across the small table in the sitting room and turned her face away from him.

"Trish..." Tade started, as he stood up from the chair.
"She..." he paused at the door.

"She has a heart disease. That's what she couldn't say on the phone." He opened the door and left.

***
Two months after, Sewa was at the Los Angeles International Airport, and was warmly received by Tade, his mum and Trish. She stood there with mixed feelings; she had applied for a gap year at the university and Tade had been helpful in putting her through the entire process.
It was supposed to be an exciting trip for her, since it was her first time ever in the U.S. She had succeeded in faking excitement over the phone while informing her parents of the one-year abroad scholarship she was awarded.
Trish hugged her so tight once Sewa got to the car, but the only emotion that poured out from Sewa in that embrace was pity. She didn't look sick at all. Sewa smiled at the slender chocolate frame of Trish, and encouraged herself that she was doing it for a good cause. Besides, she had nothing to lose anything by helping her best friend; that's what friends are for. And this help was coming with a good reward.
She tried to avoid eye contact with Tade all through the ride, but caught glimpses of his 'thank you' smiles from the rear mirror.


***

Present Day
He was caught up in a little hold-up on Adetokunbo Ademola road - the hold up caused by cars trying to navigate the Ajose Adeogun round about to four different routes. A tricycle had just been hit by a company bus and the driver of the tricycle was pulling tantrums. It was the wrongest time to be delayed. He checked his watch for the umpteenth time. He couldn't afford to miss the doctor, and he was not about to call her to mention his coming.

Kunle sighed and looked out the window to the other side of the road and saw Tade. A fair lady stood beside him and they were both laughing. Miraculously, the little hold-up got cleared, and Kunle drove as fast as he could to catch up with him.
Once he was on Kingsway road, he began honking to get their attention. He found a spot to park, and hurried out of the car.

"Stay away from my family" He yelled at him, not minding the people walking past.

Chioma shifted a bit and tried to stop the next available cab. She was down for everything that came with some drama, but not a fight.

"Whooh. Whooh... Take it easy, man." Tade started.

Chioma stood uneasily and kept waving all yellow cabs that came by. Unfortunately, most of them had passengers in them. Since she was already caught up in this drama, she decided to put out the fire. Maybe, just maybe, this supposed gentle man that just alighted from a sleek SUV did not know she was with Tade, hence the rude approach, she thought to herself.

"Oga, take it easy o."  Chioma started.

"Hey, Chioma. It's fine. I'll sort this out. Sorry for the embarrassment." Tade gave her a side hug, and that was her cue to take her leave.

Chioma crossed to the other side of the road and pulled out her phone immediately.

"Fikayo, ehhhh... there is gist, there is gist." She shouted over the phone.

She began rushing the gist after Fikayo told her she couldn't spare as much time to talk because of an emergency.

"Same Tade..." Fikayo questioned.

"Yes now. I'm good with faces, remember?" Chioma answered.

"Describe this man you said accosted him..."

Fikayo walked back to the other side of Sewa's table, picked her bag, and signaled to Sewa to begin packing her things as well.

"Okay, okay. Thank you, Chioma. I have to go now..."

"Anything the matter?" Chioma tried to figure out what was going on, but Fikayo ended the call before she could get the answer she wanted.

She put her phone back into her bag, and flagged down the next tricycle going to Obalende.


***

"I think Kunle found him or Tade found Kunle. I don't know. One of them found the other sha..."
"We need to get going..." Fikayo said.

"Oh God... Should I call him?"

Sewa began to shake. She tried to clear her table and pack up her bags but she ended up pulling things out of the bag for no reason. She was confused and weak. The tears were beginning to roll down again.

"What do I do now?" She picked her phone and tried to make a call.

Fikayo snatched the phone from her hand, helped her with her bag and held her hand as they stepped out of the dance studio together.

She smiled at Keffi as they walked past, and even though Keffi did not understand what was going on, she knew the situation at hand was really messy. Keffi  smiled back at Fikayo and bade them goodbye.

***

"We're grown men here; two adults. We can definitely talk this out..." Tade started.

After Chioma left, he took a few steps away from Kunle, and walked towards the spot where the SUV was parked. He understood why Kunle wouldn't mind the public display, but one of them had to be the mature one, he thought to himself.

Kunle adjusted his shirt, looked around a bit, and began walking after Tade. He had embarrassed himself, but he preferred to be embarrassed than to let some strange man into his home, with his eyes wide open.
Once he got to his car, he opened the door and sat in. Tade also opened the door to the passenger's seat, and the conversation began. Kunle left the glass wound up, brought out the picture he had taken from the picture frame and slammed it on Tade's chest.

"Do I look like I want to talk this out? Just get the hell out of Sewa's life, and out of my car..."

Tade picked the picture that had now fallen on the carpet, and was about leaving the car. He stopped himself abruptly from opening the door, and started.

"Do you know how hard it is to watch someone you love walk down the aisle with another man? Right before your own eyes?"

Kunle's head began to spin. He couldn't help the thoughts that ran through his head. He wished he could lay his hands on any dangerous weapon to hit Tade's head. To think that Tade was among the crowd at the wedding that took place some two years ago, was beyond him. All his presumptions about Sewa having an affair with Tade had been confirmed. He became mad.

"Get the hell out!" He yelled.

"Now"

Kunle zoomed off immediately, once Tade was out of his car. His hands shook as he maneuvered the steering. He wasn't sure where he was headed, but he definitely couldn't stand the sight of Sewa.

***

"Hey, Jide. It's me. Meet me at the hotel in 15 minutes..."

Tade tapped on the 'send message' button. Once the message was sent, he flagged down a yellow cab to take him to his hotel room.



***A Couple of Three by FAITH TUNDE-YARA
*** Photo credit: www.dreamstime.com