Bed of Roses (Episode 5)

Monday
"1, 2, 3
Bump the chest - 1, 2... 1, 2
Bump the chest - 1, 2
A step to the front... step to the back
Spin
Forward slide... Slide to the back..."

The dance routine went on for another 20 minutes before Sewa called it a day for her couple clients that came around for their final dance rehearsals. The wedding was slated for Thursday and they had almost every other thing in place apart from a perfect dance that they both wanted so badly. Sewa was particularly happy about their zeal to get their moves right. Their seriousness at all prior rehearsals had been quite encouraging. She had to tell them to loosen up most of the time and concentrate on having fun while they danced.

"Was it close to perfect this time?" The shy bride-to-be asked slowly.

"Of course. You both nailed it. Now don't forget what I told you. Make sure you don't slide backwards completely. I don't want you tripping..." Sewa replied with a smile of relief.

"And if you trip, I'll be here to catch you." The excited groom chipped in.
"Thank you so much. We hope you can make it to the wedding..." He continued.

"At least to see us dance..." The bride added.

"I'll try my very best..." Sewa replied as she walked them to their car and bade them goodbye.

Once she was back into the studio, she walked straight to her office, picked up a bottle of water from the fridge and settled in her reclining chair to relax a bit before her next appointment. She turned on her laptop and decided to glance through the manuscript of the new book she started writing a few months ago. She had abandoned the book project for too long and she felt bad about that. She decided to read through the beginning of the last chapter where she stopped writing.

She gulped the water from the bottle as she scrolled through the first few pages of the book on her laptop, with her facial expression changing at every new development in the book. The tentative title of the book was the 'The Art of Dance'. It was her personal story of how she walked into the dance profession by chance and the many challenges most dancers face as they try to climb the ladder of professionalism and recognition.

She must have been deeply engrossed in the book that she didn't hear her second studio assistant walk in after knocking on her door without any response from her.

"There's someone here to see you..." The assistant leaned forward on her table to gain Sewa's attention.

"Oh. Sorry Damola. How long have you been standing?" Sewa shut her mouth that was ajar from reading through one of her own experiences of sustaining a serious injury close to her final dance examination back in the University.

"I'm sorry. You said what?" She adjusted on the chair and closed the laptop to pay proper attention to what her assistant was saying.

"He says he's been calling. He's waiting at the studio." Damola continued.

"Oh. Okay. Let him in." And with that, Sewa reopened her laptop and went back to reading about her own life.

"Sorry to barge in on you like this."

Sewa recognised the voice. She kept her eyes fixed on the laptop and hoped that there was some other person out there with the exact same voice of the person she suspected that walked into her office.

"Good afternoon Sewa." He shut the door behind him and there was nothing else Sewa could do.

She lifted her eyes from the laptop and saw her worst nightmare standing in her office.

She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't find the words. She began a mental check for sharp objects in her office, and especially anyone close to where she was seated to use in defending herself if it became necessary.

Tade stood for a short while waiting for Sewa to say something but after a few minutes of standing, he drew out a chair for himself and sat in it.

"I'm sorry Sewa. I'm deeply sorry for all the misery and heartache I put you through. I only came here to apologise in person. I'm not sure I have a tenable excuse for the way I acted three months ago. I just had to wait to apologise personally before leaving..." Tade paused for a bit. He looked away from Sewa with the hope that she would be able to say something, anything at all to him.

"Say something please. You know I never meant to hurt you or your husband..." He continued.

"I... What are you... " Sewa's voice failed her yet again.

She shivered on her seat. She wanted to scream, and shout, and call everyone's attention but she was too scared. Tade was not to be trusted. She had concluded that he was psychologically imbalanced after the first incidence that almost took her husband's life. Right now, all she wanted was for this nightmare to be over finally.

"Anyway, I'm sorry once again. I just really wanted my son to have a mother figure in his life. I guess I went overboard. I'm deeply sorry. I'll be leaving tomorrow for good." Tade paused again. He felt bad with himself. He had messed things up so badly that his dearest friend now shivered at his sight. He stood up from the chair and walked to the door.

"Take care." Tade shut the door behind him and walked out of the studio with plans never to return.

After a few minutes of watching her door closed without any attempt by anyone to open it again, Sewa rushed to the door and locked it. She rushed back to her table still shivering, and searched for her phone in her bag. She poured out the content of the bag and was even more confused as to the last place she dropped her phone.

She picked up the laptop from the table and in her confused state, cleared everything on the table to the floor. Her phone fell down on the rug as part of the things that were on the table before she poured out the content of her bag.
She picked the phone in a hurry, searched for Fikayo's number and dialed it instantly.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up..." Sewa pleaded as she listened to the number ring a number of times. After trying without any luck for two more times, she slammed the phone on the table. She had no other law enforcement friend to call and she was not sure if it was a good idea to call her husband.

She went back to her door, peeped through the key hole and pressed her ears to the door to confirm that other dance rehearsals were going on. Once she was sure activities were going on normally, she rushed back to her phone again at the beep of a message that she hoped was from Fikayo. It was a random message from her network service provider. Sewa hissed in disappointment, before trying Fikayo's number yet again.

"He's in town... He's in to..ow..own..." She said at the top of her voice immediately Fikayo picked. Her voice broke in fear.

"Slow down. Who's in town?" Fikayo sniffed a little before she continued talking.

"Tade. Tade just left my office now." Sewa tried to compose herself and her words properly this time.

"What?!" Fikayo stood up from her seat, wiped her face with a handkerchief and sniffed again.

"Fifi..." Sewa paused. She calmed herself down as she settled into her chair.

"Yes? I'm listening to you. You said Tade just left your office now? How?" Fikayo also tried to compose herself. She had been crying uncontrollably for a few minutes before Sewa's call came in. She intentionally ignored the call the first three times to compose herself.

"Are you alright?" Sewa could hear Fikayo sniffing and sounding funnyather dull, like someone that had been crying.

"I'm fine. Are you alright? You just said you saw that monster..." Fikayo said slowly as she pushed back a tear that was beginning to make its way down her cheeks. Tade was indeed a monster, she thought to herself as she walked back to her seat.

"You don't sound fine..."

"I'm okay, just speak on..." Fikayo insisted.

Sewa went on to tell Fikayo how Tade appeared suddenly in  her office and kept on apologising for his actions, how he said he was leaving for good, and how she was unable to utter a word till he left.

"He said what?!" Fikayo jumped up from her seat. Sewa took her phone away from her ear out of shock. She repeated everything she had said earlier.

"He said he was leaving?!" Fikayo asked again.

Sewa became confused, especially because Fikayo did not seem surprised that Tade had been in the country for the past three months. She was more confused because of her reaction to the news of Tade leaving.

"Let me call you back!" Fikayo said, interrupting Sewa's thoughts as she ended the call.

Still confused, Sewa dropped the phone and placed her head on the table to do some thinking. Something wasn't right, she thought to herself.

***
Fikayo soon resumed her crying. She sat back and stared at the envelope before her, the one Chioma had said a certain man came to deliver in church the previous day. She had been so busy with cooking and pressing her clothes for the week when power was restored that she forgot to take out the envelope from her bag.
She however checked the envelope immediately she returned from a preliminary hearing earlier in the day, and that was when her entire day changed.

Inside the envelope was a short note from Tade (her mistake) apologizing for everything and wishing her the best. He also mentioned getting back to his son and business immediately; he had overstayed his welcome. He assured her that he would be in touch from time to time. He was very grateful for all that Fikayo did in ensuring that the law did not catch up with him. She was a real friend he would forever cherish, he concluded.
He also included a few hundreds of dollars in the envelope as a thank you gift for Fikayo.

Fikayo's heart raced faster than normal as she read the note over and over again, with her eyes getting blurry with every time she read. She immediately picked up her phone and dialed Tade's Nigerian number but the number was switched off every time she called. She was doomed, she thought to herself and cried uncontrollably till Sewa's call came in.

Hearing that Tade visited Sewa to say goodbye only confirmed Tade's seriousness. She felt foolish, used, and useless all at the same time.
Her head began to spin immediately she dropped Sewa's call to dial Tade's number one more time. It was still switched off.

As she took the note to go through it again and examine the paper for the umpteenth time, just in case Tade left a secret clue as to where he would be and how she could reach him immediately, her phone rang again.

"What?!" She blurted out at the person on the other end of the line without checking who it was.

She placed the phone on the table and left the caller to end the call whenever the person was tired. She buried her head in her hands to think of the bigger problems she needed to sort out. Actually, one big problem - to find the supposed father of her unborn child.

***
Bosun looked at his phone one more time. He was shocked at Fikayo's reaction to his call. He was about redialing her number but changed his mind without a major reason.


***Bed of Roses by Faith Tunde-Yara OLATUNBOSUN
***Photo Credit: fotolia.com