BITTERSWEET 5

[Mercyadeola]

PART 5
"NWALA: THE BITTERSWEET STORY"
Opeyemi Akintunde

I walked into the living room. My mother was seated, knitting. My mother only knitted whenever she was angry. Knitting was her way of keeping her cool.

"How did it go?" She asked

"Great" I replied sharply

"Explain your definition of Great"

"We had a decent conversation and we have decided to be friends so as to get to know each other"

"Ok!" Mum said but she dropped her crochet and tapped her phone and the words I heard from the phone shocked me to my brain. I literally shut down... It was the conversation I had with Reuben at the restaurant.

" My mother is a mafia" I concluded.

"Nwala, you are a waste of my nine months," My mother said and that was the last straw that broke the camel's back. I ran towards my room wailing... Reuben's handshake had condemned me and now my mother's words.

*****

Hunger woke me up. I  reasoned I must have slept off after wailing for hours. I scrambled for my phone to check the time;

At 2 am. No missed calls. That was strange!

"Airplane mode!" I suddenly remembered putting my phone on Airplane mode shortly before going in for lunch with Reuben. I didn't want Daniel calling, and having to cook up some lie later on... The plan was to turn off the Airplane mode after leaving the restaurant and blame it on the network.

The moment I turned off the Airplane mode, I knew there was trouble in my paradise. 105 voice messages, 15 text messages, 200 chat notifications from Daniel, and a few messages from my eldest sister, Chika...

I knew what that meant; Mother had reported me to her.

Just somewhere in my tons of messages, I saw an unfamiliar number. I opened the text, then it dawned on me that it was Reuben; I didn't save his number earlier. A part of me was excited to read what he had to say...

"You are more than what I expected, Thanks for your sincerity about your relationship status, I'd respect that and stay in the friend zone as long as you want me there. Thanks for honoring me with your presence. Do have a lovely rest of the day.
Your friend Reuben (Please friends don't use SIR titles... lol..)

I think I must have smiled!

No, I actually smiled, but quickly I let it fade away. I couldn't betray Daniel. Daniel was my love story coming true. I was also Daniel's love story coming true. Daniel was my first kiss, my first smooch, but not my first man yet. Daniel and I had promised ourselves out of mere morality to keep ourselves till after marriage. Daniel was the one who enforced it, there were times I desperately wanted him to make me a woman but Daniel would beg me.

"My love, please give me the honor of unwrapping my gift on the night of our wedding. Nwala, you don't know your worth, you are my greatest achievement, me Daniel, the son of an illiterate mechanic marrying the daughter of Billionaire Okorocha"

My Daniel! No force on earth, or underneath it could make me marry another person.

"Grrg Grrg" Talk of the Angel. My phone vibrated. I knew Daniel wouldn't have been able to sleep. I braced myself for the lie I needed to tell.

"Should I lie or just say the truth, so we could fight the war and win it together?" I thought about it quickly before picking up.

"Daniel"

"Nwala! What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong, I mistakenly turned on Airplane mode"

"Since 2 pm, yesterday"

"Yes"

"And you expect me to believe that Nwala?"

"Why won't you believe me, Daniel"

"Nwala, we talk almost every three hours and you didn't hear from me in the past 12 hours and somehow it didn't occur to you to check your phone"

"Daniel, please I am tired... I actually feel sick"

"I called your mum to ask about you and she sounded off, she said you were up in your room. Are you still having issues with your mum over the meal?"

"You know mum and her Drama. Dee... I am a bit under the weather and took some pills yesterday afternoon. Guess the drug knocked me out. I just woke up. I checked my phone for the time and I was surprised to see 2 am"

"Ok, I believe, I will come over to the house tomo..."

"No, you don't have to"

There was a long silence...

"You don't want me in your house? My love, what's happening?"

I was torn between saying the truth or telling another lie...

To be continued...

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