When I first saw you, it felt as if I had been hit by something I didn’t see coming. The fairness of your skin or the smoothness of your lips didn’t intrigue me at first, they were remarkable and left an impression, but that was it, an impression.
Something about you felt familiar, you caught me searching your face until I saw a glimpse of Sola in you. His features lightened on you when you said your name was Adeleke, but I could call you Leke. There was that thing in your voices that sounded casual. The same recklessness in Sola’s voice got me curious about him.
Again, curiosity besieged me to open my heart to yours as if we had met before that day.
'Hey,' you waved your hand in my face. 'Somto, we should move now.'
Without hesitating, I followed you out of the office to deliver my first office letter — an increase in rent notice.
***
Until we met their exasperated faces expressing displeasure, I didn’t consider the letters' effect on the recipients. No, it wasn’t okay, but you had looked my way, smiled a reassuring smile and nodded quietly that their reaction was nothing.
I thought that you were brutal. However, I had seen the other side of it later, what would you have done, cry?
In my opinion, the last family we served the letter didn’t deserve it. They were young and growing, they didn’t deserve an increase in rent notice on the first day of a new month. But, I wasn’t sure you thought that way, not that I held it against you, but I still believed that we should care, regardless that we were doing our jobs.
Pulling the kids away from us, the wife shut their door after what seemed like coercion before they finally signed the correspondence. Someone had to take the blame -- I told myself and let them blame us.
***
It was raining heavily now, you found an old bench and sheltered us away from the splatter of the rain. We heard footsteps from inside the house, then a crashing, the curtains ruffled and your ears twitched slightly. The footsteps resumed, then short laughter, a hissing, and a male voice spoke, sweet words were my guesses. This went on for a while until muffles took over, and without having to agree on it, we knew what the silence carried.
'They have a funny relationship’. I chuckled, awaiting your response.
'Everyone has that funny relationship.' You replied.
I was eager to hear you speak. 'You don’t look like someone who has had one.'
You smiled
'You, have you had any funny relationship?'
Staring back, I said, 'Whatever your smile meant, same for me.'
You looked at me in disbelief, as if to warn me, and laughed.
I watched the splatter of rainfall for what took like a leap year, and in exactly 4 seconds, you spoke.
'She tried to seduce me,' you paused, 'it wasn’t the first for me -- Or the last, but that one...' you shook your head, expecting me to understand what you would have said.
'Fear women’, I didn’t mean it.
'She wanted me. It was in her eyes, but I didn’t give in until -- You know, she seduced me.'
I was looking at you now, enjoying the side view of your face and how your nose moved quickly as you spoke. 'So you gave in.'
'Not what you are imagining,' you wetted your lips quickly, and looked at me, half-serious -- half-serious because there was a smirk on the corner of your mouth. 'I was fully in control, Somto.'
'Fear men.' I swallowed hard as the reality hit me hard.
You were smiling now. 'Of course, you should, especially Yoruba men.'
We laughed, easing away the cold.
'So you gave in with your senses intact?' I was serious.
'Yea,' you looked away, 'I stopped before anything happened.'
When I looked at you again, Sola came to mind, he was in Lagos. I wondered how many women had seduced him and how many he disarmed. I sighed. We had nothing going on before he left.
'You’re judging me now, ain’t you?' You chuckled, and I did too. You continued, 'So have you ever been in love?'
I danced my fingers. ‘A couple of times.'
'What do you mean a couple of times?'
Your smile faded and it felt like you could see through me.
'What about him, the one you told about our journey on your way here?'
'How did you know?' I screamed and covered my mouth. You hid your smile like those relationship coaches on TikTok.
'Isn’t dating a period to discover whether you love someone or not?' I rolled my lips and wouldn’t look at you, instead watched the droplets of water hanging on the leaves.
'See? We’re in this together.' You said in your flirty manner, refusing to lift your gaze from me as if you had just found a partner in the same business.
'Men and women have funny relationships.' You finalized and we laughed. I took two sachets of chin chin from my bag and handed you one.
'Thank you, Somto.' You started to eat, I was amused.
The rain gradually stopped, and we headed back to the office.
The weather was cold, so it was good that we sat side by side in the front seat of the cab we boarded.
Shortly after the journey began, we noticed the driver's unusual behavior on the steering wheel. At first, I thought it was the effect of alcohol until a man would sluggishly cross the road and the driver yelled at him that his brake had failed.
Like everyone else, I panicked. The passengers shouted indistinctly, a woman and her son who sat on her lap and two men. Meanwhile, should the worse happen, we would be more injured since we sat in front, and the driver would impulsively turn the car to our side. You grabbed my hands immediately as if you had it planned. I was scared; my heartbeat increased but you were at alert, one eye on the car door and the other on the driver and the road. Your hands too were on standby, one on the door, the other holding mine tightly. Flashes of many things flew across my face at the same time.
A middle-aged man kept shouting for the driver to relax and gradually release his leg from the accelerator but no one was listening, everyone just wanted the car to stop and run out of it.
In a split second, the driver ran into the pillar of a nearby bridge. Thankfully, no one was injured. However, from nowhere, smoke gradually began to fill the air, and everyone panicked more, waiting for the next thing, fire. But not you, you looked at me in about half a second, with my fingers locked in yours, preparing me for what was next. You jolted us out of the car, not hesitating another second until we were safe.
Now, you were hugging me, cursing at the devil, and caressing my sweaty head. Your breath slowly steadied, likewise mine. My hands were wrapped around your waist, I didn't know how tight, but very tight.
When we finally disentangled, you looked at me and said, 'Somto, life's short. You should love someone, and you should allow yourself to be loved, an intense love, one that gives, one that's made for you, yea, that one', your breath steadied, 'yea, that kind of love, Somto, that kind of love that makes you happy even though life's short...'
'Heys! Bros, omoge' the driver was calling out to us now. We looked back, the car wasn't on fire, but it needed a little beating. Everyone seemed fine. 'Oh, we're safe. Leke, thank you.' I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding, likewise your hand.
'Good, we should move.' You held my hand again, carefully, firmly as if either of us would disappear, and we began to move, again.
