FLIRTATIOUS ; (Part 29&30) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE

PART 29 “FLIRTATIOUS”
Opeyemi Akintunde

Talk about the violent taking it by force, I decided to visit him at his place of work that night. He had told me he was on the night shift… We had to talk…

****

I got to the hotel and I was told he was on the morning shift for the next day.

“He lied to me!” I felt pained in my heart.

I thanked the receptionist who didn’t look pleased seeing me.

“You are welcome ma… ma, your face seems very familiar” She had said

“Really?”

“Like you have been here before?” She Pressed on

“Well, I was here for my honeymoon, three years ago”

“Oh! Yeah, I remember you… How are your husband and the kids?”

“My husband is dead and we didn’t have kids” I replied curtly. It was obvious she was prying. It was better I set the records straight, In case they start seeing F.D. and I.

“F.D is with his family, you should come around in the morning if you want to see him”

I froze, “Family”. “Was he married? He had told me he wasn’t and that he was living with his sister and her kids…

“Oh!” I was relieved. He wasn’t married.
It occurred to me the nosy receptionist was referring to his sister and her kids.

“I know he has a family…Thank you for your time”

I planned on sl33ping in my car till he came… We were going to talk it through and he had to marry me.

******

“Leni, I am not ready for any kind of mistake, there is no way I would love Promise and still be fully committed to you… I will make us work” I said to Leni.

“Marriage shouldn’t be work” Leni said

“What if Promise never came into our lives and we got into this the way we did, won’t we make this marriage work?”

“Not sure about that, the past three years have been you enduring this marriage”

“Leni, I am letting her go tonight, sometimes life doesn’t give what we want, it gives us exactly what we need. ”

” And you think I am the person you neec?”

‘ Maybe… Leni, I will make this marriage work. We survived life as orphans, we were dropped at the orphanage and we survived, let’s see this marriage that way… We will live through it. Before we know it, we will be 70 years old together ”

My phone beeped and it was a text message from TItobiloluwa…

“F.D, the married woman from three years ago is hunting for you, she looks desperate. Run for your life, don’t come to work tomorrow. I will keep you posted in the morning”

I passed my phone to Leni…

“I already texted her I was no longer interested and she replied it was okay, why is she at the hotel looking for me?”

“Obviously to beg you…”

I went quiet, and that gave Leni the opportunity to speak to me…

“F.D, you want me to live a good life? Right?” I nodded in the affirmative…

“Then marry her, use her money to help me become an independent woman. You don’t have to stay married to me, besides our court marriage was based on falsehood. We paid people to be our parents”

“What are you saying Leni?”

“I am no longer your wife as from this moment, you are free to marry her”

“Leni!”

” Yes! I am back to being your sister”

PART 30 “FLIRTATIOUS”
Opeyemi Akintunde.

I pushed F.D into sending her a text immediately …

“I heard you are at the hotel looking for me, I changed my shift… Can you find your way to our place tonight? My sister can’t wait to meet you…” F.D was shaking as he typed…He forwarded our house address to her.

” It’s for the best F.D” I assured him but he kept looking into my eyes searching for sense in the nonsense he felt I was asking him to do…

” I am not sure” he said locking his gaze with mine

At this point in this story, I know a lot of “Leni lovers” would see my actions as taking a wrong step. What would you have done in my shoes?

The truth is my brother doesn’t love me as a wife, letting him choose me over the woman he loves will be punishing him and I will constantly be living in the pain of him not loving me enough.

I have always lived off F.D.

Back at the orphanage, it was whatever Mrs Abrahamson brought for him, that I got things.

Therefore, history was about repeating itself, but this time around I choose to be smart about it. I choose to become someone useful to myself. I was going to return for my HND, and become a graduate, get a job and become successful.

That was my plan…

*****

She came into our house looking elegantly beautiful in a white chiffon dress. No wonder, F.D couldn’t let her go. She was beautiful. I am beautiful but hey! She definitely has some points ahead.

I gave her a warm and intimate hug, after all, she was about to be my financier…

“Finally, I get to meet the one who has been giving my brother sl33pless nights for three years. “ I said cheerfully

“I am so sorry about the death of your husband,” I added quickly so she could know I was up to date with all that was happening in F.D’s life.

“Thank you… and I am happy to meet you, Leni, he has told me so much about you”
She replied gleefully. I could see she felt good about my open arms.

“I hope the things he said about me do not include my most popular identity?” I said jokingly

” Which is?” Promise asked

” The girl with 2 sons and a new pregnancy for 3 fathers,” I said…

“Well… he mentioned it, but I told him you must wear your heart on your sleeves…Wait hold up…there is a third pregnancy?” Promise said ending her last statement in a surprised tone

“Exactly, but don’t blame an orphan like me..Always Finding love everywhere,” I said trying to buy pity…

“So sorry to hear about your orphaned life from childhood…But is the father of the unborn baby going to marry you?”

” I am not that lucky…”

Promise and I hit it off but F.D sat at a corner in the living room watching us…

*****

Sitting there and watching both of them talk like old friends, my heart bled. A lot of thoughts flashed through my mind. If only, I didn’t mess things up with Leni, this would have been a genuinely beautiful meet-up. Also, I imagined Shalewa sitting there with Leni, if I had not messed up with Leni, Shalewa would have been my wife, and Leni, Segun’s.

This messed up situation started with dancing to the flirtatious tune Promise played.

Reuben’s words began to make sense; I remembered him stating that because I found Promise attractive didn’t mean I should follow the feelings. If I had trashed the feelings since she was married, Shalewa would have been my wife.

Instead, Promise planted the flirtatious seed in me, and when I couldn’t sl33p with her after her husband pulled her away, the flirtatious seed in me started looking for the nearest available female… unfortunately, it made me seek relief in my sister…

“F.D… F.D….” I heard Leni’s voice calling me back to reality…

“I want to go to bed, I know you and Promise have a lot of catch up to do”

Honestly,, the desire to talk to Promise had died in me…

I watched Leni go back to her bedroom. I sat there staring at Promise wondering why I found her attractive…

“F.D…” She called my name from where she sat. There was quite a distance between us and I really wanted to maintain that distance mentally, emotionally and physically.

“Hmm…” I answered

“I can understand why you don’t want me… I see you have your sister and her sons to take care of” She said with an innocent caring voice

“Yeah”

“I promise to help you take care of them… We will get a bigger house, where we all can move in and live together as a family… F.D, you are my soulmate, and I can’t let you go…”

“Ok”

I didn’t have the strength to talk… A lot of rollercoaster emotions had passed through my body that day.

She stood up from where she was seated and walked toward me…

“F.D, I am here to make your life better”