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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 2am. No missed call. That was strange!
“Airplane mode!” I suddenly remembered putting my phone on Airplane mode shortly before going in for the 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 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 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 k!ss, first smooch, but not 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 honour 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 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 sle€p. 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 2pm, 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 2am”
“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…
Part 6
NWALA; THE BITTERSWEET STORY
Opeyemi Akintunde
“Dee, Mum is worried about your lack of spirituality” I said hoping I could work this thing out. If Daniel became spiritual, maybe mum could change her mind…
“Ok” Daniel said
“Yeah”
“And what’s your take on that?” Daniel asked
“I think it’s high time you got serious with God and started attending church” I Said
“Ok” Daniel replied
The answer was too sharp and not thought out…
“Dee, do you understand what this means?” I asked
“Yes” He answered sharply
“Ok” I replied
There was silence and I could tell Daniel was angry.
“Dee, you are angry?”
“No, I get it… before your Mum can approve us for marriage, I must become a church boy. I get it… I know your mum is big on church and all, so I will become a church boy. I will give the world for you Nwala”
“Thank you!” I replied releasing a breath of relief.
Daniel knew and respected my needs. Mum wanted a spiritual son in-law, well she was about to get one…
“I love you Nwala” Daniel said
‘I love you Dee”
“Alright, good night”
Daniel hung up first which happened only on rare occasions.
Hunger pangs still had me, so I stood up targeting the kitchen…
As I walked down our gigantic stairs, I could hear Mum’s voice from the living room.
“Why is she still up at almost three in the morning?” I asked myself
Was she observing a vigil? But it sounded like she was having a conversation over the phone. Curiosity got me, so I tiptoed closer.
You wouldn’t believe my mum was still knitting.
Knitting was anger therapy for mum…
“Chika, let her taste the bad life, if 4 out of my five children are living the good life, people will know I am a good mother, four over five is a pass mark… I told this girl that God told me Daniel is a broken man, but Mba ( No!) , she wants to leave a whole man to marry a broken man.” I heard her say to my eldest sister.
Mum just gave me the answer to the problem. I was going to make Daniel a whole man. I didn’t want her knowing I had eavesdropped on her conversation, so I returned to the room sle€ping on an empty stomach.
*****
By morning, just as I suspected, Daniel was the first person I saw in my house. Amara had woken me up…
“Sle€ping Beauty, your Daniel is downstairs”
“Daniel?”
“Yeah, Daniel… I wonder what time he left the mainland to get here by 6:45am, Nwala if you don’t marry this boy, I hope he doesn’t run mad” Amara jested
“It’s better he runs mad and later gains his sanity, than for her to marry him and regret all her life” My Queen mother said from the doorway.
“Nwala, as long as I am your mother and I am alive, you will not marry Daniel, I am not one of those mothers that let their children have their way if it is a wrong way.
I thought I could do that to you as at last night, but on waking up this morning, I reminded myself that God put you under my care and I will give a report to Him about you. So Nwala, go and tell Daniel I said you both can not happen or I will tell him myself” My mother walked away from my room.
I jumped up from the bed following her at top speed…
“Mummy, please don’t say anything to him”
“Then say it” She replied
“I will”
My mother was fully dressed, so I knew she would pass by Daniel on her way out. In other to avoid problems, I rush down the stairs to meet Daniel. Daniel was seated lost in thought. I could see that his soul had travelled miles.
“Dee… Dee” I nudged him
“Hey! Babe” He became conscious of my presence. He stood up and hugged me tightly like he was about to lose me.
“Dee, you shouldn’t have come so early, I can tell you didn’t sle€p after our conversation”
“Yes, I want you to give me the update on how to run the spirituality thing”
“The Spirituality thing” I was taken aback slightly.
Daniel wanted to act out the spirituality/Christianity part for Mum…
“Yes” He replied innocently
“Dee, I think we need to talk, but now is not the time, I want you to leave. Mum is not in a good mood this morning… You need to leave and don’t come visiting me at home until I tell you everything is fixed” I said in a hurry.
Daniel looked dazed to say the least. He looked at me like I just gave him a hot slap.
I could understand him. Our house was a second home for him, he was a son of the house. Whenever my brothers were back from school, Daniel had the excuse to sle€p in our house for weeks, therefore telling him, he was technically banned from the house was not a statement he was expecting.
“I should not come here again?” He asked in disbelief.
“Not permanently, till I sort things out with Mum”
“Nwala, what is happening?”
“Dee, trust me, the truth is something is happening, and I am working on it, but your being here right now is not helping.
Dee, Semester break will be over in two weeks, by that time there won’t be any restrictions on seeing me. You can see me in school everyday”
“I can’t see you for two weeks?” He asked disbelievingly
“That’s not what I am saying… I can see you but not here… We can meet outside the house…”
I heard my mother’s footsteps on the stairs as it was approaching us…
“Daniel, please go…”
“No!”
“Daniel please…” I pleaded
“Let mummy say what she wants to say to my face. I am familiar with Mum’s anger so why is this different? or Nwala are you pr€gnant for another man?”
“What?” I didn’t see that coming.
“Answer me, Nwala… It‘s better I hear it from you than from your mother?”
“No Dee, my womb belongs to you, isn’t that what you always say? Dee, I am still your woman, and I need you to leave now if you want it to remain that way…” I said strongly
Daniel took a long look at me, and just as my mother’s footsteps got to the loudest, Daniel walked out of the living room… They missed each other by a breath…
“Very wise of you” My mother said
I collapsed into the chair…
“I know you haven’t told him, but not letting me meet him here was very wise, because Nwala, the day I see Daniel in my house is the day I help you cut it off…” Mother Bear, Queen Mother, Lioness Nwakaego said.
I honestly at that moment wished I was motherless!
CLICK HERE TO READ “NWALA; THE BITTERSWEET STORY” (PART 7&8) – OPEYEMI AKINTUNDE.
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