NKEM 27

 

"Please, give him a little more time", she pleaded.

"And wait while you turn my house to hotel! Sarah, have you no shame? 

Sarah gave a wicked coquettish smile with a wink.

"Like you don't miss Nkem's wonderful rod!"

"Don't change the subject", Gladys snapped. Leave Nkem's matter out of this! Whether or not I miss Nkem is non of your business. After all, he is in my past!"

"In the past?"

"Yes, you heard what I said".

"And the tears of last night nko?

"What do you mean?" Gladys spat, bringing down her leg from the bed to face her friend sitting carelessly on the chair. She is shocked at this revelation. How did Gladys knew she cried last night.

"Which tears", she asked, hiding her shock.

"Don't pretend I didn't hear you last night sobbing. I knew you were thinking about him. Well, our own romp must have triggered that thought. I don't blame you. Who wouldn't miss being touched by a man. I can't even bear it, not having Ben by me".

She suddenly remembered the dream she had the night before.

"I had a dream last night", she began

"Having Nkem's thing playing between your legs?"

Gladys ignored her friend's lewd description.

"I was struggling with a woman over Nkem".

"And…?"

"He then disappeared suddenly from my grip."

"Hmmm… that is deep".

"What do you think it means?"

"I don't know. Maybe it is just as you said earlier, he is in the past. That's why he disappeared".

Gladys hissed, not satisfied with Sarah's suggestion. She didn't want it to be that way. A part of her was still with him. She felt he disappeared because they are not together. If they had been together, he wouldn't have disappeared.

The two fell silent. Sarah wondering what she would do if she and Ben were to be no longer in a relationship. She shuddered at the thought. She couldn't bear to think she could stay the night without. Ben had become her bad habit. Her mind drifted to how they met. Ben wasn't in about sex but Sarah put it in his head the first night he spent with her.

 They had met on a raining evening at the bus stop. They waited shivering as the buses totally filled up passed by splashing them with water. When it became obvious the wouldn't get a bus on time, they trekked the stretch of the long road with neither talking to each other. Until Ben kept hissed and cursed beneath his breath. 

"Is it the rain?" Sarah said looking into the boyish look of the stranger.

Noticing her for the first time. He let his eyes feast on her bosom and are cleavage made prominent by her soaked clothes. Sarah became self conscious, almost shy. She wrapped her hands over her chest.

"Not the rain",he said turning his eyes back to the road.

"Then what?".

He looked at her, hissed and shook his head. He remained silent for some minutes as if he was weighing what he wanted to say next. When Sarah waited a for a response which seem not to come, she felt the stranger is not interested in talking. So, she increased her pace to leave him behind. She was almost turning to the street that would lead her home when he eventually spoke.

"I am presently homeless! Not that I have always been homeless. I live with my friend. I just got to his house and I discovered he had packed out of the house without telling me".

Sarah stopped. She paused to think about the stranger's story. Is it true or he just a cooked up story just for him to earn her sympathy.

"What do you intend to do now?"

"I don't know".

"Can you go to your work place?"

"That is too long a journey. And moreso, none of my work mates… none of them live near."

"So, where will you sleep tonight?"

"I don't know".

Sarah gave him a closer look. He was wearing a jeans trouser with a white t-shirt and a black shoe swollen with water. She didn't trust the way he feasted his eyes on her earlier. He could have a bad intention towards her. No one could be trusted anymore. People do all sorts of things to win people's trust and then turn around to stab them at their back.

"I too squart with a friend and…".

"I didn't ask you to take me in", he snapped.

What arrogance! Sarah thought. How could someone in need of help be this arrogant!

"Well…"

"Well, good night", he said walking away.

She watched him for awhile but found herself running after him.

"Wait!"

He stopped and turned back.

"You can spend the night with me", she blurted. And she added as an afterthought when she realized her statement could be taken wrongly.

"I mean, you can…"

"I understand you. But are you sure? Because I don't want to be a burden on you. After all, you don't know me".

"It is okay. We can get to know each other along the way".

He came back and walked beside her. By now, the rain had reduced to a drizzle.

"By the way, my name is Benjamin but you can call me Ben."

"I am Sarah and I squat with my friend who's currently out of town".

"Okay".

"So, where do you work?"

"I work with a logistics company in the island"

"How easy is that."

"How easy is what?"

"Working in the island and living in Ajegunle".

"I manage just fine."

"And this your friend, what is his name?"

He wondered what the question is meant to achieve.

"He is name is Paul but we call him Paulo".

"I may know him".

"How?"

"Does he have a small black scar on his left temple?"

"Yes, he does!"

"And he owns a cream-coloured Volvo car".

Ben stopped and looked quizzical at her.

"You just described my friend. But, how did you know him?".

"He is our customer".

"Customer, as in?"

"He comes to eat at the canteen where I worked before."

"Oh! I see. Are you two that close because he always mention going to see a lady at a canteen in Boundary."

"No! We weren't. And our Canteen is at Baale street not Boundary."

"It is indeed a small world".

"Indeed, a small world".

They turned a street corner that is thrown into pitch black because the electricity had just been interrupted. One could only see cigarette light at different corners of the street and the heavy cloud of smoke filtering into the damp night.

This corner is notorious for thugs harassing passersby by snatching their bags or even going ahead to rape any young lady that passed by it. If she had been walking alone, she wouldn't dare to take the street corner. She would have taken a much longer road that would take her to the mouth of their street. 

The compound was quiet when they got in. She went straight into the toilet to change into a new dress and he gave Ben a shirt and a trouser to change into. Sarah prepared hot tea which they ate with bread.

They talked far into midnight until they had nothing more to talk about. They stared at each other. Ben avoided looking into her eyes in order not to send the wrong signal. However, Sarah felt he had known him all her life and wouldn't mind dropping every wall of caution. She turned his face to hers and before he could take off her hand, her lips were sucking his. He reciprocated the kindness without delay and before long, they were tangled and moaning together until they fell apart exhausted, and drifted into sleep.

Thank you for patiently reading to the end! We are gradually coasting home on the Nkem series. Keep liking, keep sharing and be expectant. I am ever grateful!

I am Yours Truly,

Julius Topohozin.