Ese found herself looking at the clock hanging on the office wall every now and then, and it seemed like time, due to some weird sense of humour, was taking its time. She had been glancing at the clock since 8am when she got to the office and the two arms had been dragging their feet ever since, or so it seemed to her. She had taken extra care in picking what to wear that morning, and not wanting to appear presumptuous she had settled for a skirt suit since it was just a lunch break on a working day. But as she sat in her office, working and waiting, she kept on second guessing her decision, even though she knew she had made the right choice and would not have picked anything else. She was feeling like a teenager about to go on her first date with a longtime crush, and she didn't like it one bit. ---get a hold of yourself woman--- She chastised herself.
Mondays were usually her freest, so she didn't have much to do. That made the wait even more difficult.
He came at exactly noon. As he entered her office she could see that he had been working, gone were the business suits she had been seeing him with. He was in a black jeans and polo top, and in place of the fancy shoes was a pair of huge working boots. She could also see traces of sweats on his forehead. Aside from the missing afro, he looked like the old Siji she knew. She felt overdressed.
--- After beating myself up on what to wear, he appears looking like this--- she thought with a wry smile.
"Is something funny?" He asked as he walked to her table, smiling too.
"Good day Mr." She greeted him, ignoring his question.
"Good day to you too. Are you ready?" When she hesitated before replying he added "Remember? Lunch, you and me, by noon."
"I do Siji, and I'm ready. But I need to wrap this up." She said pointing at the papers on her table. "It wouldn't take much time, I'm almost through, it would take just a few minutes."
"You are having a busy day I can see." He said as he sat down.
"Something like that." She replied evasively. She did not want him thinking she had been waiting for him all morning
☆☆☆
He took her to the restaurant where they had first met. She noticed but said nothing.
"Remember this place?" He asked when they settled with their orders.
"How would I ever forget?"
"I was pleasantly surprised when I came back and met it still standing."
"Yes, but it has undergone some modifications."
"That's expected, it probably has changed ownership too."
They both ate in silence for awhile, then she said "I see you've started work on the department building. You're not in your fancy wears today."
He laughed "Yea, I have been busy too, but not on your department's building."
"What then have you been working on? Do you have another job here aside the department building?"
"Yes, actually the department building is just one of the several projects we are executing for the University. We are constructing a history museum and a few other buildings. It's a big contract."
"I see. And your partners? It's just you I have been seeing."
"It's because I am the one handling the project here. They are both in charge of some other contracts."
"So how is my own department building going?"
"Good, it should be finished on schedule."
"And when is that?"
"In six month or so. Before you ask anymore question about the building, you should know that we shouldn't be discussing business here."
"Really? What should we be talking about then?"
"Anything aside from business. If you want a detailed report on the building, I would be happy to schedule a meeting to update you on it later."
"Where are you staying?"
"I'm with the prof."
"Jasper?"
"Yes, he has a house in town. He is retired, but he is still been retained by the University on contract."
"From everything I have heard of that man, he sounds weird."
"He looks weird from a distance, but when you get to know him, you'd find out that he is cool."
"I guess. His family is in Ife too?"
"No."
"Where are they?"
"Actually, he doesn't have a family as such. He lost his wife when he was young and never remarried. They had no child."
"I know there is something strange about him."
"Not having a family isn't strange Ese. It's the 21st Century."
"Yea, but it's Africa too. So you are like his adopted son, the child he never had."
"You can say that again. Though it isn't official, but he is like a father figure to me."
"Now I understand your relationship with him. You don't have a father, he doesn't have a child. You both fill the void in each other's lives."
"I guess, but we have grown so fond of each other, so it's more than just filling up voids. I owe him a great deal. If not for him, I fear to think what my life would have become." Siji said, then added "Talking about voids, when do you plan to fill yours?"
"I have no void to fill."
"You can fool someone else, not me. I know you too well. You didn't just relocate to Ife for nothing, it isn't just the job that brought you here. All isn't well in your marriage with my friend."
"You have be reading too many gossip columns from those magazines Siji. You know better than to believe everything you read on the pages of......"
"But your actions seem to be giving credence to what they are saying."
"Siji you........"
"Can I please ask you a question?"
"Shoot."
"Are you getting a divorce or not?"
Her first impulse was to deny it, but on second thought she decided to tell him the truth, since it would soon be public knowledge. "Yes, I am. In fact he has been served with the papers, all I'm waiting for now is his reply."
"Do you think he is going to fight it?"
"He has no reason to, he doesn't enjoy the union anymore than I do. It's only his father I am worried about."
"How so?"
"Chief doesn't want us to divorce. I tried it once and he stopped it, he used my mum to stop me."
"You should not have married him, you belong to me, always have."
"Things have changed now Siji, a lot have happened. Maybe I shouldn't have married him, but I did, and I'm a married woman now, not the girl you fell for."
"But you won't be for long, you'll soon be free to....we can still work it out."
"Siji I have a child now, a daughter, for the man you hate so much."
"Are you insinuating I will transfer the hate I have for Pago to Rose?"
"It is not impossible, is it?"
"You are right it isn't, but I am not the type that would hate a child for no fault of hers. I have an axe to grind with the father, not the child."
"Will you please just let us take it one at a time? Let me get this divorce business behind me first. It will generate a lot of juicy stories for the gossip columnist as it is, I don't want it getting any juicier than it normally would. And that is what might happen if you are caught in it."
"No problem about that, I understand. All I want right now is to be a friend." He said
"That's not a problem. In fact I need a friend right now, and Teju is not just far away, she is also too pregnant to be the friend I need now."
☆☆☆
He slumped on the bed immediately he entered the hotel room. He was so tired. Because he had missed the way a few times while driving from Benin and had had to turn back from several wrong turns he had taken, he had gotten to town later than he had expected. The quiet town was already asleep when his Peugeot crawled into town around 10 pm the previous night, and it was only by sheer luck that he had found someone to direct him to an hotel.
It had taken extra strength to rise up that morning for he was so stressed, but he had still managed to get up, dress up and drive into the school. He drove around the school looking around, hoping to see her, and casually asking some students if they may know her. After driving round the school for several hours under the hot sun, he soon realized the foolhardiness of his actions. It is a big school with a large population. He had a slim chance of finding her by asking around. And with the way he was going about it, she might soon learn that someone was asking about her and the last thing he wanted was to spook her. He was meant to find her quietly.
So he had driven back to the hotel to have a rethink on how to go about finding her. As he lay on the bed, he tried to think of a better way to search for her. He soon got it, and it made him realise again, how foolish he had hitherto been. With renewed strength he stood up and walked to the wardrobe. He unzipped his bag and brought out his laptop with the modem and took them both to the bed. He powered the system, connected the modem and opened his browser. He had Google Search as his default page. On the search box he typed "Obafemi Awolowo University" and hit the search button, in a few seconds several search results were displayed, he soon found the school's official website, he clicked on it and it took few seconds to open too. Then at the top right corner he could see another search box. He typed "Ese Adebantu" and waited in anticipation. It took a while, but the website soon returned a no-result-found message. He looked at his laptop screen with his mouth agape. What's wrong? Has he fooled by lady in Benin? He wondered. Then he hurriedly typed into the box again "Ese Osaruwense" and hit the search button. He held his breath for the length of time it took the website to respond. When it did, his long moustache tickled his cheeks in excitement as he read the result displayed on the laptop screen.
*
"The University is glad to announce the creation of a new department under the Faculty of Social Sciences. The Department of PPE would be headed by Ms. Ese Osaruwanse (PhD. Oxford) and it will have a staff of..........."
*
That was all he needed. He bookmarked the page, closed the laptop lid and pushed it aside. It was time he took a well deserved rest.
About the Author
Soji Adeola Ayanleke was born about 3 decades ago in Kano.
He studied Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, he speaks Yoruba and Hausa fluently and he is trying to learn Igbo and Spanish. His hobbies are reading, writing and playing some indoor games.
No comments:
Post a Comment