Pelumi's Memoirs - 37

Happy February!
Dear Ghost Readers,
I see you. :-) Your comments are always welcome on the blog.

Cheerio.......

****

Itoro walked into the house to see Pelumi sitting on the floor, looking dazed. She had called her name twice but Pelumi didn’t respond.

“Pelumi!” Itoro yelled this time around. She had been trying to get her attention.

“Where's your mind? I had to yell your name for you to hear me.”

She noticed that Pelumi had a serious look on her face.

“What’s the matter? Why are you sitting on the floor?” Itoro questioned, taking her seat on the sofa opposite her.

“Remi was here. He just left…” She said slowly.

“Okay…” Itoro responded. “And?” She knew there was more to this.

“He came in accusing me of leaving him for Ivan. Itoro, you should have seen his facial expression! I thought he was going to strangle me or something!”

Itoro stared at her friend. Was she making stuff up? She knew Remi. He was a perfect gentleman.

“Remi? Are you sure? Cos the Remi I know wouldn’t attempt to harass you…”

“That’s what he just did. Can you believe he kissed me too? I thought he was going to sexually abuse me.”

“Ha!!” Itoro exclaimed. Pelumi liked watching foreign shows and movies. Was the “Me too Movement” starting to have an effect on her? But why would Pelumi tell a lie like this? What did she stand to gain? Itoro brushed off her thoughts. She believed her.

“Don’t let him in next time. What the heck did he mean by you left him for Ivan? You two didn’t date at any point in time!”

“That’s why I was so shocked. I mean, I liked him but he never expressed any romantic interest.  I thought that he was just being cordial.”

“Maybe he has a mental condition! I see all sorts on the Lifetime Movie Network every now and then. The psycho stalkers, disturbed and deranged.” Itoro added.

“Remi never seemed like that type. His breath reeked of alcohol. Maybe he was drunk and didn’t know what he was doing?” Pelumi said, trying to rationalize his behavior.

“Hmmm… But he knew how to get to our house and didn’t get lost on his way here? I think the dude was aware of his actions.” Itoro replied. “Just be very careful. Are you going to mention this to Ivan?”

Pelumi shook her head. “I can’t! I’ll keep this to myself. I wouldn’t want Remi to get into trouble with Ivan.”

“Okay.” Itoro nodded her head. “If he tries this kind of thing again, he’ll hear it from me!” She reached forward and hugged Pelumi. “Ndo… Guys can be jackasses sometimes.”

Pelumi smiled slightly. “So, what’s that aroma I sense?”

Itoro laughed. “Foodie! I stopped at Terry’s. I got fried rice, topper’s salad and chicken. I bought both grilled and crispy chicken.”

“Yummy!” Pelumi laughed excitedly. She got up from the floor and sat on the sofa.”

‘By the way, Itoro, Ivan and I went to see a couple of houses after work today.”

“Oh really?” Itoro said while removing the food packs from the plastic bags.

“I really loved one of the apartments. Unfortunately, we were told that we’ll need to sign a two-year rental agreement. Guess how much the rental price is?”

“Errmm. Let me try. 3.5million for two years?”

“Add one million to that!”

Itoro screamed. “4.5 million!!!! Chai! 'Mbok', we will keep looking instead.”

Pelumi laughed. “That’s what I told Ivan. He was offering to help pay for part of the rental money.”

“No oooo, it’s not that serious now! We’ll keep looking.”

Pelumi looked at her friend. They were so in sync with the way they analyzed things.

“Anyway, I have good news. That’s why I even stopped at Terry’s.”

Pelumi shifted on the sofa and smiled. “Okay, babes. Tell me, tell me…….”

“Reddington Hospital contacted me today.”

“Yaaaay!” Pelumi screamed.

“I got the job!”

“Oh my goodness!” Pelumi exclaimed, covering her mouth with her hand. She stood and hugged Itoro.

“But there’s a slight change though.” Itoro chimed.

Pelumi snorted. “Oh no! Okay, tell me.”

“I’ll be working at the Reddington sister hospital instead.”

“Wait, isn’t that ‘The Morgan Hospital’?”

“Yep, you got it,” Itoro affirmed.

“Morgan Hospital is very close to Banana Island,” Pelumi stated, reaching for her pack of food on the table.

“Yes. I’m so excited. I can feel it within me that my entire life is about to change.”

“I know right. I’m so happy for us.” Pelumi said, in a voice filled with emotion. They had come a long way. Just ‘negodu’ how things were falling into place for them one after the other.

“Itoro, you didn’t bring Champagne for us to pop this night?”

Itoro rolled her eyes. “Pelumi Iruka Jacobs, I thought we had agreed to stay off alcohol till further notice?”

“Good Lord! Yes, I totally forgot.” Pelumi said, shaking her head slightly.

“We have apple juice in the fridge. We can pop that one instead.”

“Duh!” Pelumi rolled her eyes.           

“Pelumi, I need to call Ivan tomorrow to let him know I got the job and also thank him,” Itoro stated.

“Yeah, that’ll be great,” Pelumi answered, digging into the fried rice and topper’ salad. With a piece of chicken in her hand, her thoughts wandered to Remi. She had no idea how she’d react if she saw him at work the next day. He’d better not come near her!

****

“Who’s that babe?” Wale Apampa asked his friends.

“Which one?” Tayo questioned. “Do you mean the girl over there who just got out of the swimming pool?”

“Yeah. The light-skinned one with the long legs.

Dotun, their other friend laughed. “Oh, you don’t know Nkoyo Akenzua? Last child of the popular Akenzua family...”

“Oh, is that her? I’ve heard about them but I’ve never seen her before. She’s very beautiful.”

“She is,” Tayo affirmed. “But, Wale, what’s that to you?”

“Lawyer Tayo! Dotun exclaimed. Must you always ask questions with obvious answers? By now, you should know that our friend here is interested. Haven’t you seen him looking her way all evening?” Dotun laughed.

“Am I that obvious?” Wale asked his friends.

“You are beyond obvious!” Dotun laughed.

“I hear she doesn’t date.” Tayo elucidated.  

“She doesn’t what?” Wale asked, laughing. “Please, is there a girl who doesn’t date?”

“This one doesn’t,” Tayo stated emphatically.

“Wait, you tryna scare me off her? Do you like her for yourself, Tayo Adiukwu?”

Tayo closed his eyes and opened them again. He did that when he was irritated. “I’m just telling you what I know about Nkoyo Akenzua. Feel free to ask her out whenever. Let me know how it goes…” He walked away slowly and launched into the swimming pool.

“What did I say? Why did he get angry?” Wale said loudly.

“Don’t ask me.” Dotun shrugged, before walking towards the swimming pool area.

Alone, Wale scratched his head. Tayo never really got angry. Why did he seem upset with him? Well, if Nkoyo Akenzua was not the type who dated, then he didn’t even want to bother. Rejection had left his ego hurt too many times. Who said being a guy was easy? Yeah, men did the chasing but no one warned him about the plenty of opportunities to be rejected. The rejection always stung and made him feel worthless. He was a great looking guy for crying out loud!

Yeah, men did the chasing but who wanted to be left too scared to even walk up to a lady and indicate interest? Nah! He was just fine! He’d pass on going to talk to the lady who didn’t date.

He went over to the basketball court and joined Dotun. He glanced over at Tayo who was currently doing backstrokes in the pool.

Nkoyo dried herself and noticed that the three guys who had been having a discussion about her had now disbanded. She glanced inside the pool again and saw Tayo Adiukwu swimming. He was the son of popular Lagos socialite, Abeni Adiukwu. She had turned Tayo down about three times. Now, he ignored her whenever he saw her. She didn’t believe in dating randomly just for the sake of it. Blame that on her Melancholic personality. She was a San-Mel, which stood for Sanguine-Melancholy. She had the extreme extrovert personality and the introverted melancholic personality that surfaced from time to time and kept her sanguine self in place. Abeni Adiukwu was too much! She heard stories about her  and saw her in pictures at almost every Lagos socialite party. She had nothing against Yoruba people but Abeni Adiukwu was a little too much.

A voice told her that she wasn’t being fair. She had judged Tayo and put him in a box because of his mother. But what could she do?

“You are a snob!” A voice on her inside yelled. “You accused Tare of doing the same things you are now guilty of.”  She wore her flip flops and walked to the ladies' bathroom section.

Maybe she’d say hi to Tayo one of these days. Just maybe. He appeared to be a reasonable person. He was almost as tall as Liyel but a slimmer version. He wasn’t bad looking by any standards. Why didn’t she like him?

“Hi, Nkoyo.” One of her Zumba class’ gym buddy approached her.

“Hi, sweetie.” Candy flashed her a smile.

“Hi, Candy. How are you? I haven’t seen you at Zumba classes in a while.”

“Yeah, I took some time off. I sprained my ankle when I fell off the stairs some months ago. Two months to be precise.”

“Oh my God!” Nkoyo looked shocked. “I’m so sorry. I kept telling myself that I’d call you but I never did. I hate myself so much right now.”

“Please don’t.” Candy said with a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Nkoyo said again, with an apologetic look. She was going to do a better job of reaching out to people and asking after them. If someone crossed her mind, she was going to pick up her phone and call them. Life was too fragile to wait for other people to reach out first.

“Apology accepted.” Candy beamed. “I hear we are getting a new Pilates instructor soon?”

“Yup. That’s what I heard.”

“Hmmm. I hope the new instructor is as good as coach Jimi. He was phenomenal.”

“Yes, he was.” Nkoyo asserted. “How are you now?”

“Oh, I’m perfectly alright now. In top shape, ready to hit the gym in full swing.”

“Wonderful!” Nkoyo laughed.

****

Liyel parked his car and carried the leather bag which contained his work laptop and other work-related documents. His workload had become lighter since they hired a new Director of Operations. The guy was smart and had already hit the ground running.

His stomach growled. He walked into the house and the smell of food wafted into his nostrils, but first, he had to take a shower. He ran up the stairs and headed to his bedroom. He thought about Celeste while he undressed. He had promised to call her later but was he really ready for an intense conversation? He was a man of his words so he would go ahead and call her.

He switched on the TV and changed the channel to CNN. He watched Don Lemon analyzing President Donald Trump’s latest bill on immigration. Could he blame the man for his current policies? Africans needed to fix their economies and stop looking to these developed countries for bread, sausages, and milk! Even the current Nigerian President flew abroad for medical treatment. The rich jetted out of the country at every opportunity instead of ensuring that the medical facilities in Nigeria were at par with the standards in the developed countries. They saw how things worked in the Western world yet never really implemented the things they saw in Nigeria.

Nation-building was a top issue on his mind. Nigeria’s woes all boiled down to crippled leadership. As long as everyone was okay with the status quo, the country’s situation would remain the same.

When he had stripped off his clothing, he walked into the bathroom with his towel in hand. His stomach growled again and he shook his head. He was really hungry!

Thirty minutes later, he sat at the dining table and feasted on Pounded Yam, Ofe nsala soup and catfish. The cook had done a great job and he couldn’t seem to stop praising him.

Ivan walked into the house smelling like he had just sprayed a whole bottle of cologne all over himself.

“Bros! Why must you smell so good every time? It’s 8 pm and you smell like you just walked out of a cologne shop.”

Ivan laughed. “Really? Tare bought me this cologne on her last trip to the UK.”

“Did she?”

“Yeah and I recall she bought you the same.”

“Hmm. Is it Jean Paul Gaultier’s ‘Le Male’?”

“Yes, Sir,” Ivan answered.

“Oh, I see. I haven’t opened the pack since she gave it to me.”

“Mehn! I’m hungry.” Ivan said.

“The cook just made pounded yam and ofe nsala….”

“Yeah, I can see it sitting on your dish, Liyel.”

The two brothers burst into laughter.

“Okay, lemme go and change my clothes first.”

“Sure,” Liyel answered as he rolled up a piece of the pounded yam into a ball and dipped it in the soup.

An hour later, after watching a basketball game with Ivan, Liyel headed for his room and dialed Celeste’s number. He hoped she hadn’t gone to bed yet.

“Hello…..” Her soft voice drawled.

“Hi, Celeste.”

Celeste sat up on her bed. Liyel had really made good his word on calling her.

“Hi, Liyel…”

“So what time did you get home?” Liyel asked her coolly.

“About 2 hours ago.”

“Nice… Do you usually get home around 7 pm every day?”

“Typically between 7 pm – 7:30pm,” Celeste explained. Could he just go straight to the point and stop trying to be nice to her?

“I heard you got a job at Chevron. Congratulations!”

“Did Tare mention to you?” Celeste asked.

“You know Tare likes you like her own sister. It takes real effort on her part to not tell me about the happenings in your life.”

Celeste chuckled. That sounded very much like Tare. The funny thing was that they only spoke once in a while but they had a way of catching up on everything in each other’s lives when they talked.

“I see,” Celeste replied.

“I’m sure you are probably tired and would fall asleep soon…. I just wanted to make good my word. What are you doing this weekend?”

Celeste’s heart beat faster. Was he about to ask her on a date?

“Uhmm…Errrm… I have a business meeting at church on Saturday morning but I should be free for the rest of the day. Can I let you know by Thursday evening?”

“That sounds good to me,” Liyel answered, clearing his voice that had suddenly gone husky.

“You started going to church, Celeste?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Okay...” Liyel said dryly.

“Thanks for calling. Good night, Liyel.”

“Good night, Celeste.”

When the call was over, Celeste smoothed her hair with her hands. What was this? Liyel hadn’t bandied words with her or spoken sarcastically as he had in the past. Did that mean that he had forgiven her completely? That he no longer held any grudge against her? She smiled giddily with excitement. They sounded like two familiar strangers over the phone. Maybe they could both put the past behind and start afresh.

Bode’s face popped up in her mind and she felt conflicted. Bode had been of tremendous help in the past months. Her heart blessed him.

****

“Ebitare Omatsola. Congratulations my dear. Your mum just gave me the good news. Now you are doing what I want after all these years.”

“Good evening aunty.” Tare greeted her aunt, Tamuno.

“Have you guys decided on a wedding day yet?”

“No aunty. We haven’t.”

“Hmm. Okay. What about the aso ebi colors?”

“Aunty, not yet. Ineye and I want a small, close-knit wedding.”

“If I hear!! What is small and close-knit?”

“You are the first daughter of Nengi and Ndifreke Akenzua. There’s no way you will have a small wedding. Ah, I reject it! After all the money they spent on your education, you want a small wedding? Mba, say something else.”

Tare almost choked with laughter. Aunty Tamuno could be so dramatic.

“Aunty, how is Najite?” Tare quickly asked to change the subject.

“Najite is in America at the moment o. She went to spend some time with her cousins. The divorce hasn’t been easy on any of us.”

“I understand, aunty. I had planned on calling her tomorrow.”

“Let me send you her US cell number.”

“It’s okay, aunty. I can call her WhatsApp number.”

“Look at me! I completely forgot that we live in a different age now. The era of social media where you guys have information at your fingertips!”

Tare laughed. “Yes, aunty.”

“Anyway, I’ll stop by this weekend so we can talk some more about what ideas you have for the aso ebi. You know, like maybe you want swiss lace, organza, voile, etc.”

“By the way, before I forget, your uncle, Ilevbaoje, complained that you all haven’t been calling him in recent times.”

“Ah!” Tare said, surprised.

“I thought mum spoke to him last week or so.”

“See, that’s your mum. When did you, Nkoyo, Liyel or Ivan call him last?”

“Uhmmm. Aunty….”

“Ehen! I thought so too.  Call him, please. Do you promise?”

“Okay, aunty.”

“Alright, my dear. Let me not keep you on the phone for so long. My regards to your fiancé, Ineye.”

“Will do. Thanks, aunty. Good night.”

“Good night, Tare.”

Nkoyo walked into her room just then.

“Who was that?”

“Aunty Tamuno.”

“Hmmm… What does she want now? Don’t tell me she called you about the wedding fabric. Aso ebi palava.”

Tare doubled over laughing. “Gosh! You know her so well.”

“Of course, sis.”

“I told her we want a small wedding. You know I’m not particular about aso ebis.”

“Hmm. I know. But you know how we are as Nigerians? The wedding isn’t just for you! It’s for the family too and friends of the family. You can have a traditional wedding for all our aunties and uncles.” Nkoyo chuckled as she spoke.

“The church wedding and reception will be strictly for you, Ineye and your friends. If you like, you can even do a destination wedding to minimize the number of guests.”

“My sister, my sister. That sounds really great. I’ll run it by mum and Ineye and see what they think.”

“Cool,” Nkoyo said.

“So how was your day?” Tare asked.

“It was okay, but my boss has been acting weird lately.”

“Are you being serious?”

“I’m not kidding.”

“What’s been happening?”

“I dunno for my boss o! He picks on everything I do these days. Like I can’t seem to satisfy him. He’ll spare others but hold me accountable even for other people’s faults!”

“Why didn’t you mention this to any of us?”

“I didn’t want to bother you guys with my issues.”

“Hmmmmm,” Tare grunted. “I never thought that Toye Keshinro could be an irrational boss.”

“Maybe it’s me. Maybe it’s something I’m doing.”

“Can you do something, Nkoyo? Arrange for a one on one meeting with him and ask him if he has problems with your work or whether it’s something you are doing wrong as a person. For all it’s worth, he may not have issues with your work. It might just be that your personality is clashing with his.”

“Dang, Sis! Just when I thought I can do well on my own, now I’m having all these mad doubts.”

“Don’t ever doubt yourself”. Tare admonished. “You might just need to work on improving certain things, but don’t ever doubt your ability to succeed. You are Nkoyo Akenzua. You are strong, brave, witty, and smart. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!”

“Now, we’re talking ‘Christianese’, yeah?” Nkoyo smiled slightly.

“Sweetie… Our identity comes from the victory that was established for us by Christ. Christ in us is the hope of glory.”

Nkoyo smiled. “Thanks, Sis. I really needed some encouragement.”

“We’ll pray about your boss too.”

Nkoyo nodded. “Yes, we will.”

“Nkoyo, by the way, what about that dude you told me about the other day?

“Which dude?”

“Sis, there’s no dude for now.” She used the quote sign.

“Okay, I just know that good things are in store for you.”

“Thank you, Tare. I love you.”

“And I love you too, Nkoyo Oristsemeyin.”

“Nkoyo!” They both heard their mum exclaim as she walked down the hallway towards Nkoyo’s room.

Let me go and see what mum wants.

Tare winked.

“Mum, did you call my name?” Nkoyo asked when she stepped out of her sister’s room.

“What did you hear?” Nengi quizzed.

“I thought I heard my name.”

“You know you are good at massaging. My legs are hurting.” Nengi pleaded.

“Oh mummy, okay. I’ll make it very quick. I’m already feeling sleepy.”

“Thank you, darling.”

They both headed for Nkoyo’s room.

****

Ivan checked his Instagram account once he was in bed. "These slay mamas though!" He said aloud. Some ladies did anything for the ‘Gram’. Many of the pictures he saw looked filtered to perfection.

He recalled a woman who’d said that she would ensure her son’s fiancée bathed in the swimming pool before marrying her son. No matter how expensive the make-up was, parts of it would surely run off in the water. He laughed at the thought.

Pelumi was a natural. Her makeup wasn’t always heavy. He allowed his thoughts wander to her. He loved her like no other. She made the pain of Alero’s betrayal a few years ago seem like nothing. He still hadn’t told her the details of that relationship. He made a mental note to mention it to her.

He wanted to ask her parents’ for her hand in marriage soon. That would mean traveling to Asaba. He had never been there and a part of him looked forward to visiting.

His mind wandered to the meeting with the housing agent. They didn’t need to sign a two-year lease since he didn’t plan on being single for much longer. Everything in him longed for Pelumi. Every time he saw her, the temptation to become one with her was almost too unbearable for him. He didn’t want to pressure her into having sex with him. He didn’t want her to get pregnant outside of wedlock. He wanted to do right by her and God help him.

It occurred to him that in all the time they had been dating, Pelumi hadn’t visited him at home. He also wanted her to spend more time with his family and see how well they all got along together. Her first meeting with his family had been nothing short of wonderful. It went better than he had imagined. He had been going to a few car dealerships. He wanted Pelumi to have a car soon. He’d have to find a way to ask her what kind of car she liked the most. A voice in his head told him that he was doing too much. After Alero, it had been very difficult for him to fully trust a woman. Was he jumping the gun with Pelumi? Was he going too fast too soon? His head warred with him but his heart told him that Pelumi was his missing rib. The flesh of his flesh and the bone of his bones.