I came awake with a start. My heart beating so fast I feared Leila would hear. I took a quick glance at her to be sure my sudden awakening and consequent body movement had not woken her. I had one of the ear piece connected to my phone in my right ear when I turned in for the night. I had been woken by the phone alarm. I stealthily felt for my phone tracing the cord so I could check the time without rousing Leila. I had always insisted on putting off the light before we got in to bed. I also made sure the hinges of the bedroom door was well lubricated so it made almost no noise while moving. It was all part of the plan.
It was about ten minute to 12 midnight. Baba’s warning rang in my ears again “It must not exceed 12:00 midnight lest the unthinkable happen”. I didn’t bother to ask what the unthinkable would be, I had enough creative imagination stemming from African magic movies. Before I slept last night I had tried to disentangle myself from Leila’s usual embrace which I had even encouraged at the beginning. On realizing she was deeply asleep I had pretended that my movements were involuntary sleep movements as I disentangled myself. But alas! When I came awake she still had her arm round my neck with her bosom nudging my chest.
A wave of fear spread through me as the time on my phone read “six minutes to 12 midnight”. I made an effort to calm down and gently tried to straighten her arm so I could roll away from her bosom. I was midway through when I felt a resistance in her arm as she urged me closer with the arm. My face was now pressed over hers and I could feel her gentle breathing in my face. My heart almost jumped out of my chest. I had automatically closed my eyes pretending to be asleep. After some seconds that felt like an hour I slowly opened my eyes only to discover she was only responding instinctively, she was still very asleep.
Even in her sleep Leila was a ravishing beauty. From her long, luxuriant black hair, her well outlined brows, her beautiful nose and the full sensuous lips that got my attention the first time. It still did obviously because right then my lips was inching towards hers against rational sense. Her bosom nudging at my chest did not help my sanity. A strong wave of desire coursed through me and not for the first time in recent weeks I was unsure of my true feelings. Before my mind began to wander as it did whenever this came to mind I pushed it away and mumbled as I edged closer to her “ Leila, I love you very much” It sounded a bit more convincing than at other times especially with my senses inundated by bodily desires.
I was almost giving in to my desires when the sound of the security men’s bell got to me. I was sweating profusely now even with the fan in the room. I was hyperventilating and I could hear the sound of my own heart beating. I remembered “Ajata” the head of the security men had told me in confidence that his boys ring the bell five minutes earlier to give room for error. I never bothered to ask the details too, I had only gone to confirm what I noticed from monitoring them for weeks. This had informed by adjusting my phone clock likewise so I knew I had only five minutes left. There was no more time for finesse, so gently but firmly I disentangled from her embrace and was out of bed. I didn’t even bother to look back. I was about getting to the door when her voice got to me
“Darling, where are you going .”

TO BE CONTINUED.
- Hassan Bo