Chapter 4

He woke up with a throbbing headache. The scent of a woman's perfume filled the air, and he wondered what was going on. With eyes still shut, he thought of the last thing he remmebered. Just then, he felt movement on the bed, as if someone was getting off it. Slowly, he opened his eyes and saw Francisca in underwear, tiptoeing out his room. He quickly closed his eyes, when she turned around to look his way. "Tobi. Tobi." She called out a few times in a low voice but he didn't answer. He wanted this to be a dream, and he felt answering would make it a reality.

She walked back towards the bed, and stopped a few inches from where he lay. After a couple of seconds of stillness, she dug into her white nylon bag, which was on the bed side stool, pulled out a pen and a little piece of paper. It was a receipt, with a blank back. She sat by the edge of the bed and started scribblibg something on the paper. After a few minutes she took a few seconds to read what she had written, and then placed it beside him on the bed. She leaned in a little too close, like she wanted to be sure he was still breathing. He could smell Colgate toothpaste in her breath, and a little tint of alcohol.

He did his best impression of a person deep in sleep, and she walked off after a few seconds. The bathroom door in his room opened and shut. He new she was in there, out of sight for now, but didn't want to risk her seeing he was awake, so he kept his eyes shut. His other senses did the investigation; he could hear birds chipping outside, and couldn't feel the rays of sun in the room so he concluded it was early in the morning, like 7 am. He could tell he was barechested under the sheets, but the fact that he still felt his jeans on gave him some hope that maybe nothing really happened last night.

When the bathroom door opened again, he heard her footsteps getting closer, and could smell the scent of her perfume getting closer and closer. For a few seconds, he could tell she was standing in front of him, on his side of the bed this time. After a while, he felt her move away, and the footsteps moved away. He heard when she picked up the white nylon bag, and walk towards the room door. A few seconds after hearing the door open, he opened his eyes just to see her walk out of his room, fully clothed now.

He slowly sat up in bed when he heard the front door close shot. His head was still throbbing as he put his pillow behind his back for support. He looked under the sheets to physically confirm he still had his jeans on . Maybe nothign happened, he thought to himself. But why was she in underwear, laying next to you on the bed, another voice in his head said. "Sh*t!" He cursed under his breath. Just then his phone started to ring and it startled him. He almost fell off the bed as he reached for it on the bed side stool. His eyes still blurry as he looked at the screen of the phone. "Shit." He cursed again, out loud this time when he realized it was Edem calling.

"Hey what's up?" He said after picking up.

"What happened to you? I've been calling you since last night." Edem said on the other end.

"Oh. Sorry. I..."

"Did you see her yesterday?"

"Umm...yeah."

"Cool. So...how did it go?"

"Umm...can you give me 5 minutes, I need to do something real quick."

"wait...just tell me what she said."

"I'll call you back." Tobi said and quickly cut the call. He went through his phone and saw a couple of missed calls, and text messages. Mostly from Edem. A few were from an unknown number, and he guessed it must have been from Edem's other line he didn't have. His head still throbbed as he got off the bed and rubbed his neck. The sweet smell of his Irish spring soap hit him as he headed towards his bedroom. It told him she took her bath not quite long before leaving. He turned around to throw his phone on his bed before stepping into his bathroom. Towels well arranged on the towel bar, and foot mat not haphazardly placed. He turned to the wall mirror and saw something was written on it with a finger, "Call me when you wake up." Then he remembered she had left a note by his bedside stool. He opened the tap, splashed water on his face a few times, and grabbed a towel to clean his face as he stepped out of the bathroom.

By the bed side stool now, he picked up the little piece of paper and squinted as he read her illegible doctor's handwriting. Same thing that was written on the mirror was written on paper in the first paragraph; the second paragraph had her talking about having to rush off somewhere and apologizing for leaving him alone. He turned the paper around, as if they could be some other clue on the other side, but saw it contained breakdown of what she had bought at the store yesterday. He turned the piece of paper around again, to read the note one more time before dropping it on the stool.

His living room was exactly as he had remembered it when they were talking yesterday. Standing at thhe foot of the room, he closed his eyes and tried to rewind time in his mind. The last thing he remembered was them listening to music in silence. He walked into the kitchen and saw an empty carton of Pizza on the counter. And he had a quick flash back of eating Pizza, but he didn't have an extensive memory on that. He just remembered eating it with her.

He opened the fridge and pulled out out a bottled water. His phone started to ring in the room as he took quick gulps of water. Not in a rush at all to get to his phone, he took time to quench his taste, and then proceeded to head towards the bedroom. The water had him feeling a little better.

The phone had stopped ringing by the time he got to it, and he picked it up with his free hand. Just then, it started ringing again. Caller ID showed it was Fancisca. For some reason, hs heart started beating fast. "Hello." He said after picking up.

"Hey, how are you...Glad you're up. I..." She was saying then stopped. There was a lot of chatter in the background. "Hey Tobi, I'll call you later. I just needed to know you're good."

"Okay." He said and the line got disconnected. He was still staring at his phone screen when it started ringing again. It was Edem this time. He picked up and said, "What's up..."

"What's up? You said you would call me back."

"Oh! Sorry. Umm...so let's see later in the evening and talk."

"Can't you tell me what she said now on the phone?"

"I don't think it is a simple yes or no answer. We need to see."

"Umm...Okay. I'll come by your place around 7."

"Cool." He said and the line went dead. He looked into space for a few seconds, thinking of what he had gotten himself into. "Bleep!" He said out loud before doing a free fall on his bed.