A blanket of dirty grey cottony clouds that seem to stretch forever covered the face of the late Sunday afternoon sky. It looked like it wanted to rain. The service had just ended, a rarity, one of those services that heaven decided to visit the earth.

Because of the dull weather, people were rushing to leave for home. As a member of the Security Team, part of my job was to ensure things went smoothly as people leave the church. While doing that,a familiar voice called from behind.

‘Bro kunle, I want you to meet a sister, she writes beautifully like you.’

I hissed within myself and said ‘and so?’ ‘Can't this one see I am busy now.’ I muttered.

At that point in my life I was not disposed to meeting new people. Nothing in me wanted to meet Faleye Mercy that day, however not a nerve on my face showed it. Within me, I was trying to come up with reasons why Bro. Tayo wanted me to me this ‘Writing Sister’.

I turned to meet Bro Tayo with a thin smile. ‘No problem sir, please give me 5 minutes. I need to put some things in order.’ I said.

On the way to meet this super writer, over a thousand questions and pictures floated in my mind. Who is she? Have I seen her before? Have we talked before? How will I…? Bro Tayo’s voice broke my flow of thought.

‘You don’t need to worry, I have told her about you.’ I forced a smile and nodded. We took a left turn, walked past the bookshop, and headed for the parking space. I lifted me head, the figure I saw before me was not familiar

Her hair was like a set of well woven black mop, carefully arranged on her head, the black blouse she wore fitted her frame. Her skirt grazed her knees as air blew.

Without doubt Sis. Mercy is tall, but the silver wedged high-heels she wore added extra inches to her height.

Few meters from getting to her, her cheekbone rose with a smile, you must be Bro. Kunle?’

‘Yes, I am.’ My answer was short and direct.

‘Bro Tayo told me about you, he said you are a good writer.’ I let out a soft laughter, turning to bro. Tayo, I said ‘don’t mind him, I am still learning.’

‘What do you write about?’

‘Espionage and international Relations.' She wanted to continue talking but I cut in.

‘Please don’t be angry ma, I have to attend to somethings now. May I get your contact please? So we can talk later.’

‘Oh! Not a problem.' Her face still beaming with smile. We exchanged contact and I left.

One hour after we exchanged contacts, my phone started ringing. Simi’s ‘smile for me’ blended well with the vibration of my phone. A brother of God using ‘smile for me’ as ringtone. It is well.

On checking to see who was calling me, my phone screen showed in white letters against a blue background: Sis Mercy Faleye calling.

I picked the call, before any word came out of my mouth. ‘Hello Bro Kunle, this is Sis Mercy, I got your number few minutes ago, it was nice meeting you today. Anyway,, just to tell you I have gotten home.’

'Alr...ight ma.' I stammered, trying to think about what to say next. Before I said the next word. Her voice came up again.

'Goodbye sir, I guess you are busy now. I will call you later.'

At that moment I knew our friendship will be everything but platonic.

IN LOVE WITH TWO BEAUTIFUL LADIES 2

It didn’t start well between Mercy and I. I didn’t have a palatable experience the first time I heard the name Faleye Mercy.

Few weeks before I met Mercy in person, Bro. Soji and I were trekking home after a Tuesday Bible Study. Our legs ate the distance between church and our houses, we started talking about those kind of talks single brothers talk about sisters among themselves.

'Some sisters in this church like to do as if they don't talk to men. And we know how they behave outside church?'

'Huh hmm.' I replied. I took my eyes off the road and turned to him, as if I wanted to see what he was saying.

'You see that sister Mercy en, her 'shakara' is too much. She relates with brothers like she is the only beautiful lady in the church.'

'Seriously?' I furrowed my eyebrow, and gave Soji a questioning look, but I wanted to hear more. 'What happened?'

Before he answered, Soji brought out a packet of Pure Bliss biscuit, he opened it and offered some to me. ‘Thank you Bro. Soji, I am okay.’

It was a lie, I was hungry, but what Soji wanted to say was weightier than the hunger.

'Do you know she has rejected 5 proposals within the last one year? In fact she doesn't…’

‘Yeee' I let out a sharp sound, I was so lost in our discussion that I didn’t pay attention to the road. I had hit my leg against a metal.

'Shift jare.' I turned my anger on Soji. You made me hit my leg against a metal because of one Mercy I don't even care about.’ I drew a long hiss as I robbed my left leg trying to soothe the pain.

‘Hope you didn’t have any cut?’ Soji asked, I felt like shutting his mouth with the back of my hand. ‘Are you blind?’ I said within myself. I felt a painful warmth crawl over my leg as blood flowed from my toe.

I applied a little pressure on the spot with my thumb, a sharp pain ran through my body, I gritted my teeth as though that would stiffen the pain between them. When the bleeding stopped, I tied a handkerchief around my toe.

‘Thou shall not gossip.’ I have disobey the Good Lord, and he has given out a worthy punishment.

‘Please in the name of God. Don’t ever talk to me about any Mercy again. Mercy koo, Messi ni. I don’t want to have anything to do with her in this life.’ I said as I walked away with a pronounced limp.

I was wrong.

ADEKUNLE P_PEN

IN LOVE WITH TWO DIFFERENT LADIES 3

From being a distant friend to an intimate friend, from frequent calls to daily calls, from innocuous conversations to innocent flirtations, and from calling me ‘Bro kunle’ to ‘Big head.’ Mercy was the exact opposite of all Soji said she was.

When our friendship started, I related with Mercy based on what Soji told me, I wasn’t interested in becoming her friend, but time wore out the contrary notions I had. When you get close to some people, you would realize that most of the things said about them are wrong.

At the beginning, our conversations centered on books. Mercy loves reading and writing a genre of literature I find strange: Science fiction. I am an unrepentant fan of Mystery thrillers. Funnily enough, our difference in taste for books connected us, it birthed a healthy competition between us.

Few months after we met, we began to talk about other things. If mercy wasn’t a Christian, she would have been a headstrong feminist.

‘Things are changing, the world is now filled with women who are determined to make sure their voices are heard.’

‘Quite opposite, most of those women are insecure, they are only using that rebellious loud voice to coax insecurity.’

‘han han,’ she replied, her voice shocked with surprise. ‘You don’t mean that, do you?

‘You know that is the truth, no need to argue.’ I gave a sharp reply.

‘Kunle, you are just a hopeless sentimental young man.’ She replied in a way intended to make me feel hurt.

Technology even made our bonding easier, with WhatsApp calls we didn’t have to exhaust our money on airtime. We talk at unholy hours without saying unholy things, WhatsApp calls are clearer at night after all.

And then to the benign flirtations. One night, after we had talked for almost 3 hours I said, ‘Good night, dear.’

Like a tall tree, a heavy silence fell between us. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. ‘I have passed my boundary, Mercy will talk sense into your head before she reports you.’ a voice said within me

When she spoke, her voice was soft and gentle.

Who is your ‘dear’, she hissed and continued ‘Mr Big Head, I will report you. Good night, unserious boy.’

The line went dead.

ADEKUNLE P_PEN

Following

Ann2012:
Following

Thank you I appreciate it.