Kiddogarcia:
Making me feel somehow, but the Truth is that someone has to be left behind.
I don't know, but this chapter makes me feel more like Ruby

That's what was on my mind as I wrote this chapter. It felt a little cruel, but it had to happen.

EPISODE SIXTY-THREE

Ruby woke up shivering the next morning. There had been a light supply in the middle of the night and the overhead fan had resumed its whirring. She had slept with few clothes on. She could hardly breathe through the thick blockage in her nose.

“God!” She groaned. She heard movements in Rose’s room and looked up at the clock in the living room. It was still early, almost 5 am. She got up from the couch and went to her room to get ready for work.

While she was putting on a little make-up, Rose knocked on her door. “Ruby, good morning. Are you going to have anything for breakfast? I’m frying eggs.”

“Yes,” Ruby answered automatically before she remembered how things had ended between them the previous night. She got up and opened the door. “Good morning,” she greeted.

Rose gave her an awkward smile. “You’re dressed?”

She nodded.

“Are you going to eat?” she asked again.

“Yes. With bread? Or what are you having them with?” Ruby went out of her room and followed Rose into the kitchen.

“Just eggs and tea. I don’t really have much appetite this morning.” She turned the gas cooker on and went ahead to fry the already whisked eggs.

They worked in silence. Ruby set out to boil the water they would use for the tea and rinse the cups.

In no time, they sat down to have breakfast.

“We should talk later today, in the night,” Rose said after she cleared out her eggs.

“Fine by me,” Ruby muttered.

The air between them wasn’t as stiff as Ruby had expected it to be. Of course, there was a little tension in the air but it was bearable. Maybe they had not gotten to a point where their friendship would end.

They left the house together. As Rose was almost late for work, she dropped Ruby off where it would be easy for her to get a bus to the office.
It would end up being a horrible Monday for her. By the time she got to the office, she was almost thirty minutes late. An email with a warning followed by a reduction of a percentage of her salary was what greeted her as she settled down in front of her desk and switched on the computer. Mrs Oyena gave her thorough querying over a mistake she had made in a file she’d submitted the previous week. It had only seemed like a small mistake to her, but Mrs Oyena accentuated it to make it look as though she had caused the company to lose millions of naira. She wore a surly look all through the admonishment. Mrs Oyena noticed her attitude and intensified her query. When it was all done, with Ruby promising to correct the mistake and never to repeat it, it was almost time for the lunch break.

The lunch break would have been a great time for her to work through her emotions that were all over the place and face work with concentration. But as soon as she sat down on one of the tables in Mama Iyabo’s restaurant and made her order of rice with banga stew, she was reminded once again of the times she had spent sitting in the same position, bantering with Gideon. And where was he now?

She puffed out an angry breath through her nose, already losing appetite for the food. She gestured to the waitress closest to her. “Tell them to put my order in a take-away instead of serving it here.”

In a few minutes, the waitress walked to her holding a leather bag. Ruby collected the bag from her, handing her some naira notes. “Give me one bottle of coke.”

It was a good idea to return to the office to have her lunch. During the five minute walk under the scalding afternoon sun, most of her appetite had returned. Without thinking about Gideon or Rose, she wolfed down the food, pausing in between bites to gulp down chilled coke. Soon both the plate and the bottle were empty. She let out an inelegant belch. She laid back on her chair with a sigh. “Why would I say no to food,” she muttered to herself. “Because of man?” She chuckled to herself.

Thinking about ‘man’ reminded her of Gideon whom she had in the course of her meal forgotten about, and then of Rose. She sat up and reached for her phone. She opened her Chrome app and typed in the search box. “How to travel to Canada”.

It was a pointless search. Most of the results that came on top were targeted toward people that wanted to study in Canada. She looked through the results dispiritedly. She didn’t really care about Canada. It would be a relief to travel out of the country but she felt that her life was okay. Why did she even need to go to Canada?

Because of Rose. The answer was clear. Rose wanted to go to Canada. It was what she wanted for her life. It was not what Ruby wanted for her life. She loved being in Nigeria. She wasn’t sure she could handle the loneliness and the cold of the foreign country. All for what? Her job was good. It was okay.

“It might be safe to stay in your comfort zone, but for how long?” Rose’s words from the previous night came back to her. What else could she do? She looked at the phone in her hand, then a thought struck her. She rapidly typed How to get out of your comfort zone. Google to the rescue, she thought with an impish smile. But her smile soon disappeared as she looked through the results. Within a few minutes, she placed her phone aside with a sigh. Maybe the question she had to ask herself was what she wanted for her life.

***
Work ended without much spectacle. Because she dreaded returning home to have a conversation with Rose, she dragged Ama off to have dinner together. They made small talk as they sat down at the table while waiting for their meal to be served.

“Ehen, how is it going on with you and the board guy? What is his name again?” Ruby asked.

Ama rolled her eyes. “It really took you this long to ask? Babe, have you been hiding under a rock all this while.”

“Has it been that long?” Ruby thought out loud. “Things have just been complicated for me this while. So tell me, the way you’re blushing, I guess the ship has sailed, huh?”

“Almost three weeks now. After the whole drama, I finally said yes to the guy.”

Ruby clapped lightly. “Wow. That’s great. I’m really happy for you. So, how is it going? Is he treating you well?”

“Yes.” A waiter arrived with their food. Ama waited till he had set it all down before she continued. “Much better than I expected. You know I was quite worried about his spiritual life, right?”

Ruby nodded and picked up her fork to start eating.

“He has been trying lately to become more… become a little spiritual. I didn’t force him or anything like that. I wouldn’t want that to become a problem, but he is quite willing to join me in my bible study at home. He hasn’t decided to continue going to church—he was brought up in a Catholic home, but I’ve decided not to pester him too much about it.”

“Oh?” Ruby was quite surprised. Ama had always asserted that she couldn’t date someone that wasn’t spiritual or didn’t at least go to church once in two weeks. “So what happened to change your mind? I know the Ama of before will not say something like that.”

“Well, I actually feel that he is really serious about wanting to date me and get to know me, and possibly get married. He’d mentioned something like that before we started dating. And this time, by the grace of God, I believe we might actually make it to that point. And through the period both before we started dating and after, I’m getting to know him and parts of him that really align with what I need. Not want,” she stressed. “You also know the story with my previous relationships. They were all ‘god-fearing’ but in the end, one cheated on me, the other one became abusive. So maybe, it’s not just the god-fearing part that matters. If in the future, he decides to be more spiritual, that’s great. If he doesn’t, somehow we’ll work through it. But for now, I actually feel good about the relationship.” Ama reached for her glass of water and took little gulps.

Ruby had her mouth stuffed full of chicken at this time. It was weirdly quiet as she struggled to chew the chicken and swallow it so she could talk. “That’s great, Ama. Really. It’s good that you found someone that you can have a future with.”

Ama nodded. “I think so too. At this point, I’m not sure if I made the right decision with him. But I’m sure God will reveal his intentions for me sooner or later. What about you? Any new developments? This one Gideon is gone, should I assume that it’s not going to work out between you both?”

“Don’t even mention it,” Ruby hissed. “He said I could wait for him while he set up his stuff. Can you imagine? I literally called the guy to tell him to say, 'let’s date', and he starts saying he won’t have time for a relationship. I mean, if he knew that, why would he come and ask me out in the first place? Just made me start liking him for nothing.”

“Really? What exactly happened between the both of you? You never really told me.”

Ruby launched into the account of what happened between them. The more she spoke about it, the more she became riled up. By the time she was done, her lips were spewing fire about Gideon.

“That’s too bad. You guys would have made a good couple,” Ama muttered.

“Ehn-ehn,” Ruby held up a hand to refute her. “Please, him and who? The guy doesn’t deserve me. After talking shit about me, he still wanted to date me. When I finally agreed, what did he do? Please. Don’t mention me and him in the same sentence.”

“Okay o,” Ama said with a bemused look. “I won’t mention him again. He’s probably disappeared from both our lives.”

“For the best,” Ruby added.

Ama chuckled. “So is that the only thing bothering you?”

Ruby contemplated telling her about Rose leaving the country, then made up her mind. She needed all the comfort she could get. “One of my friends just surprised me by saying she’s leaving for Canada. I’m just a little shaken up by the news.”

“Who?” Ama pressed on. “Rose?”

Ruby grimaced. How could she get it on the first guess? “Don’t tell anyone.”

“Who am I telling?” Ama sipped from her glass of water. “She’s the only friend of yours that I know outside work. And looking at her, she looks like someone that is destined for the abroad world.”

Ruby looked at her sourly, “And me?”

Ama laughed. “Everybody is destined for abroad world biko. Depends on which part of ‘abroad’ you mean.”

Ruby reached out to slap her shoulder. “It’s not funny. I’m serious.”

“Well, do you want to go to Canada?”

Without thinking twice, Ruby shook her head.

“Then why are you stressing yourself. The girl wants to go abroad. It’s her life. She’s working hard for it. Just live your own life here in Naija. Life is not so bad here.”

“Yea, right,” Ruby replied dryly, thinking about the rising price of fuel that was affecting every other thing in the country.

“Look, everybody has what they’re meant for in life. If you want something you want something, you have to get it yourself. That is what your friend is doing. And you? I know you feel bad that she is leaving you in the country. But if you ask me, this would be the best time for you to find what you want for yourself. I suppose that with her around, you’ve never sat down to think about anything else other than work and home? Maybe this time, her absence would trigger you to think more for yourself.”

“What about you?” Ruby frowned.

“Me what?”

“We’re both working for people, working for a salary. Do you ever think of life beyond a salaried one? Like getting a side job or something like that.”
Ama let out a playful smile. “What do you think? I don't have a good voice for nothing. I get invited to sing at church programs and similar programs, especially at weddings. So maybe it can count as a side job.”

Ruby collapsed on her seat. You see what I’m talking about. Everyone else seems to have their life perfectly put together but me. It’s like I’m just chasing men up and down and doing nothing else.”

“Babe, calm down. It’s not as bad as you think it is. It’s not like you can just wake up one morning and make such a decision for yourself. Moreover, it’s not too late to readjust your focus and work on the more important things.”

At this point, Ruby was just picking at her meal. “You know, I’m happy that my friend is going to greener pastures. It’s just that it happened all of a sudden. One day we are going out together, eating fried yam. And then, the next thing I know, she’s already packing her things to go to Canada. Do you know what makes me feel even worse? Our timing has always been the same. We graduated from school together. We went to service together, in the same state. We came back to Lagos. Both of us found good places of work within three months. Even though she got promoted before me, it all remained the same to me. Some months ago, she bought a car. Then she decided to go into real estate, I don’t really understand how it works, but it seems to be going well for her. Now, it’s Canada. I just feel, at some point, she left me behind. While she started sprinting, I was left behind still walking at a snail’s pace. I feel that we’ll never be on the same page again.”

“You and her are not meant to have the same time of life. Everybody is destined for their own paths. This is just where her path forks off to another road. It’s something one can expect at any point in life,” Ama explained.

“I know.” Ruby sighed.

Dinner continued in silence. Even though she already felt full, Ruby forced herself to finish every last bit of the cream potatoes on her plate. After they left the restaurant, they both took cabs to their respective homes. When Ruby got home, it was almost 9 pm.

EPISODE SIXTY-FOUR

Rose was in the living, half-lying down while she worked on her laptop. She looked up when Ruby came in. “You’re back?”

“I’m sorry. I had to have dinner with some of my colleagues at work. Give me some minutes let me change.” She went to her room and came out about twenty minutes later, smelling of her Dove soap and the perfume she had lightly spritzed on her neck.

“How was work today?” Rose asked when she sat down on the adjacent couch.

“Mrs Oyena gave me a lashing out in the morning. It sort of spoilt my whole day,” Ruby complained. She reached for the remote of the AC to reduce the temperature. “What about yours?” She didn’t like the amount of politeness that was attached to the question. They had asked each other questions like this before. It never seemed like this.

“Normal. There was this lady that came to look for trouble in the office today. It was fun to watch the security guy deal with it. It turns out that she came to look for her boyfriend as he had disappeared from her life and was avoiding her calls.”

Ruby barked out a laugh. “The guy works in the company?”

“Who knows?” Rose shrugged. “No one knows any Jerome. Even if he is in our company, he seemed to be avoiding her. Why would he own up at that time and cause problem for himself?”

Ruby tsked. “Men.”

A few minutes passed.

“So… about what I told you yesterday…,” Rose started then trailed off. She closed the lid of her laptop and placed it on the table. Then she sat upright, facing Ruby.

“I want to apologize for some of the things I said yesterday. Even though I still feel hurt that you didn’t tell me about it earlier, I sincerely feel happy for you. I hope Canada treats you well,” Ruby said as she rehearsed in her mind earlier on her way back home.


Rose smiled softly. “I understand, Ruby. I also need to apologize. For a lot of things. First, I really should have informed you, especially as a friend and someone I take as family. Second, for how I came off yesterday. I also said a lot of mean things, I didn’t mean them. And lastly,” she sighed, “I want to apologize for not doing more as a friend and not sticking to our promise of ‘greater heights together'.”

Ruby shook her head. “No. You never broke your promise. We’re just taking different paths. But we will still meet at the top.” She ended in a determined voice.

Rose widened her eyes. “You…you thought through it?”

“Yes, Rose. I would love to do everything together with you. Go to Canada together, get married almost at the same time, even give birth at almost the same time,” she shook her head sadly, “But we know that is impossible. I have to admit that our paths are totally different. And this is the time to go our different routes.”

“We’re still friends, aren’t we?” Rose scrunched her eyebrows.

Ruby laughed. “Of course, of course. Don’t mind what I’m spouting. I just want you to know that I totally support you and that I wish you the very best. And anytime you need anything, anything at all, including cash—even though I’m not doing real estate, I have a lot stashed somewhere—” she quipped eliciting a snigger from Rose, “I’m always a phone call away. We’ll always, always remain friends.”

“Awn, Rubs, thank you so much, sweetheart.” She covered the gap between them and pulled Ruby into a tight hug. “I’m so glad I have you as a friend. Thank you, babe.”

Soon, they were both sniffling at each other, making promises to keep in touch, to call as soon as Rose landed in Canada, to keep each other updated on relationship gossip. It took a while before they calmed down, bursting out in fits of laughter when they looked at each other.

“I will miss you.” Ruby used the bottom of her shirt to wipe her face and her nose. “Especially your food. Maybe you should cook one or two batches of stew and soup and store them in the fridge so that I can enjoy them for a while in your absence.”

Rose eyed her. “Look at her. Instead of you to say, ‘let me just be cooking for you until you leave’.”

“As if you can eat my food. What happened the last time I cooked jollof rice? You had to go and cook stew so we will eat it together. Let me not attract insult by myself o!” Ruby exclaimed.

“You can try better. Maybe I can even teach you how to cook better.”

“No don’t worry. My cooking skills are good enough. Maybe not good enough for Chef Rose, but still good enough. It’s the same thing all my ex-boyfriends have been eating.” On the topic of ex-boyfriends, her voice lost some of its excitement.

Rose patted her shoulder. “Babe, don’t worry. In good time, I assure you.”

Ruby shook her head to clear the gloom that threatened to suck her. “I know. Rose, by the way, about the real estate stuff… is there any other thing I can be doing to like…something like a side job?”

“You’re serious?”

“Well, I’m not certain yet. But after everything you said yesterday, most of which are true, I have been thinking seriously about my life. I mean, it’s time for me to get serious and start living. I just realized how boring my life has been up to this moment.”

“Boring? With all the characters that have been going in and out of your life, I wouldn’t exactly call it boring,” Rose inserted.

“Rose!” Ruby gave her a warning stare. “You know what I mean. Look at my life, apart from the number of ex-boyfriends in my life, what else can I account for?”

“You graduated from uni with a second class degree; You got a stable job; You are able to sponsor your life comfortably and sometimes even support your family. Those are good things. I think you’re doing pretty good. Some people are not even able to boast of even one.” Rose sat down beside her and put an arm around her shoulders. “Look, Rubs, don’t define your life based on mine. I come from a well-to-do family. I just have myself to take care of. Even going to Canada, my father is already providing at least half of the money. But you’re different. You have yourself and then your brother. Didn’t you say you’ve been paying his school fees after your mother had that ulcer episode? And then those times that you have to send money home to your mother? We’re not the same, so you have to understand that.”

“Define the life you want based on your own reality and what you can achieve. That’s what you should do now. Think of Ruby, what Ruby wants, what Ruby can aspire to. Not what Rose did.”

Ruby nodded in understanding. “I get what you mean. Thank you for the wake-up call. I don’t know how long I would have been like this if you hadn’t suddenly said you were going to Canada.”

“We’re supposed to achieve greater heights together, don’t forget.”

Ruby smiled. “Yes, greater heights together.”

EPISODE SIXTY-FIVE

Three Months Later

“Hello, Patrick, where are you? I thought I said you should come and drop the car by the office before 6 pm?” Ruby stared impatiently at the wall clock in the office. Her voice echoed in the empty room. It was already thirty minutes since the close of work and her colleagues had already gone up, leaving her alone in the office.

“Give me a few minutes. I was caught in the traffic,” a gruff voice came through the other side of the phone.

“Please hurry up, abeg. I want to go home.” She hissed and ended the call. With reluctance, she switched on her laptop. Rather than stare at the glaring light of the gadget, she wanted to curl up on her bed and get a good night’s rest.

It was two months since she escorted Rose to the airport and watched her disappear into the departure lounge. About 15 hours later, Rose had called to inform her that she’d arrived in Canada. During the first week of her absence, Ruby almost fell ill from the bouts of loneliness that hit her, especially when she returned home after a long day at work. There was no smell of fried plantains to greet her when she unlocked the door. Rose’s room barely changed. She hadn’t taken a lot of things, leaving most of her clothes to Ruby. After coming home to an empty fridge a few times, she began ordering soups and stews in large quantities. It wasn’t that she couldn’t cook. Even though Rose often mocked her cooking skills, she knew her way around the kitchen. Only that she couldn’t bring herself to be in the kitchen for long, with memories of she and Rose in the kitchen, Rose blending tomatoes, Rose chopping okra with preciseness and concentration, Rose slapping her hands away when she tried to take a slice of fried plantain from the colander.

“Please. The way you’re talking, someone will say we are not just friends,” Rose had cut into her ramble during one of their phone calls.
It had taken a while before she got used to the silence that greeted her every day when she got home. She got used to explaining Rose’s continued absence when she went somewhere that they often frequented together.

Rose had left her car to her. “Use it to run an Uber business,” she’d advised. “Just give me like ten to twenty per cent of the profit every month.”

“But you know I don’t know how to drive.”

“Yet,” Rose stressed. “Before I go, I’ll make sure you enrol into a driving school. It’s not that I expect you to be doing the driving yourself. There’s this guy, I already talked with him. His name is Patrick. He can be using the car during the day while you’re at work and after work, you can drive back home with it.”

Ruby frowned. “Is it feasible?”

“It’s possible. I trust the guy don’t worry. But you can use the car anytime. Just talk with him whenever you want to. I just want to be able to make small cash from it.”

Ruby agreed to the arrangement. Under Rose’s dutiful supervision, she went for driving lessons during the weekend. Just the previous week, she had gotten her driver’s license, though she still needed to drive around with the ‘L’ card. Not that she minded, Lagos roads were crazy.

Ruby typed in her password into the laptop and watched as the apps loaded. She’d invested in the laptop two weeks after Rose had broken the news of her imminent departure. She never got one since she barely had any use for one. And when she did, Rose’s laptop was only a few meters away. The decision to buy the laptop followed her decision to start a side job. It hadn’t been easy to find one among the sea of choices that a search on Google had brought to her, especially one that suited her. After days of research, probably the longest she had spent in front of a laptop doing what wasn’t work-related or looking at fashion blogs, she finally decided to try freelance accounting outside work hours. While she would need to deepen her expertise in the field, she wouldn’t need to start afresh learning something like copy-writing or graphic designing which were mainstream.

Also, unlike Rose that didn’t feel much affection for accounting, Ruby loved the thrill of accounting. She loved numbers especially when they were behind currency symbols. She hadn’t been the brightest student back in school, but she was confident in her skills to make it in the field. It had taken a while to get her first freelance contract, and it was a relatively small one, coming from a small startup. While she didn’t expect to suddenly start making millions in the job, she could only wish that it would develop into something worthwhile.

About fifteen minutes later, the peal of her phone roused her from what she was doing. She absentmindedly picked up the call.

“Hello,” she muttered.

“I’m downstairs already.” It was Patrick.

“Okay. I’m coming.” She saved the spreadsheet she’d been working on and shut down her computer.

Patrick was standing in front of the company’s gate when she went out. She collected the keys that he handed to her.

“Did you refill the tank?” she asked opening the backseat door to keep her things.

“Yes. I refilled it this morning. Tomorrow, I have a wedding to attend, so I won’t be available.”

“No problem.” Ruby got into the car. “What of Sunday? I’m going to use it in the evening, but otherwise, you can drive it.”

“Okay. I’ll come by on Sunday.”

With a brief greeting, they departed. Patrick stopped an okada that was passing by. Ruby sighed with helplessness. When Rose had said she completely trusted Patrick, she didn’t really understand. But as she got to know him, she was beginning to understand. He was completely honest about what he did with the car, reporting to her as though she was his boss.

Once, after he returned the car, he’d admitted with an abashed expression that he used the car to drive his girlfriend to the hospital because she had been feeling unwell. Another time, he reported that he’d dropped by a supermarket to buy some things and had run out of fuel. Ruby rarely asked. Moreover, she was not the real owner of the car. When she told Rose, she’d merely laughed it off, “That’s what he does.”

“Huh?”

“He drives Ubers for people. I knew him through a trip I booked with him. He’s good.”

“If you say so,” Ruby said even though she had not come around to fully trusting him.

She started the car and pulled away from the company. It was Friday night. Ordinarily, she would allow Patrick to directly return the car to the house. But on this night, she decided to stop by her favourite bar and grill for a barbecue. Originally, it was a favourite of her and Rose. The bar was a must-place when they were paid their salaries as well as on many other occasions. Since Rose left, Ruby couldn’t bring herself to spend time in the bar alone, often opting to buy the fish in a takeaway. However, on her last visit to the bar, the previous Sunday, she’d met someone that attracted her attention.

After what happened with Gideon and with the busyness of her new freelance job, Ruby barely gave any attention to the opposite sex. Coincidentally, it seemed like she’d suddenly become honey, attracting men of differing calibre. Twice while she was waiting to buy fuel at the fuel station, she was approached by men. She’d had to give fake numbers to the ones that approached her while she was sitting alone in a restaurant. Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she loved the attention she was getting. She didn’t find any of the men appealing so she hadn’t bothered to extend the relations. But for this man that she’d met at the bar.

He’d mistaken her order for his and was already leaving the bar before she caught up with him and exchanged the take-away package in her hand. At first, she’d not taken note of his looks until he offered to buy her a drink to compensate for the mistake. They found an empty table close to the entrance of the bar and settled down. He was a few inches taller than she was. She had to crane to look up at him while they spoke. Despite the low lighting of the bar, she was able to make out his facial features. He had a line of thin, nicely trimmed hair along his jaw. His nostrils were unusually small for someone of his stature, but they fit well on his face. He was muscular, she’d thought as she eyed the arms that extended from the already stretched out cream shirt. She didn’t need to trail her eyes further below to ascertain his possession of tight, very visible sis-packs. But it wasn’t his looks that pulled her to him. It was the way he spoke. She guessed that he was more of a listener than a talker. When he spoke, he did so deliberately. He chose his words well, sometimes going into long pauses while he thought of what to say. They only talked for a few minutes in the bar, their orders growing cold as they did so. She’d imagined that he would request her phone number as he bade her bye about ten minutes later. But he did nothing of that sort, merely implying that they might meet again. Where else would they meet again if not at the bar?

It was only after he’d left that she realized that even though they spoke about vague things, they didn’t exchange their names. With disappointment clogging her chest, she took a keke napep back to the estate. By the time she got home, she’d already lost appetite for the cold grilled fish and could only place it in the fridge.

This time, even though she didn’t hold high hopes, she wished she would be able to meet again. She decided that she wouldn’t wait for him to ask for her name or her phone number. After all, if she didn’t try to make the first move, she might miss out on knowing him at all.

You write well....

Well done OP

Nice, keep it up. The 2nd to the last episode was very deep.

OP, how are you? Trust you are good. Just checking on you.

EPISODE SIXTY-SIX

Ruby parked her car in the parking lot of the office complex opposite the bar and grill. She switched on the inner car light and brought out the make-up tools in her bag. She used a cotton pad to wipe off the already stale lipstick that she’d been wearing since morning. She ran a darker shade of the red lipstick when her lips had been wiped clean, patting her lips together to spread the lipstick evenly. She patted her face with a powder and adjusted the artificial lashes on her eyes.

Ama had noted that one of the major changes, a more visible one, that Ruby had after Rose left the country was in her physical looks. She’d taken to wearing more make-up than she did previously. Even when she wanted to leave the house for small errands, Ruby found herself sitting in front of the mirror for at least ten minutes. She wasn’t sure why she started making up more often. But she loved how the mere act of making up made her feel better about herself.

She exchanged her work shoes, a pair of black loafers, for the red kitten heels she’d brought along with her when she left her home in the morning for this purpose. Before coming down from the car, she looked at herself in the mirror, using her finger to wipe off a smudge of lipstick on the side of her mouth. Satisfied with her look, she came out of the car, locking it behind her.

Her heart beat rapidly as she crossed the less busy street and walked into the bar. It was half-filled up. She scanned the bar looking for the man. Without any result, she made her way to the counter and made an order for her usual with a bottle of wine and fried yams. This time, she would be having it in the bar. She took a table for two, one furthest from the entrance of the bar and quite hidden in a corner. While she’d come to look for someone, she wasn’t sure she would appreciate disturbances from other men that may have come to the bar with a similar purpose.

Once she sat down, she was able to take a closer look through the bar. She was obstructed from some tables, but she was sure she would be able to point him out no matter how far she was. Unfortunately, among the patrons in the bar at this time, he was none of them. A young waitress brought the bottle of wine that she’d ordered. She uncorked it at Ruby’s request, pouring a little into the wine glass that she’d brought along.

After she left, Ruby sat at the table, sipping slowly at the glass of wine. At first, she’d tried simultaneously looking through her phone while keeping an eye on the people in the bar, but she could barely concentrate on her phone. It was easier to abandon her phone when her order of barbecue with fried yams arrived. She kept her phone and washed her hands in preparation for the meal. The fish had come with two forks, but Ruby wasn’t keen on eating it with the fork. She preferred using her hands to eat the dish.

She ate at a steady pace, not too fast and not too slow. While she ate, her eyes roamed the bar, watching patrons come and go. She ate for about thirty minutes before a group of rowdy men marched into the bar, talking loudly. It was not difficult for her to spot her target in the midst of the group of five men. She straightened on her seat, resisting the urge to gesture at him with hands still cloaked in oil and fish crumbs. She trailed the group with her eyes as they looked for an empty table. They were walking further into the bar, towards her. She curved into herself consciously, hoping they wouldn’t notice her. They ended up sitting two tables away from her.

At this point, she was no longer interested in the fish in front of her. She eyed the remnants of fried yam beside the half-eaten fish, the culprit of her feeling full despite not eating the fish that she’d visited the bar for. She would have to take the rest home. She washed her hands, drying them with tissues. Even though she’d not held much hope, he’d shown up in the bar. She sipped some wine and used it to rinse her mouth of pieces of fish and yam. She took more sips, hoping it would coat the strong smell of fish in her mouth.

With her target on sight and having eaten her fill, now seemed the best time to pretend to be busy on her phone. While she scrolled endlessly through her Instagram feed, she thought of various ways to approach him. It would be a difficult feat to achieve when he was surrounded by huge, loud men. Their voices were loud as they argued about a football march. She assumed that they were either returning from watching one or heading to watch one. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to make her voice heard above theirs.

“Excuse me,” she imagined walking up to the table and saying.

Maybe they would settle into a still silence, looking at her in surprise. She shivered at the image. Or they wouldn’t hear her and she would be mistakenly hit by one of the flying, gesturing hands or met with flying spittle. None of them was appealing. She continued scrolling through her phone. Or she could wait until they were about to leave and then coincidentally run into them at the entrance. It sounded feasible. Only, how long before they would leave. She glanced at the table and quickly returned her gaze to her phone. They were definitely going to spend a long time in the bar if she had to judge from the number of drinks on the table.


I apologize for the few days of absence. School work got quite busy.

EPISODE SIXTY-SEVEN

She collapsed into her chair. She emptied her wine glass and refilled it again. She sighed. Or she could give up and hope they would meet another day? She wasn’t excited at this probability. What if they never met again?

“Hey, Ruby?” A voice suddenly cut into her inner musings, rousing her sharply.

When she looked up and met the face of the man she’d come searching for, she was even more shaken. “H..hey, hi.” She dropped her phone and tried to stand up.

“Are you leaving?” He looked at her.

Halfway to an upright position, Ruby caught herself and sent her buttocks back unto the cushiony chair. “No, no. Sorry. I was just surprised. Hi,” she said again.

He motioned towards the chair opposite her. “Can I sit?”

“Yea, sure.” She smiled, also gesturing towards the chair in a polite manner.

“Such a coincidence.” He flashed a smile at her then gestured to the waitress standing closest to the table. He placed a request for two bottles of beer.

“Yes. I was quite surprised.”

“I just came in with my friends.” He gestured at the table that had been the centre of her attention for a while. “And then I noticed you.”

“Oh.” She looked at the table with seriousness as though she was quite noticing them. “Quite loud though,” she muttered.

He laughed. “Yes, yes. Don’t mind us. The football march we just watched was quite thrilling, that’s why.”

“Oh, okay. Of course, it’s football,” she chuckled.

“And you,” he referred to the contents on the table, “You must be having a great Friday, huh?”

She bit her lips, wondering if it looked like she had a huge appetite. “It was a stressful week. I just wanted to relax.”

He gave a lopsided grin. “I see. I suppose it’s at this point that we exchange names, right?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Sure. I’m Ruby.”

“Justin.”

Their hands met over the table in a tight handshake. Ruby felt shivers run through her spine at the body contact. She squeezed her legs today and used a smile to cover up her excitement.

“You live around here?” Justin asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around.”

She shook her head. “Some streets away. I don’t come here often.”

“Well, I would say it’s my luck to have met you for two weeks running. I was actually hoping that I would run into you one of these days. I should have asked for your name the first time we met.”

“You have it now,” Ruby put candidly.

“Are you staying much longer? I feel you’re already done.” He looked down at the abandoned fish.

“I’m done eating but I’m not in a hurry to leave,” she said quickly.

“That’s great.” The waitress returned with the two bottles of drinks that he’d requested and placed them on the table. “You drink beer?” He moved one bottle towards her.

She shook her head. “I’m not a beer person.” She pointed at her glass of wine. “I still have this.”

He picked up the now half bottle of wine and looked at the label. “Good wine. You’re really out to relax this weekend, hmm?”

“Well, of course. It’s the weekend.” She tried not to think of the freelance gig that she had slotted in to work on during the weekend.

“So, what do you do? If you don’t mind me asking.” He continued without allowing her to reply. “I deal with cars and gym equipment.”

She raised her brows. “I’m an accountant.” She didn’t feel the need to add that she was also a freelance agent. It all counted as accounting, she thought.

“Good with numbers, huh?” He smirked.

She laughed. “Not as good as you think. Just when it concerns money.” She winked.

He burst out laughing. “I now understand the big feast. It must not be easy looking at numbers day in and day out. God! I remember our statistics class from my university days. I’m not sure how I survived it.”

“What course did you study?’ She jumped in on the topic.

“Mass communication, at Obafemi Awolowo uni. You?”

“Lagos state uni. Accounting,” she said even though it was obvious.

It was in this way that the conversation continued longer than she’d expected. Justin must have forgotten about his friends as he went on and on. She also forgot that she’d scheduled a call with Rose later in the night. It was when one of Justin’s friends called his name that he seemed to remember that he’d come with a group of friends.

“Wow, it was really nice talking to you. I would love to do this more often. Do you mind if I get your number?” He straightened up on his chair, downing the remnants of his second bottle of beer.

“Sure.” Ruby picked up her phone from where she’d abandoned it. “I’d love to get yours as well.”

He smiled as he handed her his phone. She inputted her phone number and handed it back to him. In a few seconds, her phone flashed up with an incoming call.

“That’s my phone number.”

“Alright.”

“You don’t have any weird rules about calls right? Like I shouldn’t call at special times or whatever?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Unless it’s not in the middle of the night when I’m asleep, I don’t have a problem.” She saved his number with his name.

“That’s cool. I’ll give you a call.” He stood up. “I would be on my way now. My friends are ready to leave.”

She nodded and stood up as well. “Yes, me too.”

He looked at the half-eaten fish on the table. “Didn’t you say you were going to take it while leaving?”

She slapped her forehead lightly. “Look at me. I almost forgot.” Before she could do anything, he’d already asked a waitress to bring a take-away plate.

Even though his friends were already heading out of the bar, he waited until the waitress carefully placed the remaining fish in the takeaway plate. Ruby didn’t forget to include her half-bottle of wine. After spending such an amount on it, she couldn’t bear to leave it.

They walked out of the bar together.

“You’re a nice lady,” he said when they left the bar.

She couldn’t help her shy smile. “I try my best. And you too. You’re a nice guy. I really enjoyed talking with you.”

He grinned. “It might come off a little straightforward, but I want to ask if you’re seeing anyone right now? I’m interested in ge…”

“No,” she shook her head as she said. “I’m not involved with anyone now.”

“So we’re on the same page, huh?”

She shrugged with a sleek smile. “Let’s see where it goes.”

He groaned. “Ah, that phrase.”

She chuckled out loud. “Really. I want to see where it goes too. I’m also quite interested in you.” She had to admit, his straightforward attitude made her like him even more. She wasn’t sure how much ‘beating about the bush’ she could take when it came to him.

“That’s good then. So we’re on the same page?”

She nodded firmly. “Yes.”

“Well,” he smiled and stretched out a hand towards her. She took it in their second handshake that evening. “I look forward to more exciting conversations with you, Ruby.” His voice deepened when he said her name.

She suddenly decided that she wouldn’t allow him to call her by a shortened version of her name. “Same here, Justin.” She tried to change her voice like he did when he called her name. It was cringeworthy.

He laughed out loud, then bade her bye before going ahead to meet his friends that had already called out to him a number of times.

queentener:
OP, how are you? Trust you are good. Just checking on you.

I'm doing well.
Thank you for asking.

MichaelBlake40:
Nice, keep it up. The 2nd to the last episode was very deep.

Thank you

Gloriagee:
You write well....

Thank you.

Ann2012:
Well done OP

Thank you

Another disappointment loading.

Nice write-up..just happened to notice a bit of a mixup though..they claim not to have told each other their names on the first meeting,so how come he calls her by name when he sights her the second time..and then they happen to exchange names later on after that?in all,a good write-up..Looking forward to the next episode..

I just hope this new guy will not make her abandon her steady growth again, coz this girl and guys! Huh!

Blackween:
I just hope this new guy will not make her abandon her steady growth again, coz this girl and guys! Huh!

Her mind is too focus on guys and romance/relationships. And she keeps meeting the wrong guys. Maybe the other guy from his work place would have loved her genuinely,who knows.

This new guy might be a player with the way things are going so fast

Interesting story so far, i just hope Ruby gets this one right...
Keep up with the updates

I really hope Ruby and Gideon comes back together!!!

EPISODE SIXTY-EIGHT

Ruby walked to the car with a skip in her steps. The drive home seemed shorter than she’d expected. She drove with giddiness, singing along with the music from the stereo. As soon as she got home, she dialled Rose’s number.

“Babe,” she screamed as soon as Rose picked up the call.

“My ears, my ears,” Rose complained. “Why are you screaming?”

“I met him. I met the guy today,” Ruby gushed.

“The one from the bar. How was it? Great eh, with the way you’re shouting, I can tell that it went well.”

“Very well.” Ruby kicked off her shoes and flopped down on the bed. She related everything that happened to Rose.

“He sounds like a really nice guy. So, you guys are now dating or what?”

“Not yet.” Ruby sat up. “We have to get to know each other better. But I bet it wouldn’t take more than a month before we start dating officially.”

“It’s good you’ve met someone. You still have to take your time and get to know him. Don’t just jump into it like your previous relationships and then end up getting hurt.”

“I know. I know, Rose. There’s some part of me that feels he might be just the person for me. But I’ll still take my time. I want this one to work out this time. I mean, from the way we were conversing, it came quite easy. At first, I thought he was the listening type and didn’t talk much, but boy, I was wrong. He listens but he also talks at almost the same speed. Suffice to say, I look forward to talking with him more often.”

“Now, I really wish I was there to meet this guy. I hope he doesn’t hurt you though. After what Fred did, I’m still upset at what happened.”

“Don’t worry, babe. I will take care of myself this time. And you know, I feel like I’m in a better place to handle relationships. I mean, I know it’s only been like two months, but after much self-evaluation, I can say that I know how to handle my emotions better. Even if this one doesn’t work out, I’m sure I won’t break down like before.”

“Okay,” Rose grumbled. “Just make sure you take care of yourself.”

They spoke about other things. Rose complained about how she was running out of cash faster than before. They joked about the Caribbean guy from Rose’s workplace that was asking her out, even though another colleague had revealed that he had a fiancee back in his country.
It was almost midnight before the call ended. Though Ruby was exhausted when she collapsed on the bed after washing up, she drifted off to sleep with a content smile.

***
Justin was an easygoing guy, but there were parts of his personality that hinted at a fastidious character. He sent messages to her before he called. “Knock knock, can someone call you?”, “Sweetie, I want to hear your voice, Is she eyeing one bag on Instagram? I don’t want to disturb her”. The messages were often random, but they hardly failed at making her laugh. Minutes after he sent the messages, his call would come in and they would launch into long conversations that were quite random. But it was through the conversations that they got to know more about each other. He came from a wealthy family, with a doctor father and a businesswoman mother. He was the middle child of three children. His elder sister lived in Switzerland with her foreigner husband and two kids, the last born being borne just before he met her.
“Maybe he came as my good luck,” he joked.

His younger brother was a book person, he remarked. His younger brother was in the States, pursuing a PhD. He was obviously the only child that had carried his father’s studious brain and love for biology. Justin went with his mother, emulating her to own his own dealership. His mother had provided the funds for the business which he started as soon as he graduated from the university and completed his service. It was only recently that he went into gym equipment seeing how it was becoming popular. He already had plans to set up his own gym. His sister was the oldest out of them all. She was an artist and a graphic designer. She’d not always been in that line of work. She’d started out studying nursing at the university, but dropped out halfway saying she wanted to pursue her dream. His parents sent her abroad to continue her study.

Even though he came from a wealthy family, Justin was quite particular about how money was spent. He devoted his Saturday to examining his accounts, knowing how much he’d spent, what he’d spent on and how he’d earned during the week. She was surprised to find out that he watched Chinese movies. Apparently, he’d once dated a girl that had studied in China and had influenced him. Being a car dealer himself, he loved cars. It didn’t surprise her to find out that he had three cars, all of which cost exorbitant amounts of money.

The more she knew him, the more she liked him and the more she felt insufficient when compared to him. He was an interesting character, he had good looks, he came from money and flowed with it, and he was also very intelligent. When she compared herself to him, she only seemed inadequate. She didn’t have any exciting hobbies, she had not travelled out of the country in her life. Her account balance still struggled between seven and eight digits in naira, while he probably only talked in dollars. Sometimes, she was left wondering if it would be better to break off the relationship before he realized how boring she was and break it off himself.

One thing that had kept her from doing so would be how natural communication came with Justin. When they went out together, she always ended up forgetting the self-conscious manner that she’d left her home. At first, she would keep on tugging at her gown, trying to tuck in her tummy, smoothing her wig over and over again. But by the time she’d spent minutes with him, she would forget the bulge under her gown, her laughter would become unrestrained, sometimes even to the point of snorting.

“Don’t try too hard,” he said one day when he noticed how reserved she was trying to be. “I prefer it when you’re yourself.”

“You really don’t want to see that part of me,” she’d remarked blithely.

“Well, I don’t want to be around the fake part of you,” he retorted.

But it was only three weeks later before he popped the question, officially asking her to be his girlfriend. It was a Sunday evening. He’d invited her out for a date. The fine-dining restaurant he took her to was on the Island. The atmosphere was casual yet reeked of elegance and sophistication. As they found their way to their table, which Justin had reserved earlier, she consciously tugged at the hem of her blouse. Even though it was a new blouse, she wished she’d dressed in something more befitting to the environment.

Most of the dishes on the menu were foreign to her. She ordered a dish that had rice in the name, as she was more familiar with rice.

“What do you think of this place?” Justin asked after they settled down and made their orders. He filled the empty glasses on the table and placed one in front of her.

“It’s nice. I love it,” she said simply, even though all she wanted to do was gush about how expensive the place was.

Justin rubbed his hands together. “It’s a new restaurant. They opened about a week ago. I know one of the owners of the place. This is also my first time here. I can’t promise anything about the food, but I’m sure the service is great.”

Their meal arrived a few minutes later. When the waitress placed her plate of rice in front of her, she couldn’t help but stare at the food. The golden yellow rice made her think of a failed attempt at native rice, using a lot of water and resulting in what could only be called native rice pudding.

Justin laughed when he saw her expression. “I should guess that is curry rice soup or something like that.”

“Rice soup?” Ruby looked at the food in suspicion. It looked like something that would send her on numerous trips to the toilet. She eyed Justin’s plate. It was also rice, but with a huge chicken thigh taking up most of the plate.

“Mine is one Indian rice. I’ve forgotten the name. This is an intercontinental restaurant, so there are no native dishes. If you don’t like it, you can order something like mine. This is great.”

Ruby shook her head. Knowing how much he hated wastage of food or money, she didn’t want to go down that road. “I’ll just try it. I mean it’s good to eat foods from other cultures, isn’t it?” She picked up her spoon and fetched a small amount of the soup. Tentatively, she raised it up to her mouth and stuck the spoon into her mouth bracing for the unfamiliar taste.

Justin watched her as she moved her mouth. “How is it?”

“Not bad,” Ruby said, but she’d decided she was never ordering something like it again. While it didn’t exactly taste horrible, it was tasteless, with the strong taste of thyme and some other herbs she couldn’t identify.

“You can have some of mine if you don’t mind.”

“It’s okay. I mean it, it’s actually good.”

“It’s not going to be easy trying to convince me with that expression.” He gestured for the waitress and requested for the meal to be taken away and replaced with the same food he’d ordered.

Ruby smiled at him in gratitude. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “It’s quite understandable. Some of these foods, I have to admit taste horrible. You know, when my sister came back for the Christmas break last year, she tried to make one of those foreign meals. When my mum saw her pouring milk inside the pot, she screamed.” He laughed. “It was so funny. Even when the food was ready, my mum refused to taste the food.”

“Yes. I still find it strange that people use milk or even yoghurt in cooking. It totally changes the taste of the food.”

Her food arrived. She relaxed at the sight of the chicken thigh, just like Justins’ on her plate. She didn’t waste time picking up her spoon and digging in. Justin who had been waiting for her to start eating also dug into his meal.

They didn’t talk much while they ate. It was probably because Ruby was concentrated on eating as elegantly as possible. Which was a difficult feat given that the chicken was not as tender as she’d expected. It was only after she finished her rice and was largely frustrated at the meat that was refusing to bend to her inner commands. She gave up and picked up the meat with her hands and bit into it. Minutes later when she deposited the bones on her plate, she looked up to see Justin smiling at her, also holding his half-eaten chicken in his hands.

“I was wondering when you will give up struggling with the chicken.” He bit off a piece of the chicken.

She used a piece of tissue to wipe her hands and her lips. “Keep on laughing at me,” she mumbled.

It was a filling meal. The waitress cleared the plates from their table, leaving them sipping from their glasses of wine.

“So, Ruby, what do you think about me?” Justin asked suddenly.

She raised her brows. “What do you mean?”

“When we met, you said let’s see where it goes. During the past few weeks, I’m sure you know enough about me to form an opinion of me.”

Realizing where the conversation was going, she placed her wine glass on the table and braced herself for the talk. “Well, you’re a nice guy.”

“Nice?” He grimaced. “Not exactly what I was hoping to hear.”

“I don’t mean it that way. Allow me to finish,” she chided lightly. “I like you, your personality. Being with you is kind of exciting.”
“Exciting enough to be your boyfriend?” he said when she finished.

“Ah?” She gaped. Did he have to be so straightforward?

He straightened up on his chair. “Yes. I’m asking you to be my girlfriend. Let’s date. Me and you, in a relationship, a serious one.” He said the words slowly, pronouncing each word clearly.

Ruby cleared her throat. Her heart beating rapidly. “This is quite sudden.” She laughed shakily, excitement coursing through her veins. “Hum, I mean, I expected it, but it still seems sudden. Yes, Justin. I’d love to date you.” As the words came out of her mouth, she felt her heart rate double. Was she going to get a heart attack, she wondered bemusedly.

A brilliant smile spread out on Justin’s face. He reached across the table for her hands and raised them to his lips. “Ruby,” he said as he placed soft kisses on her hands. “I’ll make sure you never regret this.”

With butterflies fluttering around in her stomach, she whispered to herself, I hope so too.

EPISODE SIXTY-NINE

Ruby went into the intercontinental restaurant single and came out in a relationship with the man beside her. Justin didn’t waste time in becoming affectionate towards her, wrapping a hand around her waist as they walked out of the restaurant. They shared their first kiss when they got into his car, sealing their relationship with a deep kiss.

“You’re very pretty, you know right?” He looked at her when they separated, softly caressing her cheeks.

She smiled shyly. “You really have a sweet mouth, don’t you?”

He laughed and pecked her lightly on her lips. “Just for you.” He placed another kiss on her lips before he leaned over to help her tuck in her seatbelt.

It was a long ride back to her estate. She slept off when they got stuck in a traffic jam. When he pulled up in front of her gate, it was minutes past 11.

“Finally.” She stretched her body as far as she could in the small space of the car.

“Next time, I’ll pick somewhere closer.” He turned off the ignition. “I don’t want to be keeping you out so late, especially on a Sunday evening.”

She groaned. “I already forgot that tomorrow is Monday. Can we go back to Friday night?”

“Impossible.” He reached over and pulled her in for a short kiss. “Forward ever, backward never.”

She laughed and took the initiative to kiss him again. “I should head in now.”

“And leave me alone?” He took her hand and kissed her fingers.

“It’s only been a few hours and you’re like this already.” She playfully pushed him away and then patted his shoulders in comfort.

It was only after they shared another deep kiss that she finally came down from the car, and then watched as he drove away. She sighed deeply, touching her slightly sore lips. When she’d said ‘it’s only been a few hours,' she was also referring to herself. It had only been a few hours, but she could feel herself falling into the abyss of Justin’s eyes faster than she could control.

She walked into her house, welcoming the empty silence. For once, since Rose left, she was grateful that she had the house alone to herself. She could wallow in her thoughts without having to talk to anyone. In fact, for the first time in her life, she wasn’t so eager to share her feelings with someone, even Rose. She wanted to keep the myriad of feelings that assailed her to herself— the giddiness of a schoolgirl’s first crush, the apprehension towards what the future held for her, the urge to ignore everything and just keep falling, and the excitement of what how her relationship with Justin would develop.

She freshened up, all the while ruminating over her evening with Justin. When she laid down, ready to go to sleep, a message was waiting for her from Justin.

Today is the start of something beautiful.

She immediately dialled his number, grimacing when she heard the sound of a car horning as he picked up the call. “You’ve not gotten home?”

He groaned. “The jam is worse than I expected it to be. I’ll probably be getting home around 1 am.”

“Aww,” Ruby felt a little guilty. “I’m so sorry.”

“No problem. I just wanted to hear your voice. Are you about to sleep now?”

“Yes.” She puffed up her pillow and placed her head on it. “But don’t worry. I’ll keep you company.”

Ruby drifted off to sleep talking to him. Justin didn’t bother waking her up as he heard her even breathing through the phone. He didn’t bother to end the call until the phone went off on its own, probably because her call credit had finished or her phone’s battery died out. He didn’t try to call her again, as he didn’t want to disturb her if it was the former.

***
Ruby woke up with a fluttering feeling in her heart. At first, she wasn’t sure of the reason for the excitement. It was only a few minutes later that she recalled what happened the previous day. She and Justin were officially dating. She squealed and did a little shake on her bed. Reaching for her phone, she groaned when she saw the warning of a low battery and a notification saying her phone had been recharged with two thousand naira. She didn’t need to think twice to guess who it was. It was almost 6 am, but it was most likely that Justin was still sleeping. So instead of waiting for him to send his usual good morning texts, she composed one and sent it to him before she got up from her bed to prepare for work.

His call came in just as she settled in at her desk for the day’s work. He kept the call short, merely wishing her a great day at work in his gruff voice that revealed that he was just waking up.

Ruby felt more focused than she usually did at work, working with an intensity that couldn’t be rivalled. When it was time for the lunch break, she felt spent. Ama invited her out to lunch.

“You look so tired. What happened?” Ama asked as they left the company gate. They stood there for a while, waiting for a keke to pass by.

Ruby massaged her temples. “Nothing. Just normal work. I must have worked too hard this morning.”

“Take it easy,” Ama rubbed her shoulders. They waved at a keke that was driving by and got in.

EPISODE SEVENTY

Ruby was truly exhausted when she returned home that evening. She wasn’t sure why she’d worked so intensively at work. Maybe it was because she was trying hard not to think of Justin or the change in her relationship status. Not talking to anyone also came with its consequences. Even though Rose knew that she was heading in the direction of a serious relationship with Justin, she didn’t know how serious it was or how deep Ruby was falling for him. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t want to talk so much about Justin to Rose. She had to admit, that Rose not sharing her decision to move to Canada, while it didn’t destroy their friendship, had also wrecked a little damage to the trust Ruby had for her. She still trusted Rose, but not to the extent she did previously. At some point, she stopped sharing so much with Rose. Like the little investment she’d made in a potato farm or the investment trust she’d put her money in. Or that she was seriously considering moving to Ikoyi, saving up for it and checking the prices of houses in that area.

She didn’t talk so much about Justin with her too. But she felt it was far from being secretive. She didn’t want to come off as ‘falling too deeply too fast’. She was serious about her relationship with Justin, she wanted it to have a good ending, no, she wanted it to be a ‘together forever’ story. She didn’t want to gush about how right he was for her, or how much attention he was paying her and end up having to cry about regretting loving him so much. Maybe if she didn’t gush about her feelings this time, she wouldn’t have to cry from heartbreak, she assumed. Nothing was certain. While she felt how serious Justin was towards her, she couldn’t tell how long it would last. Rose’s story with Blossom was like an overhead warning to her. Everything might be going well, it may seem to be heading towards a certain future, but in the end, it might just end up being another false reality.

She still called Rose to inform her of the change in her relationship status.

“We’re now officially dating,” she announced through the phone.

Rose squealed. “That’s so great, babe. I know how excited you are about him. I can feel it in the way you talk about him even though you try not to talk too much about it. I’m sure it would work out for you this time.”

Ruby grimaced lightly. So much for not talking too much about it. “I know, Rose. I hope it works out well. I really don’t know if I can handle another let-down that would result in heartbreak. I’m not sure I would be able to handle it.”

“Don’t worry babe. It’s going to go well. After your previous heartbreaks, you deserve some happy ending.”

Talking to Rose made her let go of some of the anxiety she’d been nursing since the previous night. Rose had told her, “nursing a heartbreak later is better than regretting letting someone go.” After all the heartbreaks she’d faced, she honestly didn’t need another one, but at the same time, she also didn’t want to live the rest of her life asking ‘what if’.

***
Justin was a vocal person, she’d realized this during the weeks of their ‘talking stage’. He said what he felt, was quick to apologize if he was at fault and in the same vein, he was eager to hear her thoughts. “What do you think?” “Do you feel the same way?” “You should tell me if you have any problem.” He always said after voicing his feelings. It was more evident when they started dating each other.

“Today’s date was great, but I feel your attention was diverted at some point. Did something happen at work?” He asked one Friday night while he was driving her home.

“I was just really tired. I have this gig that I got on Tuesday. I promised to be done with it by Sunday, but I haven’t even gone halfway. I was just worried about it,” she admitted.

“Oh.” He was quiet for a while. “Is there any way I can help?”

“No,” she smiled. “Unless you have some accounting skills up your sleeve.”

He laughed. “I wish.”

No one said anything for a while. He broke the silence about five minutes later. “I don’t like it when you have problems like that and you don’t tell me.”

“Hmm?” She looked at him.

He sighed. “I feel better if you share your problems with me, especially when they keep you worried like this. I want to be part of your life. And I would be glad if you let me in.”

At first, Ruby didn’t know how to handle this very open part of him. She wasn’t used to having to share so much with her partner, especially in the beginning part of the relationship (though most of them didn’t really count). He was quick to point out when she was lying about how she felt. She soon learned to be open about her feelings. As time went on, she would find out that it was easier to be able to talk about things with him, without worrying about if she would hurt his feelings. Because when she did so, he was quick to point it out. It made communication with him easier and more open.

But for now, she would struggle with opening up to him, especially with matters concerning how she felt about certain things.

I'm loving this Justin of a guy already and I feel the relationship might actually work out

Well done OP

EPISODE SEVENTY-ONE

Ruby stirred the stew, putting a little on her palm to taste it. She hummed a little, considering the taste of the stew. Without the heat of the pepper she was used to, it tasted a little bland in her mouth. However, she refrained from adding more pepper to the stew. Since her mother recovered from ulcer, she’d stopped eating spicy foods. She decided on sprinkling a little more nutmeg and salt to improve the taste.

For the first time, her mother was coming to visit her in Lagos. She wasn’t coming to visit her per se, but she needed a place to stay so she could attend the burial of a friend. Ruby had a distant relationship with her mother. It was quite abnormal given that she was the only parent alive. Her father died when she was six years old, leaving her, her mother and her one-year-old brother. For as long as she could remember, she never had any special attention to her mother, finding familial love with her younger brother. It wasn’t that her mother neglected her. Her mother, despite being a widow, did her best to take care of Ruby and her brother. She provided them with good food, sent them to good schools, and called regularly to know how they were doing. But as Ruby grew older, she came to understand that most of it were done out of duty. She knew her mother loved her and her brother, but to what extent, she couldn’t tell. She couldn’t understand what made her mother like that, caring for her children, yet doing so from a distance.

Hence, she never felt any real attachment to her mother. She travelled often to see her. She sent her money and gifts. She called her on mother’s day and her birthday to sing to her. Most of it came from a place of duty and love only had a little to do with it. While she appreciated her mother, she didn’t feel much connected to her.

She’d asked Patrick to help her pick up her mother from the park. Her mother took a night bus from Lokoja and it must have been a tiring journey for a woman who didn’t leave her home much. The furthest her mother had travelled was within Kogi state, rarely leaving the borders of the state. When her mother told her she was coming to Lagos, she could barely contain the surprise in her voice. However, she was willing to make her mother’s trip as comfortable as possible. She’d asked Patrick to be responsible for taking her where she needed to go during the period of the stay, offering to pay for the extra services. She had to admit, she was also a little thrilled at having to accommodate her mother in her own house.

Rose’s room had been cleared for her. She’d even bought new towels, as well as her mother’s favourite soap. The next few days would probably be the longest that she would spend in the kitchen as she resolved to cook for her mother all through the duration of her stay.

Soon, the stew was ready. She poured out some of the extra oil floating on the surface of the stew into a small plate. Then she proceeded to check the rice that was boiling on the other side of the cooker.

Twenty minutes later, she heard the sound of a car driving into the compound. Ruby went out of the house, knowing it was Patrick and her mother.

“Onyi Ami, welcome.” She greeted, putting her arms around her mother.

Her mother was slim. Ruby always wondered how she’d been able to maintain her weight and wondered why it was easy for her to puff up if she ignored her weight. Despite being over fifty years, her mother could easily pass for someone in her early forties. She was wearing a simple skirt and a faded blouse. Ruby reminded herself to take her shopping before she left. It wouldn’t do much. Her mother only wore most of the clothes she bought for her to church or to important festivities, preferring to wear her old clothes until they became totally unwearable.

“Your place is beautiful.” Her mother said after replying to her greeting. She looked at Ruby from head to toe. “Are you still looking for how to lose weight?” The last time Ruby had travelled back home, she’d been trying out a new weight-loss diet that made her say no to a lot of foods.

Ruby laughed a little. “Not this time.”

“Hmm,” her mother said thoughtfully. “You slimmed down. Is everything going well?” Despite the distance that cloaked their mother-daughter relationship, her mother showed interest in her life and was quick to observe any changes in her.

“I started another work that’s why. It’s quite stressful handling the two of them.” If she had known getting another job was the trick to losing some weight, she would have done that since she thought to herself wryly.

“Don’t stress yourself too much. Take it easy.” They went into the house. Patrick had left with the car as an order that was around the area came up.

“Is that your driver? I didn’t know you have one.”

“No. That’s the person that drives Rose’s car. I just asked him to help me.”

“He is an interesting person.” Her mother first took a tour around the house, commenting on how neat the kitchen was. “It smells great,” she said when she opened the pot of stew in the kitchen. It was only when she was satisfied with looking around that she finally went in to freshen up.

After eating, she went to sleep. As it was Saturday, Ruby spent the rest of the afternoon working on her laptop in the living room. Towards evening, her mother woke up. When she started making dinner— her mother’s favourite, beans soup— her mother came to overtake the task from her. She went from being the main chef to helping her mother blend the pepper and chop the vegetables. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Ehen,” her mother said while she was stirring the food. “Did your brother tell you that he wants to switch his course? To estate management?”

“Eh?” Ruby’s head snapped up from the plate she was washing. “Since when?”

“He called me last week. So he hasn’t told you yet?” She placed the lid over the pot and looked at Ruby.

“No, he didn’t say anything. I thought he was doing well in engineering. What happened?”

“He said he feels estate management is better.”

“But he was the person that chose engineering in the first place, what is wrong with him?” Ruby complained.
“Don’t worry. It’s probably just a passing interest. There was a time he called to tell me that he wants to drop out and start doing business.” Her mother scoffed. “It’s not a new thing.”

Ruby couldn’t help but agree with her mother. Her brother, Eni, was prone to changing his mind about his choices. He’d written JAMB two times before he finally settled on studying system engineering at the university. Two months into his academic study, he’d called her to say he wanted to switch to computer engineering because it was better. But after she gave him a thorough talking down, he hardly called her to talk about his flimsy choices. It turns out that her mother now bore the brunt of it all. While her mother would listen to all his talks about backtracking, she was sure that when it got serious, she would be able to put a stop to it.

“If he really wants to change, he can do that after he graduates. Is he not graduating next year? When he finishes, he can do any other course he wants.”

Her mother laughed. “That one. I’m sure after this time, he’s not going to want to have anything to do with school. You know he is into that online money thing. What do you people call it again?”

“Yes,” Ruby nodded her head. “Cryptocurrency.” Eni had called her some months ago requesting money so he could start building his own portfolio. She didn’t understand most of what he said, only knowing that he just wanted money.

“Just make sure he doesn’t go into that scam of a thing. I don’t feel comfortable when I hear him talking about online money.” Her mother didn’t understand it.

Ruby shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

It felt good talking to her mother in her house. Her mother remained the way she was at home, almost taking over the kitchen. But she still felt good about it all.

Justin came by later in the evening with some things for her mother— a carton of health tea, two blouses and fruits. He didn’t stay for long, just staying long enough to greet her before leaving. Ruby expected her mother to say something about him when he left, but she didn’t say anything or ask about her relationship.

Ruby was a little disappointed. As their relationship was still new, she felt it was too soon for Justin to meet her mother, but she also wanted to know what her mother thought about him too since she was in Lagos. Her mother was never really interested in her relationships. Even when she spoke about them, she only ‘hmmed’ and ‘oohed’ with disinterest.

All her excitement for having her mother disappeared. She retired to her room, leaving her mother in the living room watching a television program and munching on the fruits Justin bought. She called Justin as soon as she closed the door behind her, going into a deep conversation with him to take her mind away from her mother.

Ann2012:
Well done OP

Thank you

EPISODE SEVENTY-TWO

Her mother’s stay was brief and as soon as she completed what she came to Lagos to do, she packed her bag and started back for Kogi state. She didn’t want to stay longer than necessary in Lagos. “This place is too noisy,” she complained when Ruby went with her to the car park.

Ruby could understand how her mother felt. The rowdy place must have come as a shock to her. 

“That boy, Justin, you like him very much?” her mother asked suddenly after they bought a bus ticket and settled down to wait for more passengers to arrive before the bus could depart.

Ruby thought her mother had forgotten about him. The question came too sudden that she didn’t know how to answer it. “We just started dating,” she said instead. 

Her mother sighed. “Just make sure he likes you too. I don’t want to interfere in your business and I believe that you can make the right decision for yourself. These things…” she hesitated. “I don’t understand them. I’m not going to rush you to get married. Just settle down and choose the right person for yourself.”

Ruby felt her eyes water. It wasn’t what she’d hoped for, but she was going to take it. “I will.” 

Minutes of silence passed between them.

“Good men are hard to come by. If you find one, be grateful and hold on to him,” her mother broke the silence.

It was moments like this that made Ruby curious as to how life had treated her mother. But with the distance between them, she doubted she would ever truly understand what her mother had gone through. She wanted to prod deeper, but held herself back and settled for, “I know. I hope I will end up with one.”

It was thirty minutes later before the bus would depart from the park. Ruby watched until the bus disappeared out of sight. Her heart was heavy. All through the time she spent sitting with her mother in the park, they had made small talk, talking about shallow things, even though what she wanted was a deep mother-daughter conversation.

Her phone rang, jarring her out of her thoughts. It was Justin.

“Babe,” she called out.

“Have you dropped her?”

“Yes. The bus just left the park now. I’m about to head to the office now.” She looked around to see if she would get an okada. She had informed the company that she would arrive a little late. 

“Okay. You don’t sound good. Any problem?”

She breathed out, massaging her temples. “Nothing. Just a little issue with my mother.”

“You guys quarrelled?”

She shook her head with small laughter. “No, not at all. Just a minor issue. Nothing serious.”

“I want to come by your company today, so we can have lunch together. Is that okay?”

“Sorry, I don’t think so,” she said weakly. “With how late I would be, I’ll probably be getting to the office by 11. It won’t be necessary to take a break.”

“Babe, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t sound fine.”

Ruby straightened her back and induced a little excitement into her voice. “I’m fine, really. I just feel a little sad that my mom just left. It’ll be a while before I’ll see her again.”

“If you say so.” She could feel that he didn’t entirely believe her. Even if he didn’t, it would be a topic for later when they meet. “So, how about dinner? I’ll come and pick you up from your office. That is okay, right?”

“Sure.” She ended the call. It was another ten minutes before she got an okada that would take her to the office.

***
Justin was waiting for her in front of the company when she closed from work. His bright red car was eye-catching even though it was already getting dark. He waved at her when she came out and straightened up, pocketing his phone.

“Hey, babe.” He reached for her and kissed her on the cheek. “How was your day?” He opened the door for her.

She sighed as she got into the car. “Tiring. If I had an option, I wouldn’t have come to work today.”

He leaned towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder, lightly massaging the area where her neck met her shoulder. “That tired, huh?”

She moaned softly. “You won’t understand.”

He massaged her for a while before he released her, shutting the door and going to the other side to get into the car. “What do you want to eat?” he asked as he started the engine of the car.

“Nothing too heavy,” she said. “I had fufu for lunch and I still feel a little full.”

“As if you know what is on my mind. There is this cool grill and bar. They make a great pepper soup. It will help stave off your stress.”

“Very well.” She yawned. “I’m so tired.”

He reached over to place a comforting hand on her thigh, squeezing lightly. “Don’t worry. We’ll get there in about fifteen minutes.”

In the end, it took about forty-five minutes before they got to the bar. Even though Ruby had struggled to remain alert and maintain a conversation with Justin, she had dozed off at some point during the drive. It was a short nap, not even up to ten minutes, but when he parked the car beside the bar, she woke up feeling even more alert. 

“Do you feel any better?” Justin watched her as she looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting her make-up.

She nodded. “There’s little a short nap can’t fix.” 

Like a couple, they walked hand-in-hand into the bar. Ruby felt giddy at the feeling of Justin’s palm against hers. Was this it for her? She thought as they entered the bar. It was a garden-style bar, with individual booths separated from each other to give patrons enough privacy. From the setup, she could tell it was no cheap bar. Justin led her to a booth far off in the corner.

“This place is great.” 

The booths were designed in such a way that it was difficult to tell how it was from the outside. In the small space, dim-coloured lights gave off an incandescent feel. Soft strains of jazz echoed in the booth. It made her feel calm and relaxed. She didn’t hesitate to settle her buttocks on the soft cushiony seat, letting out a loud sigh as she leaned back on the seat.

“You like it, eh?” Justin chuckled, settling down in the opposite seat. 

“Exactly. You know a lot of great places.” A picture of Justin with other girls in the places they had been to for dates came up in her mind. She quickly pushed the thought away.

“Perks of knowing people.” He laughed, probably sensing nothing wrong with the comment. “The owner of the bar is a friend of my cousin. Maybe sometime I’ll take you to this resort in Abuja. It’s a cool place to go for a vacation. It’s owned by a friend of my parents.”

“Wow.” Ruby could only mutter. In her life, she’d only travelled to about three states in Nigeria, and it was either for work or her youth service. She wasn’t sure how she felt with Justin always mentioning places he wanted to take her to. Some part of her wondered if they would be together long enough to even visit all the luxurious places in Lagos before going to other states.

“Wine?” He asked drawing her out of her thoughts.

She looked up to meet his eyes. He was looking through a tablet. He handed it to her. 

“Just choose what you want.” 

She glanced at the array of dishes on display on the screen. Unlike other restaurants they went to, the prices of the meals were not listed. Hesitantly, she chose a plate of assorted meat pepper soup and a bottle of wine she was familiar with. It shouldn’t be too expensive, she imagined.

“Just these?” Justin asked when she handed the tablet back to him. “What about some small chops? The onion rings are great. The servings are not as big as they are in the pictures. You can get something with it.”

“Really?” She took the tablet from him. Of course, she’d forgotten that the more expensive the restaurant, the smaller the serving size. She added a few things before returning the tablet. 

“Even though this place is nice, I can pick ten bukas that taste way better. But sometimes, we just want the ambience,” Justin said as he placed the order. 

Ruby nodded. “There’s this buka near my estate. I don’t eat from there often but when I do, it’s hard not to eat more than a plate.”

He laughed. “You should take me there sometime.”

“When you’re ready,” she glibbed.

In a few minutes, their order arrived. Two steaming plates of pepper soup, one filled with assorted meats and the other catfish, accompanying the pepper soup was a plate of fruit salad, potato fries and samosas.

Ruby stared at the small plate of pepper soup in front of her. “I know you said it was small, but it’s way smaller than I expected.” She took a small sip of the hot liquid. With a crestfallen expression, she sighed. “I understand why now.”

“It’s good right?” Justin had already dug into his plate, carving out huge chunks of the fish.

“Yea. It’s really good. I’m sure they give small portions so you can keep ordering for more.” She blew at the piece of meat she had scooped before depositing it in her mouth.

He snorted out a laugh. “Do you want to order another plate?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I’m not even sure we can finish everything.” She gestured at the other things on the table. While the main meal was not plenty, the small chops that accompanied seemed to make up for the insufficiency.

They ate in silence. It wasn’t until they had finished the plates of pepper soup that they spoke. 

“Are you sure you don’t want more?” Justin asked when he saw the look Ruby gave to the empty plate.

Ruby reached for a samosa to deviate her attention from the pepper soup. “No. I’m already filling a little full.”

Justin smiled. “So, do you feel better now?” He reached for a fry, dipping it in ketchup sauce before eating it.

Ruby shrugged. “It wasn’t serious. I just felt sad that my mother left. That’s all.”

“Really? I don’t believe.” He observed her.

Ruby felt self-conscious. “Yes. We’re not close, but I also want to have a close relationship with her. I thought her visit this time would change something.” She shrugged helplessly. “Nothing changed.”

“I noticed you don’t talk about her often. I just didn’t know it was serious. What happened?”

“Nothing happened. It’s always been like that since I grew up. She was there, physically. But emotionally, I can’t say. She wasn’t absent, but she just wasn’t there. I hear about other people’s relationships with their mothers and mine is so different. I don’t know why.”

“Have you tried talking to her about it? Like telling her what’s on your mind.” 

She shook her head. “How? I don’t know how to bring up the topic. Sometimes when I try to talk to her, the way she replies discourages me.”

“All the more reason you should talk to her. Confront her with the problem. Maybe it’s more than what you think. If you cannot talk about the problem with her, it would be difficult to talk about any other thing with her.”

She heaved a breath. “Alright. I’ll try to talk to her.”

“Try?” He placed a hand on her hand that had reached for a french fry.

She grinned. “Okay. I’ll talk to her,” she emphasized the words. “Can I have my fry now?”

He reached for a piece of fry and fed it to her. She giggled as she ate the fry. “You don’t have any other problem, hmm?” He kept looking closely at her.

“I do have another problem,” she said thoughtfully.

He leaned closer. “What is it?”

“There’s this strange guy that keeps staring at me. It’s really disturbing,” she said with a twinkle of mischief in her eyes.

Justin was already looking around. “Who?”

It was difficult to hold in her laughter. “He’s right in front of me, wearing a blue polo shirt.”

It was only then he understood then burst out laughing. “Naughty girl. And I was already getting ready to punch someone.”

“I can still do the punching.” She reached out to take the fry that he had picked, doing a little victory dance when she ate it. It had been the last fry on the plate.

“I love when you do that.” He gave her an intense look.

She caught herself and stopped moving, assuming an elegant pose. “I wasn’t doing anything.”

He shook with laughter. 

For Ruby, the day ended with a light mood. By the time Justin dropped her in front of her house, she was exhausted, but it was happy tiredness. 

“Thank you for today,” she said when he turned off the engine. “I feel much better now.”

“No need to thank me. I don’t like to see you frowning.” He reached over to ease the flesh between her eyebrows. “Anytime you have a problem, I wish you can always come to me. I want to be someone that can always be there for you.”

She smiled. “I’ll try to do that.”

“Try?”

She rolled her eyes. “The same goes with you. I’m always one call away.”

He nodded, then reached over to engage her in a deep kiss. 

It was five minutes later before she bade him goodnight. He waited for her to go into the gate before he drove away.

Weldone @OP, thanks for the update. Should we put our mind to once a week update? I literally sleep on this thread everyday waiting for update.

queentener:
Weldone @OP, thanks for the update. Should we put our mind to once a week update? I literally sleep on this thread everyday waiting for update.

Maybe two-three episodes a week. I'll try to update more frequently.

EPISODE SEVENTY-THREE

Ruby rubbed her temples, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt a piercing pain in her head. She was tempted to shut down the laptop in front of her, but she knew it would mean another unfinished job at the end of a deadline. This would be the second time she was taking a freelance job even though she had little time to work on it. Freelance accounting hadn’t turned out the way she expected it to be. She felt she only needed time to adjust to the extra work that it meant. However, as time went on, the workload only seemed to get heavier. She reached for the packet of paracetamol on the table and popped two tablets into her mouth, washing them down with water.

She was starting to rethink her freelance idea. In fact, abandoning the part-time work had come to her mind over a month ago. It was only the fact that she didn’t want it to be added to the list of things she had given up on that made her keep on moving. 

“The beginning is the easy part. The difficult part is how to keep going on even though the original passion disappears.” Rose had posted the quote on her WhatsApp status just when the thought popped into her mind. Even though it felt as though Rose could read what was going on in her mind, she felt grateful for the timely reminder.

“Maybe you should first learn how to manage your time between the two jobs,” Justin had advised the previous night. He had called her, but most of her attention had been on the work she was doing. “You don’t one to suffer at the expense of the other, especially your main job. Take it easy.”

Ruby sighed. She picked up her phone and looked at the message Justin had sent minutes ago. She had given up going on a date with him to complete the work. It was a loss, she thought, but it was necessary. She wasn’t going to make the mistake of giving up half of her life for a relationship that may or may not last. 

I got you some fruits. I’ll bring them over to your place. 

She looked around the living room, glad that she hadn’t skipped out on her usual Saturday cleanup. The freshly installed curtains still carried the smell of camphor balls after being packed for a long time. The lemon air freshener she’d sprayed had done little to clamp down the pungent smell. She’d gotten used to the smell from sitting down too long in the room, with most of her attention on the numbers on her laptop screen.

But she was too tired to care about it. She typed out a message to him, Thank you.

It was almost an hour before he arrived. She assumed it was due to a traffic jam. She’d informed the gateman earlier that she had a visitor, so he was let into the house. As soon as she opened the door for him, he engulfed her in a tight embrace. She breathed in deeply, taking in the scent of his perfume. She was becoming attuned to his scent. She didn’t know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Babe,” she whined, collapsing deeper into his hold.

He kissed her on the forehead. “You look so tired. Don’t tell me you’ve been working all day?” He took her hand and pulled her into the house, closing the door behind him.

She pouted. “What else? I promised the client that it would be ready by Monday, and I haven’t even gone halfway.”

Justin sat down and pulled her to sit on his lap. He placed the bag he’d come with on the table. “You don’t need to tire yourself out like this. Take it easy.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I’ve learned my lesson.” She rested her head on his shoulders. She knew with him coming to her place, it would be difficult to get anything done that night.

She reached for the bag he placed on the table and peered into it. “Strawberries?” She eyed the red fruits. They were a luxury that she only enjoyed on special days. The bag also contained oranges, apples and a plate of diced watermelon. She took out the watermelon and didn’t hesitate to open the plate. “These days I don’t eat a lot of fruits,” she complained as she sent a piece of the red fruit into her mouth.

He ‘ahhed’, gesturing at her to feed him a piece. “With the way you’re working, you need more fruits and vegetables.”

“I know, I know.” She slid off from his lap and sat beside him. “I hardly pay attention to stuff like that. So far as I have food to eat, that’s enough for me.”

“Like fufu and beans?” he mocked, knowing she loved beans.

She rolled her eyes at him. “Beans are very healthy. Plus meat and plantains equal a balanced diet.” She smiled impishly.

He laughed and then took a piece of watermelon. “So how is it going?” He peered at the open laptop. “You seem to be doing good?”

“What do you know?” she sniggered. “I still have a long way to go.”

“When did you start working on it? If you know it would be like this, isn’t it better not to collect the work in the first place?” he chided lightly.

“I know, I know. I wish I thought that much. At that time, it seemed doable.” She said depressingly.

He played with the end of her cornrows fondly. “You still have a lot to learn when it comes to this freelance thing.”

It was a fact that she’d come to accept. “I just want to do it right.”

“I think you should first learn how to pick jobs. I mean, I know that you feel being selective would make you lose a lot of jobs, but at this point, you should take the ones that are more beneficial to you and not just accept any work that comes your way.”

Two months had passed since she began taking freelance gigs. Her accounting skills had earned her some level of creditability. While she still needed to do a level of gig scouting, most of the time, there were returning clients as well as clients that had been referred to her. Maybe, it was time to start selecting carefully the jobs she took.

“I’ll start doing that.” She ate the last piece of watermelon. “Where did you buy this watermelon? It’s so juicy.” 

“There’s this stall near my office. I’ll buy for you more often.”

She brought out the strawberries. “Give me a minute, let me wash them.” She was already heading out of the living room before she thought of the apples. She went back to get them as well.

She returned a few minutes later, with the fruits in a bowl as well as with a knife for the oranges. 

“So, I was thinking of opening a gym,” Justin said when she sat down.

“Huh?” It had come suddenly. 

He reached for an apple and bit into it, nodding he continued. “It seems lucrative. And I have a friend that’s coming back from the US next month. He’s a gym instructor. He can help me handle the place.”

Ruby didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t a business-minded person. “That seems good enough.” She imagined that it wasn’t what he wanted to hear. She’d heard of women who supported their partner’s businesses and had helped them to succeed. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say at this point.

Justin laughed out loud pulling her out of her thoughts.

“What?” She looked at him, taking a bite out of the strawberry in her hand.

“Can you see your expression? One would think you were eating a lime. I’m just sharing it with you, you don’t need to say anything. Just listen.”

“Oh,” she muttered in a small voice. “A gym is a good idea. The only one around here is like five kilometres away. Rose once applied for a membership subscription. But she stopped going after three days, said it was too far.”

“I haven’t decided where yet. But when I do, I’ll pull you along to come with me. It’s going to be free.” He winked at her.

She shivered. “I don’t think I will need it. The way I’ve been losing weight recently, if I got to the gym, I’ll just become a stick.” 

He placed a hand on her waist and squeezed lightly. “I thought it was just me. I was wondering if it was because you started dating me that you started losing weight.”

She stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Hmm, maybe. I have not considered it before.”

He tickled her, forcing bouts of laughter from her. “Give me two months and you’ll be back to how you were before. But first of all, stop stressing yourself with so much work. It pains me to see you like this.”

Breathing deeply from the nonstop laughter, she nodded meekly. “Don’t worry. I’ll pay more attention to it.”

Justin stayed for an hour before he left. She’d been tempted to invite him to stay much longer, maybe so they could be more intimate, after all, since they started dating, their physical contact hadn’t gone beyond second base. But she’d been too shy to bring it up. So the night ended with her staring regretfully at the apple cores that bore evidence of his visit. Maybe it would have to wait, she comforted herself wondering if she was being too wanton for having thoughts like that. In the end, she could only hope that ‘abstinence’ at this point would impact positively on their relationship. But in the meantime, she was back in front of her laptop, munching on strawberries as she worked.

I can smell something fishy