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Episode 1

Obiora woke up on the wrong side of the bed. A terrifying nightmare had caused him to rise from bed coupled with the noise from the cars and trucks that swooshed past the street.
The sun shone bright through the window. There was a sense of dizziness as he was pulled up into reality from the dream world. He blinked twice and said nothing. Then the realization that it was a nightmare, comes crashing into his mind. He tries to get back to sleep but had a nagging sensation in the back of his mind which stopped him from drifting off. He wouldn't want to go back into the same nightmare. It was few minutes past six when he checked his timepiece.

Staring at the faded ceiling almost damaged by termites, Obiora realized it was their one year anniversary, 365 days of been together with Chioma who had become his best part and everything he desired in a woman.
He quickly reached for his phone, which was right under his pillow. On glancing through his phone, he noticed his alarm had rang almost thirty minutes ago.

Obiora wasn't the regular romantic boyfriend that plays with words, but today being their one year anniversary, he decided to surprise Chioma with a lovely epistle, telling her how much he loves and cherish what they have. He definitely wouldn't have done it without Google's assistance or else he might end up with a terrible text.
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Chioma had woken up since 5:00 am and joined in their family morning devotion which normally last for an hour or less. She went on with the usual morning house chores after the morning prayer. Chioma is the first among three others. Her mother’s only daughter. Her mother’s replica. She’s twenty. Kamsy and Tobenna are her younger brothers.

"Chi..oma - ah," her mom called.
"Yes mom."

She quickly dashed out from the kitchen where she was washing the dishes, walked straight to her mom's bedroom.

"Please help me with your phone, I want to use your phone calculator," her mom said calmly without raising her head. She still had her head tie on, probably still meditating on the word of God. At the age of forty, she could clip ten years off her age and no one would disbelieve her.
"Okay mom, let me get it from my room,” replied Chioma.
She hastily went in and returned shortly with her Samsung Galaxy S7. She handed it politely to her before returning to the kitchen.
Chioma's mom murmurs a song while she did the arithmetic.
A thick notebook and a customized Zenith Bank pen was on the small wooden table before her. Chioma’s mother owns a supermarket at Ogba. Obviously, she was summing up her interests or perhaps her losses.
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"You complete me in all ways. Emotionally, you are my support system. Physically, you are my female version. Spiritually, you are my soulmate. I love you so much dear. I'm so lucky to have you in my life. My life has been in dark and void until you came and made it amazing. I can't thank you enough for the good times and memories we had shared. This will be our first anniversary, the first of many more. Happy 365 days to us. Happy anniversary my love. Your one and only – Obiora.”

This was the message that popped up in Chioma's phone. Her mother adjusted her glasses on seeing the text. Her countenance suddenly changed while she read the message from an unsaved contact. She read and re-read it again before she called Chioma's attention.

"Chi...oma - ah!”
"Yes mom, I'm coming."

She cleaned her hands with the white towel beside the sink before leaving the kitchen to her mom’s bedroom.
Chioma is tall, light skinned, with the most alluring body shape. She’s in her late teen; doesn’t care much about clothes and she hates brushing her long hair, so she isn’t as attractive as she might be, but she’s still naturally beautiful.

"Mom, you called me," Chioma said standing before her. She was still on her nighties and a flat slippers. She rubbed her hands as she waited for her mom to break the silence that stood between them.

"Chioma, I thought you told me you don't have a boyfriend. I thought we both agreed you attain a certain age before you go into this? We both agreed that relationship should come after you graduate from the University?”
Chioma who was shocked by these queries was loosing her feet as she shivered and pondered what her mom must have seen in her phone.
"Yes mom, we agreed on that and I'm still keeping to the vows," she said with a fainting heart.
Her voice was raspy, shrill and deep at the same time.

A zoom on her face shows how scared she was because she knew she just lied to her mom, and peradventure she founds out she was telling lies, it might turn out to be her worst day ever. She knew how much her mom detest lies but then she was scared of letting her know she hasn't been keeping to such tempting offer. Her mom would surely feel dissatisfied and disappointed at her.

"You are keeping to the vows?" Her mom queried with her eyes widened, eyeball to an eyeball.
"Yes, mom. I don't have a boyfriend," Chioma insisted. This time, she said it with lots of confidence without shivering.
"Okay, so who is Obiora? Here is a message he sent to you. A year old anniversary message, congratulating you and appreciating for the love you both shared for the past 365 days," she asked showing Chioma the text message on her phone. She shots one more look her way.

Chioma's heart shrank on seeing the text from Obiora, but then she had an advantage to save herself from being caught.
"Ah! Mom, it's not true. It's a wrong number. Can't you see his contact is not saved? I guess the sender must have mistaken my number for another person. I don't know any Obiora, not even at school,” she said with boldness.
Her mom was short of words. She had trusted Chioma for years and she had always lived up to expectation.

"Hmmm....are you sure about what you are telling me?" She queried, still not convinced.
Before Chioma could say Jack, her phone vibrated and rang. It was same number calling.
“He’s calling you already,” said Chioma’s mom.
“Mom, it’s a wrong number. Don’t mind the caller,” replied Chioma who wished all this was just a dream.

Deep down, she was gripped with fear but the 'fast girl' in her was concealing her weakness.
“Since you said it’s a wrong number, I’m going to pick the call, put it on speaker while you answer?”
“Okay mom, just pick the call,” replied Chioma.
Her heart was pounding a little faster and she struggled to keep her head. There was an unearthly kind of wildness in her eyes that betrayed a troubled spirit.
“It’s either I’m caught today or I escape,” she grumbled.

“Hello oo, good morning my love,” said Obiora in the best romantic tone. He sounded so excited that it could be noticed from his tone.
Chioma’s mom had her eyes fixed on Chioma as she waited her response and looked forward to see her facial expressions.

“Please this is a wrong number, I don’t know you!” replied Chioma in a rudest manner.
“Baby it’s me. I decided to surprise you with a new line. This is my new number, happy anniversary to us, It’s Obiora, can’t you recognize my voice any longer?”
“Damn! I don’t know you. Who’s your baby? Please stop this joke, it’s too early for this. I told you earlier it’s a wrong number.”

Obiora hanged up sadly. He stares surprisingly at his phone to be sure he had dialed Chioma’s number correctly. He checked severally and still realize there was no mistake. The voice he heard was equally not a stranger’s voice.

“That was Chioma’s voice. What’s wrong with her? Why is she denying me on a special day like this? What have I done wrong?” Obiora was left in a state of confusion and numerous thoughts.
“Maybe she’s trying to test my patience, girls are unpredictable ,” Obiora muttered before dialing her number for the second time.

“Chioma, he’s calling again,” her mom alerted when the call came through.
“Oooh, mom just hang the call, I don’t know him, he should stop disturbing me.”
She returned to the room, collected her phone politely and switched it to airplane mode to save herself from the stress of coming back to pick the call.

While she walked back to the kitchen, her feet were light and she walked as if in a daze, not conscious of using those feet. She collided with the kitchen door. She felt hurt, it was then she felt guilty for the ill treatment she had given to Obiora on this special day. She wished it wasn’t just happening, like how could she deny him after the good and loving memories they had shared together?

“I’m sure he must be very sad and worried. Gosh! It didn’t even occur to me it’s our anniversary.”

So many thoughts rushed through her head while she returned to the kitchen. As she walked, pain and anger fought inside her; sometimes anger came to the fore, but the emotional pain always won.

“Well, I will call him as soon as mom leaves the house, I never expected his call this early, I’m sure he’ll understand.” She said to herself.

Obiora felt so bad when he tried calling again with his main line, but only to realize her line wasn’t going through any longer. He tried again and again, no way! He was angered and furious. He wished he could help it but he couldn’t control it, he followed the persistent voice on his head. His hands were vibrating, his heart was pounding faster, Obiora lifted his phone and smashed it on the wall. His heartbeat could be heard. He is a stammerer. He easily get tensed up.

Still flared up, Obiora quickly picked his phone, his heart shrank when he realized his phone screen was badly damaged. His phone went blind completely after he rebooted it. He was defeated that his only desire was to go back to bed, but then his heart was heavy.

To be continued...


©️2022
Franklin Chinonso Okoligan

Twitter & IG: frankwriter1




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