This is a short story...divided into four short chapters. It's something simple...something light.

I should post all four chapters in a couple of days...or hours, depending on power supply.

What If

By

Kayode Odusanya

Chapter 1

Arinze was lying on his back, face upwards, asleep on the couch in his living room. He had a pointed nose, and his face was clean-shaven and attractive. His large muscular biceps were on display in the black tank top he had on. The couch suddenly sunk deeper, and his sleep was disturbed. He took a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and then opened his eyes.

“What the…” He said, startled. Looking down at him was someone in a ghost face mask. With a mean look on his face, he took off the mask and shook his head when he saw the person behind it. “I can only shake my head at you.” He said as he sat up facing her.
In between laughs, Sade said, “Oh my God, you looked like you were about to run out of here.” Sade was a pretty girl, and a smile on her oval face made her look even prettier. She was a brown skin petite girl, with Bantu knots hairdo. She had on a square neck dress on, with spaghetti straps, same color as the white walls of the living room.
With eyebrows perked up, he asked, “How did you get in?” He proceeded to scan the room.
“The kitchen door was unlocked." She said and her eyes followed him as he walked over to the window. "I saw the twins bikes up front, but they were nowhere in sight.”
He turned around and focused on her for a while before saying, “Aren’t you meant to be in school?”
“I’m done with my SSCE exams.” She said and sighed as she slouched on the couch. “Wow! Are you serious?”
“Yep. I wrote my last paper last week Friday, and I’ve been home since then.”
“Hmm…it feels like yesterday when you were the little brat I had to take to school every day.” He was back on the couch now, with his back leaning on the arm rest; one leg on the floor, one leg folded on the couch.
“Dude, you’re just two years older than me.”
“Hmm…True, but I did use to walk you to school.”
“Yeah, like ten years ago.”

A phone started vibrating on the wooden center table, next to the ghost face mask and Arinze leaned forward to pick it up. He muted the ringing and looked at Sade, as if wondering if he should pick up the call with her in the room. He finally picked up. “Hey what’s up,” He said and sat on the couch, holding up the phone a few feet from him, so the person on the other line could see him properly. “Hey…are you’re still in school?”
“Yea,” said the soft spoken girl on the other end of the line. “I thought we could get to see, and …” She was saying and looked beyond him. “Is that your sister?”
“What?” Arinze said, and turned around. “Oh… That’s…That’s my…”
“Arinze, my Uber just arrived, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.” She said and the line got disconnected.

“She’s cute…one of your harem of girls I guess.”
He just smiled, picked up the TV remote and started going through channels. Sade sat there silent for a while before clearing her throat and saying, “Umm… Concerning why I’m here.”
“Oh. Yeah, what’s up?” He responded without taking his eyes off the TV screen.
“Umm…my dad wants me to learn how to drive so I can help with some errands around the house.”
“Oh. That’s cool.” He said, still not looking her way.
“Can you please teach me how to drive?”
Arinze finally stopped what he was doing and looked her way. “What? I…wait, why can’t you just go to driving school? Trust me, you don’t want to learn from someone like me.”
“That would take too long. I need to learn how to drive in four days.” She said and moved closer to him on the couch.
“Whoa! Your dad wants you learn driving in four days? This sounds really odd.”
She looked down for a while before saying, “to be honest, this has nothing to do with my dad.” She looked up at him, and then looked back down. “I told someone I could drive, and in four days, I’m going over to see him. He would want to see me drive.”

A smile appeared on his face before saying, “It’s about a boy?” He stopped to stare at her for a while before continuing with, “Wow! So Sade can actually like a boy?”
“Will you help me or not?” She said with a playful frown on her face.
He laughed a little more before saying, “Sure. Sure, I’ll teach you.”

Keep it coming boss

Lovely, feed us more OP.

Kayode, weldon again.
Been a while I had a good read.

Keep it coming next.

Chapter 2

Arinze and Sade were seated in a black 2013 model Hyudai Elantra early the next morning, parked in the middle of a football field. He made fun of her for wearing lipstick, even though he liked the way the dark red lipstick made her look. She was dressed casual in a sky blue polo top, and black jeans. He had on blue jeans, and a white tee shirt that showed off his fit upper body.

The field was built by the government, along with the elementary school beside it many decades ago. Both had been abandoned over a decade ago. Now, the field had patches of grass here and there, and was used for driving lessons by the locals of the town. The school on the other hand was used for something less productive; its classrooms had been turned into drug spot; where bad boys in the neighborhood go to get high on crystal methamphetamine.

After getting Sade familiar with the basic parts of a car, he asked her to watch him drive. He would go through the process of starting the car, putting it in drive, moving a few meters, stopping, and then going through the process again from the beginning; all the time repeating everything he was doing slowly. He did this a couple of times, and then stopped the car, got out, and walked over to her side of the car.
“Alright, scoot over.” He said as he opened the passenger’s side door. “It’s time.” She giggled a little before getting to the driver’s seat, and grabbing the steering wheel with two hands. Now behind the wheel, she kept repeating everything Arinze had told her, but not making a move.

She was repeating the instructions over and over, “Make sure the car is in pack, turn the key in the ignition, sit still for a couple of seconds, put the car in…”
“Okay. Okay. It’s time for action.” Arinze said, cutting her off after the umpteenth time of her repeating the instructions. She looked at him with a smile on her face, stopped talking, and just got straight to it.

Her eyes popped out of her head when the car jerked forward and started moving even before she put her foot to the pedal. “Yes, the car would move if it is in drive, and you slowly take your foot off the break, even before you put your foot on the accelerator.” Arinze said. She was too focused on trying to control the wheel to even pay attention to what he was saying. When the car slowed down, he said, “Now gently put your foot to the pedal as I said early.” She did as instructed and gasped as the car leaped forward. “Gently; gently I said”
She drove in a zigzag manner through the football field for several minutes till she was able to get her hands steady on the wheel, and move in a straight line. Being a petite person, she felt empowered knowing she was the reason this 1,000 kg metal box was moving through the football field. Sade felt a sudden boost of confidence. Arinze on the other hand was staring at her as she fully focused on driving, wondering if she realized just how beautiful she was. He wondered how she would react if she got to know how he really felt about her.

“Okay. Time’s up.” He said and unfastened his seat belt.
“Come on! I’m just getting a hang of it.”
“Yeah, I know. We’ll continue tomorrow.” He said while looking at his wristwatch.
She brought the car to a halt and turned to the side to look at him. “Hmm… Let me guess; you have a date with that girl that called you yesterday?” He ignored her as he struggled to pull out his phone from his front jeans pocket. “Tell me about her?”
“She’s just my friend.” He said as he went through messages on his phone.
“Okay; One of your many girlfriends, right?” She said, putting girlfriend in quote.
He laughed lightly before saying, “Hey, why do you keep insinuating I have many girlfriends. I really don’t.”
“Hmm…Why do I find that hard to believe?” She removed her seat belt, with her eyes still on him. “But you have a girlfriend, right?”
He was silent now, staring at his phone screen, as if waiting for a response to come in, and then he slowly turned to face her. “You know what would be a more interesting topic is this mystery guy you’re doing this for.” She smiled and looked away. “Wow! This guy must really be special.”
After a couple of seconds of silence, she said, “It’s hard to explain.”
“Hmm…”
“Just seeing his face alone makes me happy.” She said, looking into space.
“That’s interesting.”
“I…I really just want to spend every minute with him, even if we don’t have anything to say to each other.” She turned to look at him with a smile on her face. “I could watch him sleep and I would be satisfied.”
“So…How long have you guys been dating?” The look on her face answered the question. “You’re not dating?”
“I never said we were dating.”
“Oh.”
“I really just started talking to him about two weeks ago, but we had been in the same school for six years.”
“Oh. Okay.”
She got quiet, and when he turned to look at her, he could see in her eyes that the guy really meant a lot to her. He had never seen her so emotional before and deep down he felt a bit of jealousy. Over the years, he had developed feelings for her, but felt things between them wouldn’t work, because she had known him all her life. He quickly turned away when she looked at him. He was afraid she would read his mind…read his feelings. “What?” She said and smiled. “Say something.”
He smiled at the fact that she had no idea what was running through his mind. “Let me drop you off at home. We’ll continue tomorrow, okay?” He said
She sighed before saying, “Okay.”

The next update is even extremely shorter... Sorry, it is just the way I write. And this is a very short story. One more short chapter after the next update to complete the story.

Chapter 3

On the third day, Sade was already confident enough to drive through the roads of their estate. She had started that the day before, so by the third day didn’t need much of Arinze’s input to drive anymore. He looked at her driving and telling him a story a puppy she wanted to buy, and a smile appeared on his face. He was proud of how far she had come in just three days. She must really like this guy to put this much commitment to this, he thought to himself. Also, somewhere in his mind, he felt a little.

The smile on his face slowly disappeared, and it was replaced with a look of passion for her. The feelings he had for her was developing every minute he spent with her. At a point when she looked his way while taking a turn, he looked away, not wanting her to interpret the look he had on his face.

Rain started all of a sudden, heavy thudding sound on the car roof and windshield made her slow down. She took her face off the road for a second, looking for the wiper control, and Arinze said out loud, “Sade, eyes on the road.” She turned on the wiper and kept driving. When the rain got very heavy, he asked her to park on the side of the road.

Sound of the wipers going back and forth on the car windshield and occasional thunder sound from outside filled the air while they were both lost in thought; Sade was processing how good she had gotten with driving, and Arinze was thinking of how he was really feeling about Sade lately.
“So… tomorrow is the d day, right?” He said, looking forward.
“What?” She had problem hearing him over the outside noise and turned to look at him for him to repeat himself.
“I mean, tomorrow is when you get to…”
. “Yeah.” A smile appeared on her face now, but she was still lost in thought. “Thanks. Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome.”
“So… how would you rate my driving right now?” She asked and turned sideways to face him with a smile on her face.
“You’re doing better than I thought you would actually.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”

The car went silent again for a couple of minutes, before she said, “I really had fun doing this” He just smiled at her, and she locked eyes with him a little longer than usual, before looking away. That was the first time he would see her look at him that way. As fast as the rain started, it stopped, and went down to a light drizzle. “Okay; time to complete the last lap of my driving lesson.” Sade said and fired up the engine. She winked at him before driving off.

Chapter 4

The next day was a weird one for Arinze. He spent the whole day thinking of how Sade’s date with the guy she liked so much would turn out. Even though he had countless girls on social media wanting his attention, he paid them no mind. There were a couple of times he was tempted to pick up his phone and call her to see how everything was going.

He knew her family well, and he knew they didn’t allow her stay out later than 7pm, so he called her at 7:15pm. When she didn’t pick up after 3 ringing sessions, he deiced to walk over to her place. He couldn’t help himself any longer, he had to see her. He threw on a denim jacket on top of the white tee shirt he was wearing and stepped out of his room.

Her house was just down the street from his, and as he approached her gate, he realized he had not been to the house in years. It was a white colored bungalow with no fence or gate. When he knocked on the front door he realized how strange what he was doing was. What exactly am I doing here? He thought to himself. Just then, the door swung open. It was Sade’s little brother at the door, in a black suit, frowning up at him. “Deji!” Sade shouted out from inside the house. “How many times will I tell you to always ask who is at the door before opening it” Sade said; her voice getting louder as she got closer to the door. “Hey!” She said, shocked to see Arinze. Her little brother turned around, and slowly walked back into the house.
“Hey, how are you doing?” He felt so good inside at the sight of her. She had gone from bantu knots hairdo to long black weave overnight.
“Fine.” She said with a smile as she moved hair blocking her view to the back of her right ear. She made to open the door for him to come in, and then she stopped. “I was actually going to get something at the bus stop. What’s up?”
“I’m cool.” He answered and stepped back for her to walk out the door.
“Sorry about Deji’s inhospitable look. My aunt was meant to come over to take out today.” She said with a little smile on her face.
“So… how was your date?” He said as they stepped off the front porch. She put her index finger to her lips and made a ‘shhh’ sound. “Oh!” He felt stupid and didn’t know what else to say, so he kept quiet as they walked out the compound and unto the street.
When they were a few meters away from her house, she started to say, “Sorry, my parents…” and got cut off by Arinze.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She said with a little laugh.
Arinze broke the silence after a few minutes of walking, “So, how did it go?”
“Umm… It went great.” She said and he looked at her like she should be saying more. She stared at him for a while, and then laughed lightly before looking away. “Okay. I have to tell you something.” They were walking by Arinze’s parked car outside his house now, and she stopped to lean on it. He walked over to her front, waiting for what she had to say. “Promise not to freak out.” She said and giggled. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her. After a few seconds of silence, she said, “There was no date. I made it up.” He looked lost, and she continued with, “I made up the whole story while watching you sleep.”
“Oh.” He was lost for words and she was looking at the ground now.
“Yeah, I really just…I really just wanted to spend some time with you.” She looked up to see his reaction. He said nothing, and just leaned on the car, next to her. Nothing was said for a while before she said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Okay.”
“Why don’t you see me the way you see other girls?” She looked at him before continuing with, “I mean I’m not your sister so why don’t…”
“Sade…I do see you that way.” He said slowly, and then gently held on to her hand. “I have been developing feeling for you for a while now.” Sade’s eyes were fixed on her and Arinze’s intertwined hands now. “I just…I just had no idea you felt the same way.” On saying this, she turned and looked at him. At first, there was no expression on her face, like she was trying to tell if he was really serious. And then a smile appeared on her face. He looked deep in her eyes, and she could feel butterflies in her tummy. And like a magnetic force was in action, she felt herself leaning towards him. He was also leaning in, and just as she closed her eyes and anticipated his lips on hers, car headlights flashed on them. They quickly pulled away, and stayed still till the car passed by.

No words were exchanged again. They just sat on the car in silence. And just when they were attempting to kiss again, someone said out loud, “Arinze, is that you?”
“Yes dad.” Arinze answered, and looked behind him. His dad was on the balcony, looking down at them. The street light in front of their house was busted, but it was a half-moon night, and the man could make out movement around the car.
“Okay. I just wanted to be sure.” He said.
Sade was giggling now, and hoping Arinze’s dad didn’t see her. “I think we should try this another time” She said in a low voice and Arinze laughed lightly.
“What’s on your mind?” Sade nudged and asked Arinze after he remained silent with a smile on his face.
“It’s funny that when I was coming to your house earlier, I didn’t know exactly what I was going to tell you.”
“Hmm.”
“I felt it in my heart and I knew I had to tell you how I felt, but didn’t know how I was going to.”
“Hmm.”
“And then you just made it easy for me with your reveal.”
“That’s interesting.”
“No. That’s so romantic.” He said and paused for a while before saying, “I guess love is the most powerful force in the universe.” He stopped now and turned to look her. She was looking at him, mesmerized. He leaned in, she leaned in, and they locked lips.

The End

Thank you.

The story was dope as usual.

oluwatosin070:
Thank you.

The story was dope as usual.

Thanks.

Wow. Nice ending
Thanks for the amazing story OP

Thank you.

Nice one.

Interesting as always boss

Kai .. this guy can write

So sleek.

I love this story.. thanks a million Baba

kayo80:
Chapter 4

The next day was a weird one for Arinze. He spent the whole day thinking of how Sade’s date with the guy she liked so much would turn out. Even though he had countless girls on social media wanting his attention, he paid them no mind. There were a couple of times he was tempted to pick up his phone and call her to see how everything was going.

He knew her family well, and he knew they didn’t allow her stay out later than 7pm, so he called her at 7:15pm. When she didn’t pick up after 3 ringing sessions, he deiced to walk over to her place. He couldn’t help himself any longer, he had to see her. He threw on a denim jacket on top of the white tee shirt he was wearing and stepped out of his room.

Her house was just down the street from his, and as he approached her gate, he realized he had not been to the house in years. It was a white colored bungalow with no fence or gate. When he knocked on the front door he realized how strange what he was doing was. What exactly am I doing here? He thought to himself. Just then, the door swung open. It was Sade’s little brother at the door, in a black suit, frowning up at him. “Deji!” Sade shouted out from inside the house. “How many times will I tell you to always ask who is at the door before opening it” Sade said; her voice getting louder as she got closer to the door. “Hey!” She said, shocked to see Arinze. Her little brother turned around, and slowly walked back into the house.
“Hey, how are you doing?” He felt so good inside at the sight of her. She had gone from bantu knots hairdo to long black weave overnight.
“Fine.” She said with a smile as she moved hair blocking her view to the back of her right ear. She made to open the door for him to come in, and then she stopped. “I was actually going to get something at the bus stop. What’s up?”
“I’m cool.” He answered and stepped back for her to walk out the door.
“Sorry about Deji’s inhospitable look. My aunt was meant to come over to take out today.” She said with a little smile on her face.
“So… how was your date?” He said as they stepped off the front porch. She put her index finger to her lips and made a ‘shhh’ sound. “Oh!” He felt stupid and didn’t know what else to say, so he kept quiet as they walked out the compound and unto the street.
When they were a few meters away from her house, she started to say, “Sorry, my parents…” and got cut off by Arinze.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She said with a little laugh.
Arinze broke the silence after a few minutes of walking, “So, how did it go?”
“Umm… It went great.” She said and he looked at her like she should be saying more. She stared at him for a while, and then laughed lightly before looking away. “Okay. I have to tell you something.” They were walking by Arinze’s parked car outside his house now, and she stopped to lean on it. He walked over to her front, waiting for what she had to say. “Promise not to freak out.” She said and giggled. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her. After a few seconds of silence, she said, “There was no date. I made it up.” He looked lost, and she continued with, “I made up the whole story while watching you sleep.”
“Oh.” He was lost for words and she was looking at the ground now.
“Yeah, I really just…I really just wanted to spend some time with you.” She looked up to see his reaction. He said nothing, and just leaned on the car, next to her. Nothing was said for a while before she said, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Okay.”
“Why don’t you see me the way you see other girls?” She looked at him before continuing with, “I mean I’m not your sister so why don’t…”
“Sade…I do see you that way.” He said slowly, and then gently held on to her hand. “I have been developing feeling for you for a while now.” Sade’s eyes were fixed on her and Arinze’s intertwined hands now. “I just…I just had no idea you felt the same way.” On saying this, she turned and looked at him. At first, there was no expression on her face, like she was trying to tell if he was really serious. And then a smile appeared on her face. He looked deep in her eyes, and she could feel butterflies in her tummy. And like a magnetic force was in action, she felt herself leaning towards him. He was also leaning in, and just as she closed her eyes and anticipated his lips on hers, car headlights flashed on them. They quickly pulled away, and stayed still till the car passed by.

No words were exchanged again. They just sat on the car in silence. And just when they were attempting to kiss again, someone said out loud, “Arinze, is that you?”
“Yes dad.” Arinze answered, and looked behind him. His dad was on the balcony, looking down at them. The street light in front of their house was busted, but it was a half-moon night, and the man could make out movement around the car.
“Okay. I just wanted to be sure.” He said.
Sade was giggling now, and hoping Arinze’s dad didn’t see her. “I think we should try this another time” She said in a low voice and Arinze laughed lightly.
“What’s on your mind?” Sade nudged and asked Arinze after he remained silent with a smile on his face.
“It’s funny that when I was coming to your house earlier, I didn’t know exactly what I was going to tell you.”
“Hmm.”
“I felt it in my heart and I knew I had to tell you how I felt, but didn’t know how I was going to.”
“Hmm.”
“And then you just made it easy for me with your reveal.”
“That’s interesting.”
“No. That’s so romantic.” He said and paused for a while before saying, “I guess love is the most powerful force in the universe.” He stopped now and turned to look her. She was looking at him, mesmerized. He leaned in, she leaned in, and they locked lips.

The End

Wow this is a masterpiece..so short yet so satisfying..I will be returning to it

Emperordynasty:

Wow this is a masterpiece..so short yet so satisfying..I will be returning to it

Thanks a lot for the his comment. I really appreciate it.

Counter24:
Kai .. this guy can write

So sleek.

I love this story.. thanks a million Baba

Thanks a lot. I appreciate your comment.

Ann2012:
Interesting as always boss

Thanks.

CivilzedTyger:
Nice one.

Thanks.

Flames33:
Thank you.

Thank you too for your time. I appreciate it.

YoungBruzzy:
Wow. Nice ending
Thanks for the amazing story OP

Thank you too.

kayo80:


Thanks a lot for the his comment. I really appreciate it.

You are very welcome

I love the story. Short and simple, but well written. No detail is odd or out of place. Will keep an eye out for more of your work. Brilliant piece

Always dishing out master piece. I greet you baba kay

queenemelda:
I love the story. Short and simple, but well written. No detail is odd or out of place. Will keep an eye out for more of your work. Brilliant piece

Thanks for this comment

Nwachacho:
Always dishing out master piece. I greet you baba kay

I greet you back. Thanks for the comment.

Thanks for sharing