How are you all doing...

This story will be dropping next weekend. It's a short, clean romance story like the last one I wrote.

Tent pitched boss

Awaiting

It's Kayo80!!! I'm Definitely following.

Good morning to you all. I'll start posting this story by 11 am tomorrow.

It's a short story (4,000-5,000 words), so I should be done posting it in a few days... All things being equal.

The king is back, long live king Kayo

dammyd46:
The king is back, long live king Kayo

This just made me smile Thanks for the compliment.

Okay guys...I'm about to start posting. I just got back from Church.

I changed the story title while rewriting...it is no longer 'Is This Love'...It is now, 'The First Kiss.'

It is a short story, with 5 very short chapters. I like to specify from the start that the chapters are very short, so you know what to expect.

The First Kiss

By

Kayode Odusanya


 


© 2022 Kayode Odusanya














 


Chapter 1

Wale loved Harmattan mornings in Lagos; it was always a reminder to him that Christmas was on the way. Outside was cold and misty. He stood by the door, contemplating going back in to throw on a sweater on top of the dark blue long sleeve shirt he had on. His grandfather’s black 87 Toyota Camry was in front of him in the driveway, covered in dead leaves and bird poop. Thanks to the almond tree in the compound that housed all sorts of birds. The man had a sentimental attachment to the tree, and won’t agree to trim the branches, let alone cut it down.

He slowly shot the door behind him and took the steps down his front porch rapidly; his chest jiggled as he did so. Even though he was a lanky guy, he had been doing a lot of pushups lately, and the evidence of the results put a brief smile on his face. Dried bird poop on his black gate made that smile disappear fast. He shook his head as he opened the gate and stepped out.

While on the sidewalk, heading down his street, his mind wondered off. He had been preparing for this day for weeks now, and he wondered how it would turn out. The prolonged strike of the union of academic staff in universities in the country had left a lot of youths idle, and the landlords in his community had put together a competition for the youth to participate in; a competition that tested their intellects, with prizes for winners that were motivation enough for the young people to want to partake in. Two people were picked from each street, and Wale was one of the representatives of his street.

A black sedan car was approaching on the other side of the road, and the driver, a pretty dark skin lady with a white dress on had her eyes on him. He focused on her to see if she was someone he knew, and then slowly looked away. He was tall and good looking, and was used to girls his age staring at him. But the confusion always came when he was being admired by females old enough to be his aunt.

He pulled out his Samsung Android phone from his jeans pocket, and started entangling the earpiece, which was already plugged up to the phone’s headset jack. By the time he took the right turn onto the main road that led out of his community, he had the white earphones in his ears, with Bob Marley music playing. The first song on Marley’s Legend album was his favorite, and he bobbed his head as he walked along, singing the lyrics to the song. ‘Is this love, is this love, is this love, is this love that I’m feeling…’
A hand tapped his left shoulder, and he turned left, but there was no one there. He turned to his right and saw Chinaza walking beside him, looking straight ahead with a poker face. He immediately smiled. She had big cornrows hairdo; about 6 cornrow braids total, packed to one side, flowing down the back of her head, to her neck, and resting on her chest. The black camisole, black jacket, blue jeans, and black pumps she had on made her look formal, and fashionable.
He saw her mouth move, and removed the earpiece from his ears before asking, “What did you say?”
“I said it’s quite dangerous walking on the road with earpiece on, listening to music.” She said in a soft voice. She was just a few inches shorter, slim like him, oval shaped face like him, and the same light skin tone; they could pass as siblings.
“Well…” He was saying, and then stopped to really focus on her. “Have you grown taller since the last time I saw you?”
“Yep! I found a magical drug in my mom’s wardrobe that did that overnight.” She said and a smile slowly appeared on her face. Her beauty was in full display now.
He looked at her from head to toe, and stopped at her feet. “Nice shoes.”
“Thanks. I’ve been looking for where to wear them to.” She said and looked at her own feet for a few seconds before saying, “I know they don’t fit the occasion, but I couldn’t wait.” She said and laughed a little.
“Anyway, hope you’re fully prepared for today.”
“You can count on me partner!” She said in a cartoonish voice and made him chuckle. Chinaza was an introvert, but always loosened up whenever she was around Wale. He became friends with her brothers first when they newly moved into a house on his street; always going over to play video games. When both her elder brothers got into the university, and weren’t around as much anymore, he bonded with their sister, who was about his age. And it wasn’t just video games they had in common; they also both loved old music, cartoons, and animals.

As the two walked along chit-chatting, the lady in the black sedan from earlier was driving up behind them at a low speed. She had her eyes on Wale, with a smile on her face. The honking horn from the car behind her made her increase her speed. She looked at him one last time as she drove past them, and then sped off.

I feel I need to air this out...

Op, anytime I read your work here on Nairaland, I can't shake the conviction that you're actually an introvert and a shy guy in real life... Hypothetically speaking though.

I understand this is irrelevant. But I gotta say it anyways.

Nice story as always!

Salahdin:
I feel I need to air this out...

Op, anytime I read your work here on Nairaland, I can't shake the conviction that you're actually an introvert and a shy guy in real life... Hypothetically speaking though.

I understand this is irrelevant. But I gotta say it anyways.

Nice story as always!

When I read the first line of your comment, I thought you were about to say something bad. Lol.

Anyway, yes, you're right... I'm an introvert... Not so shy anymore, but I used to be very shy.

Wow, Kayode pon the beat. Bring it on my favorite writer. Waiting for more updates, I don carry bed put for this thread already.

kayo80:


When I read the first line of your comment, I thought you were about to say something bad. Lol.

Anyway, yes, you're right... I'm an introvert... Not so shy anymore, but I used to be very shy.

It's quite obvious. You're always modeling most of your characters around your personality.

Happy to hear you're no more shy.

Salahdin:


It's quite obvious. You're always modeling most of your characters around your personality.

Happy to hear you're no more shy.

Chapter 2

Entertainment, current affairs, sports, and history were areas where the questions were set from, and there was also a special textbook on all these subject matters which was given to all contestants to study, months in advance.

The competition was coming to an end, and Wale and Chinaza were at second place. It had started out well for them, but Wale had missed a question that took them down a notch. It was a total of five teams in the competition, all within the age range of 16-21. Each team had a bench and table to sit on, and there was a bell on top of the wooden tables. They were all sitting in a straight line, a few feet from each other, on the assembly hall stage of a secondary school that was being used for the competition. Students from the school and people from the community were seated down below.

Each question carried two points, and one point was awarded to the team that could answer a missed question from another team. Wale and Chinaza were seated at the extreme right on the stage, just before the table the coordinator was seated at. The man was in black suit, and tried to imitate Frank Edoho of Who Wants to Be a Million with the way he asked questions.

“This question is for team E.” The coordinator said. Wale turned to Chinaza and smiled when he heard the question was going to be in the sports section. This was his area of strength. “Who was the captain of the Liverpool football club when they won their last UEFA Champions League trophy?”
“Jordan Henderson”
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s the correct answer.” The coordinator said and there was loud applauding from the audience.
The next question was for the team sitting next to Wale and Chinaza. It was the last question in that round, and if the team got the answer right, that would be the end the competition.

The question was in History section. Wale didn’t know the answer, but when he saw Chinaza’s hand hovering around the bell on their table, a new spirit of hope took over him. Her hand came down on the bell fast the moment it was declared that the team had missed the question. The coordinator repeated the question again, this time, facing Chinaza, as she had pressed her bell the fastest. “What year did the second world war end?” The coordinator repeated the question.
“1945.” Chinaza said out loud.
“Is that your final answer?”
“Yes sir.”
“That’s correct.” The coordinator said with a smile on his face. “And by that, team E, emerges the winner of the competition.” Wale punched the air in excitement, and then turned to say some words to Chinaza that was inaudible as the crowd was cheering their victory loudly. Chinaza just sat there, grinning from ear to ear.

……….

Wale had gone off to wash his hands at the back of the school hall after fixing the flat tire their minivan had, and was now walking back to where the white minivan was parked by the school gate. The driver the landlords on his street hired, a heavyset middle aged man could have done the fixing alone, but his ego wouldn’t take it, so he had called on Wale to assist him. Chinaza was sitting alone on a bench next to the minivan. She didn’t look excited for someone that just won a laptop and a mouthwatering cash prize. He wanted to sneak up on her from behind, but his body cast a shadow in front of her, and she turned around. The straight face quickly turned to a happy one. He sat beside her, and playfully hit her with his shoulder. “You did really great in there.” He said. She smiled without looking at him “So…what’s on your mind?”
“Me?” She said and turned to look at him, before adding, “Nothing.”
“Your birthday is next week, right?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re going to be 21; do you have any birthday wish?”
“Wish? I don’t know.” She said, and then looked at him with a smile before adding, “Yours is in two weeks, what do you wish to get on your 21st?.”
“I want a car.” He said and she started laughing. “What? Anything is possible, don’t be like that.”
“Okay.” She said, and tried to stop herself from laughing
“So…let’s say we’re in a fantasy world where anything is possible, just by wishing for it, what would you wish for?
She looked into space, smiling for a while before saying, “It is intangible.”
“What exactly is it?”
“I can’t tell you.” She said and giggled. He stared at her intently with a straight face, and she chuckled some more. After a few seconds of silence, she looked around before facing him to say, “Okay. I’ll tell you. I…” Just then, the driver fired up the engine of the minivan and shouted out for them to come in. “I’ll tell you later.” She said as she got off the bench. When she turned around, she was face to face with one of the guys from the competition. He was dark skin, good looking, just as tall as Wale, but quite buff. Chinaza had caught herself earlier on admiring the way the denim shirt he had on clung to his body, and having him this close to her now made her nervous. “Oops! Sorry.” She said and was about to keep walking when the guy said, “Hey! You’re the team that won.” Chinaza and Wale looked at each other and smiled. “You guys did really great in there.” He said to them smiling.
Thank you.” Wale and Chinaza echoed.
“Especially you.” He said, focusing on Chinaza.
“Thank you.” She said, blushing.
“If you guys don’t mind, I’d like to have a picture with you.”
“Okay. That’s cool by me.” Wale said, and looked at Chinaza. She smiled and nodded in approval. The guy walked into their middle, turned around, positioned his phone up in the air, and took a few quick selfies. After taking the pictures, he apologized for not properly introducing himself. He told them his name was Paul, and they were telling him their names when the minivan driver started honking the horn. With his eyes focused on Chinaza, the guy said, “Once again, you were spectacular in there.”
“Thanks.”
“I’d like to get your number, if you don’t mind.” He pulled out his phone, and stretched it towards her before she could make up her mind whether or not she wanted to give him her number, and she said, “Okay.” As she punched in her digits, head low, he had a smile of victory on his face. “Thanks. It was cool meeting you.” He said as she handed the phone back to him.

“And you too.” She said with a smile before entering the minivan. While seated at the back row, next to Wale, she turned around to look at him as they drove out of the school compound. He waved at her. She waved back and turned back around. A big smile appeared on her face as she felt butterflies in her tummy.

Thanks for the update boss

Chapter 3

In jeans shorts, and a black hoodie, Wale was coming back from running an errand for his grandfather when he saw a black sedan car parked right outside his house. Since his grandma died three years ago, their home had become a quiet one. Even when his mom was living with them, before she got married, they rarely had guests over, so he was curious to know who was visiting.

He heard a female voice inside the house as he walked to the backyard. From the sound of his grandfather’s voice, it was clear the person was a very close person to him. The big green water tank which sat on a ten inch, square concrete bed just outside the kitchen was dripping water from the tap, like someone had just used it and didn’t close it properly. He opened the kitchen door and walked in. Diagonally from the kitchen door was the black four burner gas cooker. Someone was cooking, and steam emanating from the pot was all over the white tiled kitchen wall. Their voices got louder as he tiptoed to the gas cooker. He knew what was cooking before he lifted the pot cover. The aroma of Jollof rice made his mouth water.

His mom usually came over to cook Jollof rice every weekend, but that wasn’t her voice he was hearing in the living room with his grandpa. His stomach rumbled, and as he put the lid back, a voice said, “Hey!” He was startled and took a few steps backwards. He turned to the side and saw a pretty, slender, dark skinned lady in jeans and a black t shirt. She was about his mom’s age, and looked really familiar. “Wow! You’ve grown so tall.” She said and walked closer to a dumbfounded Wale. He smiled back at her, leaned on the kitchen sink and scanned his mental rolodex, trying to figure out who she was. He stepped aside for her to check the pot, and she said, “I wasn’t sure it was you when I saw you a couple of days ago.” Now, he knew she was the one that had been staring at him the other day, but who is she? He thought to himself.

The scent of her perfume reminded him of his mom. “You probably don’t remember me, right?” She said as she used her bare hand to pick some rice from the hot pot, and put it in her mouth.
“No I don’t.” Wale answered as he continued to think of who she could be.
She turned off the gas cooker, and looked at him before saying, “Help me turn off the gas supply from the cylinder. He looked downward and turned a lid on top of the gas cylinder, which was just beside him. “By the way, I’m your aunt.”
“You’re my aunt?” Wale looked at her astonished.
“Yes.” She said and turned around to walk over to the kitchen cabinet. On top of it was a vertical plate rack; she picked out two white glass plates and turned to face him, “Are you ready to eat now?”
“Umm…Yeah.” He responded, wondering how she knew her way around the kitchen so well.
“I’m your dad’s sister.” She said and walked back to the pot of food. As she dished food in the plate, he wondered if that statement was grammatically correct, as his dad was dead. She walked back to the kitchen counter, covered the food with another plate, put it on a white food tray, and then turned to face Wale. “Please help take this to your grandpa.” He took it from her, and headed to the dining area. Straight ahead, seated at the head of the table was his grandpa, smiling at him. He had on his normal navy blue kaftan, with his reading glass sitting lower down his nose bridge than usual. Even with a head full of gray hair, he still looked real good for his age.

After dropping the tray of food in front of his grandpa, he stood there smiling at him; hoping he would give him some information on why his aunt had appeared out of the blue. When he didn’t get any words from grandpa, he headed back to the kitchen. “Do you want chicken or beef?” She asked him as she dished a plate of food.
“Umm…Chicken please.” He responded before opening the refrigerator and pulling out two bottles of water with one hand. He was trying to grab a third one when she said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get one for myself.”

After dropping off the waters on the table, he rushed up the stairs to his room. His phone battery was low, and he needed to charge it.
On his way back down the stairs, he heard them talking, and tried to make out what they were saying. They stopped when they heard him approaching. His aunt was sitting by the left side of his grandpa at the table, and she had placed his food opposite her on the table. “Thank you for the food.” He said with a smile as he took his seat.
She smiled at him and said, “I saw you with a girl the other day. Is she your girlfriend?”
He smiled before saying, “No. She’s just my friend.”
Still smiling, she looked at him for a while before saying, “You reminded me so much of my brother and your mom back then.”
“Yeah. Yeah...They really do.” His grandpa said and smiled. He had a faraway look on his face now. And then he took a sip from his glass of water before saying, “Wale, there are some things we need to discuss with you.”

Suspense now

Well done OP

Chapter 4

After the long discussion with his aunt and grandfather, he was sent off to represent his grandfather at the monthly landlords meeting of their street. The location of the meeting was at Chinaza’s house. He couldn’t wait to see her. Her brothers were away at their cousins, and she was the only other person he had to share the new revelations with.

When he walked into her compound, he found empty chairs and tables, and no one in sight. Perplexed, he checked the time on his black Casio wristwatch. It was 11:30am, and the meeting was scheduled to start at 11am. He wasn’t sure if he was late, or too early. He searched his jeans pocket for the handwritten letter his grandfather had given him. It wasn’t there. He found it in the left breast pocket of the denim shirt he had on. If the meeting was over, he would to get Chinaza’s dad to read the letter as soon as possible. He didn’t know if the content of the letter was time sensitive.

The curtains moved behind the sliding door entrance of the house. A head popped in and out of view; he wasn’t sure if it was Chinaza he had seen, or Ijeoma, her younger sister. The glass door slowly slid open, and Ijeoma stepped out, braids covering half her face. She was about four years younger, but was a little taller than her sister. While Chinaza was reserved, Ijeoma was more of the talkative. “Hey Wale, you came at the right time.” She said with a mischievous smile on her face. She had the tomboy vibe going with the ripped jeans and dark gray oversized sweatshirt she had on.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Maybe you can teach Chinaza how to…” She was saying and then ran out towards Wale giggling. Chinaza appeared from behind the glass door in jeans shorts and a white t shirt, with a stern look on her face as she approached her sister, who was now using Wale as a shield. “Okay. Okay. I won’t say anything.” Ijeoma said between laughs. Chinaza stood with arms akimbo, in front of them. The frown on her face slowly turned to a smile.
“What’s going on guys?” Wale asked, looking from one sister to the other.
“Nothing.” Ijeoma said, still laughing as she continued to hide behind Wale.
“How are you doing Wale?” Chinaza finally said, and turned around to walk back into the house.
Wale looked at her walk away, and then turned around to look at Ijeoma behind him. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Ijeoma repeated. He stood there confused as she walked back inside the house. He stared at the empty chairs and tables to his right for a couple of seconds, before proceeding to the entrance.

Their living room was a simple one; two black, medium sized couches opposite each other. Ijeoma was sitting on the one backing the entrance, and Chinaza sat on the one opposite. “Sorry about all that.” She said, looking at Wale from where she sat with a smile.
“What’s up with the landlords meeting that was meant to hold here?” He said as he shut the sliding door behind him.
“They went to Aisha’s house.” Ijeoma said and it had Wale more confused.
“Aisha’s dad died last night, so they all went over for a condolence visit.”
“Oh! I didn’t know that.” He said as he walked over slowly to where Chinaza was seated. Even though none of them really were close to Aisha, she was the coolest and the most popular girl on their street.
“You came here for the meeting?” Chinaza asked as he sat next to her on the couch; her focus was on the TV hanging on the wall in front of her.
“Yeah; my grandpa has a guest and sent me instead.” He said and faced the TV on the wall. They were watching a rerun of Game of Thrones. It was the episode where Daenerys, the mother of dragons was trying to take over a city and she had all her unsullied soldiers outside the city.
“Have you guys ever wondered how she feeds all those unsullied soldiers?” Ijeoma said, facing them.
“Go and buy the vegetables mom asked you to buy smartass.” Chinaza shot back at her sister.
“She has a valid question though.” Wale said between laughs. “I never thought about that.”
Chinaza kept looking at her sister, till she finally got up. “I’ll be back.” Ijeoma said before going out the house.

They watched the TV series in silence after she left, till Wale asked, “So…What did your sister want to tell me earlier?”
“Nothing.” Chinaza said without looking at him. After a few seconds, she turned to face him with a smile on her face before saying, “Jude and I have been chatting a lot lately.”
“Jude?”
“The guy from the competition.”
“Oh! That guy.”
She looked at him for a while before saying, “Why are you acting like I’ve not been telling you about him.”
“Sorry; I’m bad with names.”
“Anyway, you know my birthday is tomorrow.”
“Oh shoot! I almost forgot.”
“So…” She started to say and stopped to move closer to Wale on the couch. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this.”
“What?”
“I don’t…I don’t know how to kiss. I’ve never kissed a boy before.” When Wale didn’t say anything, she went on to say, “I’m going to see him tomorrow, and I’m so tensed.”
“Oh!”
“I’m freaking out. What if he tries to kiss me and I fumble it?”
“Umm…I’m sure if it comes down to that, it will happen naturally.” He said and slouched on the couch.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She said and laughed at herself. “I’ve been watching some Youtube videos on how to kiss.” She started really laughing at herself now, and he chuckled.
“Don’t worry; if it ever comes to that, you’ll instinctively know what to do.”
“Hmm…It’s easy for you to say. You’ve probably been kissing girls since you were 17.”
“Umm…more like since 15.”
“What! Are you serious?” She said and turned to look at him. He just smiled at her. She shook her head at him with a smile on her face as she resumed back her sitting position.
There was silence for a few seconds and then he said, “It’s no big deal really. Just go with the flow.”
“Maybe you can teach me.” She said in a low voice.
“Okay.”
“What? I’m kidding.” She said and tapped the back of his hand.

The room got quiet again and then she turned to look at him. The stare lingered longer than usual. He had never seen her look at him that way before. No words were spoken, but he automatically knew where her mind was at, it just shocked him a bit. Slowly, he instinctively started to lean in. With eyes closed, she moved her head closer to his. And just before their lips met, the sliding door opened.

Hooked. Just hooked!
What a way and place to leave us hanging.

I have to hand it to you man, you know exactly what you are doing!

Thanks for the update boss

Chapter 5

They quickly pulled away from each other as someone emerged from behind the curtains. Ijeoma stood there, black paper bag in one hand, phone in the other, smiling at them. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, she said, “I’m going to tell mommy.” As she ran past them, Chinaza got off the couch and chased her. They both ended up on the floor behind the couch Chinaza and Wale were just about to kiss on. Chinaza had tackled her sister to the ground. “I’m just joking,” Ijeoma said between laughs as she wrestled playfully with her sister. “Mom is not even around.”

After a few more seconds of giggling and tussling from the two sisters, they got off the ground. Wale was sitting sideways on the couch now, with his eyes on them as they straightened out their clothes. Ijeoma winked at him before walking off down the corridor that led to their rooms.

When Chinaza came back to sit on the couch she avoided eye contact with him. They watched TV in silence for a couple of seconds till Wale slowly got off the couch and said, “I should get going.”
“Oh! Umm… Okay.” She said and got up to lead the way.

He could hear people talking outside, and when they stepped out the sliding door, they saw two teenage boys packing up the chairs and tables that had been used for the meeting. Wale greeted them with head nods. The engine of a truck could be heard being fired up just outside the gate. With each fire, black smoke was released, till it filled up the air and was visible from inside the compound. Wale and Chinaza walked zigzag through the stacked up chairs to get to the gate.

As they stepped outside, the man in the white pickup truck packed just after the gate looked at them from his side mirror. He was a heavyset man in his fifties. The white singlet he had on underneath the rumpled black shirt had sweat stains all over it. A frown appeared on his face as he heard them mutter some words in complaint about the exhaust smoke. He fired up the engine some more, and they coughed as they fanned smoke out their way and walked off.

When they were a few meters away from the air and noise pollution, Wale said, “I have something to tell you.”
“Oh… What’s it?”
“My grandfather…Umm… my dad’s dad, not my mom’s dad…”
“Oh… Okay.”
“He just died.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“Well, I didn’t really know him that much. And he was like 90 or something.”
“Hmm… Okay.”
“So… he had just one son, my dad.”
“Okay.”
“And my dad died a while ago, so I’m the next in line.”
“Hmm… The next in line”
“He was like a King of some sort.”
“Whoa! So you’re going to be the next king?” She stopped walking now, and her eyes lit up.
He smiled before saying, “That’s what I thought at first.”
“Okay.”
“But the crown is going to another family; they rotate it between some certain families.”
“Oh. Okay.” She said and continued walking.
“Yeah. It would have been cool to be a King though.”
“Yeah.” She said and smiled at him.
“Anyway, my aunt…my dad’s sister came over today to see me.” He was saying then stopped when his phone beeped. He pulled out the black Samsung phone from his pocket, had his head down on the screen for a few seconds before putting the phone back in his pocket. “So… My aunt said there are some things I have inherited from my grandfather and they’d like me to come get them.”
“Oh. That’s cool.”
“And she said one of the things is… a car.”
“Are you serious? A car? Whoa!”
“I’ve been so excited since I heard about it.”
“Wait,” She said and stopped walking. Her eyes were on him and her mouth opened. “Wasn’t your birthday wish to get a car?”
“Yes. And you laughed at me.” He said and laughed lightly.
“Oh my God.” This is like a movie.
“I know right.” He said excited as they started walking again.

“My birthday is…” She was saying and stopped. He looked at her and when he followed her gaze, he saw a black Mercedes Benz approaching from the other side of the road. It slowed down and came to a halt when it got close to them. “I’ll call you,” She said to him before crossing the road and getting into the front passenger’s side of the car. Wale bowed his head in greeting at Chinaza dad as he wound down the driver’s side window of his Mercedes. He was intimidatingly big, bald, and never smiled. Even though Wale had been around him many times for many years not to be scared of him, he still felt uneasy as the man stared at him from across the road. He didn’t blame him. Chinaza had blossomed into such a beautiful young adult in the last couple of years, and he must feel the need to protect her; even from familiar faces.

He watched the car drive off, and at that moment, while standing there, it dawned on him that he felt much more for her than he had realized.

Hmmmm.....

Thanks for the update Kayo!
Things are getting complicated....

Interesting as always

Updates o, we need am die.

Good day to you all. I got really busy...I'm about to drop the last chapter.

Chapter 6

Wale was taking a nap the following day when his phone started to ring. He pulled it out from under his pillow, and with half opened eyes, he saw it was Chinaza calling.

“Hello.” He said after picking the call. “How are you doing?” He added as he cleared his throat and rolled over in bed.
“Hey, sorry, did I wake you?”
“Umm…Yeah, but it’s no big deal. What’s up?” He was seated up at the edge of the bed now in boxer shorts; one hand holding up the phone to his ear, the other hand rubbing his chest.
“I… I wanted to ask if you could come meet me at the mall, but don’t worry. I’ll…”
“I’ll come.” He said, cutting her off. He cleared his throat a few more times before saying, “Just give me like 30 minutes, I’ll be there.”
“Okay. Thanks. I’ll be at the Game Room.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
“Okay.” She said and the line got disconnected. Wale sat in still in bed for a couple of seconds after ending the call, looking into space. He had really been concerned about her earlier on before falling asleep. She was a naïve girl, and he didn’t like the idea of her going over to her new friend’s house alone. But he didn’t want to seem jealous, so he didn’t discourage her. Now she was asking him to meet her at the mall, even though she had said nothing of such plans when he called her in the morning to wish her happy birthday.

He shook his head vigorously to snap out of the sleepy state he was in, got off the bed and headed to the bathroom.

……….

Wale got to the mall 50 minutes after ending the call, and he found her sitting on a backless wooden bench outside the game room. She had on brown sandals and a sky blue gown that stopped at her knees; a small brown cross-body flap bag across her shoulder, red lipstick on her lips and her signature big cornrow braids resting on her chest. From what he could see of her side view, she looked so beautiful, and he was surprised no boy was trying to talk to her. Her face lit up when she turned to the side and saw him approaching. She slid to the left on the bench to make room for him.
“Thanks for coming.” She said as he sat on the bench next to her and gave her a quick hug. “Nice shirt.” She said, complimenting the black, double breasts pocket denim shirt he had on.

“Thanks.” He said and looked around the white painted mall corridors. It was a public holiday, and the whole place was filled with kids running around. “So…how did you end up here?” He asked as his eyes focused on the game room in front of them. The inside had bright lights everywhere; arcade games were lined up left and right, and straight ahead was a bench with people playing Play Station on two big screen TVs.

“Well…” She was saying and turned to look at him for a few seconds without saying anything. A smiled appeared on her face before saying, “Come. I need to play a particular game with you.” She got up and pulled him along. The glass doors opened up as they approached the entrance. They were drowned by the various sounds coming from the over a dozen video games being played at the same time. The inside of the place was quite cold. It was like they had just stepped into another world.

She took him to the last arcade game on the left roll; A black arcade machine with Tomb Raider written on it. “It’s better played with two or more players.” She said in a loud voice as she pulled out coins out of her small brown bag. “You’d love it. Just follow my lead.” She added as she put the coins in the arcade machine slot. He smiled at her; his mind lost in thought, wondering what she was trying to suppress.

Like her, Wale was a gamer, and it didn’t take him long to figure out the gun game. With time, he found himself having more fun than he had anticipated. And it was really cool seeing her genuinely happy.

After playing the same game for about an hour, they called it quits and left the game room. She didn’t feel like going home just yet, so they headed over to an ice cream spot. The place was a small establishment, and they had tall bar stools right outside the shop, on the corridor of the mall. Wale and Chinaza were seated on the stools, next to each other, scooping vanilla ice cream out of a white cup as they chitchatted.
“My date didn’t go so well.” She said after a short period of silence.
He looked at her for a few seconds before asking, “Did he… did he try to do anything against your will?”
“Umm…” She stopped to take a scoop from her ice cream cup before going on with, “Let’s just say I won’t be seeing him again.” Wale wanted to ask her some more questions, but he decided to save it for later. “I had fun at the game room.” She said and turned to look at him with a smile on her face. “We should do this more often.”
“Yeah, we should. I really had fun too.”
She looked into space for a while before saying, “I don’t know what I was expecting.” She had her head low now. “I saw the red flags through the chats we had but ignored them.”
“What exactly happened?”
She was silent for a while, and then without looking at him, she said, “He didn’t even try to kiss me, he just wanted to…” She looked to the side now.
“Give me his number, I’ll…”
“No.” She said and turned to face Wale. She gently held his hand on the table. “I knew what I was getting into.”
“Did he…”
“No. I pushed him off and left his house.” It was his turn to hold her hand now. They sat there in silence for a couple of seconds before she said in a low voice, “After I left his place, all I wanted to do was run home and cry in my bed.” Her head was down, and she turned the melted ice cream slowly with the little white spoon in her hand. “But I felt my mom would be able to tell something was wrong. So I came here.”
There was another prolonged silence before she said, “He made me feel all boys want the same thing, and I was pissed at every boy passing by me at the mall.” She stopped turning the ice cream now and looked at him. “But then I thought, that’s not true; Wale isn’t like that. And that realization made me want to be with you.” He smiled at her, and she went back to her ice cream. She looked his way after taking a scoop of ice cream in her mouth and saw he had a faraway look on his face. “I know you’re thinking of the other day. But you didn’t try to take advantage of me.” She went back to her ice cream before saying, “I wanted you to kiss me.”
After a long, awkward silence, Wale cleared his throat before saying, “I have a confession to make.” She stopped what she was doing and looked at him. “I lied. I’ve never kissed a girl before.”
She smiled before saying, “I kind of knew you were lying.”

……….

They were seated at the bus stop now, along the expressway that led to their neighborhood. Apart from the white light that illuminated the bus stop, everywhere else around the place was dark. “Wale, I think we missed the last bus.” She said, clutching her bag, sitting next to him.
“Hmm…”
“Maybe we’ll have to walk home. How many kilometers do you think the journey is?”
“I don’t know; Maybe about 2 kilometers.”
“Hmm…I’m cold.” She said and moved closer to him on the bench. “How long do you think it would take to walk home?”
“Maybe …Maybe like 30 minutes.” He said as he put his arm around her.
“Not bad. We used to walk to school together back in the day, and that was like 15 to 20 minutes, right?”
“Umm…Yeah, I guess.” He said and smiled before adding, “I just remembered something.”
“What?” She asked and looked at him.
“My aunt told me we reminded her of my parents.”
“What?”
“Yeah, she saw us walking together the other day.” She looked at him strange, and he added, “On the day of the competition.”
“Oh, okay. But…wait…this is really weird. Why do we remind her of your parents?”
“I don’t know. I guess because they used to walk to school together too.”
“Oh.”
“My aunt was also actually my mom’s friend. In fact, she was the one that introduced them.”
“Wow! That’s interesting.”
“Yeah.” He was looking straight ahead now, with a smile on his face.
She nudged him before saying, “You didn’t get me anything for my birthday.”
“I did. I forgot it at home.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah… so…yeah, so what was your birthday wish? You never got to tell me what it was.”
There was silence for a while before she said, “I wished to find a guy that genuinely loved me.” She was looking at him now. “I found him already but I didn’t understand at first.” He looked in her eyes; no more words were needed to be said, he knew exactly what she meant. He gazed deep in her soul for a couple of seconds before leaning in to kiss her.

The End

Wow!! Thank you for this lovely story Kayo.

Jojodjo:
Wow!! Thank you for this lovely story Kayo.

Thank you too. You just made my day with this positive first comment after the last chapter.

Thank you for another good read...love is beautiful, if it were reality?! I just hope they can stand the storm...
Thanks Kayo