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Black Pebbles 2

Two weeks had passed since kizzy stormed out on our date. He had called me a zillion times to say he was sorry. He even showed up at my office a few times bearing gifts, but I was bent on making him grovel. “You are taking this thing too far babe” Temi said to me. She had no idea how far I was willing to go.
I finally forgave him.
We started hanging out every Saturday, then every Friday and Saturday then we included Wednesdays. We talked on the phone for hours, made jokes about our relationship, our breakup and how petty he was to dump me the way he did. Every time we were together, he asked me about Nkem (our daughter) and told me how eager he was to meet her. I finally decided it was time. Nkem loved him. I didn’t tell her who he was or why she was supposed to meet him, but as I watched them play, talk and laugh, I had a feeling she already knew. The connection was simply natural.
Kemi forgave her husband, if there was anything to forgive. She told him she still loved him and was willing to make things work, right before she made love to him on the kitchen floor. How do I know? Well, Kizzy and I had become that close or so he thought.
“She was right you know” he said while we watched Just go with it in my living room.
“About?”
“I was cheating”
My eyes widened “Now we are talking!, I knew he couldn’t just sit at home for 2 years” I got up and sat next to him “So… spill”
“No he was home, I didn’t sleep with any one” Kizzy turned and looked into my eyes, he placed his palm on my bare thigh, dropped his glass and held my right palm. His touch was warm, the room was suddenly so hot and my tongue was dry. I was too scared to move, I couldn’t even swallow saliva for fear of ruining the moment.
“I may have married Kemi, but I never stopped loving you”
Stop! Please! My body was on fire

continued here http://ubercliq.com/thread/black-pebbles-2/

Black Pebbles 1( episode 4)
I stared blankly into the bottomless red sea before me, Chapman wasn’t really my drink, but I had ordered it anyway. The shrimps were almost tasteless and the rice was a little too spicy. I guess they were trying to achieve a balance. When kizzy called asking me to dinner for the fourth time that week, I was out of excuses. He sounded desperate and I was hungry, so I said yes. He suggested Yellow Chilli and impulsively the words “Not there please” crept into my throat. I was glad I didn’t let them out.

Kizzy and I had created unforgettable memories in Yellow Chilli; we made promises over traditional dishes, kissed between continental meals and shared a lot of laughter in drinks. His office was a few blocks away, so whenever I was in town he took me there and I loved the food. He knew I had a sense of emotional connection to the place and saying “No” would simply give him the impression I was running away from nostalgia. I wasn’t ready to make him believe I still cared. Not yet.

“So what’s she like?” I spoke first, after exactly 17 minutes and 28 seconds of silence.
“Who?”
“Kemi. That’s her name right?”
“Oh…yes” “So?” “She is a good woman” “Arrgh… come on, 9 years married to the lady and that’s all she gets?”
he shifted uneasily in his chair
“why do you want to divorce her anyway? I asked
“I don’t want to”
I raised my brow questioningly
“She asked for a divorce”
There was a spark in my eyes. The bitch! First she steals my man and then she steals my right to make his life miserable. “You still love her don’t you?”
He rubbed his forehead and heaved a long sigh. “I don’t know anymore”
“So why is she leaving you?”
“She thinks I’m in love with someone else and I’m probably seeing the person”
“Are you?”
“I would never do that to her”
Sting! Yeah yeah, I got the “I’m not you” beneath his words “So why would she think so?”
Kizzy paused and I stared intensely, reminding him I was expecting an answer
“We haven’t had sex in 28 months”
I couldn’t help it. I was choking and the drink had to leave my mouth.
“What?!” He had to be joking “Tell me you are cheating on her please”
“I’m not”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“Are you sick?”
“I’m perfectly fine”
“You think?” I shook my head in dismay “Now I see how you got the grand-dad look”
Kizzy smiled. He still hadn’t lost his boyish grin. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I had a lot of questions but I could tell he wasn’t prepared to answer any.

We talked for hours. He tried not too get too comfortable while I tried not to seem to pushy. He told me about his kids. There were two of them. “two men” he called them. He said Kemi was a good woman, he never really said he loved her. “We had good times” he said “she is a good mother” I was tired of talking about Kemi, but somehow, our conversations always came back to her.
I could see Kizzy was unhappy and even though we both refused to say it, I knew he still loved her. I hated her.

Black pebbles!

I could see them clearly. They started out as water droplets, and suddenly, the words came out:
“I have a daughter” I wasn’t sure if it was time to play this card but I had stopped thinking
“Really?” there was a glowing sensation in his eyes. He smiled, ” I uhhh… I don’t know but I’m having mixed feelings right now”
Why? Did he know something? Was he sad cos he wanted me? Did he know she…?
“I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you do, but knowing you are raising a kid on your own and the little girl has lost her dad is just…” his voice trailed off.
oh… That.
“I always wanted a girl, you know”
I nodded cos I didn’t trust myself to speak. The black pebbles where falling again.
“how old is she?”
Oh no! this was it “Nine” there was a new confidence in my voice.
It took a while but his eyebrows finally went up in sudden realization.
“Nine?”
I nodded again
“She is not his is she?”
I shook my head
“Is she…?”
My gaze fell beneath the table settling on the tight knots my fingers had formed. Kizzy pushed himself off the chair, threw the napkin on the table and stormed out.
I was confused. Was he upset?
I watched him walk away, he suddenly stopped and came back towards me. There was fire in his eyes. He signaled the waiter to bring the bill, counted out a series of 1000 Naira notes and placed them in bill. Then he turned to me his voice husky yet shrill
“Nine years? Ada! You kept this from me for nine years? You haven’t changed at all have you?”
“What?!” I blinked in disbelief. Was he putting this on me? He was on his way out again.

I couldn’t believe it. My head was dizzy, I could feel my heart trying to break through my rib cage.
The rage…
I couldn’t move.

I could hear them, I could see them; the black pebbles were falling again. And suddenly, I realized why they had come.

How could I forget?

I picked up the knife from the table and cut a deep scar in my palm and as my blood filled my hand the black pebbles slowly turned red.

I smiled through the salty tears on my lips, I wasn’t here to fall in love again.
http://ubercliq.com/thread/black-pebbles-1/