>>>Episode 3<<<
Story by Ajenifuja Adetokunbo.
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*SHARON*

“My roommates prepared it,”
he
said and sighed, “ and for now,
I am single.” “Really?” My heart fluttered with
joy,

“Hmn. You must be joking. A
guy like you. I doubt it.”

“I must confess to you,” he said
almost in a mournful tone, “ My
girlfriend broke up with me
long time ago and since then
I’ve decided to be alone.”
On hearing that, I lay my hand
on my chest with excitement.
“I am also single.” I told him. And I heard him burst into
laughter. “You are very funny,” he said, “ I
don’t believe any girl could be
single, especially an angel like
you.”

I was so pleased to hear that
compliment from him. I blushed
and smiled to myself like a baby.
“I am flattered … But I am really
single. Funny enough, when Dad
dropped me off this afternoon
he asked me to introduce him to
my boyfriend. When I told him I
had none, he couldn’t believe his ears either. And he later asked
me to be careful if I wanted to
have one?”

“Your Dad said so?” “Yes.”
“You have got a wonderful and
considerate father.”
“Thank you, dear.”
I said. I decided to abort the phone-call
when I realized the network
had beeped two minutes. I
called the number back and lied
to him it was a network failure. I
had over 10,000 worth of airtime on my line to lavish on
no one, but the king of my
heart.

I thought it was time for
me to express how I felt for him. If I refused to seize the
opportunity I might just lose
him to another girl.

“Festus, I hope you could dine
with me, as a friend.”
I said and
slid out my tongue in
anticipation of YES or NO “Have a dinner with you?” I
heard him laugh, “ Oh, I can’t
afford to … How much do I have
to dine with a big girl like you.”

“A big girl? cut the crap,” I said,
smiling,
“I’m the one asking you. I would be very glad if you
wouldn’t say NO.”
I didn’t hear anything from
Festus for almost a minute. I
knew some guys always found
it difficult when a girl asked them out and having the girl
doing the spending.

If Festus
was actually thinking the same
way, that meant he was more of
my type of guy.
“Festus, please say YES.” I broke
the silence with my usual
babyish tone. “Okay. Okay. I will try.”

I almost burst out screaming
when I heard that. I thanked
him for honouring my request. I
gave him a familiar address of
an eatery outside the campus. We agreed on 7:30 pm of the
following day. When I dropped the phone I
stood up from the couch I had
been lying on.

I went straight to
my freezer for a red wine that
could make me get tipsy. I took
a goblet from the bar and filled it at once. I picked up the
remote control and turned on
my flat screen TV.
I flipped open
a hot romance novel I just
bought in the afternoon. Reading through it, I began to
relate what the characters were
doing to what I would love to
do with Festus. I felt like kissing
him. I wanted him to squeeze
me, hold me tight, place his hands on my butt and tell me ‘I
love you’.

**** I had been seated for almost
thirty minutes awaiting Festus
to join me at the table. I already
ordered for a lemon soft drink
which I was now sipping with a
straw. I had called his number, he told me he was on his way. I
kept fretting and fidgeting. I
couldn’t wait to dine with my
heart desire. I began to browse
through my phone to while
away the time. In a little while, I heard a knock
on my table and I revealed my
face only to see Festus –
my
heart almost flew away. He was
looking more handsome! He
was dressed in a fitted blue shirt and black trousers. His hair
was different from what I saw
on the previous day. It used to
be a rough Afro, but now it was
neatly trimmed.

“You are welcome, dear.”
I
smiled at him and he wore a
smile too. His eyes swept over my body,
and I felt shy for a moment.

I
must be looking so ravishing to
him. I was arrayed in a purple
top and a black jean trousers. When I looked into the mirror a
while ago, I’d made sure my
make-ups were moderate. And
my long, dark hair was well
bonded with a material that
matches my top.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you
again.”
He extended his hand to
me for a shake, and I quickly
collected it warmly. He sat on the
well-upholstered chair right in
front of me. Afterwards, I signaled to the
servers with my index finger up. I already asked the bartender to
bring cold a juice, fried chicken
and spiced fried rice if my guest
arrived. Festus might reject the
offer if I asked what he would
like to take. He should be the one doing that, of course. I could hear Festus breathe
heavily as he began to stare
around the eatery. I supposed
he was trying to avoid my gaze.

Now I didn’t hide the fact that I
wanted him. Even without me
saying it, he should know from
the way I was staring hotly at
him. A female server came to the
table with the dishes and drinks,
and I caught her staring at
Festus.

“I’m done with you, thanks.” I
glared at her and I quickly put
on a smile when Festus was
about to catch my eyes. Festus smiled. It seemed he saw
what I did. I asked why he
reacted like that. “Nothing,” he smiled again,
“I
was just wondering if you had a
grudge against that lady.”
“Don’t mind her,” I said, “ Didn’t
you see how she placed the
food wrongly on the tray? She is
not competent at all.” Soon, we set our cutleries to
start eating. My mouth seemed
to reject the food probably
because I had not expressed my
feelings. I was just nibbling at
the chicken with the knife. “Festus,” I called in a low tone. He revealed his face slowly, then
I paused for a moment.

“I would
be happy if you can do
something for me.”
“What is that?”
He looked
puzzled. I began to caress my nape with
my right palm in anxiety. Then I
asked,
“Don’t you mind if we
become a very close friend?”
I saw what seemed like a
mischievous smile on his face. He bowed his head and showed
back his face with a daring look. It was the look I had been
anticipating – strong and
passionate. I didn’t know where
he suddenly gathered the
courage. Our eyes became
tangled. As if it was a spell, I couldn’t disengage myself. I
became a captive to those
dreamy eyes. And I could see
bliss and harmony beckoning at
me.

“But, I was actually thinking we
could be more than friends,” he
said at last.

“Really?”
My voice fainted out,
while my eyes were still trapped. I guessed he already had the
evidence that I wanted more
from him. My head nodded
slowly without taking any
permission from my brain.

“The fact is that, I don’t just like
you,”
he said and paused. My
heart began to sink like a Titanic
ship, “But, I love you –
irrespective of your personality.” “I … love you too,” I said
passionately, almost under my
breath.

*FESTUS*
Our eyes didn’t depart yet. I had
felt as though I was going to die
if I refused to burst out my
feelings. What with the sexual
eye-contact she had been
stabbing at me. It was visible that I meant a lot more to her
than her request. The jealousy
that showed in her eyes
towards that female server was
too evident. With that, I could tell
that she loved me. In the midst of our emotional
gaze, I began to wonder if
everything that just happened
between us was a dream or
fantasy. A girl I met yesterday ,
and we could express a mutual love. This reminded me of
‘Romeo and Juliet’ who fell in
love on the first day and had
their first kiss on that same day.
Our story was quite different –
friendship on the first day,
dating and love-declaration on
the second day. Elizabeth’s case was totally
different. We were friends for
over two months before I could
express my love to her. Even
then she had told me she would
be thinking over it. It was after three days she said YES to my
proposal.

“Guess what!”

Sharon broke the
long silence; not the gaze. “What is it?” I asked softly.
To be contineud…

Na so women dey luv?

Hmm..B-)