It was 11:30 PM. Diana
laid beside her roommate and focused on her laptop. She had a wide smile
plastered on her face and she chuckled intermittently as she clicked steadily
on the keyboard.
…HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU, WITHOUT
MEETING YOU?
-
Felix Olawale
IT’S BECAUSE WE HAVE THIS DEEP CONNECTION BETWEEN US.
- Mhiz Diana Unique
*SMILES* OKAY, I WANT TO SEE MY PRINCESS
-
Felix Olawale
HAHAHA. FOR REAL?
-
Mhiz Diana Unique
YES LOVE, FOR REAL
- Felix Olawale
SO TELL ME, HOW DO YOU LOOK? ARE YOU TALL...
-
Mhiz Diana Unique
“Diana!” Oma, her
roommate tapped her repeatedly on her back.
“Ehnnn…Oma? You’ve
woken up?” Diana drifted her concentration from the laptop to her roommate, who
stared at her with groggy eyes.
“I want to pee. Don’t
tell you’re still awake because of that your Facebook bobo?” Oma raised her
hands at her in a ‘what da heck’ way.
Diana smiled shyly.
“Yes oo. He wants to see me,” she
sipped from her cup of milk and replied to a new message that popped on her
screen.
“You
like this bobo so?”
“Yes na,” Diana sits upright, adjusting the
hand of her nightgown. “I love him.”
Oma clasped her hands
and laughed mockingly. “You sure say you
okay? Love kwa? Facebook guy? How many of them don tell me say dem love me
ehnn? You better be careful.” Oma queried as she was walking to the toilet.
Diana shrugged
nonchalantly and replied to her new messages.
I’M REALLY EAGER TO MEET YOU DIANA. I WANT US TO MEET EACH
OTHER AND START A REAL RELATIONSHIP AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
- Felix Olawale
I’M ALSO EAGER TO MEET YOU. WHEN SHOULD WE MEET?
- Mhiz Diana Unique
Felix typing…
“Are you not going to
bed tonight? Remember you have an early morning meeting at work,” Oma said,
flopping back on the bed and turning the bedspread over her.
Diana, as if just
realizing, freezes her fingers on the keyboard and gasped. “It’s true oo. I have a presentation to make
tomorrow morning. I haven’t even revised my papers. Oh my, I need to sleep
now.”
FELIX, I’M SORRY…I HAVE TO LEAVE NOW. I HAVE AN EARLY
MORNING PRESENTATION.
- Mhiz Diana Unique
PROMISE WE’LL MEET TOMORROW.
- Felix Olawale
Diana’s eyes widened.
TOMORROW? ISN’T THAT TOO FAST?
-
Mhiz Diana Unique
IT ISN’T BABY. NOTHING IS TOO FAST ABOUT US. WE LOVE OURSELVES
AND THAT’S WHAT MATTERS.
- Felix Olawale
OKAY, LOVE. I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU.
-
Mhiz Diana Unique
SAME HERE. HAVE A PLEASANT NIGHT REST.
-
Felix Olawale
BYE.
- Mhiz Diana Unique
Diana closed her laptop
and yawned lazily. She glanced at Oma, who had started to snore.
“Okay…I need to sleep
now.” Diana switched off the light and laid beside Oma, pulling the covers over
her.
‘So
I am going to see Felix tomorrow…how will he look like? Will I like him?’
she thought, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Tomorrow laid a lot for
her. It was the day the company would be sealing a deal with a soap-making
company and she had to give the presentation. The presentation that would lead
to the success of the business deal. It was also the day that she would meet
Felix for the first time; Felix that she had been chatting with for the past
three months.
“Tomorrow is the
D-day.” She muttered, closing her eyelids.
***
Diana sat at the right
end corner seat in Daani Pizza Hut. It was a corner that made her look out
through the window and view the outside world.
“It’s
to munch on pizza and stare outside. You’ll get this unusual feeling that is
mind-blowing.” Diana had told her roommate-cum-friend
a number of times.
The presentation…ah,
the presentation didn’t go well. She failed…she failed her company. She had
done her best in convincing them to seal the contract.
“We’re sorry. There are
not enough justifying reasons to convince us in doing business with you.” One of the men had said.
Diana had given him a
scowling look, staring at his bald head and wishing that she would insult him
without facing consequences.
“Okay, thank you.” She
had said in a very professional way, taking her pile of files and storming out
of the conference room.
Her boss had convinced
her that she did her best…that it was their own loss that they weren’t
convinced with what she had presented.
***
It is the close of
work. Diana is in the Pizza hut, waiting for Felix. She believes deep down in
her, that it would change everything; that Felix would be just the kind of man
that she wants…that she’ll fall deeper in love with him and leave the tag of
being called A Hopeless Romantic.
Diana is dressed in a
blue-starched suit and palazzo pants. She is wearing the silver jewelry that
she had bought on her first visit to Dubai. She is wearing the piece to impress
Felix.
Ten minutes is gone and
Felix is still out of sight. She sips from her ‘now-cold’ tea and stares
outside. She sees a couple; a really young one holding hands as they walk on
the street. Rain is drizzling and the man wears his black-leather jacket around
his lover’s shoulder. It looks really sweet and Diana cannot help but smile.
“That is what love
means. Gosh! I think I’m also in love.” She gushed, picturing the handsome face
in the display picture on Facebook.
Felix was smiling and displaying
his sparking his set of teeth. He wore a black t-shirt and placed dark-sunglasses
on the upper part of his head. She hasn’t seen his full picture but that she
has seen is enough to prove that he is really cute and handsome.
It is thirty minutes
and Felix is still not in sight. The waitress is looking uncomfortably and she
starts to feel nervous. She tries his line and he picks up instantly.
“Hey, babe.” He greets
and she could the blaring sound of the car horns. It is very evident that he is
still on the road.
“How are you? I’ve been
here, waiting for you.” She says on the phone, adjusting the collar of her suit
and taking a bite of meat pie.
“I’m sorry babe. I’m
almost there…in fact; you will see me in the next two minutes.”
It is two minutes.
Felix is walking into the building. He looks different…different from the
picture that she had seen on his profile. He is short, stout and very dark in
complexion. He is putting on a gray shirt and black trousers. He is wearing leather
slippers…one of the things that turn Diana off.
“I’ll roll my eyes at
any guy that wear slippers. Like seriously? You cannot wear shoes? If a man
approaches me for the first time, it’s his feet that’ll first study before
anything else.” Diana had told Oma a week ago.
Felix smiles as he
walks slower to where she is sitting. When he gets to her, he bends down and
places a kiss on her cheek.
Diana reluctantly
obliges. She doesn’t want to cause a scene or look rude in front of the man
that she is meeting for the first time. His mouth smells like the refuse bin
but she manages to smile and stay composed.
“How was work today?”
he asks, taking a seat opposite her.
“Work went well.” She
replies, stroking her neatly-packed hair and sipping from her coffee.
‘The
coffee is a big disaster. It tastes like poison. This is wrong…everything is
wrong. I shouldn’t have come in the first place. I should have listened to Oma’.
She
thinks
“So how much do you
earn monthly?” he asks, fixing his red-coloured eyes on her.
Diana looks dazed. What business does he have with that?
She sips from the cup
of coffee she has labeled as tasting like poison and smile awkwardly.
“Why do you ask?”
“I need a loan…been
desperately searching for who to borrow me half a million. I know you will since
you love me.” He winks at her and she shakes her head in disbelief.
“Ain’t you going to
order for something?” she asks.
Felix scrunches up his
face. “Nahhh…I hate pizza. It slimes like okro soup.” He wrinkles his forehead
and closes his eyes in disgust.
Diana almost burst into
laughter. “How about coffee?”
“Too bitter.” He
replies, fixing his gaze on her.
Diana knows that it is
over…that she has run away from this man as soon as possible. But can she do
so?
The man starts to rant
about a random thing…something that she is clearly not interested in, and she
mentally devises a method of escaping.
“I need to visit the
ladies.” She says, standing up from her seat.
“Okay. Don’t stay long
baby.” He says and then notices that she has taken her bag and purse along with
her. “Are you leaving so soon?”
“No…you know…the time
of the month for me.” She laughs loudly and he joins her, his eyes twinkling in
pleasure.
“Okay baby, I’ll be
right here waiting for you.”
Diana scampers to the
ladies section and stands by the lobby, ruminating over what to do. “Should I
just jump out of the toilet window? Ah no, I can break my skull or spinal
cord…should I remain here till he gets tired and leaves? No, I can stay in the
toilet for too long.” She mutters, pacing around and almost shedding tears.
“Why didn’t I just
listen to Oma?” she murmurs.
***
It is 30 minutes later
and Diana is still stuck in the toilet. She can’t leave there. She can’t return
to where Felix is.
“Excuse me, ma’am. I
think I can be of help to you.” A female voice calls out.
“Who are you?” Diana
retorts.
“A cleaner. I noticed
that you’ve been in there for more than 30 minutes and I know why. I can assist
you in escaping.”
Diana heaves a sigh of
relief as she opens the door to see a chubby petite lady holding a mopping
stick and a bucket in the other hand. She smiles graciously and drops what she
is holding.
“I’ve been on a blind
date. Yours is even okay. I discovered that the so-called handsome and rich man
is just a tout that extorts money from bus drivers in Oshodi. In fact, after that
incident, I started to see him almost every day at Oshodi.” The cleaner says
and they both roar in laughter.
“Thank you.” Diana
smiles at her.
“Do not mention.”
Diana opens the door
slowly to take a peek at Felix. He is still seated but he is performing an
outrageous act. He is dipping a finger into her cup of coffee and tasting it.
He takes a bite of the pizza and throws the part he just chewed back to the
carton.
“Eww. That’s really
gross.” Diana frowns and they both laugh again.
“Let’s get going.” The
cleaner holds her bag and leads her through some rows of doors. She enters an
empty room and opens a large door. “Here you go. Have a nice time. Do not
settle for anything less. Your heartthrob is just on his way.” The cleaner
encourages.
“Thank you. Your name?”
“Ife.”
“Nice to meet you Ife.”
Diana hugs her and walks to the bubbling street, happy to be free from the
blind date.
***
Its night time and
Diana returns home to meet Oma frying fish and humming a song. “How did it go?”
she calls from the kitchen.
Diana ignores her
question and flops on the bed, pulling off the belt of her shoes.
Oma rushes out. “It
didn’t go as you have imagined? I was right?” she raises her eyes.
Diana frowns. “Yes Oma,
you were right. I shouldn’t have done this.” She says, reaching for her phone
and logging into Facebook.
You’re
stupid and foolish for leaving me there. Well, you’re lucky to have left or
I’d have taught you a very good lesson. Nonsense! Rada rada!!! Good riddance to
bad rubbish!!!
–Felix
Olawale.
You can’t send a message to this person anymore.
Diana laughs
sarcastically, holding her phone. “Imagine oo, he insulted me…then blocked me.”
Oma reaches for the
phone and reads it. “Good riddance to bad rubbish Di. He said it himself, that
you’re really lucky. Take a shower and let’s have noodles and fish jare.” Oma
says, thrusting the phone to the bed and returning to the kitchen.
“I’m still a hopeless
romantic,” Diana mutters, pulling off her jacket and releasing the bangs from
her hair.
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