Chapter 6 Six

AIDA'S POV

Sundays were supposed to be peaceful. Mine wasn't I woke up with a heavy chest, the kind that felt like someone had placed a wet blanket on my lungs. Caleb left at dawn. He didn't make a sound. He just left He had already texted me twice before 10 a.m. Caleb: "Morning. We need to talk. Don't ignore me". As if talking was ever optional with him. I dropped my phone face-down and exhaled. The energy to deal with him simply wasn't in my body. So I stayed in bed longer than usual, staring at the ceiling, trying to convince myself that today would be better. It wasn't. I could feel the bed vibrating but I didn't want to move, I allowed it vibrate three more times, if he really wanted to talk he should come back. I lazied around some more, stood up, stretched every single bone in my body, nearly broke some but it was worth it. I grabbed my phone to put on some music before starting my day "JESUS", I screamed OH MY GAWDD, this girl is going to kill mee Turns out it was Paula calling me and I ignored her "YOUR'E DEAD" her voice finally came through after dialing her 5 times I'm sure she did it on purpose . "Hi babes" i said nonchalantly "Hi babes, ARE YOU SERIOUS, didn't you see my call" "Omo im really not in the mood for this thing right now" "What is it" I can sense her tone change, it's more calm now. "I don't know" "Is it your rubbish boyfriend " "Who else"? "Do I need to call people to beat him for you"? I laughed. "Nooo seriously, if you need me to gather boys for him, you know I will do it happily" she continued "One day i think I'll let you do it" i said, the thought of him being beat up actually made me smile some more "I'm coming over to your house let's discuss the whole thing" "Okay, bring food for me, I don't know what to cook" "I cooked beans, you want"? I love how she knows I hate beans yet asks me if I'd want to eat my worst food" "Girl NO"!! "I'm coming empty handed then" "Just come fast" I said, ending the call. Now I turned and looked at my scattered room and started arranging it .............. By 1 p.m., Paula practically forced her way into my room. I don't know why she did that, she was never gentle with my things, my door, my plates , my house , basically anything I own were hers Except Caleb. She despises him. After barging into my room She came straight to my bed. I lived in a one room, self-contained house in Lagos, it was basically what the poor masses could afford. Not saying I'm poor but it was what I could afford when I first moved here from Enugu and since then, it has been my home. "This Sunday cannot pass us by o" she shouted loudly, like as if I wasn't laying beside her on the bed "What do you mean" I knew she'd want us to go out but I wasn't ready for it "Let's go....." "NO"!!!!!! I shouted loudly before she could finish "You're not even going to do this today" "I don't feel too good" that was a lie "Well we have to, you need to tell me every details about what happened yesterday" A creepy smile came on my face when I thought of Mike "Please stop whatever it is you're doing with your face" I burst out laughing "There's a new guy at work" "Hmmmmmmmmm" "And he's cute" I was still smiling weirdly "More reasons to go out". She went back and forth on reasons why I should go out while I was giving her reasons too why we shouldn't. In the end I gave up when she decided to pay for my food. You can actually kidnap me with a plate of rice . Well made rice. At around 3 we started preparing, till we finally left By 4.00, we were seated at a small restaurant on the Island quiet, warm lighting, nothing too fancy. Paula was already talking, cracking jokes, trying to force laughter out of me. It worked... a little. I was able to smile. Even laugh. But my mind wandered. To work. To Caleb. To the way Mike had looked at me yesterday when he offered me a ride. I tried changing my mood by tell her about Mike, And it worked. I was mid-story when she paused. "Wait-" she whispered, leaning closer to me. "Fine boys incoming." I turned slightly. My heart dropped. A tall handsome fair guy passed and behind him.... Mike Fresh. Clean-shaven. Wearing a white shirt that did absolutely nothing to hide how good he looked. I instinctively sat up straighter, smoothing my dress, then immediately felt stupid for caring. He wasn't here for me. Obviously. People go on dates. Men go on dates. Especially men like him. Still, when his eyes lifted and found mine, my breath caught. Just for a second. And then I looked away. My pulse stuttered. What was he doing here? Paula's eyebrows shot up. "I know you and Caleb are having issues but the way you're looking at this guys, especially the dark one, do you want to eat him raw with your eyes?" I swallowed "That the Mike" I couldn't even hear my voice "IT'S A LIE" she shouted it very loudly, drawing attention to our table. "Take it easy na, everytime you'll be acting like mgbeke" shame covered me like a shield I ignored her. Or tried to. But when the tall, pretty girls walked toward Mike and his friend's table, something twisted sharply in my chest. And when I felt Mike's gaze brush over me, just for a second. I pretended not to notice, pretended not to care. But the truth sat stubbornly in my throat: Why did seeing him with someone else bother me this much? I watched him sit down with Charles and two girls. One of them tall, dark, stunning clung to Charles like she'd already decided he was hers. The other sat directly across from Mike. Of course. "Babe, are you okay?" Paula asked, finally noticing my distraction. "I'm fine," I said quickly. Too quickly. She followed my line of sight and smirked. "So are we going to talk about your office trainee?" She glanced towards them " you didn't tell me he was this fine o, and I'm single too, maybe you could hook us up" she said very shamelessly. I shot her a look. "Paula." She held up her hands. "I'm just saying." I tried not to watch them. I really did. But my eyes betrayed me, how he listened more than he spoke, how he smiled politely, how his body leaned back instead of forward when the girl talked. He didn't look interested. Then I saw it , the girl's legs brushing his under the table, deliberate, confident. My stomach twisted. Ah. So this is how he is. When our eyes met again, I looked away first. Whatever this was, I told myself, it wasn't worth my peace.