Last updated on February 7th, 2024 at 07:18 am
Thankfully, Tochi’s room was ensuite. After he left, I got up and did my business. I did not want the food to get cold before eating it, so I rushed through everything and settled to eat. The fish was hitting in all the right spots. Then my phone beeped.
Will be back soon, let me know if you need anything. I dropped my phone and rolled my eyes.
When I was done eating, I sent him a message on WhatsApp.
We need to talk.
Hmm, I expected this. Hint? He replied.
I closed the App and went to my notes to fetch my list. If Tochi was really open with me, I would know what he was up to and the importance. I also wanted to share with him, but I didn’t feel totally safe to do so. It seemed like he set the tone for every aspect of our relationship. I pulled up the list, looked through it again then hit the enter button.
Tochi read it and I held my breath as I waited for a reply. I was definitely not going to discuss them via the chat if not we could have done that before coming here. After a while, I left the App and checked my Instagram. Instagram didn’t help, it seemed as if everyone was in a loving relationship with themselves, their friends, or their partners. I closed the App and checked my WhatsApp again, but nothing yet.
***
I heard a shuffling sound and jerked up clutching my chest.
“It’s me, baby,” Tochi whispered. I usually couldn’t help it when he called me ‘baby.’ Not like he rarely said it, but it felt like our relationship was more concrete whenever he said it. Tochi left with the key to the room this morning after asking if he should leave it and I did not reply. Thankfully, that meant that I did not have to get up to open the door. I checked the time on my phone and it was 1 pm. Not bad.
The change of environment seemed to really be doing me good, I felt more relaxed and I didn’t have to wake up to make my food, sweep my apartment, or dress to my PPA. It’d only been a night but I could tell that at the end of my stay, I would be feeling refreshed. I sat up on the bed looking at my boyfriend. His dressing was usually too enthusiastic like he was trying to prove something, but I rarely mentioned it because we were all allowed to show up as our true selves.
Many times though he had commented on my outfit. ‘This skirt makes you look even taller,’ he would say sometimes and it just did not sit well with me since he rarely commended my height. Right now, he was wearing shorts, a tee, and a pair of sneakers, he had on a pair of sunglasses and his face cap was turned backwards. Then he had a face towel hanging off his pocket. Maybe someone else would have made it work, but it just seemed too much on him. Joe chose the time to pop into my mind. And I quickly erased the thought.
“What’s up?” I said yawning.
“Nothing much. Did I disturb your sleep?”
“No, I had been sleeping for a while, actually.” I checked my WhatsApp again to see if he had replied, but there was no reply yet. Well, now that he was back we could have the conversation physically.
***
Though Tochi returned about six hours ago, we somehow hadn’t talked about the elephant in the room. Now, we were taking a stroll… more like the bike men and the cars trying to completely send us off the road. I forgot how rowdy Lagos could be. He was walking beside me but it almost seemed as if we were not walking together. How do I bring his attention to this? These are the subtle things he did that made me feel weird. He suggested we take this stroll so we could also get food but he had not even looked at my side once.
…
Thanks for reading this episode. Please leave a comment below!
