Episode 5 (Another Chance)

Last updated on April 26th, 2024 at 07:07 am

1 Year Ago

Patricia sighed as she dropped her bag on the couch in her sitting room then strolled into her kitchen with her left shoulder clutching her phone to her ear.

“Helen, I’m home now. Bye-bye.” She said.

“Nice one. Use and dump. When you were going home and needed someone to talk to, you called me. Now it’s bye-bye.”

“Sorry, babe.” Patricia laughed and ended the call.

She had been taking a digital marketing course which was so tedious that if not for the tuition cost, she would have quit from the first week. Thankfully, she was almost done with the course now. She planned to quit her job as a digital marketer and start her own thing. If it didn’t work, she was going to have to do Uber or sell something, but she wasn’t going back to the corporate world. She buttered three slices of bread and went back to the sitting room.

Yesterday had been her birthday and she was unable to celebrate it because her work was that demanding. Today didn’t seem feasible considering how tired she was. After looking through the TV channels and seeing nothing watch-worthy, Patricia picked up her phone. Sire had posted a picture of his friends. It seemed as if they all hung out. He rarely posted on WhatsApp, probably thrice a year. She owed him a visit, she thought. The last time, he was the one who visited. She scrolled and the next picture had Lana in it. Her heart skipped a beat, he was smiling and he still looked good. 

Patricia zoomed in on the picture to see if he was wearing a ring. He wasn’t wearing a ring. Maybe he is divorced. She mentally scolded herself for the negative thought. It had been almost a year since she learned that he was married. It was his birthday on that day and she had taken his number so she could wish him a happy birthday. Sire had reluctantly given it to her. She didn’t need to tell him that she wasn’t able to reach out to him though. What would she have said to Lana?

What was she going to say to him now if she reached out to him? Patricia deliberated. She went to his contact on WhatsApp and opened it to start a chat. What if he didn’t remember her? She thought. Then she removed her profile picture, that way if he didn’t know her, she could pretend that it was a wrong number and block him. It was a harmless chat, after all, they used to be friends, Patricia concluded. She blamed her fussiness on exhaustion.

Hi, Lana. Good afternoon. She typed and hit send. She had hoped that he was going to take a while to reply to her, but the three dots indicating that he was typing immediately appeared. Patricia held her breath as her heart beat faster.

Patricia?! Pat?! Wow! !! He answered.

—

It turned out that Adelana was still married, he just believed that he didn’t need to wear a ring to show that he was committed. Patricia also knew that he now worked remotely as a full stack developer though he still lived in Ibadan with his wife. She wanted to ask Adelana if he had a child and had hesitated a bit but couldn’t help her curiosity. It also turned out that they were trying to enjoy their marriage for some time before attempting to have a child. Patricia couldn’t help but notice that Adelana sounded joyful and fulfilled with his life.

It had been a month since they chatted and she didn’t know if it made sense for her to be the first one to reach out to him again. The other day, they had chatted into the night, she even missed her bedtime which she hadn’t done in a long time even with her hectic job.

—

Pat, how are you doing? I’ll be in Lagos on Friday for a seminar. Are you up for a hangout on Saturday?

Nothing serious. Just as old friends.

Adelana sent the second message about five minutes later. 

After an unplanned busy day at work, Patricia eventually got to her phone during her lunch break and saw Adelana’s messages. She hadn’t been expecting him to reach out to her but now that she saw his messages, she was excited. She checked the time and saw that he had sent it about five hours ago. She hoped that he wasn’t mad at her or going to cancel because of her delayed response. Before she could overthink it, she shot him a message.

Tech brooo. No problem. Let me know the time and location. 

—

Patricia had tried not to think about her hangout with Adelana throughout the week. It was now Saturday though and she was waiting for her ride. She was eventually going to see Adelana after so long. Now that it felt close, she couldn’t help but worry. Had she made a mistake by agreeing to see him? Should she have even chatted with him? She also contemplated cancelling her ride. Unfortunately, at about the same time, the driver sent her a message that he was outside.

…

Should Patricia have texted Adelana? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Read episode 6