© Oby Chinyere
Julio called me that afternoon
“Ruka I’m back to the house, done and dusted, confirmed and certified Nurse Julio…hahahaha, all thanks to God and to you for ma-king my dream to come true, it was a big task…others pu-ll-ed out but I pu-ll-ed throu-gh….
“Congratulation Julio, I’m so happy for you…this is what you have always wanted I’m glad you made it…
“Thank you, the house is so lonely without you, I will be traveling back home tomorrow, we nee-d to celebr@te as one family, I’m glad you are home is better that way so that we can be together as a family, I visited the market this evening to foresee things, and Tara is really doing so well in your abs£nce, she is foreseeing things on your behalf, and all the slot are doing good too, so I have being wanting to ask about Dave, what exactly is going on, he said you have not being taking his calls, what did he do and hope is not because of Mara, because if she’s behind all this I will tear her ap@rt with my teeth…
“I don’t want to talk about Dave, let’s not talk about him or Mara, plea-se remind Tara of the supplies she will make tomorrow morning to customers, she should make sure she s£nd all the money to bank, plea-se tell her to gather all the sales from other slots and take everything to the bank, I don’t want her leaving money to the following day, she should also pay suppliers whenever they supply, I will be back next week… tell her that first thing in the morning she should go to the bank, I will call her again to remind her… and Julio don’t go anywhere close to Dave and I don’t want you to go and start fighting Mara, I know you are a tigress, plea-se save your strength for your future patients…I miss you sis and congrat once again…come home let’s celebr@te…
Richa-rd has asked me to visit him at his grandmother’s place he was coming in the evening to get me and Mia, he was turning into a family friend as mother was alre-ady calling him “my son”
He drove down without Jones, and we left with him to see his adorable grandma
And she was indeed adorable, she was so strong and friendly too, she speak so fluently, she made us green tea with snacks, and said is a healthy and burns fat but since I wasn’t dieting I decided to take creamy tea with the home made pancake she offered, she told us lots of stories, and how eating healthy has kept her so far, we all sat around a table in her flower garden as she talks, she talks about Richa-rd when he was little, and he was always trying to re-ad people’s mind, I laugh at some of the stories.
Everywhere around the house was clean, it was a big house and so warm, I saw two ladies I guess they are the ones attending to her nee-d, they all seem so nice, Jones was also there with us, as he sat close to Richa-rd ’s grandma like a b©dy guard
The fine old woman asked us to visit her anytime we are free, she likes it when young people visits.
re-ad also THORN IN THE FLESH
After the meeting and having the best of time, it was time to go and Richa-rd told Jones who wanted to go and drop us not to bother that he will do that
Richa-rd drove me and Mia back to the house, and as Mia got down I remained in the car with Richa-rd , decided to clear the air with him so that we will un-derstand ourselves better
“thank you for today, it was so fun being with your grandma, I also wanted to tell you that this…I mean whatever relationsh!pthat is forming between us shouldn’t get serious, I’m not re-ady to d@t£ anyone or lead you along, I maybe thinking differently from what you are thinking so I just want us to un-derstand ourselves and keep it cool, so it won’t get complicated in the future, I have had experiences and I just nee-ded to clear the air about us…
“Yeah, you are indeed a strong woman…you probably don’t know how strong you are Eruka, I want to call you the way your mom always calls you “Eruka” is so de-ep and has a de-ep meaning, I wasn’t coming to you for a relationsh!p, I just wanted to be a friend, I don’t have friends around here, as much as I will want to be coming around you everyday I just have to restrict myself to be able to keep away unwanted emotions, your mom is so welcoming, your sister Mia, is so lovely and you mentioned having another crazy sister and I will love to meet her, I un-derstand you have being throu-gh a lot alre-ady in the hands of men and I totally respect your decision in keeping it simple with me. I respect you and also your decision, and I’m glad we had this conversation, but can I still come around most days before I travel back to the city…
“Sure, you can, my sister, Julio will be coming back tomorrow and we will also be having a little house p@rty to celebr@te her, she just graduated from a nursing school, so you are invited to the p@rty, and in that way you will be able to meet Julio…
“wow, thank you for the invite, I will be there, and a big congratulation to your sister, I will really love to meet her and also I can speak to my Dad about her, if she ever nee-ds a big hospital to work in my dad can connect her, both here and abroad depending on her choice…
After our discussion, he c@m£ down and greeted mother, before waving us good bye and drove off, I was happy that we have being able to reach cons-en-sus, i was even more happy to hear that Julio will be having a choice of working in one of those big hospitals, both here or outside the country.
The following day Julio was coming home, and I was looking forward to that, towards the evening Jones c@m£ to drop Richa-rd , he c@m£ with some cu-p cakes and cookies, he said it was his grandmother’s home made snacks, and she asked him to bring it down to us, and another bag has a green tea for mother, we thanked him and also s£nd our greetings to his grandma, he asked if my sister was still coming today and I told him she was, I just spoke with her not quiet long, she will soon get here, Richa-rd asked if he should call Jones to go and get her at the park and I told him not to worry that Julio will find her way down.
We pla-yed a game which involve Mia and mother, in front of her shop, we were alre-ady cracking up with laughter when we ha-rd the sound of a car driving into our compound, everyone stood, and I turned and was shock as I saw it was Dave’s car, I opened my eyes so wi-de as I saw Dave, he embarked on a journey with Julio, he was really the one, Julio never mentioned anything about it to me.
Mia ran to Julio as she stepped down, after which Julio c@m£ to hvg mother who’s hand was alre-ady opened wi-de, I felt dizzy watching Dave and took a back step, Richa-rd was beside me, it was as if he knows what I was going throu-gh, he c@m£ to stand beside me and placed his hand on my back,
Julio walked upto me with her head bent
“plea-se don’t be mad at me Ruka, Dave insisted on coming down with me just to see you, I couldn’t talk him out of it and I never intend to talk him out of it, I was glad to bring him home, plea-se hear him out, it was a long journey getting home can I get a hvg at least I know you can’t trade me for any one else no matter how much I step on your toes, I miss you…
Before I could say anything she hvgged me instead, and when she loos£ned she looked up at Richa-rd who was standing beside me, he moved his hands to my shoulder
“Hi…and who are you, you are holding my sister…that’s her main man by the car, so who are you…introduce yourself…because you are in my compound and you are holding another man’s property…
Richa-rd smiled, ex-posing his white teeth, before saying
“Eruka said she got a crazy sister, I never knew the sister was also defensive and beautiful too…I’m glad to finally meet you Julio, I’m just your family friend, not just Eruka’s friend but to everyone here, congratulation on your graduation, welcome home…
I watch Julio smile sheepishly before thanking him, she moved aside and ask mother and Mia to come with her, she took them inside, I watch as Dave walked down to me,
He looked at Richa-rd who was still standing beside me, I wanted to spite him so I took Richa-rd ’s hand and placed on my back again, I watch Dave ti-ght£ñ his fist, he frowned and j£rked his muscle, he looked from me to Richa-rd before focusing on me
“Ruka, what are you doing…whaaat…who is this…tell him to take his hands off you…or I will make him do it with f0r磅he has no right to hold you this way…I don’t care whoever he is…he should take his hands off your back…
“as if you have being able to take your own hands off Mara, what are you doing here by the way, I hope you didn’t journey all the way down to see me because as you can see I have moved on with my life, so you too should do the same, is a good thing you got a son and also have your ex…this is my new life
“I won’t repeat myself, Ruka tell him to take those hands of his or I will do it for him, I can’t loose you again, not to him or to anyb©dy…I will fight for what that is mine no matter what it takes…I don’t have anything to do with Mara…all I want is you…young man take your hands off her…she’s my woman…you have no right to hold her…
“Have some respect Dave…you are in my home, don’t disrespect my guest…what do you want..
“I want you…just you and I also want him to leave you alone…because my life is incomplete without you…what exactly do you want me to do now…you moved on so what do you want me to do…I love you Ruka, I know is being rou-gh this few weeks but there are certain things that life throws at us that we can’t escape from, I’m sorry…I am de-eply sorry… plea-se don’t do this to me…I love you so much…Ruka look at me…I love you…nothing and no one will be able to separate me from you, not again, after loosing you to Bazil I thought It has all ended until you c@m£ back and I have being more happy than I could ever be, I’m sorry that I hurt you…plea-se we nee-d to talk things out don’t just move on and leave me behind…what will I do without you…plea-se we nee-d to talk things out, I’m re-ady to stay here with you until you decide to hear me out, all that matters is that I’m close to you…plea-se can he now take his hands off you…
Richa-rd gradually pu-ll out his hand with a smile, he stretched out his hand to Dave who reluctantly took it, he introduced himself as just a family friend, Dave watch as Richa-rd quietly walked away, Julio c@m£ out to meet him and they took a walk.
Two talkative, Julio was always having what to say, Richa-rd was always knowing what to say, they will never be bored with each other.
After Richa-rd left Dave gently drew me into a ti-ght hvg, he tried to k!ssme but I hushed him to st©p.
“Don’t do that…sto…st©p it… mother maybe watching us throu-gh the window…I said stoooop….
He started laughing at the way I covered my mouth with my hands.
I’m glad he is here with me, I have really missed him.
To be continued..
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