Read my new novel titled 'Soul Tie'.

CHAPTER ONE

“I’m so happy we made it” Akin said holding her tight

“Thanks to God” she replied routinely. A part of her is still as confused as it used to be in her teenage years, watching Hindi movies. These movies taught her that one must find happiness in one’s marriage. She is not really happy, no, she doesn’t think so. But this guy in front of her is, obviously. Today, his dream of marrying the love of his life has been achieved but hers has been forgone. The early hours of the day has been filled with rejoicing, eating, drinking, and merry-making. Well-wishers from all sides have come to rejoice with them, everyone is happy but her. Throughout the day, only one feeling took hold of her- fear. Fear of their future as couples, fear of a divorce, fear of the past resurfacing, fear of everything gripped her mind but mere looking at her won’t point that out. Only one person noticed- Tomiwa, her childhood friend. Well, she thought Tomiwa won’t know because she hid that fear behind a glowing, smiling, make-up polished face but Tommy had known her for too long not to notice.

            Enveloped in her thoughts as Akin looked at her trying to create the chemistry shared between couples on their first night, she was distorted by his approaching lips. Her heart skipped a beat. He actually wants to kiss her. Now, she couldn’t hide it, the fear came out plain on her face.

“Are you alright?”

How could she possibly be alright?

“Sure”

She quickly made up her mind. There’s no escape, she must face it, and she is now Mrs. Akinwale Oladoja. Either she likes it or not, she was pronounced a couple of hours ago.

She watched him close his eyes and place his lips on hers. She let him fondle her, squeeze her but something was still really wrong, she didn’t feel the butterflies in her stomach. She closed her eyes too and tried to feel what he’s obviously feeling but she was far too dead to feel it. He kissed her so much that she lost control of her breath. She responded to him throughout the romance obligatorily rather than emotionally. She thought so hard that she felt like crying. She closed her eyes recapping her past like a movie being played. She remembered the lines of a famous Bollywood star in a famous Bollywood movie, “You live once, die once, marry once and love just once” she has loved once, doing it again is almost impossible.

“This is the night we’ve been waiting for” she heard the aroused man in front of her say. She was not in the mood for it at all, not now, not ever.

“Don’t you think we are kinda exhausted for this? I mean, I don’t know about you but I’m really tired. We are married; we can do this any other time without restriction”

He kept mute for about seven seconds, before speaking,

“Well, you are right.”

That saved the night!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

“What are you saying?” Tommy said, amazed at her friend’s attitude towards intimacy with her husband on their first night. She had come to the bank where her friend is an accountant to come and tell her what transpired between her and her husband a night before. To avoid noise in the banking hall, they strolled out to discuss, leaning on a car that belongs to one of them.

“Tomiwa, I can’t help it”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Tomiwa…”

“Don’t call me. I don’t see any reason genuine enough for what you did. If you haven’t gotten over your past, why did you put yourself into what you are not ready for?

“I don’t know what to do”

“I know. Get over A.Y”

As if someone slapped her, she jerked. That name is enough to make her slap her friend for that kind of advice. The look on her face sent a chill down Tommy’s spine.

“I want to take my leave”.

 Tommy expected that.

“Enny, I’m sorry”

“No problem”

“Eniola, I think you need to see a guidance counselor. You need someone that will tell you the truth.”

“What truth?”

“…The truth that you are married to Akin. You need to wake up from your slumber friend and face reality”

Her friend was right.

Tommy continued, “A.Y is out of your life, give another man his chance”

“Please, Tomiwa, keep that name out of our discussion” she said sternly.

Tomiwa knew that some real mistakes had been made. Her friend is still in love with Ayoola. A gripping silence followed afterwards. Neither knew what to say. Enny grabbed her bag and walked to her car, breaking the silence with the sound of her heel slippers. Tomiwa watched as her friend sashayed to her new Toyota Corolla, the car Akin gave her as a new bride. She looked at her friend critically: Eniola was dressed in a shiny blue lace material with a blue heel slippers and bag to match. Her gold jewelries and her make-up were very lovely, though light, matching her chocolate skin. Mere looking at that face won’t link anyone to her emotional trauma.

“Take care!” Tommy shouted

“You too” she replied in a lower tone.

On getting home, she entered the room, undressed, and headed to the bathroom, she sat in the bathtub filled with cold water and cried her heart out. She recalled the day she met Akinwale. She had gone with a committee of friends to swim in a hotel swimming pool. They left her at the car when she was delaying them, looking for her shower cap in her bag. She got lost on her way to meet them and trespassed into a snooker court filled with guys. Akin was backing the door when she entered in her three-quarter jean and green tank top. He turned to answer the person saying “hi” to them when he beheld the beauty, standing at the door, looking confused.

“Who be this?” one of them said in Pidgin English.

“Hi” she said, “I’m sorry, I made a mistake”

Akin turned and they looked at each other. The chemistry did not last on her part as she just turned and jammed the door after her. But on the other part, the chemistry lingered on in his mind, he couldn’t let go. As she stood outside looking confused, someone suddenly walked up behind her, it was Akin.

“Hi lady”

“Hello”

“Are you okay?”

Does she look like she is? She thought.

“I lost my way”

“Where exactly are you going?” he asked, smiling.

“The swimming pool”

“Let me show you”

They started strolling. She wondered why he offered when he is not a guide. When they got there, Tomiwa was the first to see her.

“We’ve been looking for you, where have you been?”

“I lost my way. He helped me get this place”, she replied referring to Akin.

“Hey thanks” Tomiwa said to him.

“You’re welcome”

Akin left her but still looked back at her, this time she didn’t even see him, and it was Tomiwa who noticed it.

“Wow! Eniola, someone is tripping for you” she teased

“Who?”

“That guy”, she replied looking towards him. This made Enny look at him and this time, their gaze locked again. The strange guy placed two fingers on his lips and blew a kiss at them. Tomiwa started laughing.

“What?!” Enny exclaimed, “You are not serious”

As they swam on, having fun with their other friends, they made jest of those who couldn’t swim. Suddenly, a waiter brought drinks to them.

“We are not buying drinks” one of them announced.

“I’ve been ordered to serve all of you”

“By who?”

“The gentle man over there” the waiter replied pointing at the same guy that helped Enny get her way.

“Why is he doing like his father owns this place?” Tomiwa asked rudely

“Actually, his father does” the waiter revealed.

Silence fell on them.

“Literarily?” Eniola asked

“Yes. That’s Akinwale Oladoja, the son of Akinola Oladoja, the owner of this hotel”

“I’m afraid that’s the person this hotel is named after, you know, Haykay Grand Hotel and Suites” Enny said quietly.

The guy was just smiling, looking at their expressions. They stopped swimming, dressed up, took the drinks that were served them. Then, they went to meet the guy behind it all. On getting to him, he was sitting on a stool, sipping an iced drink.

“Hi” Tomiwa started

“Hi”

“Tomiwa is my name. These are my friends and we came to thank you for the drink”

“No qualms. Akinwale is my name, my friends call me Akin”

“Okay. Good to meet you” they shook hands

“I’d like to meet you guys again”

“Actually, this is our first time of coming here. We used to think this place is for big people.”

“But we proved you wrong I guess”

“Yeah. So, we would be coming here from now.”

“Actually, I want you to come on Saturday to hang out with my friends”

“That would be nice”

“Should I expect you?

“I think so” she said hesitatingly, looking at her friends, especially Eniola.

“Alright, I won’t be offended if you don’t come but please come again”

They left that day. That marked their first meeting.

Eniola and Tomiwa were the only ones that could make the Saturday date. They met his friends: Seun, Dan, Ben, Nelly and others. Other girls too were part of the group but they are girlfriends to the guys around excluding Akin and Nelly.

“Boy, won’t you find yourself a girl now?” Dan asked, which made Tomiwa and Eniola know he is not the girl type unlike his friends.

On hearing that, Akin shot Enny a look but she didn’t look at him because she suspected he might do that. Later as they chatted on, the guys started leaving with their respective girls one after the other. Only Nelly, Tommy, Enny and Akin were seated at the table. Although others were still around the hotel premises, privacy was just necessary.

“May I?”Akin asked Enny.

She shot her friend a look as though she was asking for permission, “Sure”

At this, Enny and Akin started strolling.

Eniola recalled vividly the first question he asked her:

 “Did you really miss your way on Thursday?”

She was surprised at the question. Did she look like she came to poke nose? She hid her anger.

“Why did you ask? She replied with another question.

“Because I don’t think you missed your way”

“I did. My friend left me behind and I haven’t been here hitherto. What else could it have been?”

He stopped strolling to look at her, “I think it’s destiny”.

She couldn’t believe her ears. “What?!” now, she could guess where he was driving at. She could read him reading her.

“Maybe we were destined to meet one way or the other.”

“Well, that’s a thought” she said trying to discard the look she read on his face- that sensual emotional look. She then tried to continue her stroll but he pulled her back.

“What?” she asked surprised.

“You may likely think I’m too forward but I don’t care. I want to be your friend”

“You already are”

“No. I can bet it with you that Nelly and Tomiwa’s friendship may end here. I don’t want ours to be like that”, he sighed out of frustration, “Eniola, I’m not the girl guy. I just like you.”

“That doesn’t cost me much I guess”

“Yes”

They ended up exchanging phone numbers that evening.

Coming back to the present, Enny wiped her tears, washed herself and dressed up casually for house chores. Housewife stuff. She prepared lunch before the arrival of her husband. She served lunch and awaited his arrival. While waiting, she picked her album, swapping the pages, one after the other, reminiscing the good old days. She saw a picture of herself, Akin, A.Y, and Tomiwa. She was dressed in a ballet gown while A.Y was also in his dancing costumes. The other two were dressed casually. That reminded her of one of her greatest moments in life. She had invited Akin to her dance rehearsal in school while she was in two hundred level as a theatre art student with A.Y. A.Y was her full-time dance partner. Ayoola, also called A.Y, was her first love, the man of her dreams. Though she first had a crush on him, he fell in love with her on the long run. She began to wonder what led to the feelings she had for Ayoola in the first place: maybe the intimacy they shared during rehearsals, or his charisma and fine boy attitudes, or his dancing skills. Whatever be the cause, she has never regretted it and never will. Akin soon came back and put an end to her unending thoughts