A Valentine Day Fiasco Chapter 4 – A New Friend? Maybe?

   
She got home at 9 o’clock tired but a good kind of tired. Valentine’s Day this year wasn’t bad at all, she thought to herself. It wasn’t what she had thought it would be. She picked her phone from her bag as soon as she got in and checked for new messages. There were messages as usual but she saw a call from Rachel her best friend. Rachel and Cynthia went to the same university, UNN and since then they have kept in touch. Like Cynthia, Rachel just schooled in the east. Her whole family stayed in Lagos. So after her education at UNN she moved back to Lagos and their friendship was given more room to blossom.

   Cynthia’s time out with John had been so interesting that she never had the urge to look at her phone for any reason. It must be the reason why she missed the calls from Rachel. Rachel being Rachel was likely calling her to give her details about how her valentine’s day went. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation but she was going to hear it anyway. There was no point postponing it. So she called back. At the second ring, Rachel picked the call.

“Ahn Ahn you didn’t even allow the phone to ring before you picked it. Were you missing me that much?

“Which kind missing be that? Abeg no vex me o. Why you no come pick my call since na? I bin don dey fear”, Rachel replied.

“Aww, you so you did miss me. Anyways you won’t believe what happened to me today.”

“Oh really? Try me”, Rachel responded.

“I met someone.”

“Oooh. Someone”, Rachel cooed.

“Won’t you let me finish? I can already imagine the look on your face right now. Anyways, it’s not what you are thinking. Remember a guy named John, John Martins in my secondary school. I once told you about him.” Cynthia replied

“Hmmmn, let me think.” She said in response

After a moment, Rachel continued, “Yes, yes I do. How could I forget? Your mortal enemy in high school. The one that was responding to all your love notes to Tito then.”

“Oh my! You met him”, she added excitedly.

“Yes I did. It was in a taxi. I was heading back from my shopping earlier today and I got into this taxi. The guy was staring at me so strangely like he knew me somewhere then suddenly he called my full name. When he did. I realized that this person knew me from somewhere so I tried recalling the face and then it came. It was him. John Martins”

   Cynthia proceeded to narrate the events of the day to her while Rachel interjected with ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ and ‘ehens’.

“Wow. You had a really eventful day. To think that I was going to gist you about how mine went. This is way better. So tell me when next are you going to call him up for the next date?” Rachel said when she finished talking

“Date? You have started again Rachel. It wasn’t a date and I am not calling him anytime soon.”

“Okay o madam”

   Rachel then went on to gist her about the events of the day. Someone did enjoy valentines as much as she did. Bobo took her to a water park at Lekki. Thereafter, they (Rachel and Bobo) had lunch at Dominos pizzas and did a couple of other things. Rachel obviously had had a nice time and Cynthia was happy for her. Her new found love seemed to be working for her, she could only hope Rachel wouldn’t end up like she did. Sad lonely and bitter about love. The call had ended some minutes ago. Cynthia went to have her bath, changed into her pajamas and went to bed. It had been a long day. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep almost immediately.

  

   John stared at the clock on the wall in the urbanely furnished living room. It was just 10:00pm, still quite early for him to sleep. He was bored of what was showing on TV. He picked up his laptop from the table instead. He decide to surf the net. On a second thought he picked up his phone, went to his Facebook app and searched for her name. Why didn’t he think of this when he had remembered her and wanted to apologize? Her name was one of the first names he saw. He selected it and viewed the profile. She had not recently uploaded anything there as he scrolled through. He went to her pictures. She had pictures of herself, lots of them, including some from high school. The transformation was glaring. She had tucked in that fat and created a curvy but more defined body. He was amazed.

   He kept scrolling and then he saw one that made him stop in his tracks. She was with a guy and they were both smiling. They seemed really in love. He twisted his nose in disgust. Love was for silly people. He had no time for love. He dated but they were just casual flings, just for the sex. It was the only way he could let go. Right now he wasn’t ‘shacking up with anyone’ as his mum would call it. She must have done a thousand and one vigils and fasts praying for him to settle down just like his younger sister. His poor mum. She wants grandkids. He’d find a way to get those grandkids for her but he wasn’t going to play that game called love. He stretched himself out on the sofa, shut down his laptop and placed it in its proper position. It was time to sleep. He had to go to church tomorrow; he had promised his mother. He walked to his room and laid down on his bed. In a matter of minutes, he fell asleep.

Click here to read Chapter 5.