“So what’s up?” Efe asked Biola for the umpteenth time, Biola knew that hanging out with Efe again after everything was going to be awkward and she was prepared for it even grateful that she found Efe’s uncomfortable demeanour funny
“Why are you laughing?” Efe asked “because of how uncomfortable you look…” they both laughed. It was a nice and quiet evening, a belated birthday present from Efe to Biola; dinner in a nice half empty restaurant was amazing as soon as they got past the awkward phase.
It was as if time and events never came between them, after many months of going back and forth doubting the survival of a friendship that started in an unforeseen place they were back to being Biola and Efe. At the end of the night Biola gave Efe a gold necklace as a belated birthday present
“My birthday was last year” Efe said stroking the beautiful 24 karate golden pendant “and I am sorry I missed it” Biola had changed or so it seemed; the Biola she moved to Lagos with was not really interested in being friends with her but this Biola seemed to be pulling all the stops to retain her friendship but what she didn’t know was that she did not have to do anything to keep Efe.
Although Efe had her reservations in the past, the treasury bills Biola bought for her and her mother was proof that she understood the meaning of having allies and she knew how to keep a promise. Biola was never ever going to apologize for what went down between her and Chief but she was ready to make extra efforts to remain Efe’s friend and her number one way of achieving it was staying away from Efe’s entire family both extended and nuclear especially the men in Efe’s family
Efe quietly sobbed in her cubicle, it was another day at the office; her colleagues were mean to her and she had no ground breaking story or idea to pitch at the editor’s meeting. Efe worked at a newspaper called THE NAIJA TIMES and her supervising editor Mr Johnson was a very brash man who had no patience for incompetence.
He was always ready to embarrass journalists he thought were not contributing their quota in a meeting and Efe was not an exemption. Efe loved her job but no matter how hard she tried, the best and most exclusive stories slipped her fingers and this time she wasn’t only embarrassed in the meeting but she was demoted to cover uninteresting stories like a secondary school football match happening that evening.
Efe could see her dream job slipping away from her and she needed to do something and fast “Efe you have a visitor” the receptionist startled her; she quickly wiped her face as discreetly as she could so that she wouldn’t know that she had been crying but the receptionist knew “I will tell him that you are busy” the girl who had already heard of the meetings events felt sorry for her “no, it’s okay… thank you” it was another suitor she had planned to tell off so she didn’t care if he saw her looking haggard.
Later that day, she pulled herself together and went to the football game with all the enthusiasm she could muster, she sat in the scantily populated small stadium and took notes seriously thinking of the next game-changing idea to pitch to her supervising editor but she got nothing.
The game had begun and more parents had arrived, some watched with excitement and support while others planted either their eyes or ears in their phones “you look bored” Biola said snapping her fingers in Efe’s face “terribly bored” Efe responded. Biola’s presence was a good distraction from the game and her lack of great ideas.
Efe invited Biola to watch the game with her because she anticipated boredom and boy was she right, Biola came with a bottle of wine and snacks; just before Efe could reject the alcoholic drink she reminded her that she was now 100% cancer free and needed to live her life, so they drank, ate and talked about everything under the sun until the game ended then Efe realized that she didn’t pay attention to the game and knew nothing about it only the scores.
“I don’t even know the name of the players” she panicked and began to cry, Biola was taken aback by her sudden tears over a secondary school football game “are you okay?” she asked Efe believing that the tears were for something more than the game and Efe explained to her that she had been having a hard time finding her feet at work, she told her about her mean colleagues and her inability to deliver a groundbreaking story
“Wow! I’m sorry I didn’t know this” Biola hugged her crying friend wishing she could do something to help her “there’s nothing you can do except you know the president or something” Efe said jokingly as she sniffed and blew her nose with tears streaming down her eyes
“How will the president help the situation?” Biola wondered “he is going for this G10 economic summit in South Africa next week and stuff… I don’t know… I just believe that the journalist flying with him has hit the jack pot” Efe responded and Biola encouraged her to keep the faith and keep working as hard as she always had.
They found out all the information they needed about the game and the schools that played so Efe was able to write the best piece she could about the game. It wasn’t a headline piece in fact it was going to be in the corner of the paper where few people paid attention to but it was a piece and she still had a job.
“Guess who I just saw?” Biola hated whenever Efe asked her this question because it always turned out to be Seyi and she was right it was him. It had been three months since the last time that she saw Seyi and since then he fell off the face of the earth. She didn’t see him anywhere even in places she knew that he frequented; he only appeared to her friends and acquaintances but not her
“You saw him… so what do you want me to do? Use okra soup for skipping rope?” Biola’s sarcastic side was something Efe was very used to “yes indeed… if you can do it then by all means… he didn’t ask of you sha… in case you are wondering” Efe’s words were like a sharp pocket knife piercing the most tender section of her heart
“How could he not ask of me? Doesn’t he miss me at all?” Biola’s thoughts were that of a broken hearted girl but she would be damned if she let anyone know how she felt about Seyi “I’m just kidding… he asked of you” Efe’s words brought slight relief but it did not change the fact that she missed Seyi terribly or that she had done everything she knew how to do to get rid of her feelings for him; but the more he stayed away the stronger the feelings were.
And even though feelings were something Biola could control she just didn’t want them at all; they bothered her alot. As her and Efe spoke on the phone she brought up all Efe’s rejected suitors to change the focus of the conversation from her “so, care to tell me why you ignored Ekene at the football game last week?”
“I was working now… you know” “I don’t know anything, all I know is that you are somehow afraid to live your life” Biola hit the nail on the head but Efe disagreed “C’mon Efe… I know you, you are 100% cancer free and you still live as if you are sick, you haven’t changed your daily routine neither have you thrown out all the things you used to make yourself comfortable because you were sick…” Efe interrupted her with more disagreeing sentences but Biola continued
“I don’t want to argue with you… as glad as I am that you are now healthy, I do wish that you live your life without fear” the conversation was not as intense as Biola thought it was going to turn because Efe secretly agreed with her; their call ended after another round of complaint from Efe about her job.
Biola was getting tired of hearing about how Efe suffered at her job, so she decided to do something to help her friend, she called President Ken with the special phone she had tucked away.
