It was approximately five in the morning when my phone rang; it was Lota “Asari, something happened… can… you come over?” I could barely understand her through the whimpering “what’s the matter?” the sleep was all gone and I silently prayed that it wasn’t a case of death. “It’s Daniel” oh my god! Daniel is dead… Fuck “What happened to him? Is he okay?” I asked “no, please come” the tears made very difficult for her to talk and I figured that I was adding to her problems by asking questions instead of rushing over there. “I’m on my way” I said and ended the call.
As I rushed into my clothes to the house I wondered what could have gone wrong; did she find him with another woman? But that wouldn’t warrant a 5:00 am call from Lota. My mind ran through a list of the most abominable things he could have done to her to call with tears by this time but I couldn’t settle on anything.
“Mummy, good morning” my mother was reading on the dining table “where are you going to this early?” I didn’t have an answer that was better than Lota was in tears and I needed to go see what it was all about. “I hope she is alright” “Mummy, if she is alright she wouldn’t have called me by five in the morning crying” I answered fighting with the key in the key hole.
“Okay o. I hope she gets better” she replied and I was gone.
Daniel and Lota have been together for about eight months now and from where I’m sitting, everything seemed alright; in my opinion I thought that they were going to get married very soon because this relationship is the most stable relationship Lota has ever been in. What could be the problem? I prayed that he was sick.
I know that it is bad to wish someone sickness but thinking about their relationship coming to a devastating end was something I did not want to deal with. Have you seen Lota when she is heartbroken? My god! I have been there all the times she has gotten her heart broken and … for lack of more intense words… it was extremely insane. A heartbroken Lota is an insane one and Asari is the one who always deals with her; Ashezi always finds a way to escape it.
Within fifteen minutes, I was in her drive way; Lota lives in the BQ of a big four bedroom duplex. I drove my mother’s car that morning, no time for uber. Her door was open so I let myself right in “Asari” Lota called and her tears entered another gear “what is the matter?” I was too curious at this point that my heart started beating fast.
She pulled herself from her bed and went into her wardrobe, pulled out a waist sized white towel and threw it at me. I looked at the towel and looked at her; then she pointed at the inscription on the towel and what I saw shocked me to my core. It read
“Daniel weds Edith… 16th May 2016” I swear to god, I have never been that confused in my life. “2016 is four years ago” I was trying to convince myself out of what I was looking at but when she pointed at a picture of Daniel and another woman on another part of the towel; I lost it and began to cry.
“You mean…” she nodded “that he has been…” she nodded again confirming everything I was trying to say but couldn’t completely bring out of my mouth. “But why? Why are men like this?” I asked and cried at the same time.
I cried because I was sad for my friend, no body deserved that; to love someone and trust them for months just to discover that they have been married for years. That was wickedness.
I asked her where she found the towel and she told me that it was a colleague of hers who insisted that he was married that gave her the towel. “God bless that colleague of yours” I said “indeed” she replied and we sat there quietly until Ashezi arrived.
“What’s up?” Ashezi was obviously in a hurry to leave for work but when I showed her the towel she called in sick. “Have you talked to Daniel about this?” Ashezi was furious; I believe that if she could run her car over Daniel at the moment she would have. “No I haven’t. I don’t even want to… what is there to say. I don’t want to give him a chance to explain” Lota was now calm and the tears had stopped.
“I’m coming” Ashezi said, she left the house just to appear in a short time holding what looked like a stick. “What is that?” I asked “Kush” she replied. “Instead of sitting down here and talking about that idiot, we are going to smoke kush and eat plenty food and watch modern family and laugh our asses off” she sounded determined “that works for me” I replied looking at Lota who just shrugged. And that was exactly what we did. Smoke Kush, eat a lot of food, watch modern family and laugh a lot.
In our high and kushed up state we came up with the brilliant idea of spending a week in Lagos; I think it was predominantly Lota’s idea “I’m now single, you are single and you are Asari are jobless…” “in-between jobs” I corrected her “same difference…” she continued “let’s take a break from this town and do something new… adventurous…. You know”
It sounded like a good idea, it was a good idea on paper but knowing Lota and what she was like after a heart break; I knew that it wasn’t but I agreed to it anyway. What is the worst that could happen? I thought … a naïve question I would say. A very naïve question by me.
