As we sat there, I felt Tobe’s hand on mine and my hand as if with a life of its own held his. For a reason I do not know, hanging with Tobe that night was perfect.
“Do you like Chinese food?” he asked breaking the wonderful silence.
“Yes I do but I am not going to any restaurant with you”, I replied with a tone that reminded him of the time he stood me up.
“Okay, I understand why” he responded softly.
I like Tobe. I like the fact that he is honest about who he is and never pretends. He is not perfect and he knows it and the funny thing is that he has never tried to impress me. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.
“Asari!” I heard my mother call
“That’s my cue” I stood up “I have to go back inside” but before I could hug him goodnight my mother appeared.
“What are you doing outside?” she said noticing Tobe
“Good evening ma” Tobe greeted with a bow
“How are you?” my mother replied then turned to me, “how many times will I tell you that when you have a guest you bring them into the house?”
“Mummy, he isn’t staying long that’s why…”
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“It doesn’t matter, please next time don’t do this. It’s not right”, she interrupted and went back inside.
“Your mother is nice”, Tobe had a smile that I had never seen on him before
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I was shy. He had never looked at me like that before.
“I’ll see you around” he kissed me, entered his car and drove off.
My heart melted as I watched his car disappear into the night, I didn’t want him to leave; I wanted to talk to him all night. I guess it was because I had never seen him in this light before and I had a pinching feeling in my stomach that this sweet Tobe that came to see me was going to disappear with the night.
The next day, while I was preparing to go see a customer, guess who called? Max. I was tempted to answer but I restrained myself mainly because I had a feeling he wanted to apologize for his behavior and I was not ready to forgive him.
Then I went on my marketing calls instead and they all went well; I gained two big customers for the bank. My day was going very well. When I got back to the office, there was a basket of food waiting by my desk with a note that read “Since you won’t eat with me. Love Tobe”. It was cute and I liked it but sending food to my office was not going to be enough to make me believe that he had changed.
I dialed his number to thank him. I listened to it ring and just as I was about to end the call he answered.
“Talk to me”, his voice was very relaxed
“Is that how you answer your calls?” I asked glad that he answered
“Nope, just you”
We talked for about 20 minutes, something we had never done before. Tobe is a very good conversationalist but I had never seen this funny part of him before because I laughed a lot talking to him that afternoon. I laughed until I started shedding tears.
“Let’s go and see a movie tonight” he suggested
I wanted to go but I was scared that he was going to stand me up. “I’ll pick you up and drop you at home” he offered, noticing my hesitation but I refused and he persisted until I agreed.
“I swear Asari, history will not repeat itself” he promised.
“It better not,” I thought but I didn’t say anything to him.
I finished my work on time and even provided my boss with some extra time to yell at me. As the days go by I have become more immune to her annoying voice.
Anyway, after work and the whole yelling, I got ready for the movie night with Tobe still having it at the back of my mind that he may cancel. It is Tobe, ghosting on chicks is his thing but to my pleasant surprise, he came to pick me up five minutes early.
We chose a romantic comedy; no, he let me pick a romantic comedy called ‘Desperate’ which I was very excited to see but the excitement soon disappeared at the popcorn stand when a very familiar male voice caught my attention. It was Abdul.
My heart started racing around my entire body; it was hard to focus and act like he wasn’t there. I figured he had seen me walk in with Tobe but trust Abdul, he was very good at behaving he did not know who I was and since he was with a girl I knew that there was no chance in hell he would acknowledge my presence; why would he? I wanted to ignore him but my guilty conscience did not let me.
As God will have it, we all went in to see the same movie and just like the movie title; I started feeling desperate. Why? You might ask. I really wanted to apologize to him for what I did to him at the restaurant and as the minutes went on, the urge to go to his seat was stronger than ever. I controlled myself successfully until I saw him walk out then I followed him.
“I’m sorry”, I blurted out as I walked up to him on a lonely corridor
He looked at me with a grim look. “I didn’t mean to act that way, I am sorry I treated you…” His lips on mine stopped my apology. When I pulled away I almost stumbled. “What was that for?” I managed to ask
“Apology accepted”, he whispered and walked away.
I took a minute to catch my breath and wrap my head around what had happened but just as I turned to walk back to the theatre there he was. Tobe. He had seen everything that happened.