Jide heaved a huge sigh more out of exhaustion than anything else. His project plan meeting with his Turkish partners had taken its toll on his strength and concentration as he fixed his gaze wearily on the road as he sped down from Ozumba heading back home to his apartment in Lekki. Oh! How much he has missed his bed! he thought and just remembered with a start that he hadn’t slept for three straight hours in the past 72 hours. He slammed his brakes just in time as the red traffic light beamed beamed before his eyes, at the intersection off Ajose Adeogun, his weary eyes darted to his dashboard and he exclaimed when he saw the pointer on the dashboard showing red , indicating he is running out of petrol. With a deep frown, he decided to drive further down towards the AP filling station where he can refill his tank. Not even the serenading voice of Michael Bolton's "only a woman like you" that filling the airwaves from his music player in the car could cheer him up. He was in a surly mood and couldn’t understand why. He remembered dimly that he had snapped at his security man twice in the house before he left for his meeting and then severally at his Secretary and his Personal Assistant. was the pressure getting to him? maybe, he thought.
Jide is not the relationship type. At least not since the fiasco with his last girlfriend, Melissa while in the UK. Melissa had swept him off his feet when they met during his internship in Cardiff, Wales. He was easily taken in by the charm and allure she possessed and wasted no time getting acquainted. Coincidentally, they are both Architects and Jide exploited the avenues offered by their professional meetings to the full. His joy knew no bounds when he learnt that she is also Nigerian of both an Edo and Ijaw stock. Her dad is Edo while her mum is Ijaw. Melissa lived all her life in the UK and occasionally travelled home to visit her grand mother who she grew to become very fond of. She knew very little about her mixed culture and nothing about the language.
Having been raised in Central London, Melissa breathed the cockney accent and spoke it with an admirable ease. Meeting Jide therefore was her best chance at acculturation and she tried to pick up some pidgin and Yoruba phrases from their little time together. Jide wasted no time in proposing to her after four months in spite of justified protestations by her friends and family who felt it was too short. It was just 6 weeks to their wedding when the bubble burst. Melissa had been two-timing with Jide’s professional colleague at Peters and Baxter, the firm of Architects where they both worked. Jide fought back the tears in vain as he recalled that fateful day.
He was to travel to Frankfurt, Germany to meet some German Associates with whom they had been working on a lead plant for awhile and was already on his way to the airport when he got a call from Klaus Bauer, A senior Associate who was to join him at the airport for the trip to Germany, informing him about the postponement of the meeting. With a sigh of exasperation, Jide ordered the cabbie to turn back and head down to Lang Lane, where his girlfriend Melissa resides. He was hoping to sneak in on his girl and make out and hopefully catch a little nap. Being a Saturday, he had very little planned for the day, work-wise. The drive to Lang Lane was less than 11 minutes and he was there in no time. He surprisingly heard voices in the living room, ….giggling voices.
One is definitely Melissa’s, the other, …. A male voice. As he approached the apartment, he could make out the distinct male cologne that wafted through his nostrils. Suspicion and jealousy overtook him but he vowed to walk on tip toe to find out what was happening. Almost immediately, the giggling voices turned to moans. Deep , guttural moans of ecstasy and there was no mistaking the owner this time. They are Melissa’s. the slowly building rage in his chest almost drove him to do the unthinkable; storm into the living room and beat the disrespectful intruder to a pulp but curiosity got the better of him and prevailed in urging him to move forward to get a glimpse of the unfolding erotic horror movie about to play out before his eyes.
He made it to the doorway and opened his mouth in disbelief when he saw his own fiancée sprawling on the sofa while emitting guttural moans in sheer ecstasy as her strange lover pounded away at her loins where the duo are erotically joined. Not even clearing his throat to alert the lovebirds could distract them until Jide screamed Melissa’s name. the duo turned and Jide’s anger turned to anguish when he realized it was Eric. His colleague and friend whom he had helped months back to secure a job in his firm. Jide stormed out of the apartment determined to call off their wedding. Melissa called just a few times afterwards and never bothered to get in touch again. Jide moved down to Nigeria few weeks later after resigning from Peters & Baxter and vowed never to date or love again.
He has had plenty of flings since he came back and left a trail of heart break everywhere he went. Jide is an embodiment of every woman’s dream; tall, athletically muscular , urbane and suave. His aquiline features bears a striking semblance to legendary Hollywood actor, Denzel Washington. Jide’s sparkling dentition complements his dark features and just lights up anywhere he goes. His ravishing smile has a way of making ladies go weak in the knees . So, his friends and family find it hard to believe he is finding it difficult to settle down. A dim smile lit up his face when he remembered his last romp with a divorced and older female companion , a client who has been begging to grace Jide’s bed once again after their illicit liaison at the Famous Radisson Blu Hotel where they had spent the entire weekend two weeks earlier.
Jide awoke from his reverie when he realized he had gotten to AP filling station at Lekki Phase 1 and slowly negotiated a turn to refill his tank . he stopped when he saw a couple of vehicles ahead of him and muttered under his breath. Jide wondered what people were still doing at a filling station at that time of the day. It was 10:20 pm. Jide quickly wound down to get the attention of the attendant and looked to his right and saw what he thought at first was an apparition.
Right there across him was a light skinned lady driving a Porsche cayenne SUV patiently talking to the attendant as fuel was being dispensed into her fuel tank. Her sparkling emerald earings gave her an air of aristocracy Jide could not fathom. She was donning a low-cut blouse and Jide stretched to gaze at her barely concealed cleavage and discovered she is awesomely endowed in the mammary department. The barely audible whisper of a bemused attendant who had been slowly calling; “hello sir, hello sir”! and watched the amusing scenario playing out before him for the better part of two minutes, brought him back to earth. Jide brought out his wallet and hurriedly fished out a wad of crisp naira notes to pay the attendant. He had asked for a full refill of his tank and was meant to pay about =N=3,500.00 to the attendant but had brought out over seven crisp & fresh =N=1000 notes. Jide could not be bothered.
Just as he handed over the money to the confused attendant, he heard the engine of the lady he had been admiring a couple of minutes before rev up to life and zoom off. Jide had just one thing on his mind; he must get to know this mystery lady. He quickly wound up his glasses and sped off, spewing specks of dust at the attendant who had been protesting to tell Jide to take his ‘change’. Jide managed to give the poor youngman a derisory look and wave him away. His mind was fixed on his prey in front. He was disappointed when the lady negotiated the turn on his right heading towards new market axis, Oniru which is clearly not his destination. Jide could not be bothered. the boredom and exhaustion that marred his day earlier , disappeared, his new found energy and drive amazed him.
He was intent on his chase and kept following her. He maintained a respectable distance between them but one could tell that a hot chase was shaping up. Kike looked at her rear-view mirror and felt she was being tailed by the car directly behind but shrugged it off. The pair continued their ding dong affair for the next seven or so minutes when Kike approached Four Points en route to her home at Kofo Abayomi. Kike was concentrating so much on her phone to answer an incoming call and couldn’t look up in time to notice that the traffic light had changed to red. Kike quickly slammed on her brakes with a distinct screech and lurch. Jide saw it too late. He couldn’t avoid the inevitable since he had been driving bumper to fender and slammed his crème Range Rover Sport head on into the rear of Kike’s Porsche Cayenne .
The rattling sound shattered the serenity of the night. Kike quickly jumped out of her car and started raining invectives on the stranger that just intruded into her peace. Seeing the huge dent on her car just drove her anger notches higher. Jide calmly disembarked from his vehicle whose fender and headlights were already in pretty bad shape , determined to sort out the issue with the object of his affection. It was when he came down that Jide saw this non pareil of beauty before his eyes. Kike’s rather short skirt that exposes more skin than necessary drew his attention. The toned calves and voluptuous curves he saw set his pulse racing but he needed to calm this lady down. So he uttered the most natural thing any sane person would say under the circumstances; “ am sorry maam”.
In a flash, Kike swung her arm and thwack! Thwack!!, slapped Jide. Almost in an instant, all the frayed nerves of Kikelomo gave in as she realized the enormity of what she had done. She had expected a violent reaction from him or at least a scream or something but Jide was unruffled after all, she was the one that applied her brakes suddenly without warning. The next few words that came out of Jide’s heart melted her heart, “ I am really sorry, it was all my fault, I would fix this just give me your card, oh my God, hope I didn’t hurt you”?. Kike’s anger instantly gave way to remorse for her violent reaction. Jide knew that this was an opportunity he cannot afford to miss and he was determined to make the most out of his situation. It wasn’t the words he said, it was the way about that deep baritone but very caring and soothing voice he used. Jide gently approached Kike and held her close to comfort her. The powerful cologne he sprayed before leaving the office completely disarmed Kike further. I should be mad at him for damaging my car” , she thought. What is wrong with me? Am I falling for him? Jide brought out his card and extended his right hand; “ hello my name is Jide Da Costa”. It’s a pleasure meeting you”. He said.
"Hi My name is Kike Williams” . nice to meet you too” she said. The tremor in her voice completely betrayed her emotions. She felt angry and yet, mad at herself for being such a sissy with her temper. There was something about the last names though that brought mutual respect for each other as they both realized they are children of prominent men. Jide quickly brought out his phone and called Ibrahim his driver to bring his Mercedez Benz X class. While waiting for his driver Jide wasted no time in getting further acquainted with his new crush. His driver was a little embarrassed to see the two chatting heartily over an accident scene and shuddered in disbelief. He quickly collected the keys to his master’s car and parked the Benz which Jide quickly entered with his catch to drive her home since it wasn’t far. Kike’s driver came and took her battered Porsche to the house few minutes later under the watchful eyes of a team of policemen parked a stone throw from the scene. It was Valentine’s Eve. By the next morning, Jide asked Kike out and proposed weeks later to which Kike responded in the affirmative. It didn’t matte. They may have met just a few hours earlier, but the chemistry between the two was palpable. Kike also declined the offer of repair of her car and a new car in the alternative. She effusively apologized for the slap and Jide jokingly added that its possible that they wont be getting married but for her slap and they both chuckled. A lavish society wedding that attracted the crème de la crème took place afterwards as the Da Costas and Williams celebrated the love of their children.
Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of their Valentine love story.
Jide & Kike have been married for almost 10 years.
Whats your own crazy Valentine story?
Whats your own crazy Valentine story?
drop it here!
No comments:
Post a Comment