Christian - Episode 6

 

My parents were arguing, apparently there was another woman, I stayed in my room as I heard them yell at each other, my father was always known to cheat on my mother and I wondered why, was he looking for a male child? I wasn't bothered about that anymore though, I kinda just  got used to it with time and blocked them out with headphones, but  sometimes it got to me and I did cry...

It was Sunday, I was waiting for them to leave the house, my father was taking undue time though and my mother had since left to catch her flight to Abuja, she was setting on a boutique in Abuja and that took most of her time nowadays,  she didn't even have time to look at me sometimes.

 I stayed in my room as I waited for my father to go for his usual sunday golf clubbing, I didn't usually go to church, no one cared if I went or not so I just grew up like that...
My father's jeep finally drove away and I sat up in bed, packed my hair up and went into the kitchen with my cookbook, I had earlier texted Christian the house address and hoped he found it, he was used to Lagos though so I wasn't bothered.
I stared at the cookbook as I read the menu again, I wanted to make Chinese fried rice and had forgotten how to go about it, I knew my Aunt Lisa had made it once but I wasn't sure how to start so the cookbook had to come in... I hardly did cook, and when I did, it was not something complicated, but I had bragged to Christian that I could when I couldn't so I had to prove myself.... 
When the doorbell rang, I almost burnt myself with the frying pan
"Coming" I called out, then cleaning my hand, I went to the door, I had told the gateman to let him in when he comes and even though I knew he was going to tell my father, I just didn't care.
I opened the door and he stood there, looking more decent than I was used to...
"Too much?" he asked, he referred to his button up shirt and jeans
"No, you okay, come in" he walked in and looked around my house while I watched him excitedly
"Hope it wasn't difficult to locate" I asked
"Nah, I asked around, your family is pretty popular" he said
"Okay, have a seat, I'm preparing something in the kitchen" I dashed to the kitchen hoping something had not burnt...
I finally put off the gas and covered the pot, he came into the kitchen looking around...
"Your house is pretty big" he said
"Yeah, it is"
"Are you home alone?" he asked, wondering if I had siblings but I decided to tease him a little
"Will you r*pe me if I say yes?" I turned to ask, he stared at me
"You mean rob you" he put his hands on both sides of me on the counter "don't put ideas in a young man's head, why did you ask me here?" he asked
"So I could.." I swallowed "cook for you"
He stared at me "Why.."
"Because, because I like you...because your my friend"
He stared at me again then moved away
"Are you gay?" I had to ask
"No..?" he turned surprised
"Because I've not seen you with any girl"
"I have more things to worry about Sade"
He said, he was just 17, why did he have to worry about anything, I took from the fried meat and bit staring at him in thought as I gave myself kudos at the taste...
"What about Tunde?" he asked suddenly leaning against the fridge
"What about him?"
"Thought you guys were dating"
"We're not, I broke up" in my head..
"What, when did that happen?"
I was silent then "Do you want to eat now?" I asked instead
"What did you make?"
"Chinese fried rice" I said proudly as I turned and dished it out and carried it to the dinning table so we could eat, I watched him take the first bite
"For a first time, its not bad"..he said and ate more..
"What do you mean, I'm a good cook" I argued, he laughed and I discovered I liked his laugh, I liked it a lot
"Do you want to watch a movie?" I asked.
"Do you have any game?" he asked instead.
"Yes, I have a ps2"
"How come?"
"I play with my father".I said
He guffawed and I laughed with him shyly, my father didnt have a son, so he taught me instead, but I didn't tell him that...he had too much on his plate already.
I set up the game and he started a car race...I made juice and put it beside him
"its funny how your not scared of me" he said suddenly
"Why would I be?".
"most girls would be, I'm alone with you in the house and I don't have a good reputation" he said sadly, I stared at him thinking that I felt the exact opposite, I felt safe, from all my worries...

"You got the scholarship on distinction, shows you were smart once, what happened?"
 He glanced at me the continued playing , I thought he wasn't going to answer when he started talking...
"My father died, my mother cared for us for a while and I wanted to do right by her but the hospital bills took everything away" he paused "I had to get work..

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/christian

. I loved cars , so it was easy to get a mechanic job, I had to stay in school, care for my sick mom, my sister...the bills, I couldn't deal with it all at once, I turned to drugs for a while, got into fights..." he was silent then "my academics dropped and so did my emotions..." he paused again then continued "I decided there was no need for life..."
"But your wrong Segun,  there is so very much to live for, you have your sister and mother looking up to you to become something so you can take care of them, you have to stand up to your responsibility and be serious with school... "I felt there was no other mission in life than what I was about to say
"I ll help you" I said.

*******
The day of the event finally came, everyone was excited as we dressed in our different costumes, the drama club especially looked amazing and my boyfriend looked really good on his attire which he showed to me proudly.. 
"what do you think?" he asked
"Hail Hitler, what can we your humble subjects do for you?" I mocked, he laughed then pulled me to him and pecked me
"So who you dancing with?"he asked  curious
I paused and decided to tell him anyway
"Christian "
His face changed "what, why, who paired you with him, what happened to Jade?"
"It just happened, it doesn't matter, just focus on your lines, you ll do great" I adjusted his collar to distract him and he sighed and stalked away to go oppress somebody else, I sighed,  I was wearing a white dress depicting the dance theme of war and peace, as I looked up I saw Christian come towards me, if I thought my boyfriend was good looking, he was ...breathtaking
"Hey, what do you think?" he asked
"You look ..real nice"
"Thanks" he looked at the audience "my mom and sister are gonna come, to see me make something of my life"
"They would be so proud of you, we ll do great" I said,  we held gazes as Mrs Balogun came and shouted for Jade and Elona to get ready, they were to start the event while we were to end it.
"Goodluck guys, remember it's 20% of your grade" she shouted again and walked away.

The event began, Elona and Jade did perfectly well and after the claps, the drama itself began, I watched my boyfriend almost in tears as I decided he was a good actor, he portrayed the Hitler Tyrant so well and Rose did well too, finally it was the last scene..
"You ready?" I heard from behind me and I turned and nodded, my father and mother and Aunt Lisa with her son were there, they had squeezed out time from their busy schedule to come watch me dance but all I was conscious about was the man walking behind me as I started the twirling and he raised me up, the rest of the world faded and it was just the two of us on stage as the music blended with our bodies and we saw no one else but each other, it was excruciatingly long and I wanted to stay in this moment forever but I knew it had to come to an end, he dipped me and raised me up to meet his gaze and I knew I had fallen, fallen deep in love with Christian.

The sound of a loud ovation broke the staring contest, he too did not want to look away and I wondered if he had felt it too, what I was feeling. I turned to the crowd, smiled and bowed and as  I looked sideways, I saw Tunde staring at us, he didn't look happy.

****
I had barely removed the pins from my hair when he followed me and dragged me into a corner
"What was that?" he asked
"What..?"
"The..look, you were staring at him all through"
"That was the essence of the dance, we had to make people cry"
He glared at me "you think I'm stupid right "
Rosemary shrieked and came to hug me..."you guys did great.."
"You did great too".
She looked at Tunde's glaring face and knew she had interrupted, She moved away as Tunde pulled my arm in a grip
"Don't think this is over" he walked away to go meet his parents who wondered where he was, I looked and saw Christian with his mother who was almost in tears as she talked with him, Rachael saw me and waved, I waved back but then I paused, is Christian ever going to look at me the way I looked at him, or was I just wasting my time, Christian suddenly turned but I looked away to go find my parents.
"You were simply the star of the whole event, didn't know you were that good" my mother praised
"I hope you get your 20% for that performance" my father said
"She deserves a 100" my Aunt Lisa said, I carried  Mikel in my arms as my father took us  to a restaurant to eat but even as they praised me all I could think about was Christian.

*****
"I don't know why you're doing this to me, everyone saw that performance, how you made me a laughing stock in front of my friends" Tunde said as I sat in his car after school listening to his gibberish, I didn't know why I couldn't just tell him it was over...
"They saw what they saw and what happened is what happened, me and Christian have nothing, he was just my dance partner, a very good dance partner"
He glared very hard "Are you trying to make me hit you, because I will".
"Are you serious, all because of some lame assumptions, did you see me cheating on you or what"
He turned ahead and stared
"Fine, but I don't want to see you with him again" he said pissed
"Because your jealous?, he's my friend"
"When did he become your friend, uh, I don't want to see you both together, you won't like the outcome" he said his vein popping,  before he began to drive, I sighed and rolled my eyes because he was my father....Why was he so jealous even ,I wasn't even dating the guy ..yet.

"My mom was not happy she didn't get to see you after the event" Christian told me in class
"You serious, well I ll go see her after school, just thought you guys needed your family time"
He was silent "She was very proud of me..that was because of you"
My heart thudded and I smiled "Glad I could help, lest I forget, we should meet in the library during free period, to do some Math"
He frowned "you serious about that thing ?"
"Uhuh, you said your mother was proud of you when you danced, imagine how she ll feel when you get into a good university"
"She ll probably die of happiness" he said in thought  then pecked my cheek motivated
 "see you in 10"
He came to the library with his Math Textbooks which looked very new
"Guess you've never opened those".I said
"Dropped them immediately I got them with the scholarship "he said sitting beside me
"Well we just have to dust them off and  open again,  we have mock coming up, if you do well I ll..." I wanted to promise him something
"Buy me a ps4" he said and met my gaze
"Sure, I can" I said and he smiled. I wished he 'd asked for something else though, for me.
We always met at the library and just like dance, he picked up very fast almost like he was failing because of lack of interest, our accounts test came out and he did very well, far above average, everyone was shocked including the principal. Of course he had to keep it up to earn the ps4...the next test was Commerce.
We had fun too, we went out sometimes and bought ice cream and talked more and more and I fell for him deeper and deeper...
We sat on top a fence as we ate meat pie and sprite
"This almost feels like a Date, but its not" I said
"When I take you out on a date, you'll know"he said
"Really, so where would you take me?"
"Somewhere where it would be just the two of us" he replied
I stared down as there was silence.
"If I break up with  Tunde, will you go out with me?"
"Is that a test question, so I'm careful to pass" he said with a chuckle then he looked at me  and saw I was serious
"Oh Sade..."
"I like you...a lot" I said baring myself for him
"What do you mean you like me, I thought we were just friends"
I looked at him "we are friends?"
He was silent "What about Tunde, what are you going to tell him?"
"That you're a better man than he ll ever be to me"
He stared at me for long then came down from the fence...
"We can't  do this Sade, we have nothing in common".
"I believe we have more in common than you know"
"Hows that, look at you, you have everything, your father would probably send you abroad to study after school, where then would that leave me?"
I came down from the fence "We haven't even gotten to that bridge"
"Then Tunde, how do you expect me to fight him for you, he has a lot of connections..hes rich..I.."
"I'm not worth it, is that what your saying?,I'm willing to throw everything out  the window including my father for you and you can't even reach out a hand...?"
He stared into space "my life is pretty much complicated Sade, I can't add you to it, maybe some other time it would have been perfect..but I cant, you can't do that to me" he said looking down.
  I discovered then that I was not worth a minute of him fighting for, so I swallowed hard and decided to give it a rest.

*******

**what do you think, is Christian finally going to face his issues head on, find out in the next episodes. ..

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