Don't! Look Closer - Episode 2

 

Everyone deserves a good and shocking experience once in a while, Ireti thought as she sneaked through the little steps that led to Ayo’s flat. Unlike Ayo, though, the house was silent, sending her a wrong signal. He was either sleeping or not home. She remembered the first time she visited him; he was blasting music from his home stereos. She had to plead with him to reduce the noise because they were shouting instead of conversing,

However, at that point, she didn’t need to debate whether he was home or not because his door was slightly opened . The lemon color rugs that spread through the room and had been spiced with cream cushions were littered with red petals of roses. Her heart skipped beats as she looked at the different sides of the rooms.

She couldn’t contain her joy any longer but she was aware that screaming might ruin the surprise for Ayo. So, she dialed Tolu’s number but it was still switched off. How could Tolu forget such a day as this or even have her number switched off? No matter what happened, she needed to tell someone before she screamed her head off as a result of the excitement building up in her chest.

She dialed Kike’s number. The room was a small one with Ayo’s pictures framed and hanged on the army green wall serving as its major decorations

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/don-t-look-closer

. He could have put a big picture of her in a visible area of the room, she imagined. However, this was enough for her. She could use that idea whenever she was setting up a surprise wedding proposal for her clients.

Being one that loved surprises, she had established herself in creating memorable surprises for people as long as they could pay well. The day was always spiced with various photographers and some other things. Ayo must have picked an idea or two from her.

When the call to Kike got connected, she whispered “Hello, Kiki… Kiki… I think he wants to propose”.

Kiki screamed, “Oh! My God!!! Oh my God!!!”

Ireti froze. “Don’t ruin the surprise with your noise. I’ll call you later”.

She sneaked into the other part of the house. Where could he be hiding? She would have loved to capture the moment whenever they both surprised each other. She brought out her phone to take video coverage of the red petals scattered everywhere. 

Her attention, however, was caught up in something new that made her take the video coverage with lesser concentration. The petals had been stepped upon in an erratic manner. How could Ayo plan to surprise her and still step on the things he got for her? She spun from side to side as she noticed that the petals reduced. Instead, she was now faced with Ayo’s red t-shirt, a lady’s blouse, Ayo’s belt, and a lady’s bra. Irked by their presence, she picked them like one picking worms off her path. She cringed and dropped the lady’s cloth immediately, hurrying off to his room. She stopped at the door. Holding her breath as if she was underwater, she opened the door.

‘This is a lie!!!’ She screamed and dropped the cake. Ayo was with someone else. Her scream jolted him to reality and made the lady poke her head. Tolulope, her friend, shrunk her head immediately and hid it beneath Ayo’s bewildered face.

Ireti dropped the cake. “What is happening here? What is this?”

“I thought… You said you travelled”.

“Tolu… You and my man! You’re both dead today. Oh! Oh!” She yelled and barged into the room. As she did so, her hand hits the key in its hole. She paused and spun towards the key as a crazy idea formed in her head. She stared at them for a while as Ayo began to mumble his plea. She pointed into the air. “I know what to do with you two”.

They trembled but she was less concerned. She removed the key from its hole, rushed out of the room and closed the door, which got stuck from the cake. She kicked the cake away, not minding the irritating effect it had on her footwear, dragged the door and finally locked it. If they knew what she wanted to do, they would cry for help. But she would make them taste hell and go to the place immediately. Their nemesis would have to happen faster than they anticipated. God would take the time to judge them or even forgive them. Karma, that bastard, will take time to judge them. But she would let them understand the rawness of immediate judgment.

 She rushed to the kitchen and screamed as she switched on the gas cylinder. It hissed and she nodded satisfactorily. She picked a box of matches and walked out. She will destroy them. Ayo couldn’t fit into the range of even an average guy but she gave him everything and now he had taken her for granted. The two of them shouted and banged the door. They would assume she had left.

Ireti shouted, “You will die today”.

The two of them went silent and Ayo called to her. He told her how he loved her and how he could do anything for her. Indeed, he loved her and it wasn’t because of her rich father. In fact, the first time he met her was in a local canteen, Buka. That day, she wanted to enjoy herself without anyone using her as a case study that a rich person came to the canteen to eat. So, she and Kike boarded a bike to a Buka not very far from their home to have a great enjoyment of Amala and Gbegiri soup.

That was where he met her and told her she was acting with a class on her own and he would love to talk to her later. And that was their first meeting, so she couldn’t understand how he could stoop so low as to have sex with another woman. It had been rumored that a man could cheat and still loved his spouse. She wouldn’t need him to come back to declare his love to her.

She hurried out of the house and held her breathe. Panting like an athlete, she lit a stick of the matches, threw it into the house, locked the door, and sprinted off to her car with the speed of light. When she was sure she was somewhere safe, she stopped running and waited for the effect.

But nothing happened. She was stunned. Smokes from the fire ought to have shown in the house by now or was it because she closed the door. Nothing happened in the house and that rattled her. It would be a disaster for her to move near the house and be blown apart by it. She decided to countdown to ten. That would really help her in sorting her emotion.

They both betrayed her. The most annoying thing was that Tolulope was aware of her visitation. Why would she choose a day like that for her antics? At least, she could have deferred their illicit act and pretended. The only explanation she could give herself was that it was a confrontation from Tolu. She had been eyeing Ayo since she introduced them to each other.  Most of the times, Ireti would assume she was only pulling her legs by telling her how s*xy Ayo was.

The guy was bald naturally but he had a way of keeping his beard that enthralled her always. The beards made her heart skip beats anytime she saw him. Tall, dark and bearded, she had always dreamt of sons like him and didn’t bother about the incessant rants from her mother to avoid sex before marriage.

“Nothing is happening? What’s happening? Why is nothing happening? She muttered as she watched the house.

She hurried back to the door. They couldn’t have gotten out of the room to quell the fire. She moved nearer, hoping to hear cackles from burning materials. She touched the house and the door and was disgusted at their normal temperature. It meant the fire didn’t attract the gas she leaked into the air. Something was definitely wrong and she would get to the root of it. Her revenge must happen and nobody would stop her.

She gently opened the door, anticipating a blast but nothing happened. The air was rid of any stuffy smell. It could be she didn’t open the gas well. She sniffed the air to assure herself she wasn’t running into her death. But the air was clean.

Upon getting to the gas, she got the shock of her life. The gas cylinder wasn’t wheezing like it ought to. The air wasn’t choky; instead, it was normal. She bent near the gas and discovered it was empty.

“Ah” She cried as turned the screw repeatedly.

Her cried made those inside realize she was still around; they banged the door and called her name. She rushed over to the room to inflict her judgment on them but changed her mind

Tolu cried. “BFF, please…”

“BFF kill you there. I’m not those foolish girls you’ve encountered. The two of you will rot there.”

“Baby, please. I can explain. It was so sudden”, Ayo pleaded.

“Like rapture, idiot. That’s how you would have rotted in hell. Faggot. Whitewalker. Wildling.

Read " The Thorny Path to Europe " by the same author ( Akíntayo Akinjide )

. You, Tolu, you’re Ayammataga, you’re cursed. You will die like the leaves without water. Hunger will kill you here. Luckily for you, the door is not made of wood and there are burglaries here. You will die. Die and I will dance on your graveyards. You will die. I will be so happy that you won’t understand what has gotten over me. You are forsaken…”

She burst into tears and rushed to her car. Still blinded with tears, she didn’t see the nemesis awaiting her. She was still inserting her key into its hole when she noticed a flat tire.