Palm lines 2 - Episode 6

 

Sharon's POV
Thoughts ran through my mind as I stared at Ade. I assumed Tuni had planned it all alting with Uncle Lawrence. It finally made sense; the coincidence, no wonder she was here. 
"You both had this planned right?" I asked and Tuni scoffed.
"No. I didn't even know you two would be here. As a matter of fact, like I said earlier on, I was here to see my friends" she pointed at those girls at the other table then she turned towards Ade.
 "And i came to see Ade too . Why would I have this planned?"
"Uncle Lawrence" I called out and He laughed. 
"I eat lunch here, Ade can attest to that"
"You could have said something or told me the restaurant belongs to him" "Why?" Ade asked and I opened my mouth speechlessly.
"I'm guessing you would have stayed back" He assumed and I nodded.
"Yes" I replied truthfully and he left then I shut my eyes in guilt.
"I didn't mean that" I muttered and Tuni rolled her eyes. 
"You said it already and it sounds bad and rude. Remember he hasn't done anything wrong to you. The only guilty party here is you and you haven't even made the proper move to apologize to him and it's wrong" she snapped and her phone rang. 
"Hey Timi" she picked the call, "Hey..hey hey, calm down; speak slowly

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/palm-lines-2

. What's up?" She paused and I grew concerned.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes. Stay where you are" she added hanging up.
"What's up with Timi?"
"I'm about to find out" she answered then she ran off to only God knows where. 
I was left with Uncle Lawrence. "Tuni's right, Ade hasn't done anything wrong to you"
"I know! Does everyone have to remind me every damn time. I know my wrongs"
"What's stopping you from doing the right thing then?" He asked and I sighed. 
"Is that fear I see?" He asked and I looked away. 
"You're probably scared because deep down you still like Ade" "I don't"
"Fine, let's say you don't. But you're scared you do" he twisted and I shrugged. "I.... I'm getting married" 
"That wasn't the question I asked. I have to go back to work, bye sweetie." He rose up placing his palm against my cheek. 
"Bye Uncle" i answered then I watched him walk towards the counter before heading out. 
I turned towards Ade who was now busy with a customer. I wanted to talk to him but I didn't want to interrupt his work so I left.
 in the evening, I went over to Ade's aunt's house and I knocked. I assumed Ade would have gotten home by then.  She opened the door smiling at me. She had her glasses on.
"Am I seeing things or these glast are deceiving me. Is this really Sharon?" she asked  and I smiled kneeling slightly to greet her. 
"Is Ade back?" I asked and she busted into laughter and I wondered why. Apparently, Ade no longer lived there. However she gave me his new address and description on how to reach there.
It was late. Half of part of my heart wanted me to go back home and come back the following day but the other half knew I might have a change of heart so I decided to go with the other half. 
Ade wasn't at home so I decided to wait for him. There was a stool directly opposite his house so I sat down. 
One of his neighbor Mrs. Hansel kept on checking on me . After thirty minutes,  I heard footsteps approach from the upper floor, the foot step got closer and then Mrs Hansel walked towards me. 
"Are you still going to wait for Ade?" she asked and i gave a nod.
"I told you already, Ade comes home late,sometimes he doesn't even come back at all. I think you should give him a call." she suggested and i disapprove.
"I can help you call him"
"Thank you Ma. I'll be fine"
"Are you his girlfriend? I've never seen Ade with any girl. I've never seen such a guy before"
"I'm not, i'm his ex" i cleared my throat.
"We're not good terms; Ade and i. i'm only here to apologize to him"
"oh" she paused.
"Is it that bad? You must have done something wrong to be waiting till this time"
"Somehow"
"Ade is not a bad person, he'll definitely forgive you"

There was a knock on the gate and the security opened up. 
I saw Ade walk in tiredly. He had the red polo shirt on and a school bag hung across his shoulder.

Ade's POV

I parked my utility car outside as usual, took out my school bag, then i knocked on the gate. 
"Etim!" i called out as quietly as possible.
He opened the gate smiling at me. He wanted his tips as usual.
"Oga Etim, no be today oh" i answered.
"You get visitor oh" he announced and i wondered who must have visited.
He nodded towards the direction of my house and i saw Sharon with Mrs Hansel so i walked towards them.
"How can you be so heartless as to leave your visitor out in the cold?" she chastised and i smiled.
"Good evening Ma"
"There's nothing good about the evening, do you know how long she has been waiting?"
"I'm sorry Ma"
"Apologize to her not me" she snapped. 
"Good night Sharon, good night Ade" she concluded leaving Sharon and i alone.
 Sharon rose up from the stool, then she cleared her throat. "Good evening to you" she greeted , I noticed she wasn't comfortably.
 "How long have you been..." I trailed off and I saw her give a gentle shrug.
"Thirty minutes or more"
"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting" i apologize,  "You could have called" I added. "Except you don't have my number. Which makes sense by the way" I answered and I saw her give that guilty look. 
"How did you find out where i live?" I added almost immediately.
"Your aunt gave me the address." she answered and i unlock the door.
"Mind coming in?" i asked and she agreed. I didn't think she will. 
I locked the door behind her then I gazed at her. "Don't give me that look" she begged and I shrugged, "What look?" 
"You probably want to know why I'm here" 
"I'm curious Sharon" i asked, "I'm kind of shocked to see you here, i mean since i'm the last person you would want to see" i snapped and she shook her head.
"You're not the last person i would like to see"
"You said it yourself, if you had known i owned the restaurant, you would have stayed back" i scoffed.
"Why are you here Sharon?"
"I've held back from seeing you for way too long Ade" she answered.
That wasn't even the reply I sought for. 
"Was it something i did wrong? The day you left, I mean we were together, we were practically couples. Sharon we had a lovely moments, we made plans and best of all, we made love the day before you left. Do you still remember or you've forgotten so soon" i moved close trying hard to control my tears.
"I remember like it was yesterday" Tears poured down her eyes and she tried to clean it but it betrayed her, it kept on pouring.
"I had 20 missed calls from dad because i didn't want to leave you just yet. I was relunctant about going, that was why i made you promise to move on when i'm not around, to have a girlfriend till i come back."
"That was the craziest deal ever, i'm sorry but i didn't keep to it. I loved you too much to date another"
"You didn't even..." she stammered, probably shocked to hear me say that. "Unfortunately, the love i had was greater than what you had for me" I answered in pain.
"Ade i loved you and i left for a reason. What i said to you that day was because...." she stalled, "I didn't..." she trailed off again, "I had my reasons, even though you might not believe me. I just want to say i'm sorry. For not picking your calls and not returning it back. I wanted you to be free from me"
"I don't recall telling you i was in bondage" i retorted and she looked at me. 
"I didn't move on as you presumed, not when i was still very much in love with you" i confessed looking down at her and we quietly stared at each other. My lips hungered for hers but I had to pull so much resistance. In the next minute, we kissed each other as if on cue, It was hard to detect who kissed who.
I guess our resistance were weak. She stopped moving back, "I'm sorry" we both apologized at the same time.  "It's my fault" she took the blame and I gave a nod in agreement.
"Yeah it's your fault" I answered and she scoffed.
"You're supposed to accept the fault too" 
"Why?"
"Cause that's the normal process, I mean you kissed me too so.... You're supposed to apologize too" 
"Won't that be too cliche?" I asked, and she scoffed again. "Cliche is a process"
"Where's the fun in that? I've never been a fan of cliches, you know that" I answered and she chuckled. "Okay" she dipped her hands in her pocket then she smiled.
"Why did you kiss me?" I asked, "I think the right question should be, why did we kiss?" She paused, "Mine is easy, I'm still in love with you but the question now is are you?" I asked and she shut her eyes.
"I'm with Felix and we're getting married"
"You haven't answered my question" 
"No. I'm not in love with you." She answered and this broke my heart. I didn't want to believe her but it seemed believable.
There was a brief silence, Sharon heaved a sigh then shut her eyes again. 
"What I said at the get together, the whole I moved on, a whole lot of rubbish I spilled;  Ade I didn't mean it... I said it out of guilt. The guilt I felt for not calling you or returning your calls all those years. The same reason why I wanted to avoid you; guilt. It was slowly eating me up. Ade, I screwed up but in my defense, I thought I was helping you."
"You could have spoken to me about how you felt, you could have spoken to me before you left, but you didn't trust me enough"
"I did but I talked to my friends about it and they advice I let you go" she confessed and I scoffed. 
I just couldn't  believe she would take the advice of other people over matters concerning our relationship. 
"Why do I suddenly feel like our relationship was one-sided and I loved you more that you loved me."
"I love you" she confessed, and my heart skipped, "Loved you" she corrected and I pulled back.
"I didn't keep to the deal to date too, not until last year when I met Felix. I decided to take that bold step and when he proposed, I accepted because he's a good guy" she tried to explain and I waved my hands. I didn't want her getting into details.
"I really don't want to know" I replied and she nodded. I guess she understood. 
"Ade I want us to go back to the way we were" she requested and I scoffed. "You do know we can't go back to the way we were, you're another man's girl" I answered playfully and she chuckled faintly. 
"I meant back to the way we were before we started dating" she rephrased and I nodded. "I need my best friend back" she held my hands with a half smile on her face. 
"I'm not promising to be happy when I see him around you" 
"As long I'm forgiven, I'm okay" she answered and I nodded. 
"Okay" I answered and she hugged me tightly. 
"Thank you" she looked up at me then she pulled back.
"I have to go"
"And what kind of person will that make me?" I asked, "You're spending the night, you take the room, I'll take the sitting room"
"It's your home, you should take the room. I'll sleep on the couch" 
"Okay fine, I'll have to warn you. It's a really hard couch. It's far from being soft" "Were you going to agree to let me sleep on the couch?" She asked and I laughed.
"Shea you were acting all modest" I laughed and she punched me playfully on the chest. "Whoa" she touched my chest, "They're better than they were" she commented.
"Thanks" I smiled.
"We can share the bed" 
"I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off" I answered and she folded her hands. "The room's this way" I walked towards the room and she followed me.

Tuni's POV

Timi asked that I meet him and i did . I saw him bit his finger nails and I knew he was definitely troubled. It was a habit of his. "Dude you're in public" I snapped and he chuckled softly.
"Okay what's going on? You sounded serious on phone. Who did you get pregnant?" I asked and I noticed him go quiet. 
I shut my eyes, "Oh my God Timi, how many times have I mentioned it, use a condom! I know I'm a bad sister but I know I've always advised you to use a condom"
"'kasi's pregnant."
"Seriously? Why would you be this careless?" I snapped.
"Well.... Something went wrong during a party and we had sex and...." "And you didn't have the decency to is a condom"
"I wasn't even with a condom" 
"Then borrow one or use pull out method! What were you thinking? She's just fifteen, and you're older" 
"I love her"
"What do you know about love?" 
"More than you'll ever know" he snapped and I glared at him. I felt a bit bad, not because he raised his voice but because he had a poor opinion of me.
Of course I'm more than capable of loving someone. I haven't seen that man yet.
"I'm sorry" he apologized and I waved it off. 
 "Why didn't she tell me? Or her mom"
"Yeah like, African parents will embrace the idea of their kids having sex"
"You could have told me, I could have given her drugs" 
"I gave her drugs but it was afterward  she had to go home but apparently it was too late. She used other conventional methods, salt and Andrew liver salt."
  "How did she find out?"
"She hasn't seen her period yet" 
"How long" 
"This is the second month. She wants to get rid of the baby" Timi answered. He seemed disappointed.
"I don't want her to" he answered and i scoffed.
"Dude you're still in the University, you don't have a job and you still feed off your parents and me. You can't have a baby now" 
"I can't have the baby aborted either. It's my baby and your nephew or niece"

He definitely got me there. "If she wants an abortion, it'll be her decision not yours. I can help out however way I can. You two need to talk first" 
I couldn't get the thought of Timi’s mistake off my head. I went back home, in preparation for Bible study, I wore a long suede skirt I saw in my bag.
I had to pair it on a tank top. I drove off to the church. 
I arrived church earlier so I could meet up with Ay in case he was around. I was trying to avoid hearing excuses like I'm too busy and the likes.
I walked into the church and the first person I saw was him. I saw AY standing on a chair changing bulbs. He had a white polo on a black trousers. 
There were a few members. They were just seated idlely on the chair.
As I moved closer to him, I realized there were stains already on his polo. Probably from cobwebs hanging from the roof.
Our eyes met and he smiled at me, "Do you need help?" I asked as he struggled to change the bulb.  "Yes, if you studied anything close to engineering in school" he answered and I gasped feeling in insulted.
"You don't have to be an engineer to change light bulbs" I snapped and he chuckled. 
"The lamp holders are faulty"
"So a church like this cannot afford lamp holders. I'm in a mood to sow" "It just got faulty" he answered and I smiled. 
The light shone immediately, "And the Lord said let there be light" he annouced and I scoffed. "Weren't you supposed to turn off the light first" 
"It's really not compulsory"
"Safety first" I warned. 
"There's a God in heaven who will protect me"
"It doesn't mean we should stupidly test God and change light bulbs without gloves and safety rules" "Seriously?" He laughed and I felt stupid, like I've said something stupid again.
"It's just ordinary bulb oh and you're speaking ad though I went to touch a naked wire" he answered and I chuckled. 
"I really don't want to see your cooking safety precautions." He laughed again and I felt uncomfortable. I've never been a really good cook, although I'm better than Mom.
"Wait you don't cook do you?"
"I do cook, I'm not a pro like Dad but I do have my own culinary skills" I answered and he gave a nod. I couldn't quite make out what It meant.
"What are you doing here so early?" He asked and I smiled. "I came to see if Jesus would show up early" I turned towards a chair. 
"Oh! see it's Jesus, I better meet him and talk to him" I answered sarcastically and he laughed. "Okay I get your point, you came to see me but I don't understand why?"
"What's there not to understand" I bit my lips, "I missed you" 
"You mean the preaching right? I've had people calling me about it" he answered and I almost rolled my eyes. He had to Interrupt my flirting moves.
"I did miss your face" 
"You know what's better than my face, seeking the face of God in everything we do" he blocked my flirt once again and I immediately knew it was intentional. 
"I better change up for service" he smiled.

Read " Dysfunctional " by the same author ( Essien Eno )

. "Good to see you again Sister Tinu" he smiled at me and I smiled back. 
The service started shortly, the Pastor who preached centered on the Kingdom of God and he preached about hell fire and repentance. 
During the question and answer section, I asked a question if there was any sin God can overlook since no one can be that perfect.
 Ife, Miss perfect had to counter what I said and we openly had an argument. "You know what? I don't think I should be here" I snapped walking out of the church.
"Sister Tinu!" Ay yell chasing after me but I was too angry to turn back. 
"Wait up!" He begged and I turned towards him folding my hands. "What?" "You didn't have to leave" 
"What's the point? After all I'm a sinner and I definitely would not make heaven so what's the point trying?" I scoffed in tears. 
"I don't even know if I'll make heaven. That's the truth but we're all striving to, it's not too late to, you shouldn't make what Ife said stop you from going to church. She's just giving her opinion, I know it's a little too far but... that's the way she is"
"I'm not promising to stop formicating. I love sex" I answered and he chuckled plunging his hands into his pocket. 
"God is ever merciful and always waiting for the soul that would turn to him someday. You just have to let him in" 
"Why? Christian Life is always boring, I don't want to look like your girlfriend" I teased and he chuckled faintly. "So uptight and..." I stalled then I shuddered to the annoying characteristics she displays. 
"If you let God In, he can help with whatever problem you have" 
"That's a big lie pastors tell to make members feel okay" "You're wrong about that" 
"Hmmmmn" she mumbled I'm disbelief.
"I better go back" he answered going back. I felt my heart break, I didn't want him to leave.
"My brother got his almost sixteen years old girlfriend pregnant and she wants an abortion and I don't know what to do. Can God help me with that?" I asked in tears and he turned back nodding his head.
"Wanna talk? We can pray concerning it" He suggested and I shrugged. 
I was skeptical about it but I gave it a shot anyways.