When two hearts collide - Episode 3

 

14th February 2008.
The thin air blew her hair to cover her eyes,  she was  seated in their favorite place at the relaxation park five blocks away from her house.  It was a perfect spot.  Her mum could not locate them here,  she was sure.  Ikem had promised to be there by 5pm she looked at her blue wristwatch,   a present she got from Ikem on her birthday last year.  She loved the watch and not because it was the best she had, as her dad had gotten finer and more expensive ones for her during his business trips,  but because it was from Ikem; the  boy she had admired from the time she started  learning literature and discovering boys  aren't  just some annoying set of humans brought into this world to frustrate the female gender. 

Ikem was different from the rest of the boys at her secondary school. The boys  were just okay,  some annoying and  hard to put up with and others,  normal followers of the teenage trend . She noticed Ikem was something more.  Right from the first day she saw him,  that was the day he had rescued a junior(her classmate) from being beaten mercilessly by another senior,  she just knew there was something different about him.  This kind of different was good.  It was special. It was 5:15pm.  Ikem was running late,  fifteen minutes had  gone by already  and she had just an hour to spare as any moment from six o'clock her mother would be back and she didn't want to have to lie about where she had been,  yet she couldn't bring herself to tell her mother the truth

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/when-two-hearts-collide

. The thing was,  her parents disliked Ikem and his family so much and she had no idea why.

The first day Ikem came to visit her at home,  her dad was seated at his usual spot,  in the sitting room.  Ikem looked smart and when Ifeoma introduced him as a former headboy of Achievers college and not leaving out the fact that he had gotten admission to study architecture at the Nnamdi Azikwe university, Awka,  he welcomed him well and offered him a sit and a drink.  Ifeoma was glad. Well that didn't last, as the minute Ikem went further to mention his last name and a little background on his famiy,  Donald,  Ifeoma's father got angry all of a sudden,  got up and said the exact words,  "finish your drink and take your leave".  He had this stern look on his face.  The kind of look Ifeoma knew very well not to be a pleasant one. She immediately escorted  Ikem out of the house afraid of what would come if she didn't. 

When she got back home,  her father had warned her seriously to distance herself from Ikem as his family were "not good news".  Ifeoma,  shocked and short of words,  made attempts to demand an explanation but her father,  the legendary Donald had spoken. He ordered her to go to her room and read her books!. Ever since,  she has been very careful as not to mention Ikem or make them think she was still friends with him. Ifeoma looked around. It was getting late and she was getting cold.  She turned her head  and  set to redirect her gaze to its former position when she noticed someone now blocked her view,  she looked up at the person's face.  It was Ikem.  She jumped and hugged him.  She knew Ikem could not bail on her today of all days I mean,  it was valentine's day. Not that she expected anything from him like the other  girls at school who got cards,  Teddy bears and the likes.

Read " In the space of time " by the same author ( Ijeoma Okorie )

. She just wanted to see his face, that was gift enough.  But nevertheless Ikem had gotten her something,  a silver chain with a ring- like pendant. Her skin shivered while he placed the chain around her neck,  then she smiled and hugged him again.  She was  happy.  She sat there with him talking about random topics until it was  dark.  She looked at her watch and gasped. 

This was trouble. Dad was on a business trip in Abuja but mum was around. She would question her whereabouts.  Ifeoma rounded up her talk with Ikem and ran home.  She didn't see her mum's car so she felt a bit relaxed,  didn't bother to ring the doorbell  and just pushed the door open,  that was when the surprise hit her.  "And where are you coming from Young lady?".  It was Mum's voice. How had she gotten here? .  Her car was not in the driveway.  Ifeoma thought about her reply and selectively used her words. "Ehmmm,  i was out?",  she said, her reply  coming out more of a question than an answer.  Her mother moved forward.  "You must think I'm joking ",  she shook her head and moved a step backwards,  "no mum",  "oh,  then you must think I'm blind",  this was  getting to much.  She saw that mum had on her serious face,  meaning she wanted the truth alone.  Ifeoma got on her knees and begged.  "I was out with Ikem. Mum please don't tell dad,  he'll get mad".  She blurted,  a tear now escaping her eyes.  Ifeoma's mother Alozie,  said nothing and just sat  on the arm chair next to her.  After some minutes she got up to leave the living room.  But turned back to Ifeoma,  "go to the kitchen,  wash the meat and boil. Wash the ugwu and waterleaf,  your dad returns tonight. He'll be hungry".  And with that,  she pushed the door of her room open.  Ifeoma just sat there on the floor,  silently hoping her mum would keep this a secret from Donald. She did not want to get Ikem into trouble. She got up after some time and set to do the kitchen work mum had ordered her to do.