Emoticons | Okwuasaba David | Fiction

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Tega ran like a mad man.

Dashing through the lobby, he had hoped to get to the ward before it was too late.

“Room 10,” he whispered to himself as he kept running. Some of the security guards had taken to foot after him assuming he was not sane. When he arrived at the door of the ward, at once he halted, and so gently, he placed his hands on knob of the door and began to whimper. The guard who had ran after him was a bit confused as to who he was exactly. As he slowly approached him, he wondered why he was crying. Maybe it was because he had dashed carelessly through the wind leaving his eyes vulnerable to its fierce segue. Or maybe it was something else….

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“I would not lie to you; it has not been easy. It is almost a week now and I cannot still affirm with certainty if what they say is true about him.” Ogechi, speaking to Stella firmly held on to the whisk in her left hand as it whirled the dough for the pancakes.

Ogechi loved to be in the kitchen. Cooking and baking, she was full of them. She found a certain joy in cooking and became outstanding in it. From hobby to a profound business, that was what cooking turned to for her. With time, she opened up her unique modern cum traditional restaurant which became a very popular joint for those in the city. Most times she only needed to have a taste of a meal for the first time to know how to prepare it. Sometimes, whenever she seems to be nervous, she simply goes into the kitchen and gets her peace. That would explain why Stella met her in there.

“You know the funny thing about this whole situation? Oge, you have literally done all but the right thing. Why not actually sit him down and have a proper conversation with him? Afterall, it is only hearsay.”

“Not yet abeg.”

“This is the twenty-first century, Stella and I am not ready to give excuses for him if indeed the stories are true. Even more, I do not wish to stand and be lied to. So, I need to verify first if I must approach him on the matter. My life is not all about his yet and.…”

“But it will soon be,” Stella interjected. “You are both engaged now. If you are not all about each other yet, I wonder when you want that to be.”

Stella was now moving about in the kitchen as though she were there for the first time; admiring the cutlery arrangements. Anyone who went into Ogechi’s kitchen always had lots of things to say. Positive things. It was not the biggest of rooms you could say, but it was art.

“See, don’t let social media talk cajole you. Set awon woke girls. Please, do what you can to ensure he is still your man. He’s your fiancé, Oge!” Stella said with a mild laughter following her last sentence. “Or am I the only one here who remembers that?”  

Ogechi, smirking to Stella’s last statement, stretched out the bowl of dough in her hands while instructing her friend who was closer to the frying pan what to do. “Place each scoop gently inside the pan please.” Ogechi had been engaged the previous week to a man whom she had known for over a year now. She trusted him, and that was why she said yes. But she also hardly trusted people. It was a major life principle to her. So, she was not ready to completely let her guard down on that.

While she might have displayed a firm resolve before her friend Stella, deep down in her heart, she was slowly melting at the possibility that her fiancé was cheating on her. But since Stella was the only one she could confide in at this point, she had to put out a strong front. In fact, whether Tega was cheating on her was a thing she did not know, but had overheard from a few ladies who chin-wagged about it last Sunday in Church.

“…and I told her to avoid Urhobo men” Oge heard Mrs Okhoma whisper to the other women in her Church group that Sunday.

Ogechi kept rolling hither and thither on her bed after Stella had left. She was certainly in a bundle of nerves, and even when she stopped rolling, she was stark gazing into the fan as it rolled above her head. For some seconds, she hoped it were some vortex that could swallow her up. Some minutes later she would find her mobile phone ringing. It was Tega.

“Hey Oge! How have you been? It almost seems like you’ve been avoiding me.”

“Fine. I am fine. I am not just feeling too well that’s all.”

“Og Babes!” Tega said with a little chuckle “how can you be fine and not feeling well at the same time? Don’t worry I’ll find time to see you, I promise. Things have just been a bit rough these past days.”

Tega was that kind of man a girl could consider as a limited edition. He was tall with a sturdy physique. A handsome gentleman. And even though he may have at some point in his life walked down runways, Tega was too much of a school boy in his earlier years to have paid attention to such side attractions. Luckily, all that got him a good job at a construction company in Enugu..  

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“That’s how she has been responding to my calls for some days now. It is like she’s been acting weird since the engagement. Do you think she is having mixed feelings already?”

“Well, she may be suspecting those your movements. Other persons are already thinking it. Just tell her what you are doing?

“Dotun, I am not telling her! At least not yet. Not until I am ready to. People must always talk”

In times like this, Dotun would often leave Tega to make his decision so that he could come back to rub it in his face when it went wrong. But this was not any small matter, it was about marriage, it was about love. You don’t write off such things as these so easily.

Dotun was like a link between these two. Tega actually got to know Ogechi through Dotun in the popular Lavida; Oge’s restaurant. The first day the lovers met, it was Dotun who had taken his friend out for lunch that day. After which, he also introduced him to the chef of the kitchen who happened to be his good friend. Dotun got married last year and really hoped Tega did the same. So, in more clearer terms, Dotun basically set up Tega and Oge and it seems it turned out better than he had even hoped.

“You’ve come so far Tega to lose her over something so funny though. You remember how you started off not liking her because you were so concerned about her height?”

Tega burst out into laughter. “Please, I only said I wouldn’t like to date someone taller than I was. Not that I did not like her. Plus, Oge is a very nice person. That supersedes a lot.” He said while gesticulating as if to say that Dotun was not sane for saying that.

“You know, even though I hoped for it, I never thought you would propose so fast.”

“Ah! Dotun it was after eight months. One does not have to wait till almost two years like you abeg.” Tega said throwing the pillow that laid beside him on the couch as they continued their discussion.

Their discussion was however interrupted when Stella got back home. Yes, Stella who is the best friend of Oge is Dotun’s lady. Dotun quickly got up and welcomed her with a warm hug. Their love was still young as people always said. “Should love ever die?” is what Stella always said to people who made such comments.

“Tega! You are here and your woman has been feeling lonely in her place for weeks. Better run there to be with her.” Stella never kept quiet or played dumb when she saw two couples having issues. She would always make sure she told both parties what they needed to hear. In fact, her hubby would always laugh whenever she told him she was going to a friend’s house to settle a quarrel. “Her master’s degree on peace and conflict resolution was not for fancy,” Dotun would always remark.

“But seriously Tega, you need to go talk to her,” Dotun added as he made his way back into the sitting room.

Tega actually began to feel like a bad person for what he did, and hurried up to go and sort things out with Oge. He literally ran to his car. But she was not home when he got there. Of course, he had her keys, so he let himself in and decided to take a bath while he waited. That was when Oge came into the house.

“Tega! Is that you?”

“Yes, ma! How was work?” Tega replied.

They went on chatting, and for a while, they were both happy, since they had not really been able to have an entirely smooth conversation for over a week. Well, this was the case until Oge with some form of lethargy gradually became silent. Tega’s phone had beeped twice and she could not resist the urge to look at it. With everything going on, she just had to settle her doubts on the rumours. Did she ever go through his phone before? The answer was no. This time was different for her.

Oge gently placed her hand over the phone to pick it up. She went through the messages and she immediately wished she had not. Now she was even more doubtful about his fidelity. Tega on the other hand, eventually stepped out of the bathroom, feeling cool and excited that there were probably getting to be on good terms. He would have probably thrown a backflip given the chance.  

“Ah! Oge what’s the problem?” he said in shock.

He looked confused as he saw tears gently roll down her eyes.

“Tega! Who is Baby?”

“Oh, that girl. There’s nothing to worry ab…” He tried explaining, but was interrupted.

“Why did you send her your personal address, what is she coming to do there? And more importantly Tega, why did you clear your previous chats with her?” Oge said out loud as she threw the phone at Tega’s feet.

His call logs the past week had apparently been filled with calls from the same contact. To be fair, Oge was really not ready to hear any more of Tega’s words at that moment. She immediately snatched his car keys from the bed, and even though he tried to calm her down, she dashed out crying. Tega tried to run after her, but his legs obviously could not match the acceleration of the Lexus Rx 350. Tega was very worried. How could he explain that Baby was literally the name of his childhood friend, or rather, her nickname. Ella Nwaechi (Baby) was only helping him with his relocation plans. That was why he ensured to clear the chats. He didn’t want anyone finding out too soon, not even Oge. And, he had never mentioned her to Oge. It is true that they had lots of private meetings, enough to cause a stir. Even more, for those who knew about them. This is because they once had a history together. However, Tega had only planned it as a major surprise to his fiancée, and only Dotun knew everything about it. Tega only wanted to be certain they would get the visa before saying anything about it.

Despite the truth in Tega’s thoughts, he had also reckoned that at some point with Ella, there were some tensed moments; particularly the previous week. That night, their meeting was not about getting a visa or making accommodation arrangements. It was just a casual night out that could have been easily misinterpreted. Maybe that was why the chinwaggers went about talking about his infidelity.    

“But can a woman and man be friends? Or does at least one of them always have feelings for the other? Dotun had asked him once. Different thoughts of where Oge could have run-off to kept processing in Tega’s memory box. He was scared because he knew Oge, she was very hysterical.

While restlessness was the order of Tega’s day, Oge on the other hand was having a difficult time with reality. Her eyes were soaked with tears as drove carelessly.

“You know, marriage is hard work and compromise and more hard work” Oge’s thoughts wandered through those words mother said to her.

“Maybe I am just over reacting” She whimpered to herself as she kept on driving. “I should probably turn back” she thought.

Things however went from bad to worse because the moment she stepped out of the car. It was not how she imagined she would. She nearly fell over, dizzy, with blood crawling round her face. The sight of petrol leaking from the car did not help matters either. She looked hurt, but good thing there were so many people around who helped her immediately to a medical care.

“Hope she will survive that crash? Did she not see the other car making a turn?” Some of the crowd muttered as there was now a growing commotion at Ogui new layout. While most of the people stood afar getting the event on records with their phones, some of the young men of the neighbourhood quickly ran to help her receive medical attention.

That was why Tega ran like a mad man.  He heard the news of Ogechi’s accident and hoped it was not a fatal one. When he arrived at the door of the ward, he suddenly halted, and placing his hands on knob of the door. He stood and sobbed. The security guard who had run after him was left confused, and wondered why he was crying. It was because he blamed himself for Oge’s situation. After assuring the guard that he was not crazy, Tega stood by the door for almost a minute and wondered how a simple misunderstanding could cause so much harm in a short time. The truth he could muster in all of this was that trust could never be built on assumption; and whether he liked it or not, he had made a mistake. Proper communication is probably the only key that keeps open the door of all relationships. After a short while at the door, he summoned courage and gently twisted the knob of the door open.

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