LOVE AND SEX

"Brian, it's about our relationship..." Nikita said, toppling her coral-black hair over her shoulders.

"I don't want to talk about it?" Brian said on the other side of the phone.

"We need to sit and patch up."

"No Nic, we can't."

"Brian, you know that I love you."

"You call this love?"

"I don't think I can live without you."

Silence.

"Brian..."

Silence.

"Please... I love—"

The call was aborted. Nikita called again, Brian didn't answer. She called three more times, there was no response.

Shit, she dragged her blanket in the dirt. Her eyes swam with tears. The clock on the wall read 2204 hrs.

"Hi Brian, I'm coming to your house right now. If I'm welcomed to enter your house, please leave your front porch light on. If I find the porch light off, I'll understand and tell my taxi driver to keep on going." Nikita texted and leaped into action towards the door, feet hammering the marbled floor.

Nikita stopped a taxi and threw herself on the back seat. "To Msamala..."

"25,000/= from Matogoro to Msamala, daughter." A female voice responded on the driver's seat.

"I know..." Nikita said, slouching. Her palm covered her face as she exhaled profoundly. The taxi started moving slowly.

After ten minutes of silence, Nikita's eyes met with the driver's eyes through the rear-view mirror. The driver was a woman of about 55 years old.

"You don't look alright daughter. You okay?"

Nikita looked outside.

"Life is about love and love is about sharing."

Nikita exhaled, gazing over the taxi window.

"It's alright if you don't want to share."

"Are you married?" Nikita bit her lip and glanced away.

The woman plastered a smile on her face. "Got divorced two years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

The woman chuckled. "Divorce isn't such a tragedy. A tragedy's staying in an unhappy marriage, teaching your children the wrong things about love. Nobody ever died of divorce."

"Do you think it's alright for a girl to have sex before marriage?"

The woman's mouth twisted. "Are we talking about something specifically?"

Their eyes met via the rear-view mirror. Nikita's heart-shaped face went from being flushed to doleful.

Nikita gasped, her brows knitted in a frown. "Um... I've a boyfriend. We've been in a relationship for about two years. We love each other a lot but I've never allowed him to kiss or touch me even once. We've never got physically intimate nor have sex."

"Is there any problem with that?"

"He's 22. I know he has some physical needs. There are days when he gets very frustrated because he doesn't get any support from me."

"He wants sex and you don't?"

Nikita droop her head. "I'm a virgin and I'd like to have sex only after marriage."

"So your relationship with him is in snag?"

"Deep snag..."

"Have you tried talking to him?"