Tomi (A short story)

Chapter 19

Song for the chapter: Dandelions by Ruth B

Tomike

I rose up slowly from my bed and muttered a prayer of thanks before heading to the bathroom to do my morning business.

Yesterday, I went on another date with Seun and I was even more than impressed with how he managed to pull it off giving that work had been super stressful these days but only Seun could make a movie date feel so exclusive and special. I smiled deeply staring at my reflecting in the mirror and shook my head at how much of a lover girl I'd grown to be during the past few weeks.

I returned to my room and grabbed my phone to check my instagram feed and I saw a very alarming post. Jada, Deji's girlfriend of three years was getting married to the son of the Deputy governor of Lagos state and the news was all over the internet.

"What?!" I screamed and Kiki ran into my room with her hair neatly packed, her minimalistic makeup done to perfection but the only odd thing was that she was wearing her regular gym outfit. She noticed I was staring at her weirdly and she cleared her throat.

"I'm heading to the gym later but I need to be somewhere first."

"Like that? I hope you know you know going to sweat out all that makeup."

"The makeup looks natural enough." She rolled her eyes and I turned my attention back to my phone to read the details of the wedding and I hissed slowly as I read what the sad excuse of a girl had to say during her engagement party.

"Can you imagine this girl! Did she really just say that she knew he was the one right from the moment she saw him? For the past three years she was seeing my brother!"

"Oh I'm guessing you must have seen." Kiki laughed and I frowned at her. "What? Why are you t dating at me like I've grown two heads? This is not the first time such a thing is happening in Lagos and it most definitely won't be the last."

"Kiki this is my brother we're talking about and he's been with her for three years." I waved my hands frantically in the air. "And now she's engaged to someone else. I don't even think they broke up I think they had one of their many breaks and now this!"

"Well that's sad. I honestly do feel bad for him. At least if the girl wanted to break his heart, she would have done it privately now the whole of Lagos is going to talking about this wedding. By the way have you seen the hashtags?"

"Exactly why I'm pissed! Why would she do such a thing?" I opened my contacts and placed a call across to my brother but he didn't pick up.

"I'll see you later." Kiki walked out of my room and I sat down on my bed sighing heavily.

I checked the comment section of one of the famous blogs because that's where the gist always is and while some people were congratulating the couple, others were spilling her dirty secrets.

Serves her right!

The shameless side of me really wanted to drop a comment or even send a direct message to one of the blogs telling them that she was a big cheat but there was no way I was going to embarrass my brother like that.

Thinking back to how their relationship was, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Agreed Deji could be a bit of a perfectionist and that led to their many arguments but Jada was materialistic to the core!

I remember the day we all went shopping in Dubai and she bought literally everything the sales representative told her to buy or was it when I found out that He gave her an allowance of one million naira monthly, paid her rent and car bills. I was pissed and I had walked out of his apartment in anger that day. Jada never had to lift a finger because he was always there for her and she decided to pay him back with this.

Sulking around and feeling bad for my brother wasn't going to change anything. I walked to my closet and grabbed my black crop top, grey sweat pants and put on my black adidas slides as I placed another call across to him but he still didn't pick up. I walked to the dinning table and grabbed my car keys as I walked out of the apartment.

"Please open the gates!" I shouted and the gateman hurriedly opened the gates. I entered my car and sent a quick text to Kiki telling her that I was going to be out for a while.

My phone made it's usual ringing sound and I answered the call while I drove out of the compound.

"Tomike I've been trying to reach you!" My mother yelled through the phone and I cringed at how loud her voice was.

"Sorry mummy I was busy trying to reach Deji."

"That's why I'm calling you. Have you spoken to him now?"

"No mummy but I'm on my way to his place."

"I'm trying to add Tunmise to this call but I don't know how to." She hissed and I chuckled as I added Tunmise to the call.

"Okay good. Tunmise please have you been able to reach Deji?" She asked.

"I just got to his apartment. Tomike where are you?"

I parked my car across the street and got out of the car with my phone pressed against my ear. "Outside but I can't see you anywhere." And just then I saw Tunmise wave frantically at me.

"Please stay with him and when he's ready to talk call me okay? I don't know why Jada decided to treat him this way."

"Okay mum I'll call you later." I ended the call and walked into Deji's compound.

"Musa!" I thundered. The gateman was busy sleeping and he forgot to lock the gate. "I'm sure you still love your job so act like it!"

"Sorry Madam Tomike." He begged. "I just slept off after helping my boss to pack.

"After helping which boss to pack?" Tunmise hissed. "Like we don't always catch you sleeping on duty."

I shook my head and walked away but Musa ran after me. "Madam where are you going to? I helped Sir Deji to pack up."

"Ah to where? Did he tell you he was going on a trip?" Tunmise turned to me and I shook my head.

"I haven't been able to reach him." I tried calling him again but the call went straight to voicemail while Tunmise asked the gateman a few questions.

"All I know is that he looked in a bit of a hurry so He didn't pack much, he was just eager to leave."

"And you said he didn't tell you anything else."

"Yes sir."

Tunmise shared a confused look with me. "Do you think he went to see her?" I buried my head in my hands and he hissed.

"Is anything wrong?" Musa stared at us with a scared look on his face.

"Nothing is wrong Musa. Lock the gates and call us if anything unusual happens around here." Tunmise said as dragged me out of the compound.

"I know where he is. Let's go!"

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In Nigeria we call this kind of heartbreak "breakfast" so it's okay to say that Jada just served Deji correct breakfast!😂

What's the most horrible heartbreak story that you've ever heard?