ANOTHER MORNING

Time and Again

A light tap on the driver's door woke him up, he quickly checked his time, he had been sleeping for over an hour. The security man needed him to move the car so someone could drive out. Gbenga backed the car to a corner of the event centre, turned off the ignition and checked his time. The event was meant to have been over 1 hour ago, where was she, he thought.

His phone rang, Okoro was on the line. He took the call and stepped out of the car to stretch his legs, the felt cramped up from lying awkwardly in a small space for over an hour. His back needed some stretching too.

"Bro," he said as he took the call.

"You have to stay in Aba tonight, The lady called, something pressing came up..."

Okoro's voice trailed off in Gbenga's ears. He stopped listening when he heard "stay in Aba," he played out various scenarios in his head, in all the possible outcomes of this call, he knew there was no possibility of him spending the night away from Teniola. 

"You must be joking" he managed to say after recollecting his thoughts. 

"Look man, she's doubling your pay, I already told her it's no biggie"

Gbenga wasn't sure whether to feel embarrassed or insulted that Okoro would take such a decision without consulting him first, especially when he knew about Teniola's condition. 

"I guess you'll have to call her back," he shot back. "I'm leaving"

"Guy, don't spoil my business for me, just relax. You need this money more than I do"

Gbenga had his fill of the conversation. He ended the call, walked back into the car, keyed it and was about to leave when his phone rang. 

"I am not sure what you're thinking, you leave Aba, you don't get paid and you don't touch my car. Think this through you" Okoro starts to say but Gbenga ends the call. 

He took out his phone and dialled his house again, the number wasn't connecting. There was a thin thread holding his sanity in check at this point. He killed the engine, got down and walked into the event centre. He looked towards the stage and saw Mrs Chioma sitting pretty with two other women gisting and sipping coloured liquid from glasses that had funny straws in them. He couldn't deny the excellence of the decoration, Aba had really upgraded in the last few years, he thought as he scanned the hall for a way to approach the ladies without creating a scene. One of the ushers from earlier came out from a door to his left, and he walked up to her.

"Please could you help me tell Mrs Chioma that I'll love to see her"

"Sir, the event is actually over, you can-"

Gbenga didn't let her finish, he walked past her and towards Mrs Chioma, who turned and saw the seriousness on the face of her driver. 

"Excuse me, ladies," She said as she got up and walked down the stage.

"Everything good?"

"No madam it's not" he rushed his words. "I need to go back to Portharcourt"

"I already spoke to your boss,"

Gbenga fought the urge to hold himself from an outburst. This was a woman he respected so much, who he believed was the key to having a normal life with Teniola. He needed to watch his emotions, but he was already very upset with Okoro. He clenched his fists trying so hard to push back the bitter emotions that grew from his stomach, on one hand, he needed both the money and the counsellor, on the other hand, he really needed to be with his wife tonight, and nothing was going to change that.

"Here," he extended his hands with the keys to the car. "Madam, I am sorry I have to go back to Portharcourt now" He tried so hard not to look into her eyes.

"What's all this?" she started to say but saw him wipe the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand. Reluctantly she took the keys to the car and Gbenga rushed off before she could say anything.

Teniola woke up, she opened her eyes and everything was blurry. Her bleeding leg had lost all its colour and weighed a ton. She wondered what exactly she was doing on the floor, she had run out of tears.

Gbenga ran towards the road, stopped a keke napep, and boarded to the buspark. It was almost 5 pm, this was the longest he had stayed away from Teniola. He still couldn't shake the thought that something was not right at home. 

He saw a bus with about 5 passengers in it, the conductor kept on screaming "port direct, port anywhere you stop hold your 1000." He jumped out the keke napep, threw a bunch of naira notes on the driver and ran into the bus, two other young ladies joined him in the bus, they both looked like they were students of uniport. He was pleased to know that his bus would get filled up quickly and they'd be in Portharcourt before 8 pm, he was still calculating when three of the passengers dropped and it dawned on him that they were fill-ups, elderly women, men and young men who sit in busses to deceive passengers that it was full. 

He couldn't get down at this point. It took about 30 minutes for his bus to get filled up and the journey began. Gbenga always dreaded night journeys, he had heard a lot of stories and never thought of risking it. He took out his phone and dialled his house again, it didn't ring and his phone battery was at 5%. He cursed beneath his breath and palmed his face.

It was a few minutes after 9 pm when their bus made it to Portharcourt. He alighted and flagged down a taxi headed his way, he always preferred having his cash in his hand instead of struggling with his pockets when it was time to alight from a taxi. 

His hands went into his pockets and came back empty. He dipped them in again and brought out the entire lining of his pockets. The taxi driver was already growing impatient, his passengers murmured, and the well-dressed gentleman in a suit was wasting their time looking for money that wasn't there. Gbenga felt embarrassed, he realized he had thrown all the cash he had in that pocket on the keke napep driver earlier and had used the last 1000 naira in his pockets to pay for his fare to Portharcourt.

"Oga enter, I go pay" came a voice from the back seat.

"Enter now" others chided. 

Gbenga quickly got into the taxi.

Taking the stairs to his apartment three at a time he ran up to his door. The key fell from the keyhole a couple of times before he steadied his grip and opened the door. The lights were always on, he couldn't risk Teniola forgetting where the light switches are and missing her step at night. 

He ran past the sitting room, and into the bedroom, she wasn't there. 

"Teny, Babe..." he called out.

He ran back out of the room and was about to check the visitor's bedroom when he saw her.

"Teniola!" he shouted as he rushed to her side. 

"No no no no, Jesus no" he cried as he picked her up, her hands dropped to her side. He couldn't feel a pulse.