LOVE & FLAWS | A NIGERIAN ROMANCE |

Chapter 13

Days Turned Into weeks; without communication. Both parties kept their distance. Pride contributed its bit. Clint focused on himself. For him, reconnecting with Tina wasn't a good idea. Tina wouldn't do so either. Although it was hard, her best option remained to move on. For her, it was best to let the sleeping dog lie. Like graffiti, the event painted a big image in her memory, and like the floor, left droplets of paint on her pride.

She went all emotional. Not like she was forbidden of such; it just wasn't supposed of her, but she wasn't out to blame herself now. Clint was an ass, he had a bigger share of the blame. He swallowed his emotions because of her disability and cowardly hid under his zero commitment gimmicks. If things continued this way, she would completely heal from him in no time.

A part of her wished against that; it wished he came back. It wished they could be together. This part of her didn't want to let go. It wasn't happy with the way things turned out. She tried hard to suppress this part of her. Perhaps, she should have swallowed whatever she had for him, even if she had to grow a bulging belly and a larger oesophagus. She should have kept her calm and maintained their friendship and perhaps, one day, he would change his mind. But that was all gone now. She had to move on. She felt guilty for ruining the friendship they had. They had built a good one over a few months. 

“Lessons learnt. It’s time to move on,” she would always tell herself whenever she got engulfed by these thoughts.

“Tina!” Clint Trotted after them. “Tina! Please stop,” he added more energy into his words.

Tina wouldn't bat an eyelid on him. She ignored his presence at the party. Chidi was there to help her course too. On the sight of him, Chidi went out of her way to make sure Tina didn't feel his presence. 

Clint got the whole memo. He tried as much as he could to stay away from them. That proved to be a very hard job for him as he couldn't. He glanced at her every now and then, watching her play and converse with other people. She was everywhere at the party. It looked like everyone chose to converse with her. The male folks, thanks to them, it all got better. She cracked up on their lame jokes. 

She interacted with them using signs and gestures, occasionally using her phone. Everyone was out to get revenge on him. He felt guilty and jealous — guilty for being a jerk, giving up his feelings on the altar of a flaw. He felt bad for letting her go. Notwithstanding, he resisted all urge to approach her, which proved to be a very tiring job for him.

Since Clint wouldn’t vibe on, his date left him to mix with the crowd, leaving his bored self to himself. He had never been happy losing a female date in his life before.

Tina and Chidi stopped at his last words. They didn't want to, but at the same time they didn't want to be rude. Chidi turned to face him, while Tina remained fixed in her position.

He walked closer. “Hey, Chidi,” he wasn't sure whether to shake or embrace her. Chidi didn't seem to be in the mood for handshakes or hugs either, so he passed.

“Tina, are you going to continue to ignore me?”

Tina neither responded nor reacted. 

“I know you are hurt, but we can't continue that way. We were friends before now.”

“Hey, that's you, Tina!” Someone spoke and a guy staggered into the scene. 

One of the guys from the party earlier, Clint identified. He looked at him with disdain, an action that surprised but satisfied him same time. “We are having a discussion here,” he told the guy. 

Tina watched them without interest. She stood fixed in her half-drunken state.

Ugo, the drunken young man struggled to maintain his balance on the ground. “Who is he?” He asked. He made to get over to Tina but Clint placed his leg across his path, causing him to trip and fall over into the flower bed.