IZIGORA

Chapter 26

Kobi hid a yawn behind the palm of his left hand as he pulled over in front of Sotonye's apartment. After two major surgeries, Kobi needed food, a hot bath, a massage and a long, deep sleep – precisely in that order.

His phone rang and he pressed the button on the black ear piece he had attached to his phone. Jumoke's musical voice came on immediately: 'Hi honey,' she said cheerily.

'Hi darling,' he responded, smiling. 'How was your day?'

'Less busy, thank God. You sound tired.'

'Tired is an understatement. I'm exhausted.'

'My darling baby,' Jumoke cooed. 'Do you want me to come over and help you with a soothing massage?'

'No,' he blurted out before he could stop himself and he winced at his tone. That didn't come out right.

'Oh,' Jumoke gasped.

'Sorry, darling,' Kobi immediately apologised. 'That didn't come out well.'

'No, it didn't.'

She had magic fingers and would have made a great masseuse. Well, she'd told him she had worked part-time in a spa between graduation and youth service. He had felt her expertise first hand a few weeks after they had started dating. She had stopped by the hospital and found him slouched on his arm chair in his office, muscles tensed. She'd immediately placed her hands on his shoulders and worked on his muscles, working on the cords on his shoulders and neck and throbbing temple. It had been so soothing that Kobi had fallen asleep while she was doing that.

He needed a full body massage this time and in his current state of mind and considering the time, he couldn't risk Jumoke being in his apartment especially when Chinny wasn't around.

'As much as I'd love to have a massage, darl,' he told her, 'I don't want you to risk coming over my apartment this night. It's quite late and I'm too tired to drive you home.'

'You're afraid I might end up sleeping over,' she surmised.

That was one of the reasons. He wasn't ready for that level of relationship. He lived by a principle not to let any woman who wasn't related to him spend the night in his bedroom. And to achieve this, he rarely allowed any woman spend the night in his home. He'd seen relationships get complicated as a result of this. It usually started with staying in separate rooms where the apartment had more than one bedroom and then sharing the same bedroom and bed followed by many more nights of staying together until the woman had most of her clothes there and it appeared as though they were practically living together.

He loved his current apartment and intended to remain there, unless it became impracticable to

do so, at least until he had built his own house. And so, it would really be awkward having his wife in the same bedroom he had shared with another woman.

He may or may not marry Jumoke. She was a wonderful woman but he didn't want to rush their relationship. He wanted to take the time to know her better before taking that bold step, although he sensed that she wanted to settle down by her thirtieth birthday which was in a few months' time.

'It would be inevitable,' he admitted.

She sighed. 'Are you home now?'

'Not yet.'

'You could stop by my apartment.'

And spend the night! She took such good care of him that she wouldn't let him drive home in the state he was in. And he wouldn't be responsible for what happened between them.

They were both adults but Jumoke was the kind of woman you wanted in your life, even if it was not as a lover but as a good friend. Perhaps that was why he was holding back on intimacy so as to avoid the complications that might follow if they didn't survive it as a couple.