JUST FOR YOU

《20》Leaving him.

I looked up to Vincent for the answer to the question I asked him. The frenzied pulses sent out by my heart hammered so hard at my chest. The atmosphere in the room had changed. It had become thinner, and the air conditioner seemed to be working again. I had stopped crying moments ago, and it seemed Vincent just started his crying spree. "How do you know David?" I asked again, less angry this time.

He sobbed and stuttered, "D... David was—he was—my best friend. I could even call him my brother." My jaw dropped at the shocking revelation. I gaped at him, wishing he was lying. The doleful expression he had on said otherwise. I swallowed hard, and my stomach churned endlessly. I turned my face away from him, as if, if I looked away, what he said would turn out to be a lie.

Of all the words in this world, I wasn't expecting him to say that. "What? You're lying. How is that even possible?" I exclaimed.

"His father and my father used to work together. We were family friends, and we became best friends since our kindergarten days. You could even call us twins because of how close we were." His mouth snapped shut as he closed his eyes. He then used his face towel to wipe his eyes.

"What?" I found myself asking again as I found it hard to believe a word of what he said.

"It is true. We grew up together in Abuja. We went to the same school. We were inseparable, not until his dad died and his mum started working with the ministry of education in Lagos. So, they had to relocate." He heaved.

I rubbed my temples and shook my head. "No. It's not true. You're lying."

"It is the truth. What do I stand to gain by lying?" He paused for a while before he continued speaking. "David used to talk about you all the time. Even though we were miles apart, we were still very tight. We kept in touch. Sometimes he would travel to Abuja during the Christmas break, and other times I'd come down to Lagos to stay with them." He stared at me with his teary eyes and made me start my own crying spree.

He went on. "He talked about you a lot. You were his everything. The centerpiece of his life. He even loved you more than he loved his own mother. We were so young, but he seemed to have had it all figured out. He told me the plans you guys made together. All of his plans had you in it. I knew you even though I had never set my eyes on you back then. He spoke highly of you. I hated relationships then, but because of you guys, I wanted to taste love. I wanted to love someone and be loved. And I was able to do that with you." He paused and drew in a long breath. "I even started liking you. David never said a bad thing about you because he never had anything bad to say about you or anyone for that matter." He looked at me, and I let out a weak smile. I couldn't find the words to say, so I just sat there and watched him narrate his side of the story. I wasn't mad anymore; I was sad. It was as if a cloud of sadness had settled over my head.

"The period he was sick, he was transferred to a specialist hospital in Abuja. I was with him in the hospital, day and night. Everyone was worried sick because of his type of illness. Recovery rate was not that common. He was scared; everyone was scared. Two days before he died, he had told his mum he wanted to talk to me alone. His mum left; that was when he begged me to get a change of school form and transfer to Unilag. He said that I was the only one who knew you as much as he did. It was like he knew he was going to die, so he told me he needed someone to be with you, to protect you, to support you because you had a lot of struggles you were dealing with."

"He had begged me and told me that he was certain you were going to get admission that year because of how good your results were. I had to agree because I loved David and I was willing to honour his wishes. Even though I didn't believe he was going to die. I still agreed, not knowing that he would die two days later." He broke down there and then, not caring how uglily he cried. "I watched him die, Janette. I watched a part of me die. He died right before my eyes. It was extremely painful. My heart shattered into a million pieces." He wept uncontrollably. He bowed his head and covered his eyes with a hand, like he didn't want me to see him in that state.