Onscreen Partners

26: You're The First Guy

Jennifer spent a good part of her day brainstorming on what to put on for her dinner with Kola at his place.

Standing before the mirror in her bedroom, she was satisfied with what she later ended up wearing which was a simple red dress that stopped just at her knee. Black sturdy earrings beautified her ear and her black hair fell just on her shoulders.

Finally leaving her bedroom, she walked to the living room and picked up her favorite wine from the table where she had earlier kept it. Her clutch in one hand and the wine in the other, she walked out of her flat.

The cool evening breeze outside engulfed her exposed skin as she walked over to Kola's flat, making her to shiver a bit. Finally getting there, she knocked gently on his door and waited for him to open up.

Kola opened up the door after a couple of seconds.

"Hi Kola," she greeted, taking in the fact that she was seeing Kola at home in a T-shirt and a jean for the very first time.

"Look who is here. Come on in Jennifer," Kola replied with a wide smile and ushered Jennifer in.

"I came along with my favorite made in Nigeria wine, Pure Bliss. It's actually the most popular around here," Jennifer said and lifted up the bottle of wine in her hand.

"I'm so glad that you love it," Kola replied and Jennifer arched her brow at him.

"You're funny." She laughed. "You're speaking as if you made the wine yourself."

Kola scratched his head at her statement. "Actually Jennifer, this is one of the things I'm supposed to tell you about today. Let's go to the table first."

"Alright," Jennifer said with a confused look and followed Kola to his  dinning table which was already simply set with a ceramic bowl at the center, two flat dishes around the bowl, two bottles of water and a pair of wine glass.

"Here." Kola directed Jennifer to seat on a padded, fancy wooden chair that he had pulled out.

"Thank you." Jennifer smiled at him and sat down.

Kola took the wine from her and proceeded to seat just opposite her, the two of them now facing each other.

"I'm really glad that you could make it. Even though I was planning to drag you out of your room if you had decided to change your mind about coming," Kola said and Jennifer laughed.

"I keep to my words Kola."

"Glad you do. I made my favorite dish, spaghetti and fried chicken. That's actual the only dish I can make without any hassles though," Kola said before standing up to serve Jennifer and himself some of the spaghetti from the ceramic plate that was in the middle of the table.

"Thank you. This is already having such a beautiful aroma," Jennifer said as she drew in the enticing aroma from the food before her.

"You can start eating and definitely thank me later," Kola confidently said.

"Stop it with the self praise already Kola." Jennifer rolled her eyes and Kola laughed.

"You were about saying something concerning the wine I came with," Jennifer reminded Kola before having a thirst of the food before her.

"Yeah, I was," Kola said and picked up the bottle of wine that was on the table, opened it and poured out some for himself and Jennifer.

"My dad owns the company," Kola revealed and Jennifer immediately stopped chewing. Her eyes were radiating all shades of surprise at what Kola had said.

"So you're saying that what that lady said about your family having a family business is true?" she asked after forcing herself to swallow the food that was in her mouth.

"Yeah, she was right." Kola gave a nod in confirmation.

"Wow! This is really shocking to me. You mean your dad owns one of the most popular wine making companies in Nigeria?" Jennifer was stunned.

"Apparently." Kola shrugged like it was not much of a big deal.

"Now that I'm thinking about it, I never really disturbed myself with finding out who the owner of the wine was. I just loved the taste, just like most people. I guess I was more interested in finding out who the most influential model in the world is," Jennifer said and laughed at her own statement.

"You have a point there. Who cares about who the owner of a wine company is? People are more interested in googling other stuffs mostly related to entertainment," Kola said and rolled some spaghetti on his fork.

"Can I ask you something?" Jennifer asked.

"Yeah sure. Go ahead."

"Why was the last question the lady asked uncomfortable with you?" Jennifer asked and noticed as Kola's face immediately stiffened on hearing the question.

"My dad and I don't really share the best father-son-relationship," Kola said and began to chew on his food with so much force.

"Why is that?" Jennifer asked curiously, she could notice from the way Kola was reacting that there most have been a fall out between him and his dad.

"My dad had made me go through a lot of hurt. Not just me but my mom and sister too," Kola replied and took in a gulp of water.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jennifer calmly asked and watched Kola take in a really deep breath.

"My dad almost chased my mom out of his life because of his mistress. My mom was beyond chattered when she found out about his extramarital affairs and seeing my mom in the bad state in which she was hurt me a lot. You know, she started the company along side my dad and they both built it together but then at a point, my dad was intoxicated with the amount of success that the company had attained and that was when he started misbehaving." Kola stopped and looked at Jennifer whose eyes held so much pity towards him.

"What my dad did has always been a sensitive topic to me. The only person I've talked about it with except from you is Femi."

"Kola I'm so honored that you could open up about this to me," Jennifer said in a very soft voice.

"You know, it was this same time in which I was going through so much hurt as a teenager that you sent me that letter," Kola chuckled. "You did that in the worst timing Jennifer. At that time the only thing I carried around was bitterness and sadness so that was what I shared to others. Even Femi got a good portion of it," Kola said and Jennifer smiled sadly.

"That explains your very wicked reaction towards my letter. You're the first guy to break my heart Kola." Jennifer chuckled.

"Yeah, and once again I'm sorry that I acted that way towards you, it was so wrong of me," Kola said.

"It's okay, I can understand that you were going through a difficult time at that period and that is why you reacted the way you did," Jennifer replied.

"I can't say how happy I was when I discovered that you are the same girl. I told myself that life is giving me a second chance so that I can apologize and make things right." Kola smiled.

"How about your parents? Did they separate?" Jennifer inquired.

"No they didn't. Dad came back to his senses and asked my mom to forgive him and she willingly did that. I wonder how she got the courage to even do that. My mom is a strong woman Jennifer. She is, I tell you because up till today, I can't forget the pain my dad caused her, Cynthia and myself."

"It must have been really tough for you I know." Jennifer stretched her hands forward and rubbed Kola's palm.

"Yeah it was," Kola replied and Jennifer withdrew her hands and went back to enjoy her food.

                             ~•~

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