How Love Works

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight.

A teeny tiny ray of sunshine and thunderclouds

The rest of the week passed in a blur, Angel was recovering, Ehi was constantly at his house to cheer him up, as if to make up for rejecting his romantic getaway.

Deep down, she was a little relieved that the getaway hadn't happened. She wasn't sure she could be with Angel after what had happened with Bisi the other night.

Speaking of Bisi, he hadn't contacted Iyoma yet so just maybe she could trust him on that. Ehi let out a breath of frustration, she was tensed every time Iyoma walked into the room with her phone in hand.

She kept worrying that Iyoma would somehow find out or Bisi would be so cruel and maybe mention it to her one day.

'Hey! you're not listening' Angel brought back her attention to the present. Ehi smiled sheepishly at him 'Sorry was thinking about work' she lied easily.

Angel frowned 'I don't think you should go back to Hotel Magnolia, your boss is a mean asshole and no employee should be treated the way he treats you. You know you should sue his ass for sexual harassment' Angel fumed prompting a laugh from Ehi.

'Poor people don't take rich people to court in this part of the world , it always rules in favour of the greener side' Ehi said shaking her head. Imagine her suing Mr Kayode, how would she pay the lawyer? If she lost the case, which is ninety nine percent certain, she'd be out of a job. And not just that, Mr Kayode would make sure she almost never got another good job in Lagos.

'I could help, should I talk to my lawyer....' Angel was saying when she cut him off. 'Why do you always try to make everything so easy?' Ehi asked shaking her head at him.

'I've said this so many times Ehi. I'm practically a broken record on repeat, I want to take care of you' Angel said

Ehi laughed a little amused and a little sad. 'I can take care of myself Angel, I don't need a man to do that. I don't need anyone to take care of me, I don't want to be indebted to anyone' Ehi said.

Angel stared at her thoughtfully for about a minute and sighed 'Whoever he was, he sure did a number on you. Ehi, I'm not him and I would never hurt you' Angel said.

Ehi closed her eyes briefly 'This is not about him Angel, that has been over years ago. This is about me protecting myself to avoid anymore man related problems' Ehi said.

'But you're ignoring the man related problem you have at work' Angel pointed out, Ehi rolled her eyes. 'Please, Mr Kayode is all bark and no bite. I can deal with him, forget about it' Ehi said.

Angel nodded and looked back into the book he'd been reading. 'Will I ever get a chance with you Ehi? It's like every time I try to chase you and I feel like I'm getting there, you just suddenly go out of reach someway. You agreed to go out on a date with me a week ago and this week you've been avoiding every conversation of me making plans to make up for that date' Angel said. They couldn't keep going round in circles, he had feelings for Ehi and he knew she had feelings for him too but what kind of feelings? Were her feelings strong enough to maybe try to start something with him or not?

'I'm sorry if I've been giving you mixed signals but I don't think I want to be chased right now. What we have is good and I don't want us to ruin it just yet' Ehi said biting her bottom lips to keep herself from saying anything else.

'In other words?' Angel looked at her expectantly but before she could say anything else, Iyoma walked into the living room.

'Hey, Ehi...Angel...what are you two doing?' she asked with a small smile. They were either here or at his house, always together these days. It made her miss Bisi more, but then she and Bisi had only ever been like this at the beginning of their relationship.

'Hey you, what took you so long?' Ehi asked. Iyoma had gone to the bank to renew her debit card. 'Network issues'  she replied and took out her new card and her phone from her jeans pocket.

'Am I interrupting anything?' Iyoma asked before moving to sit opposite them. '.....Not that there's anything to interrupt' Angel muttered and switched back his attention to his book.

Iyoma shook her head 'Fucking snails' Iyoma hissed.

'Huh?' Ehi and Angel looked up at her.

'You two for god's sake, Ehi likes you Angel and Angel likes you Ehi. Why aren't you two dating and bumping uglies? Snail lovers, set awon let's take things slow' Iyoma mocked playfully.

Ehi rolled her eyes and hissed 'Since when did you become a relationship expert?' Ehi asked.

'Since I...' Iyoma was saying when her phone made a familiar notification sound. The one she'd customized for Bisi's messages.

'Oh my God, it's Bisi' Iyoma jumped. Ehi stopped breathing for a few seconds. Bisi? Her heart raced to the ceiling as she watched Iyoma's excitement.

Angel who wasn't too focused on his book now noticed that Ehi was tensed for some reason, did she hate Bisi that much?

'I thought you said you weren't going to talk to him anymore?' Ehi asked in an unusual high pitched voice that spiked Angel's curiosity.

Ehi's cool as a cucumber demeanor had evaporated into thin air and he wanted to know why.

Iyoma paced about the living room as she clicked on Bisi's message. 'I said I wasn't going to contact him again but I didn't say I wasn't going to talk to him if he made the first move' Iyoma said as she read his text message.

'He says he wants us to meet up later today at Kohinoor' Iyoma squealed. Angel could have snorted if he hadn't held himself in check.

From what he knew, Iyoma had been an emotional wreck for over a week, she'd been texting this guy all these while and he'd been ignoring her. Suddenly the guy wanted to meet up  and she was just going to agree and make it easy for him.

'And you're going to go, just like that?' Angel asked the question Ehi was afraid to ask.

'Well...duh. See I don't know what Ehi has been telling you but Bisi isn't the villain. He broke up with me because I messed up and now he wants to give me a second chance. There's no way I'd be foolish to throw that away' Iyoma said.

Ehi's shoulders slumped visibly, she knew Bisi was going to tell Iyoma the truth and hell was going to break loose after that. She should have known he wouldn't keep his stupid mouth shut.

'First of all, Ehi hasn't told me shit. I'm merely judging based on what I've noticed since we became friends. Iyoma, I'm going to be very honest with you....' Angel was saying when Iyoma interrupted.

'Angel you're going to be my boss soon but you're also my friend and neighbor, don't make me hate you. I don't want your honesty, I love Bisi and he loves me. This is how it is between us, we fight and then we get back together. Always, you may think it's toxic but that's not the way it feels to me' Iyoma said and she was talking to both Angel and Ehi.

Angel looked to Ehi and waited for her to say something but she shrugged unable to say anything else. Her mind was in limbo, she wasn't sure what to do. She could only wait for the worst.

Hopefully Bisi wouldn't tell her, if he did, she could only hope that Iyoma would listen to her own side of the story.