RED LINES

CHAPTER SEVEN

Bekere drove into the Palms shopping mall on a hot and sunny Saturday dressed in a cream-colored t-shirt, Jeans, and hair casually swept into a ponytail. She had thought of letting it loose when she left the house but thought better of it. The heat was smelting, and she plans on not only doing her grocery but also stopping by at Argungi market for some raw food purchase. So, the last thing she needed was also having her hair blow all over her face.

After finding a good enough place to park, she alighted the car, locked it, and walked briskly into the mall.

Smothering a smile, she recalled her conversations with Obinna.

He'd called her last night, asking that they both did drinks. She wondered how he got her number, then sighed knowingly when he only laughed and said he wasn't going to let slip his source. He didn't need to, she thought. She knew Alice was responsible for it.

Obinna sounded all cheerful and playful; he said he was in Lagos and was planning on an extended trip to the US but needed to see her before leaving. Couldn't she make out time to see him this weekend?

Bekere was about phrasing a refusal when Obinna said he could come over to her house if she preferred that.

"What? You have my address?" She'd exclaimed.

"Sure," He had said.

"I sensed your reluctance and know you're about turning me down, and seriously Beks, I'm not letting you do that this time. We're having that drink whether you like it or not."

Then he added,

"I hope it's the former, though."

She agreed to the meeting.

Wheeling her cart down the aisle of the supermarket, Bekere made a mental note to call Alice and remonstrate her, Alice had no right to give out her information without her consent. Then she recalled that Alice was on a family vacation in Dubai.

Bekere sighed and continued her shopping. Tonight she would face Obinna, and who knows, she smiled, maybe, just maybe, it was time to soothe old wounds and chart a new course.

**********

Ayo felt his phone buzzing in his pocket shortly after he and Folu settled at a lounge at the Palms. The caller ID read "Wifey."

"Hey, babe," He chirped, then mouthed a "no" to Folu, when he asked if he wanted something from the menu, a young and twenty-something light-skinned female waiter placed before them.

"Yes, I'm with Folu, we're at the Palms," Folu heard Ayo say, while he scanned the menu, trying to decide on what he wanted for lunch.

It's been six months since Ese walked out on him, and six months since he stopped caring about the entire female species. Hence Folu was a little put off when he noticed the waiter staring intently at him. It was his face, he thought, always his face, it seems to draw in the female species.

Ignoring her come-hither stare, Folu focused on his menu perusal.

His phone beeped. He checked the message and frowned at it.

"Hi," he read, a "Hi" message from Ese?

She had blocked him from all her social media handles right after moving out. But he noticed she unblocked him a while later because he started seeing all of her feeds on Facebook and Instagram. He saw all the pictures she posted, some of herself, others of Eric, liked and commented on none.

She tagged him on some of her Tweets with business content; he ignored them.

He reread the message and chose to ignore it. Ese was history, an added statistic to his failed relationships.