I entered the room after Juwie had gone inside earlier, just before I did. She had removed her clothes and was about taking off her undies when I say sauntered in.
She glared at me rudely and took her eyes away from me immediately, to show that she was highly displeased to see me, it was quite obvious though.
I stood at the door for some time, unable to construct something in my mind to say to her, I was almost empty, if that's the right word. Standing there for a longer time but nothing from me.
Juwie left to the bathroom without saying a word to me. But, I thought that it will be okay for me if I stayed there till any of us gets tired of the looming silence that had taken over the room.
My legs had started to ache me and was becoming shaky from standing one place for so long. I had to pace for a while before she comes out.
About ten minutes later, she came out of the bathroom, having her pink towel wrapped around her body and at the same time using the part of the edge to dry her wet hair.
She was surprised to see me standing on the door where I was before she went to the bathroom. The way she reacted at first, I knew she was tired of me already, but you know, as ladies, we usually prefer to prove stubborn that to accept defeat.
She pretended to no notice me, which was so obvious and went about her business. As she was dressing up, she started humming a song, which I almost joined her before I remembered that we weren't in good terms yet, so I forced myself not to disgrace myself.
I guess she was tired of seeing me watch her for a while, I could hear her murmuring some inaudible words to herself.
After a while, when she noticed I wasn't going to give up in my wild goose chase, she broke the silence. "What do you want Clar? She asked with a trace of fury in her voice.
She was angry, because she only calls me Clar when she is angry, but calls me by my full name when we two are okay.
"Juwie, I'm sorry I messed up big time. I admit, I made a huge mistake, but I'm sorry, I really am." I apologized with total sincerity from my heart.
Juwie hissed loudly and lay on the bed. She wasn't going to sleep on empty stomach is she? I wondered to myself.
Well, at this moment, anything is very possible, so I'd rather not get my hopes too high than I can imagine.
Juwie is not the type that eats out, except she is going on a date with someone. Juwie cannot stop by a restaurant or an eatery to get something to eat, if she does, then she is definitely brining it home. I don't know if I should call that stage fright or so, but that's how it actually is.
Judging from that, I can bet that Juwie hasn't taken dinner yet. Perhaps she bought some snacks at work which she naturally detests, except she is so hungry and has no choice.
To crown my deductions, I heard her stomach mumble as a sign of stomach contraction as she usually term it, which is also known as hunger.
"Juwie, I guess you must be hungry, there is food in the kitchen if you don't mind."
I noticed she stirred, but refused to heed to what I said, but backed me completely.
I knew immediately that it was working. I just needed a few minutes and a few right words that would stir her heart to accept my little proposal.
"Did you hear me? I asked, knowing she won't respond. Then a little idea came to my mind. "Erm, Juwie. Guess what I prepared for dinner tonight? I know you won't get it though. But, I returned home earlier than usual after stopping by the market to get some food items. It took me about three hours to prepare this food." I paused to know if she was listening or not. I felt she was, so I continued with my boring story.
"Well, actually, I prepared plain rice with sauce and salad. When you are ready to eat, I will be waiting in the kitchen." I said lastly to her, then I left the room, heading straight to the kitchen in optimism.
I wasn't so sure she was going to buy that, though I hoped that she would. Atleast, that would be the first step to her accepting my apologies that I have been seeking for in a while.
I waited in the kitchen for who knows how long, seriously anticipating and expecting her to show up any minute or moment from now. Unfortunately for me, the way it was turning out, I could see my hope chattered into tiny bits and I am not sure it's gonna be successful at all.
I walked to and fro the kitchen wishing she would show up anytime as I was becoming impatient. Ten minutes, twenty, thirty, but still nothing.
So, Juwie is willing to sleep on empty stomach this fateful night? I wondered out loud. That is quite unlike her. Perhaps, she changed her pattern and habit when I wasn't looking but busy chasing some folks with money.
I was forced to sit on the floor, resting my body on the kitchen long table that demarcated it into two halves. I had to sit down there because, literarily, I was really tired and my heels had started to ache me from standing for so long a time.
I think I might have dozed off after a while when a heard the sound of metals clanging. The first thing that came to my mind as I opened my eyes was, "A thief must have broken in! I found myself jittering. The first time I had an encounter with thieves in my former house was not a funny scene at all.
They had broken in when I was asleep. I didn't know how they found their way into the house because I locked everything, but they still came in despite that.
They beat me up and took the only money I had in the house. They beat me mercilessly, asking why I had only that meagre amount of money in the house.
I was very scared and begged them to have pity on me, that it was not my fault that I was poor. One of them slapped me so hard, asking if he was the one at fault, if it wasn't I. I was left speechless, to avoid spurring more trouble.
The next thing that happened put me in mental disorder for some months. The guy who slapped me hard asked me to undress or else, he will shoot me. That was one of the days I felt so miserable. I tried to resist him, but within few seconds, he didn't just undress me, he tore my clothes till I was stark naked. Then, he threw me on the bed and was about doing down, that was when my Messiah came.
From no where, the police came around. I figured that a neighbor might have ring them to inform them of the impeding situation. Luckily for me, as soon as the guys heard the siren fr the police car, they left me and my house and escaped.
Since then, whenever I hear thieves, especially the ones with guns, I almost blackout.
The clanging continued, but when I listened closely, I noticed that whoever was behind it did it slowly so that the people of the house would not find out.
Carefully, I tried to stand up slowly to know if there was a way a could peep. As my head passed the length of the table, I heard a scream from the other end of the kitchen, by reflex, I saw myself screaming as well till I stood up fully. I stopped screaming, because the other person at the other part of the kitchen was Juwie, trying to steal from my food!
I regained my strength as the fear I had previously left already.
"No Juwie." I said boldly, "you can't take from my food. It's past your time."
"What is wrong with you, you weirdo? You, you scared me to the marrow. Do you know how I felt seeing a strange thing coming fr behind the table." She whinged, holding her chest with her left hand, as the right hand was clutching a plate, quarter filled with rice.
"Sorry about that. Well, you are the cause of it, because you made me doze off here, when I had a nice bed I could comfortably sleep on. So, don't put all the blame on me, alright."
"Silly fellow. You really want me to accept your stupid, hypocritic apology, that has no weight? She asked intensely. I could sense she was getting angry.
"My apologies isn't hypocritical Juwaya. I know I messed up big time, I know. That's why I am really going this far to prove the sincerity in my apologies."
She stared at me for a while without saying anything. She was thinking, thinking if she would accept my request and accept my apologies as well. The expression on her face on the other hand showed that she was so displeased with me, so that might mean that she doesn't want to accept.
I started to speak again. "Juwie, please I'm sorry, okay. Atleast, just for old time sakes." I said to her, showing a very sad and remorseful face.
"If your reason is for old time sakes, then I am not going to accept it, at all." She said, frowning her face.
"What else do you want me to say? I don't know what else you will accept. All I have done for you to listen to me all fell on deaf ears. I don't know what else to say." I answered feeling very bad about the whole thing.
"Give me one good reason why, why I should reconsider your request or, should I call that, a proposal? Give me, just one simple but sensible reason why I should accept you." She ordered.
I scratched me head, hoping something meaningful will come out of it. Just one sensible reason, just one sensible reason, i told myself.
I couldn't come up with anything at all, I was blank up there, I had nothing to give her as an excuse to accept my apology. I felt, hurt deep down, making up my mind to say anything, which if she doesn't accept, I would give up on trying entirely.
"Well, one reason is." I paused for a while and stared at her, she looking back at me in anticipation. "I cannot live with you in the same house as friends turn enemies. I cannot live in the same house with you when we can't talk about a lot of things as we used to. I cannot live in the same house with you when what all we do is to ignore eachother ball day long as while I ache for a day that you will finally accept my mistake and forgive me. If, this is not enough for you, then, I have nothing left to say to you."
After that, I backed her and started walking out of the kitchen, congratulating myself for trying my best to make everything work out well.
"Stop! I heard her say.
I might be hearing things, I thought to myself. Maybe my eagerness to hear her say something nice to me was making me hear things in a different way. So, I kept on walking. If it is real, then she will repeat herself and I will hear it more clearly this time around.
"Clarinet, please stop. I forgive you. I don't really have anything against you. You have right to the type choices you wish to make and I can't stop you. But, I felt very bad, not because he was my ex-boyfriend, but for the fact that we agreed not to date married men and you went behind my back to do such, kept me pissed off." She said finally.
I felt so remorseful and I turned to face her. "Juwie, I don't know what came over me. I needed money so much that period and Clinton wasn't of much help to me. To be honest, Jide was the who paid for my part of the house rent for this year, well I had no choice." I confessed, though not proud of it either.
"Clarinet, you always have a choice in every situation, you just don't see it that way. But, I really want to know as this question has been probing my heart for a while now."
"Okay, what is it? I asked, a little bit scared that it might cause more trouble.
"How long, have you been seeing him? I mean Jide, how long has it been now? She asked.
I sighed deeply before replying, "well, it's been about five months now."
"Hmmm, five months. What do you think Clinton will do, or how do you think he will react when he finds out that his baby girl, his sugar plum and his sweetheart as he calls you, is seeing another man, not just any other man, a married one. Tell me." She questioned like she was referring to her younger sister.
"Juwie." I said, putting more emphasis on the last three alphabets. "I know he's not gonna be happy with me, at all. But, please don't tell him anything, I bed you." I pleaded with her, almost on my knees as I did so.
"That's not enough excuse Clarinet. That guy is trying this best to take care of you and to prepare a bright future for both of you, but, what do you do? You pay him back with this sort of nonsense? You have to learn how to manage the little you can afford. But seriously, think about it. If I didn't call you that night when I saw that my keys were not with me, or if I had come home tired as usual and just went to sleep, do you know that something might have happened to you without anyone knowing?
"Yes, I know." I replied, bowing my head in shame.
"No one would have done anything about it, because you didn't tell anyone about your whereabouts, your location was turned off and you were, drunk? Those rich wicked dudes would have used you to do whatever they liked and after that, trash you like you are a waste."
"Juwie, I have heard you, it won't repeat itself again, to be honest, I promise."
"Are you giving that promise so I won't tell on you or you are giving it, because you really mean it? She asked.
To be honest, I wasn't sure that came from my heart, I was more concerned about her reporting me to Clinton, than I was concerned about any other thing. But, thinking about it right now, it definitely is from my heart.
"I really mean it, Juwie."
"Okay good. Apology accepted. For the meantime, let's eat. We'll talk about other things later." She finalized.
After that, we went ahead to dish out food for ourselves and we sat down to eat, chatting like old times.