Thirty - Chapter 18

Read Chapter 17 here and Chapter 19 here

“So who was making you smile so much at the restaurant?” Omololu asked breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped the car as he drove us to his home.

He had managed to convince me to stay the rest of the weekend at his house, wearing down all of my excuses. The man has got great skills in presenting the best argument, I thought. He said he saw no reason why I would be opposed to extending such a fun date to last the rest of the weekend. That, plus his promise to buy me a new work dress, just so I could stay till Monday won me over.

“Aside from you?” I teased, intentionally misunderstanding his question.

“Yeah,” He said, rolling his eyes. “If it was my picture you were smiling at on your phone, then I could manage to live with that kind of creepiness,” He winked

“Bola,” I responded chuckling. “I was chatting with Bola, you know, just catching up. But she did say to give her love to the tall glass of chilled chocolate milk in front of me,” I added, managing to keep a straight face.

“Glass of what?” He asked, totally confused.

“Tall glass of chilled chocolate milk,” I said, laughing at his confused face. “She meant you, by the way,” I added, smiling smugly.

“Is that so?” He smirked, puffing up his chest dramatically. “I always knew Bola has good taste. She has an eye for something good,”

“You knew,” I snickered.

“Of course,” He shrugged. “And if you are smart, you would take advantage and drink from this glass quickly, but a prophet is never celebrated in his town sha”

“I will think about it,” I shrugged playfully. “Besides, who knows if the guy my Aunty is about to set me up is a much taller glass?”

“Huh? Which guy? And why would she be doing that when you have me?” He asked, firing question after question, all playfulness gone.

“Calm down, Mr. Chocolate milk,” I laughed.

“I’m not even interested. And she doesn’t know about you yet,” I explained, lightly touching his thigh.

“Well, meeting your parents is the priority anyway,” He said, finally relaxed. “Did they know to expect a very tall glass of chocolate milk?” He asked taking his eyes briefly from the road to wink at me.

“Errrrm, well, they don’t know about you yet,” I whispered sheepishly. “And for good reasons, I promise,” I quickly added.

“What reasons?” He asked, trying but failing to communicate a casual tone.

“Well,” I began, taking his right hand in my left palm. “My mum gets too excited about my relationships and immediately starts to plan a wedding. Then when it ends, she’s always as disappointed as me, if not more, and then gets too much in my business trying to 'console' me. Now, I’m not saying we are breaking up, but this time, I just want to tell her only when there is something more to tell, other than I’m dating,”

“Do you understand?” I asked, a bit worried by his brooding silence. “I just don’t want that pressure for us, you know?” I said again, filling in the silence.

“Okay. That tells me one thing, to step up soon and give your Mum a wedding to plan,” Omololu said, finally breaking his silence.

“That’s what you got from my explanation,” I laughed, relieved he took my explanations well. “But, yeah, step up. Do you know what great combo cookies are with chilled chocolate milk drinks? But you won't be tasting that until you say I do” I added, squeezing his thigh.

“What!!” He said, gobsmacked. “You vixen! I didn’t know you had it in you, babe. Way to motivate a guy to step up,”

Laughing, I leaned back on my seat, chuckling at his reaction to my statement. I definitely surprised myself too, I thought giddily.

****

“I’ll be meeting your parents at Bola’s wedding you know?” Omololu said once I sat down.

We had arrived at his house about half an hour ago and I had just gotten back to the living room, from having a shower and changing into a nightshirt he borrowed me.

“So, you may want to prepare them except you prefer to just spring me on them,” He added.

I looked at him in confusion wondering if I had imagined the conversation we had in the car. As if reading my mind, he laughed, “Oh, you thought this was over right?”

Getting up, he moved to join me on the three-seater couch. Holding my hands in his, he started, “I let it slide in the car because this was a conversation I wanted to have only when I could look you directly in the eyes,”

“Teniola, I understand your reasons for keeping our relationship from your Parents, but I am different. I am all in, babe. I’m not here to break your heart or disappoint you. You are it for me, and I hope that I am for you too. And since your only reason rested on the possibility of me disappointing you, and since I won’t, you have no choice but to tell your parents,”

“But… errm, I told…” I started, intent on saying something but having nothing to say.

“I’m not done,” He said, shutting me up with a light kiss on the lips. “Listen to my second argument before you talk. I assure you, I saved the best for last,”

I nodded, staring at him intently.

“We don’t have the time, Teni. If there’s anything Bidemi’s death taught me, it is that there is no better time like the present. I loved that girl, we had our lives planned together, but just within a few minutes, she was snatched away from me, from this world, all our carefully laid plans unfulfilled and in fact, never to be fulfilled. Nothing is guaranteed, babe! Nothing!" He sighed.

"I could be gone tomorrow, so why waste today?” He asked.

“Now, you can talk,” He added shortly.

I opened my mouth to speak but ended up closing it without a word. What do you say to that? I thought. He did save the best for last. There was no single lie in what he said. Nothing is guaranteed, and more than I could, he understood it better.

“Babe, you are honestly pulling off this fish in the water look with this opening and closing of your mouth, but it would be nice if you said something,” He said, smiling.

“Have you told your Parent about me?” I finally spoke. “Or just your sister?”

“They have an idea,” He responded vaguely, earning a raised brow from me.

Raising his hand in surrender, he explained, “When I was still in the friend zone, I told my Mum that I met the girl I was going to marry and that when it was time, I would share the details. My sister, Lola knows the details about you, but my parents don’t yet,”

“Well, my brother knows too, so, it’s kind of the…” I started to say.

“And before you say it’s the same thing,” he cut me off. “It is not. Remember I told you I would be travelling to Akure a few days before Bola’s wedding? What I didn’t tell you was that I would be telling both my dad and Mum all about you,”

“Okay, you win,” I resigned. “You would be meeting my parents at the wedding,”

“I knew you will come around,” He grinned. “That wasn’t so hard right?”

“Well, Mr. chocolate milk, you should know my brother has your picture, and a couple of close friends in the military who are willing and ready to defend my honour,” I warned, grinning.

"Did I mention that I'm all in?" He asked, returning my grin.