A bad day for a break up

Tofunmi
Tofunmi
Aug 8, 2017 · 6 min read
Melancholy III (Melankoli III) Edvard Munch
(Norwegian, 1863–1944)

You remember the first time you met, at sweet sensation, Ogba, you had come to buy snacks for a friend that was coming to visit after work, his car had been parked behind yours making it impossible for you to leave without him moving his car first. As you waited for the security guard to get him, you’re thinking about how much time you’ve wasted standing here inhaling generator smoke from the large generator nearby, cars are going past and it looked like traffic was building further down the road.

You smell him before you see him, a masculine musky smell that has you impulsively looking behind to see who it is, an impishly attractive young man with a connecting beard, Yoruba demon style, your frown deepens by default before he thinks you would let him off easy because he was good looking. He starts to apologise before he gets to his car, talking about how he didn’t expect to take as long as he did at the fast food. You wave off his apologies and just drive off without so much as a smile.

Its 2 weeks later before you see each other again at Sweet Sensation, you had gone there to buy their famous scotch eggs on your way home from work when someone tapped you from behind, you immediately recognized him from the weeks before and he introduced himself ‘Hi I’m Yomi, the guy that refused to let you go the other time’ of course you smile and say ‘I’m Yinka nice to meet you’ he then asks if you’re eating in, because he was and would you mind joining him? He offers to pay for your meal too, but you decline, telling him perhaps some other time.

You planned to spend 30 minutes there, but 2 hours later you’re laughing over a very funny experience he shared with you. Eventually, you both acknowledge that it was fun and express your desires to see again. From a 2 hour conversation in person to hours and hours of phone calls and countless rendezvous. You couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, his smile, bearded face and his somewhat crooked nose. 2 months later, after you had both exchanged more information about each other than with anyone else, He asks if you would like to date him.

It was cute really, on a boat ride at Taqwa bay he said “You know it would be nice if we dated?” in your mind you’re doing cartwheels and backflips but your face showed none of that, ‘Are you serious?’ you ask, ‘of course Yinka, I’ve wanted this for a long time, I think we should see where it goes’.

And that’s how it began, this intertwining of your lives, making plans according to each other’s schedules. The-I-can’t-live-without-you feeling that comes with falling in love, and the road looked clear, now that you look back at it, nothing was out of place, You fought like a normal couple and made up. You talked about everything and anything and talked each other through promotions and challenges.

The future looked bright, until his company began downsizing, laying employees off left right center. Some of his friends had been laid off already and the end looked near for him, but you kept praying together, kept believing God for a good outcome. His attitude towards you changed, like he was always irritated at you, little things that you did annoyed him, he couldn’t stand your quirkiness and he hardly called from work. But you had been through so much together and whatever happened you were sure things would look up eventually.

Until that fateful Wednesday evening, date night when you both went out for dinner or cooked at his place since it was bigger than yours. You weren’t eating out since you had both been tight for money in the past month. You had planned to make his favourite Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner. The day started out cloudy and it rained almost throughout the day, so the evening was quite cool for Lagos, but the weather was perfect, weather-for-two as they call it. And thoughts of both of you cuddling after dinner and talking about everything that had happened with a resolve to go through it together, had filled your mind and made you happy.

All will be well

All will be well

You chanted to yourself over and over. On your way home you smiled more at James the Security Guard from work and even tipped him N500 for no apparent reason, it was obvious James was surprised as Madam seldom gave him anything above N200 on a good day, since you were happy everyone deserved to be happy too. You even asked the cashier at the supermarket to keep the change, she was overjoyed ‘Thank you Madam, see you tomorrow’ she said smiling, you might as well spread the good vibes around.

And then,

Everything changed when you got to his place, the curtains were drawn shut, making it look as though he wasn’t home but you could hear the low humming of the air conditioner. His flat was unusually silent as you let yourself in, you found him on the sofa asleep, as though he had forgotten what today meant to you both. But he had never forgotten not even once. It was strange seeing him like this, looking so tired and helpless. You’re contemplating making dinner as quietly as you could and leaving a note to say you had come by… but then he began to stir like he could feel you were watching him. He opened his eyes slowly and saw you there looking down at his face. ‘Hey’ you say as he sits up, he murmurs his apologies. His day had gone badly, a deal he was supposed to close had gone south. So he had come home to sleep it off, you understood why it had shaken him this much, his company was downsizing, he might be the next to leave, this did not look good for him.

You tell him it’s okay if he doesn’t want to talk about it, that you’re here to make dinner and leave if he wants you to, you’re expecting him to tell you he wants you here, by his side, and maybe you could even order Dominos pizza so you wouldn’t have to cook. But instead, he asks you to leave, telling you he’s not hungry and there’s food in the house anyway. You can’t believe your ears, he’s asking you to leave, you’re tempted to ask him if this is a break up, but you don’t want to be presumptuous.

So you leave, quietly, and close the door behind you. You sit in your car for a few minutes before you start it, it’s confusing, the attitude, and you’re scared too, because soon enough he should be popping the question, not asking you to leave. You’re hoping this is a one off thing and by tomorrow

All will be well

All will be well

You keep chanting to yourself, you get home and make yourself a cup of tea and watch TV mindlessly, your favourite show is on, but nothing interests you, you’re thinking of calling your best friend Toju to tell her what’s happened but you don’t want to raise an alarm over nothing so you call it a night instead. Your night is short, too short as you can’t sleep, you keep having nightmares that you get a phone call from an unknown woman asking you to leave Yomi alone, that she’s the mother of his child and his wife to be, you’re the side chick don’t you know? He’s been playing you all these years. And the dream kept playing on a loop over and over again till you woke up at 3 am. You reach out for your phone to check your messages, and there are like 10 messages from Yomi.

‘Hey are you up??’

‘We need to talk’

‘I’m sorry’

‘I miss you’

‘I’m sorry again’

‘Please forgive me’

‘I can’t live without you’

‘I love you’

‘I’ll call you in the morning’

‘Bye’.

His messages are at least a warm comfort, no he wasn’t breaking up with you, it was just a bad day.

‘Hey, call me when you see this’ you reply and set about getting ready for the day.

Yesterday was a bad day for a break up anyway.

Many thanks to Yomss, Bankss, Chris and Henrietta for reading it first.

Tofunmi

Tofunmi

Love God, love Love

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