The Irony of Life (20)😔😔

THE IRONY OF LIFE (20)😔😔

Duration: 5mins

Friday finally arrived. Oreoluwa had poured his feelings on the entire page of a foolscap sheet. Nothing came easier. It was only a matter of staring at Cecilia's beautiful face and perfectly chiseled figure in his mind, and imagining their future together. Boom!  Words came gushing like an avalanche. 

By 11a.m, Oreoluwa stepped into MAC in the company of Jamani. It felt like he hadn’t been there in years even though he stopped by the upper week. 

Jamani peeked around and felt comfortable Fatima was nowhere in sight as expected. More comfortable realizing Mame wasn’t in as well. 

They settled at a booth, at a vantage corner where they could see movements in and out. 

They were barely seated when good, old memories came welcoming Jamani. Times when himself and Fatima clung to each other by a table, two love birds in a world of their own, feeding one another from the same plate, laughing out loud, oblivious of the stares from people around. He could hear her soft voice in his head call out 'Jam', and he responding, 'Bread'. 

He was beginning to get stuck in the sweet past when he shook his head, brushed it off.

I'm done with Fatima, nothing will make me get back with her.

Just then, a service girl approached with a pen and a notepad. She was still few steps away when another; an older dark lady a bit on the fat side called from behind and brought her to a halt. 

“Let me handle that. You go take the orders of the Simpsons.”

At once, the service girl changed direction towards a table that had two elderly dark folks. 

“Good Morning gentlemen,” greeted the older lady. She had a charming smile; wearing one must be a major qualification for working there as a service girl. They all had it on as though they had taken a sniff of laughing gas. 

“Gone through our menu? What will you like to take?”

Oreoluwa was going to reiterate the question to Jamani when he waved it off. He was there on a mission. He couldn’t wait to accomplish it and be out of the place. 

Food was the least on Oreoluwa’s mind as well. However, he felt it wasn’t proper making a reception of the restaurant. He ordered for a cup of coffee and cookies. 

The lady had almost not left when she showed up  the orders. 

Oreoluwa and Jamani observed as she left dishing out instructions here and there to the other girls. 

From the look of things, she was the head service girl in charge. On one or two occasions, they had seen Cecilia doing the same. 

Could she be the one for the morning shift?

They were still wondering when they saw her crossed over to the passage that led to the dressing room.

“Follow her,” said Jamani.

“Who?”

“The plump lady.”

“Why?”

“We need to know if she shares room with Cecilia so we can know how to plan our next move.”

Reluctantly, Oreoluwa stood to do as instructed, wished he could get Jamani to go in his stead. 

He was turning to leave when Jamani caught him by the wrist,

“Wait. Ore, you know the area is restricted from patrons, you need to be careful.”

“Okay.”

“Also, the place is majorly used by females. Seeing a male there could raise eyebrows. Should anyone accost you, asking what you want, just say it’s the lady who went in you want to see. In most cases, you'd be kept from going in any further while someone go fetch her. Should that happen, just drop a few lines from your letter to Ceci for her. Or you could simply tell her she’s your dream girl, your exact spec—plump, round, dark, average height. That you couldn’t help missing the opportunity to meet and tell her you like her. With this, you'd let yourself off the hook.

'What?', 'Are you kidding me?' were etched on Oreoluwa’s face.

“I mean it Homie. In such situation, you'll need to identify with someone. You don’t want to call attention on yourself. Should you appear suspicious, you may have to give a tangible reason why you’re there. You could be held up with questions till Ceci arrives and meet you there.”

As Oreoluwa went on his way, he hoped and prayed he wouldn’t have to deal with the situation Jamani painted.

It was prayer answered when he returned 5mins later, bearing the good news he saw the plump lady entered the same room Cecilia used the other time. 

As fate would have it, the lady emerged a while later, with powdered face and packed hair, looking as though she had just resumed her shift. She headed to the edge of the counter where the register booklet laid. Gripping a pen, her hand soon began dancing over an opened page.

Jamani was glad their plan was falling in place. They were discussing their next move when he stop abruptly,

“My-oh-my,” he muttered.

Oreoluwa looked in direction of the entrance where he had his widened eyes and there was Cecilia. She had just arrived, waiting for the plump lady to be done so she could sign in. It was obvious the two were in talking terms. They exchanged greetings, laughing and chit-chatting.

“Have you dropped the letter?”

“How could I have? Are you forgetting we were just talking about that a moment ago?”

“Damn! Alright, we are still on course. Go drop the letter, hurry up.”

“What about Cecilia?”

“I’ve got Ceci. You just make sure you drop the letter without her seeing you.”

Off, Oreoluwa went, hoping he wouldn’t encounter any hitch. 

As though the plump lady was part of the plan, she kept engaging Cecilia with talks, buying Oreoluwa some time. 

However, luck ran out on him when she stopped, hugged Cecilia and hit the exit. 

Jamani looked in the direction of the dressing room, Oreoluwa was yet to be in sight. 

Cecilia took the pen as though she was passsed a baton. Her hand worked the booklet like she was being chased. In a jiffy, she was done and was headed in the direction of the dressing room when Jamani blocked her.

“Good Afternoon Ceci,”

Cecilia remembered him; the guy she accidentally bathe with soup. She recalled the drama Fatima put up thinking she was dating her boyfriend.

“What can I do for you?”

Jamani had come up with a request to hold her up some more. 

“I was thinking you could help…,” he was still saying when Cecilia broke in,

“Mister, Fatima is not in. She should be here by 5. You can go wait for her or check back later. Excuse me,” she concluded and hurried past him in the direction of the dressing room

Seeing he had failed Oreoluwa, he felt like a loser as he headed back to their  booth with sagged shoulders. 

To his surprise, there he was waiting for him. 

“How did it go?”

“Mission accomplished.”

“Yes!” he had exclaimed, drawn the stares of nearby patrons before he cautioned himself.

“Homie, let’s get out of here.”

Oreoluwa couldn’t bear to leave. Fatima had told him over the phone that she would try to meet them there. She deserves to get the chance of seeing Jamani again with the hope that would reconcile them as planned. 

Oreoluwa was still think of what to say or do to get Jamani to wait some more when his phone rang. 

Speaking of the devil. Fatima wasn’t sounding well over the phone. She told him to come out. 

Disturbed, Oreoluwa hurriedly did as told. 

He was few steps away from the restaurant when Fatima came running over in tears, hugged him with chin over his shoulder. 

While Oreoluwa backed the restaurant, she could see inside through the glass wall. Her eyes searched for Jamani. 

When she caught his eyes, she smiled and tightened her hug.

“Fatima, what happened?” asked Oreoluwa, but got no response. 

He asked again, still no...

Then he felt they were too close for comfort and pulled away. By instinct, he turned and there was Cecilia noting  down a patron's order. Obviously she saw then as they clung to each other, but she looked indifferent

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To be continued same time, next week. Hope you enjoyed the read? Please leave a comment. Thank you.