Chapter 6 Chapter Four

Chapter Four

'It takes a lot to heal from a deep wound that left painful memories and scars. Healing would require lots of care, love and tenderness'

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VGC

Early March.

Amanda.

Amanda wrote her name on the last box and sighed in relief. Now she and Davina had sorted out their belongings, but they were far from finished.

They still had to pack the boxes into the various vehicles that would move their properties to their new location and they also had to unpack and arrange when they got to their new location.

Davina was moving to Tim's house for the mean time, she explained that she still needed to get her travel papers ready and Tim's company was yet to arrange accommodation that would suit his taste.

Amanda on the other hand thanks to Denola was not stranded. She'd finished up the house decor and was all set to move in. She could hardly believe her luck, Denola was too good to be true.

Davina watched Denola and Tim pack few boxes into the van and sighed gratefully. If not for the men who came right on time to help, she and Amanda wouldn't have been halfway done.

"I can't believe he left work and came here to help you" Davina said picking up a bottle of water. She uncorked it and chugged down.

Amanda smirked "We're good friends and he didn't leave work. Denola doesn't work weekends" She said placing her hand on her hips.

Davina mimicked her pose. "Still, he could be having all the fun in the world but here he is, helping you with your shït" Davina said.

"Our shït" Amanda corrected playfully. "That's beside the point Mands" Davina said with a huff.

"Well what's your point?" Amanda asked amused. "He likes you, he definitely wants to be more than friends" Davina insisted.

Amanda burst out laughing attracting the attention of the guys. Davina nudged her "Stop laughing, I'm serious. Why do you think he's helping, giving you a room in his house and everything else?" Davina asked.

Amanda held back a chuckle and turned to her friend who was obviously a hopeless romantic. "Honey, Denola is lonely. He needs a friend, I'm a good companion. There is nothing more to it" Amanda said.

Davina shook her head "Whatever girl,  I know what I'm saying. You can turn blind eye to it" Davina said.

Amanda smiled "I'm not playing blind, Denola is not into me" Amanda insisted.

"Well are you into him?" Davina asked curiously deciding that Denola and Amanda wouldn't be bad together.

"He's not my type" Amanda said. "So you're saying if he shows interest in you,  you won't return it?" Davina cocked an inquisitive brow at her friend.

"Yes, because he's not my type. I only want him as a friend and for the umpteenth time Denola isn't interested in me" Amanda said.

Davina rolled her eyes "You know you always stayed away from every guy that came after you in College, what exactly is your type?" Davina asked.

Amanda shook her head "I...maybe I'm not just into relationships and sappy love whatever. I like being alone" Amanda shrugged. She could never tell Davina why being with other guys back in college  had been a taboo in her book.

Davina pursed her lips "Beginning to think you're into the same sex.  How can you not be interested in men? Especially someone as hot and rich as Denola" Davina said.

Amanda gasped amused "If I were into girls I'd have hit on you a long time ago. You're hot and sexy" Amanda teased.

"True but you're not my type and I'm in a serious relationship so I'm out of your league" Davina was saying when Tim and Denola walked over to them to get more boxes.

"What's cracking you girls up?" Tim asked. "Girls talk,  we're done with sorting the boxes" Davina said.

"Why don't you girls go grab some food then? Denola and I will pack up, I'm fücking starving" Tim suggested.

"Okay, sure. What do you want babe?" Davina asked. "Jollof rice and Asun would do" Tim said.

"I think I'll have that too,  How about you Denola?" Davina asked. "Denola isn't a fan of Asun so just make his jollof and turkey, I want jollof rice and fried fish" Amanda responded.

"Know him that well?" Davina teased. Denola winked at Amanda. "Of course she does,  we're best friends and soon to be flatmates" Denola responded.

Amanda chuckled while Davina rolled her eyes.  She was convinced this friend zone wasn't going to go a long way.

*

"Thank you very much Den, I swear I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't offered to help" Amanda said gratefully as they ate their dinner.

"Thanks too, I can't remember the last time I had yam and garden egg sauce this good. You're an excellent cook" Denola complimented.

"Really, then let me handle grocery shopping and cooking till I get my own place. I can't live here for free." Amanda said.

"I don't mind. Most of the packaged foods in the refrigerator came from my mom.  She never fails to bug me about getting married anytime I go over to get them. At least she'll lay off my back now" Denola said sipping his glass of water.

Amanda nodded thoughtfully "Hopefully she won't mind me taking over that, mothers can be very possessive over their boys" Amanda said.

"She won't mind, my family rarely comes here. They know I like my space, I moved out of the Mayfair estate when I was eighteen. I was tired of the crowd" Denola said.

"My great grandfather owned the estate, he had three wives and twenty children. Everyone of them and their grandchildren live there. My dad has his own home there, my mother resides there with him" Denola continued.

"You must have a lot of siblings" Amanda noted. Denola nodded "And also a lot of cousins, even the married ones have refused to leave the estate. My father's first wife died,  she had two girls Tomiwa and Adeola before she passed . He married my mother afterwards she had me and my younger sister Jadesola. My dad and mum adopted my youngest sibling Ajose when my sister went to Oxford, he is just five. Very playful, mischievous and troublesome" Denola said grinning as he spoke of his siblings.

"Wow,  big family. You must have lots of fond memories from your time at the estate" Amanda said.

"A little, I was the only male grandchild with the head for business. My grandparents placed too much responsibility on my shoulders, I didn't dare disappoint my parents. While my cousins played,  I had to work. I began to work for Mayfair while I was in secondary school as an intern, meanwhile my siblings travelled around the world from one tourist attraction to the other. It was depressing sometimes but it was the cross I had to carry" Denola said.

Amanda sent him a small smile, she could imagine how left out he felt sorting files at the office while his cousins and siblings visited parks and beaches.

"How about you?" Denola asked looking at her expectantly.  "I don't have parents!" she blurted out immediately.

"Oh....I'm sorry I didn't know. It's okay if you don't want to talk about it" Denola said.

Amanda nodded, he knew how she hated talking about her past. Amanda felt a little guilty, Denola opened up to her easily but she could not.

It was better that way, he'd see her as damaged goods if he knew anything about her.

•••

"Sometimes the cure to your ailment is right in front of you, but certain people, circumstances and problems are keeping you from seeing it"

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Lekki

Lagos

Mid March

Denola.

Hakeem and Denola laughed hard as they watched the shell shocked face of the girl who had been caught triple dating three best friends on TV.  It was Hakeem's favorite show 'cheaters'.

"I swear the women of these generation are either hoes, gold diggers, liars, schemers, stupid or plain boring" Hakeem said nursing a glass of brandy.

Denola shook his head in disagreement. "I refuse to agree to that" Denola said. Hakeem snorted "I see dating that schemer hadn't taught you a lesson" Hakeem said frowning.

Denola shook his head "Yes, Teniola might have been a schemer but there are good women in the world" Denola said. "Like Amanda" Denola said with a small smile.

"Amanda is honest, beautiful, funny,  smart, down to earth. She's also homely" Denola said. Hakeem rolled his eyes "That's the initial phase,  wait till you fück her then you'll see her true colors" Hakeem said crudely.

Denola frowned wondering why Hakeem was so bitter these days, he suspected it had to do with Hakeem's wife because Hakeem was always badmouthing her all the time. He couldn't imagine the woman doing anything to hurt Hakeem,  Hakeem's  wife was too tenderhearted to hurt a fly, she was sweet and kind.

Denola didn't like to get involved in marital issues so he never said anything about it.  "I'm not going to sleep with Amanda, she's my best friend" Denola said.

"You're in denial man,  you know you want more than that" Hakeem said with a smirk.

"No I don't know, I don't want a rebound. And honestly even if I do,  Amanda is too good to be a rebound. She's my best friend, that's all. Stop planting ideas in my head" Denola said.

Hakeem shrugged "Best friend indeed. My mate, you should know that you cannot put goat and yam together and expect nothing to happen" Hakeem said.

Denola chuckled at his friend's analogy. "Hakeem, I don't understand you.  Why are you telling me this, I'm not a goat and Amanda isn't a yam. We're both obviously human and reasonable adults with self control" Denola said.

"So you're telling me you've never thought about her naked before or what it would be like to sleep with her?" Hakeem asked.

Denola shook his head "Enough, just stop" Denola said picking up his glass of white wine.

"Want to go to the club tonight?" Hakeem asked.

Denola shook his head "Amy and I are having movie marathon in an hour. I'm leaving in the next fifteen minutes" Denola said.

"Mhmm, you've given her a nickname already. Now you're having movie marathon with her, next month it'll be sex marathon" Hakeem teased.

"Guy, drop that brandy. You don dey talk too much nonsense" Denola said switching to pidgin.

Hakeem laughed "Anyhow sha, I can't wait to tell you 'I told you so'.  Because eventually the inevitable will happen" Hakeem said.

Denola laughed "I swear you're bad influence, I hope your children get none of your ugly traits" Denola said.

Hakeem's expression softened at the thought of children but only for a moment. "I don't want children" he said.

"Why?" Denola asked surprised, Hakeem struck him as the type who wanted a family. If not,  why had he gotten married so early?

"You would never understand" Hakeem said. Denola sighed, he knew Hakeem was keeping secrets from him but he didn't bug Hakeem about it because everyone had skeletons of their own in their closets.

"What if she wants children?" Denola asked quietly referring to Hakeem's wife. Hakeem shrugged, "Guess she'll have to leave me and marry someone else" he said.

Denola was about to say something else when the woman in question entered the living room . Denola smiled at her and she sent a radiant smile in their direction.

"Mister Mayfair" she greeted formally. She always greeted him formally, he'd asked her to call him Denola several times but she said it wasn't right.

"Mrs Mustapha" Denola teased. As usual she had wrapped her hair in a scarf, her neck and her shoulders covered with a scarf, her dress was long enough to hide her feet.

"I didn't know you were here, I would have come sooner to greet you. Have you had anything to eat or drink?" she asked.

"Yes,  Hakeem has taken care of me" Denola responded. She nodded before going over to Hakeem to whisper something in his ears.

Hakeem frowned but said nothing about it, Denola ignored the tension in the air as she waited beside him for some minutes waiting for his reply.

Five minutes later Hakeem's eyes were still glued to the television, ignoring his wife. His wife on the other hand was still waiting patiently.

Denola sighed inwardly before getting up.  "I have to leave man, it was nice to see you again ma'am" Denola said pleasantly.

She smiled in response but said nothing else.

Hakeem got up "Let me see you off, I need to be at the club anyway" Hakeem said, he walked ahead of Denola as if he couldn't wait to be out of the house. He didn't spare his wife a second glance, Denola felt hurt on her behalf that Hakeem didn't have the courtesy of saying goodbye to his wife properly.

"Bye" she muttered before turning on her heels.  Denola heard the sob that followed and went after his friend.

"What the hell happened in there?" he asked Hakeem upset. He hated that Hakeem had treated his wife that way in front of him.

"Stay out of it Denola, don't let her false innocence fool you. If she doesn't like the heat, she knows the way out of it." Hakeem said angrily.

"Still man, that was harsh" Denola said. He couldn't imagine his sister or any woman around him being treated that way.

"Listen don't defend her,  I know her better than you.  I've known her since she was born, she's a chameleon. I refuse to let her guilt trip me, I can't believe you'll fall for her facade" Hakeem hissed before getting into his car.

Denola stared after his friend in surprise, Hakeem was crude and vulgar sometimes but it was always humorous.  He was never intentionally mean to anyone, it was very much surprising to see him in this light.

*

'Your food is in the microwave, I have a headache. Movie marathon tomorrow?' Denola read the sticky note pasted on the fridge.

He shook his head, a small smile plastered on his face. He walked over to the microwave and took out the plate in the microwave. It was a warm plate of plantain porridge.

Denola dropped the plate of plantain porridge on the dining table and decided to check on Amanda first.

He hoped she'd taken medication for headache and wondered if he had any headache medication in case she hadn't taken any.

He knocked but there was no response, he knocked twice and got nothing. He was more worried than curious when he pushed the door open to see if she was okay.

The door wasn't locked so he was able to enter. The bed lamp wasn't off so he was able to make out her figure on the bed.

"Mands..." he called. He walked over to her bedside and watched her sleep.  There were various bottles of pills by her bedside.

He picked up one and read the label on the bottle 'Depressants'. He looked at her curiously before dropping the bottle by the bedside.

As he walked out of the room, he wondered if Hakeem was right about women. And if he was, what category did Amanda fall into?