Once inside my room, I made a quick one to the mirror. I was curious to see what Derele saw in me to make him kiss me. For the life of me I could not grasp why someone like him can be into someone like me. I stare back at myself at the mirror and could not recognize who I saw.
When did I transform into this smashing figure staring back at me? Where was the lanky broad-chested girl? She was now replaced with a tall model shaped exquisite beauty. Her dark skin was tonned to a chocolate complexion. Her face had a new maturity and glow to it. It had to be the hair because I was really looking slaying. No wonder Derele was lost.
I absently traced my lips remembering the kiss. I don’t know if I am to feel happy or scared; this is all too new to me and forbidden. Or how do a nineteen year old deal with a man in his late twenties? I haven’t stopped shivering since I entered the room. All afternoon and later that evening I avoided the sitting room and the compound all together peradventure I had to come across Derele.
Derele’s flight was in the morning of the next day and being his first business trip, madam and her husband were up early to see him off which implied everyone was to be up and doing. I was to serve breakfast at table. Derele looks restless and distracted with dark circles around his eyes. That makes the two of us because I could not get any sleep until the early hours of the morning. I remember tossing and turning ruminating on our shared kiss.
After breakfast, we all went outside to bid him goodbye. Madam was all mushy-mushy on him.
“Dele dear, you make sure you call your dad and me every day to brief us on happenings. Now don’t be like your father who is carried away when he is on those marathon indoor meetings and forgets he has a family back home.”
I just wish I had a minute with him to assure him I would be waiting for him, that I love him too and would miss him dearly. His mother hugged him tightly and I wished that was me. He proceeded to hug his father; Sisimi was at the porch with chef while I assisted the driver with his baggage. He waved at the two in the porch and when I least expected it turned and gave me a hug.
It must have looked harmless to the others looking on but Derele and I both know it for what it was. It was an assurance, an unspoken promise of a beautiful beginning we ourselves couldn’t define. I know I would miss him dearly and that our hug would keep me till he returns from Kenya.
The new week was a drag; everyone knew the house was incomplete without Derele in it. Apart from Chef and Sisimi’s drama, there was nothing eventful around the house. Madam finally allowed Sisimi cook her local delicacies in the evenings; obviously Mr Kumuyi favoured her cooking and chef was not happy about the turn of event. It was literally a struggle for power between the two of them.
In the nights I would toss and turn thinking of Derele and how much longer before we reunite; also about the hug and kiss. In the day, I would daydream even get lost during classes and that was if I had not fallen asleep during such a class. The late nights and daydreaming was tasking. My time spent laundering and cleaning in the evenings also doubled as I would often get lost in my thoughts in the confines of the laundry room and completely lose track of time.
I was just all too happy one bright afternoon when I got back from the university and chef happily tells me Derele is back. This is his official claim to the kitchen seeing the intercontinental cuisine fan is back; hmmm, different folk for different folks.
©Tiana
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