twenty-five

After I left the office I got stuck in traffic for about two and a half hours. The

only thing is, this time it was my fault. I should have known better than to hit the

road during rush hour. I had to call Chris and cancel, anyway. I got home at 8:12

exactly. Layefa was already home. I let myself in and slumped on the living room

couch. I didn’t even take my shoes off. I was just sooo tired.

“Dee?” Layefa called coming down the stairs with a towel tied firmly round his

waist. He probably heard me driving in. “Huh?”I muttered sleepily from the couch.

“Where are you naww?” His eyes danced around before he finally spotted me. “Whatchu

doing there? You tired?” he asked walking over to me. He pulled me up gently and

wrapped his arms around me. “I need a driver” I nodded as i nuzzled my head into his

chest. “Awww. Poor thing.” He patted my back and kissed my hair.


He finally got me up to the bedroom.
“So how was your meeting?” Layefa asked as he pulled off my shoes. I hissed. “Can

you believe I couldn’t even make it? I spent the entire evening on the road!” “Ah

ahn. The trafficwasn’t that bad when I left Lagoon oh” “Oh. You guys went to Lagoon

restaurant?” I sat up. “Yeah. Daniel’s always loved it. Saida seemed to be a big fan

of theirs too.” “Huh? What? What does Saida have to do with anything?”, I spat like

her name was venom. Layefa seemed to notice the fire in my eyes. I really did not

like hearing about that Saida chic. He quirked an eyebrow, “I told you she was

coming naww. Daniel met her at my office and seemed really taken with her so he

asked her to join us”. “Hmmnn” I muttered as I headed for the bathroom. “She really

wanted to meet you oh. I think you guy’s will really blend. Daniel too was also

really looking forward to seeing you after all this time.” He followed me. “Mmhm” I

mumbled as I massaged my scrub into my face. I rinsed off the scrub then turned to

face him. “Yeah, Daniel sent me some invite to an album launch party. Didn’t even

know he had my e-mail.” “Oh. I was surprised too when he told me. He said y’all used

to talk way back”. I nodded, “Yeah, way way back. Like during that wedding time. How

is he though? He changed much?” “He’s just the same mehn. Daniel can’t change. If

you see how he was whining Saida!”.


We changed into out PJs and slipped under the covers. “Oh. So he’s liking that one?”

I scoffed. If Layefa was noticing the air of hostility that I put on whenever it

came to Saida, he sure wasn’t acting like it. “You know Daniel naww. He doesn’t

waste time.” “That’s their business abeg. ’Night hon.” I stretched then rested my

head on Layefa’s chest. “Awww. You’re really tired oh. You didn’t even tell me bout

your interview with that photographer dude again” He stroked my hair ten turned out

the lights. “I’ll tell you tomorrow” I mumbled.




“So his maternal grandmother was the only full-fledged Nigerian in his family tree?”

Layefa asked as he sipped his coffee. I had been telling him about Chris Laire ever

since we got up. “Yes! Can you believe that? And his attitude is sooo Nigerian!” I

bit into my croissant. “Standing up every time you got up? Nigerian? Uh…I don’t

think so!” “Oh? So you think that is such a big deal? He’s just a true gentleman!”.

Layefa rolled his eyes and picked up his newspaper. “Alright baby. Whatever.” He

sounded bored. I brushed the edge of his pants with my shoes, “Am I boring you? Have

I been talking way too much?”