25- Patience

                                    

                                          
Song- Be My Man by Asa 
                          
Maduka's POV
                          
"She's not around right now."
                          
I inhale deeply, scratch my head, and look up at the ceiling. 
                          
Madam Uju allows me into the sitting room and offers me a seat. I recline, wipe my brow with a handkerchief, and inhale deeply again. The heat these days is quite unbearable. Lagos weather tends to get confused sometimes; it rains so hard you'd think The Flood from the Bible is going to happen again, and then the heatwave that returns makes you wonder if Rapture has occurred and hell has started on earth.
                          
Of course you know I'm exaggerating.
                          
"Let me get you something cold to drink," she says.
                          
"Yes, please. Thank you, ma."
                          
With Madam Uju gone, I let my mind wander to how Nwanyieze has been doing since I last saw her. She'd left my place in such a hurry, and I had seen how difficult it was for her to control her anger. I have been worried for the past week, and it hasn't been possible to seek her out because of work, and I figured she'd have school to deal with as well.
                          
Madam Uju serves me a chilled bottle of water, which I unseal and drain in thirty seconds. I thank her again. A silence ensues, with her studying me. I feel a bit uncomfortable and regret leaving my copy of Chinua Achebe's There Was A Country in my car.
                          
"Ma," I finally speak up, "how has Nwanyieze been?"
                          
"She's been fine. A little distracted, but otherwise healthy."
                          
"That's good to hear."
                          
"I don't mean to intrude, but as the person responsible for her, I have to ask you: what is your interest in my child all about?"
                          
I smile inwardly at her concern and how she refers to Nwanyieze as her child.
                          
"I sincerely care about her."
                          
"And?"
                          
"I want something beautiful to be the result of our relationship."
                          
Haha. Does Nwanyieze refer to what you have as friendship, first of all? She'll just tell you, "Ship ko, ship ni," a voice in my head mocks.
                          
She grins, shakes her head. "And what if that doesn't work as you plan?"
                          
"Ma, I'm going to try my very best and if it all fails, I'll know it was never meant to be.
                          
Maduka, you are one sappy son of a gun, I tell myself.
                          
"I wish you good luck," she says. "My daughter is a hard nut to crack. She's a firebrand, but I'm sure you must have noticed that."
                          
"The first moment," I reply with a laugh, remembering how she had sarcastically called me a Prince Charming.
                          
"But be careful with her, Maduka," she says in a low voice. "Take it easy with her, be patient. And if you hurt her, I'll come for you." Her eyes suddenly look different, a bit more...open. I glimpse worry and something like sadness in them before she rubs them both with her hands. The last sentence is said with a chuckle, but I recognise the warning, anyway and tell myself that Madam Uju isn't a woman to cross on any day. I nod and say, "I can't be anything but, ma."
                          
A knock sounds on the door and Madam Uju rises to answer it. Adanna bursts inside and wraps her arms around her mother's legs.
                          
"Mummy, mummy good afun!" she yells.
                          
"Good evening, my princess," Madam Uju replies, scooping her daughter up and smothering her with kisses. The toddler giggles and continues to babble in a language only her mother can understand. Madam Uju wraps an arm around Nwanyieze, who walks in seconds later. Then she leaves the sitting room with Adanna.
                          
Nwanyieze hesitates to fully enter, taking her time to slip off her flat black shoes before raising her eyes to look at me. She is wearing a white button-down shirt over a navy blue pencilled skirt. Her hair is in bold box braids, pulled up in a bun.
                          
"Good evening," she finally greets.
                          
"Welcome home."
                          
"Why are you here?"
                          
Yes, ever the firebrand. 
                          
I rise to my feet, move towards her. She does not back away.
                          
"How have you been?" I ask, never breaking eye contact.
                          
"Fine. Why?"
                          
"After what happened last Saturday-"
                          
"Oh, that. It's nothing, really," she says in a flat voice.
                          
It's not nothing.
                          
I get a whiff of the scent of coconut oil coming from her hair.
                          
"What's funny? Why are you smiling?"
                          
"Your hair smells so nice."
                          
"You have started again, abi?"
                          
"I want to take you out this evening."
                          
"Is this the part where I tell you no?"
                          
"Exactly. And then you agree after my skills of persuasion have worked their magic on you."
                          
This gets me a smile from her, which reveals a dimple in her left cheek that I wish so badly to kiss.
                          
"You'll have to wait for me to shower. The heat is unbearable."
                          
"I've been praised for my unbeatable patience, baby girl. Take your time."
                          
She places her hands on my chest, pushes me aside--because I actually move myself-- and walks to the farthest end of the sitting room, standing near the doorway that leads deeper into the apartment.
                          
"Let's see how patient you are, hmm?" she asks over her shoulder before disappearing through, leaving my skin burning, my heart pounding, and my mouth turned up in a grin.
                          
Short!! Mehn I just had to upload this before this story starts developing cobwebs! Abeg manage. Tanz yu *in Jenifa's voice*