Cupid's Risk, Episode 7

 

Match-making Mother....by Leggy

Chinedu stalked out of the party looking really mad. He couldn't even bear to face Iphey's mum and sister, he was that angry but confused at the same time. There was just a way that man hugged her with so much familiarity that he didn‟t like, granted he had no reason to be mad. He wasn‟t anything to her, not her boyfriend, not her brother, not even her friend, no matter how much he wanted to be the first.

Chinedu got into his car and drove out of the parking lot into the dim lit streets, easily manipulating the steering of his brand new Porsche Carrera GT. What didn‟t he have that Iphey could possibly want in a guy? He was handsome-going by what other girls said to him, he was rich, he had his own company, and he was living the good life. He had paid for his mistakes over and over again; he deserved to be happy now without the shadow of a terrible mistake of his youthful days crowding his life. An occupation that didn‟t even last that long and one in which he was pushed into by necessity.

He had to admit that Iphey looked really good in those clothes, very casual, not even a bit of make up on that face and she still looked so good. After watching her sleep in her apartment on the day of her sister‟s son‟s crisis, his feeling that they had a connection had become stronger. She had tried to apologize before he left and he kept expecting her call or something. After over a week and he had not heard from her, he had accepted her mother‟s invitation to come for the party. He had been hoping that Iphey secretly knew about the invitation and really wanted to him to come. If wishes were horses…. But why exactly am I mad?" he thought to himself, "She kissed me, she left him and she kissed me, he might be whatever to her but it was me she chose to kiss. So why exactly am I angry?"

The truth was that he felt he was getting so fed up with her games, fed up with wondering- does she like me? Always asking himself, Is she just fronting? Is she like all those other girls? He gently drove into his drive way and got out of the car, picked up his coat and phone from the backseat of the car and walked into his house. As he undressed slowly he thought back at the events of that night, the taste of her lips still lingered on his lips, he liked Iphey with all his heart but he felt like he was being manipulated, being tested, she kept opening up to him and withdrawing. Maybe she doesn‟t even like men, he thought and as that crossed his mind he smiled, okay he was going crazy.

He stepped into his pajamas, picked up his phone and called her mum. After the fourth ring she picked up and yelled, "Hello‟ into the phone, it was really loud in there.

“Good evening ma,” he responded.

“Hey, my son, I heard you left, you didn‟t even think to come say goodnight to us?”

“Ah ah mama, it‟s not like that now. There was an emergency in the office I had to attend to, all these newbies in the office always messing up one file or the other," he answered. A little white lie couldn‟t hurt, he thought.

“And they had to call the CEO to attend to such details on a Friday evening too? No problem my son, at least you thought to call. So is Iphey with you? I can‟t find her anywhere around here and she isn‟t picking up her phone.” Iphey's mother sounded a little worried.

“No, ma,” he replied. “When I was leaving she was still there. I‟ll try and track her down for you and get back to you on her whereabouts, she‟s probably somewhere around there and can‟t hear her phone ring because of the loud music.” "Or maybe she has gone off with the other guy," an inner voice taunted him.

“I hope so oh. I assumed that you both went off together, you know I saw you both.” She laughed, ''well, call me when you speak to her oh. I'm just a little worried because the last time I saw her she looked upset.”

“I think I upset her by coming without her knowledge, there was another guy...”

“Rubbish, of course that's not true. That guy works at her office that's all, he's still here.”

“OK no problem, ma. I‟ll call her right away. Bye bye ma,” he replied, not in the least bit relieved and even a little worried.

“Bye bye my son” she answered back.

As Iphey‟s mother closed her phone, she smiled cunningly to Iphey‟s sister, Ngozi who looked at her with a mixture of a frown and a smile.

“Iphey is going to kill you if she finds out you are meddling in her personal business. Just because you were right about James and I getting together doesn‟t mean you should consider yourself a matchmaker. Remember that we still don't know whether he's only missing or he's deserted me,” she said.

“I'm sure James will still come back. Isn't Obi back home after what the doctors said? Trust me on this, I'm still the very good and wise mother who married you off single handedly. As for Iphey, she is being too much of a fool and I can‟t just stand by and let her send this nice Chinedu away like all the others.”

She smiled at Iphey who stood quietly with her colleagues looking sad and annoyed at the same time. Iphey's mum turned and winked at Ngozi; she could already hear the wedding bells ringing.

Singing the Monday blues ....by Miss Fab

Iphey was having the worst possible Monday in the history of Mondays. To begin with, she didn‟t hear her alarm ring at 6am and flew out of bed at 6:43 instead. Rushing to get ready and stepping out of the house within an impressive 35 minutes, she was beginning to have faith that the day could still be salvaged when her car refused to start. Her mallam-cum-makeshift-mechanic insisted he could fix the problem in “pife” minutes. “Madam, only pife minutes I need,” he declared but Iphey had neither the patience nor the mood to wait and angrily stomped out into the sunless morning to hail a taxi.

The rapture or something like it must have occurred that morning – that was the only explanation she could think of for the practically standstill traffic, and she spent many angry minutes uncharacteristically cursing the taxi driver, the other drivers, the okada riders, the Lagos state government, the Nigerian government, and every other entity she could think of. Walking into her 9am meeting at 9:26, she fumbled into the nearest empty seat, muttering a breathless “Sorry I‟m late. Got caught in traffic.”

“And they say you're professional,” Funmi muttered. “Do you have the report?” She snapped more loudly.

“I‟m really sorry,” Iphey said, shuffling through the papers she held in her hand. She picked out a couple and asked Bisi to pass them down. “Here they are.” Funmi shot her a withering look before resuming her presentation. 

Iphey could not have been more embarrassed. It‟s this stupid Chinedu, she thought to herself. She had gone home fuming from the party, thinking she‟d made a huge mistake. She didn‟t even know what made her kiss him; it wasn‟t like her to do so. She was never quite the forward type, but somehow Chinedu had waltzed in on his high horse and messed up her rhythm. She hadn‟t been able to get much sleep the past few nights, tossing and turning and staring at the pitch-black darkness way into the early morning. Feeling cranky from lack of sleep, she willed herself to disappear in her seat. It didn‟t seem like she was doing a very good job because she caught Ayo winking at her. Suddenly she was very annoyed. What was wrong with this man? He'd shown up to a party on her mum's invitation as her boss but then proceeded to get chummy at every chance as if he‟d just proposed. Had he no shame or sense of decency? Did he not care about his wife? What‟s wrong with men these days even? It‟s like they don‟t know what they want. She didn‟t realize she‟d hissed out loud until all eyes in the boardroom turned to her.

“Excuse me, did you have a problem with something I said?” Funmi asked, sounding irritated.

“I‟m-I‟m sorry,” Iphey stammered and for lack of a meaningful explanation to give, reorganized her papers and tried to look busy. That was her Monday so far, and it wasn‟t even 10 o‟ clock yet. Determined to make up for her double strike at the meeting, she decided to skip lunch and use the time to put in some extra work. Iphey felt upset with herself for being so careless, and she reminded herself that now was not the time to slack off. The recent spate of terminations all over the banking sector was nothing to joke with, especially now that she was due for confirmation.

Around 12:30, Bisi and one of the girls from Accounts Reconciliation stopped by to ask if she would join them for lunch.

“Oh, thanks for the invite,” Iphey smiled, “but I really have to finish all this work.”

The other girl excused herself for a phone call, and Bisi waited until she was out of sight before saying, “So when are you going to gist me about you and you-know-who at your party on Friday?”

“I don‟t know what you‟re talking about,” Iphey laughed nervously, she didn't want to talk about Chinedu.

“Ahahn don‟t form for me jo,” Bisi teased. “I heard he was all over you and even gave gifts to your mom.” Iphey stared back at her blankly for a few seconds before realizing she was talking about Ayo.

“Oh you mean that one?” she said and then hissed. “I don‟t understand why he won‟t leave me alone.”

“It‟s so obvious he likes you,” Bisi said, pausing to add, “He‟s really rich you know. And I hear he and his wife haven‟t lived together in over a year.”

Iphey was about to ask why Bisi was sharing this information with her when the other girl returned.

“You guys should enjoy your lunch,” Iphey said. “I‟ve to return to this portfolio anyway.”

“We‟ll talk later sha,” Bisi replied and left.

Iphey turned back to her monitor and thought about the conversation. A nagging feeling at the back of her mind told her trouble was breeding somewhere, but she convinced herself she was being ridiculous and tried to focus on her work.

At 8 pm, she decided to head home. Most of her co-workers had gone by then, so she packed her papers and hurriedly left the building. Stepping outside the gates of the bank, she suddenly realized she hadn‟t eaten all day and she stood for a few minutes, the cacophony of the evening hustle and bustle interspersing her angrily growling tummy, until she spotted an empty taxi heading in her direction. She stretched out her hand to flag it down and, without a word, got into the backseat. The driver turned around to ask where she was going, and Iphey gasped as she recognized the disheveled, unkempt stranger as James, her sister‟s missing husband.

To be continued