I opened my eyes. It was afternoon the next day and I was on my bed, still with my clothes on. I tried to remember how
I ended up in my bed with clothes on after such a hot bath with Cynthia but couldn’t. Was I
that drunk? Then I tried to remember the events that took place the previous night and could only remember to the point where
I lost contact with the real world.
Apparently, I had been sleeping and
dreaming all along. Arrrrrrrgggggggg!!!!
Just then Cynthia came in to check on me.
As soon as she saw me she started
laughing. I didn’t understand what was funny
to her. I was just analyzing her and
reminiscing on the dream I just had. I then
imagined it was real and laughed. Seeing
that I was laughing, Cynthia laughed out all
the more. I then gave a mischievous smile
and said ‘you’re lucky that the entire
shower thing was just a dream. If not, you
wouldn’t be laughing right now’. ‘What
shower thing?’ Cynthia asked. ‘Never mind’
I said. Wait a minute, were you dreaming
all along? Don’t tell me you’ve been
dreaming’ Come on; tell me, what was it
about?’ Cynthia enquired. I’ve never seen
someone smiling and licking his lips as
though kissing someone while sleeping’. I
was shocked to hear that. “Was I doing
that?” I asked. Of course you were. I came
in to check on you and found you doing that
so I left. I came again some moments later
and found you doing the same thing. I was
flabbergasted”. I thought you were going
nuts so I wanted to call for an ambulance
when I heard you………
I didn’t wait for her to finish her statement.
I interrupted her and told her it must have
been the effect of the alcohol I had the
previous night. I tried to wave that away as
though it meant nothing to me but I was
ashamed. Cynthia continued with the
statement she was making before I cut her
in. “I wanted to call for an ambulance when
I heard calling my name. I thought you had
seen me come into your room and wanted
to say something to me but I was wrong.
You laid there on that bed calling my name
passionately and I got curious as to what
could make you call my name in that
manner while sleeping”.
“After a while you stopped but didn’t wake
up. I left for a little bit only to come back
and see you awake and saying I wouldn’t be
laughing if it all wasn’t a dream. What
happened?” Were you dreaming about me?”
I didn’t know what to tell her anymore. I
had never felt so humiliated my whole life.
I was ashamed and shy. In fact, if there
was a plane heading for Nigeria at that
moment, I would have joined it without a
second thought. But this Cynthia sure knew
how to cheer me up. She had correctly
guessed the kind of dream I had and how
humiliated I felt about it. She drew near to
me smiling, pated me on the back and said;
“I’m sorry to have made you have so much
drink. I never knew it would have such
strong effect on you”. “My bad” she said.
She blamed herself for everything and
made it look like such dreams only came to
people under the influence of alcohol. There
could be some truth in that anyway. Don’t
you think?
I freshened up afterwards, had lunch and
went for a work. I couldn’t stop thinking
about the all that happened in the last six
hours. I stopped by a park to take some air.
There it seemed like everyone were in
pairs. Only a few people were solo, and I
was one of them. The sight I beheld pleased
me and at the same time made me feel
lonely. Right then I remembered Ogechi big
time. I missed her a lot. I remembered
back at Enugu, I never felt lonely. No
moment was boring. There was always
fulfillment back then. But in America,
things were different. Imagine what
happened last night. I had so much to drink,
and that made me have a weird dream. I
couldn’t imagine that happening if I was
with Ogechi. I remembered the days when
we had little money and no fame, watching
movie with my laptop was more pleasurable
than going to the movies. Squeezing
ourselves to fit into a sixteen inches foam
for a night was more comfortable than
sleeping in a family size bed in five star
hotels for eternity. Trekking from campus
to our residence was more enjoyable than
riding in a Lincoln Navigator to the white
house. Eating together in a local restaurant
was more refreshing than consuming the
delicacies of royalty. We all strive to attain
higher heights in life but sometimes it
could be very lonely and miserable up
there. I missed Ogechi but I didn’t know if
she missed me too. If she did, why hadn’t
she called?
I went back home pretty late and mate
Cynthia sitting just outside the house. She
didn’t look happy. We got talking and she
told me she wasn’t happy about me leaving
the house to an unknown destination without
her knowledge. Cynthia had grown so fund
of me that she wanted the both of us to be
like five and six. She was worried sick
about me just because I got out of the
house without letting her know my where
about. It was obvious that Cynthia saw me
to be more than a friend to her cousin. She
saw me as her man.
I wouldn’t blame her for that anyway. I can
remember she told Lin I was her fiancé and
I didn’t deny it. At the movie premiere I
told some people she was my woman. All
that coupled with our time out together was
enough to suggest to her that I was
reciprocating the feeling. Right now it was
time to face reality. Cynthia loves me and I
know that. I have feelings for Cynthia but I
wasn’t sure it was love. It could be lust
because my heart belonged to Ogechi, but
that was about to change.
All the while I had closed my heart on
Cynthia because I didn’t want to fall in love
with her because I was in love with Ogechi.
But after a while without any sort of
communication with Ogechi I contemplated
on giving Cynthia a chance since she was
the one present with me and was showering
me with all the love in the world. I didn’t
know what was going on with Ogechi
anymore. So I decided to let go off the
feelings I had for Ogechi and start
something with Cynthia. But then, I thought
I should give Ogechi one more shot before
proceeding to do anything I might regret in
the future. I called Ogechi’s line twenty
times daily for the next three days but
couldn’t speak with her because she was so
busy. Busier than how I last knew her to be.
She had grown to become a superstar. How
I wish it was I and Ogechi living like I and
Cynthia were.
Since I couldn’t speak with Ogechi I was
ready to make Cynthia my girl for real. I
didn’t consider her age anymore. After all,
she looked as young as young as Ogechi,
even though she was older in age. I started
planning on how and when to ask Cynthia to
be my girl. She had expected me to ask her
that long before now but I didn’t. I bet she
wondered why I hadn’t asked her for that
long. Maybe that’s why she told Lin I
couldn’t express myself before women. She
even thought I was a virgin. I knew Cynthia
was gonna go gaga the day I asked her to
be my girl, and I was gonna ask her. I
guess Ogechi had also found herself some
nice guy over there. Well, best of luck to
the both of us.
I asked Cynthia out on a date one day. It
was the day I planned to ask her to be my
girl. We went to a Chinese restaurant and
ordered for some Chinese meals. Getting
adapted to eating with the chopstick wasn’t
easy for me. Cynthia had no problems with
that because she had been doing that
overtime. The Chinese restaurant was my
idea, so it was somewhat embarrassing not
being able to properly use the chopstick.
Cynthia didn’t care. Even if I peed in my
pants, Cynthia wouldn’t feel ashamed of
me. All those made me go crazy for her the
more.
It took a while before I could properly make
use of the chopstick and thus, the main
purpose of the date was delayed. Finally, I
could properly make use of it and that part
was over. It was time for me to drop the
bomb. I didn’t just want to ask her to be my
girl. I wanted to make that day a very
memorable one. More memorable than any
good time I ever had with Ogechi in order to
completely get rid of any feelings left for
Ogechi. I may have summed up courage to
leave Ogechi for Cynthia, but that wasn’t
likely to happen without some emotional
stress. So I decided to make every part of
my day with Cynthia a very romantic one
before proceeding to the main subject.
I had succeeded in making Cynthia smile
and laugh and enjoy her time out with me. I
made her feel secure with me. Even if I
didn’t ask her to be my girl, nothing would
have stopped her from believing that I was
in love with her. If I said nothing that night,
Cynthia would think that I am the kind of
guy that wouldn’t easily profess love, but
would rather act it. She believed beyond
every iota of doubt that I was in love with
her because of the things I said to her and
the way I acted at that restaurant. But then,
I still had to break the silence. The time
came for me to utter the word that would
change everything; my life, my purpose,
and probably my destiny. Do I really need to
do this?
To be continued.
