Must Read: Selfless Desires

A story written by Kitme….

Afam was soaked in anger, smothered in depression, stung by Work’s pressures.
Everything lurking behind Afam’s heart was squelched immediately a message entered his phone. He felt a different ray of light at that moment, his eyes had glistened with joy.

It wasn’t every day that he got such an invitation from his heartrob Amaka. It had to be Amaka or no one else, the only girl who had captured his heart in a surprising way. One could only imagined that minute ago, he was sulking heavily.

He re-read the message to be sure.

‘Meet me at C&S cafeteria ASAP’

He hurriedly dressed up and picked his car keys. He dared not miss something as special as that.
Getting to C&S, he strolled in with a beaming smile, he looked around searching for that one girl, but he couldn’t find her.

His smile had withered. Could it be a mistake?
Why would Amaka lie to him?
He was disappointed, he’d quickly flicked the mayfly on his shirt.

Still contemplating on what to do when another message entered his phone.
‘Sorry for the delay! Its traffic!!’
That had reassured him as he sat down quietly, huffing and puffing due to fatigue.

He thought about Amaka and smiled, he adored her, he was like a putty in her hands. But that doesn’t matters because he loved her.

Amaka on the other side was indifferent to the whole setting, she felt she was being used for the betterment of her family. Afam had proven to be a nice caring guy, judging from the way he showered Amaka’s family with gifts. He had his suspicions too, he felt Amaka was drifting away, but shrugged it off.

Afterall, she had introduce me to her family He would say and moreover, he had proposed to her recently and she accepted!

‘Hey!’ Amaka called out and broke into his thoughts.
Afam looked up and smiled
‘You’re welcome’ he said
Taking a seat across directly opposite Afam ‘yeah! Sorry, traffic probs!’
‘Well, its okay’ Afam reassured.
‘I will go get our orders!’ Amaka said and left.

It was no news that Amaka had a trenchant way of meeting the waiter and placing her orders, instead of them coming over to her.

She had not take more than seven steps when she saw Awesome, sitting somewhere around the corner.
Her brain went into overdrive as it blinked severally. She’d never expected to see Awesome. A healthy rush of sweet sensation flushed through her. She stood still like her legs were numbed and stiffed. Awesome had no right to be that handsome.

Amaka found herself comparing Awesome with Afam!
She’d a lot of questions to ask that gorgeous man beside her. She knew doing that would aroused Afam’s suspicions. Was it not last week, Afam was telling her, she wasn’t giving the relationship her all?
Awesome beamed her a smile and her world turned over. She wanted to hug him and ran her fingers through his well-curled hair.

She sidled away to the waiter and ordered some food, She walked quietly trying so hard to focus on her steps, but she made the mistake of looking at Awesome again. Awesome winked at her and smiled again.
She knew that wink! She knew the underlying message it carries. She walked back carefully to Afam.

‘He’s hitting on you?’ Afam blurted out.

‘Wh-who? Wha-what?’ She faltered, acting all guilty.

‘The guy over there!’ Afam smiled and pointed at Awesome.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Amaka replied, open-eyed.

How would she explained that, the ‘guy over there’ was her bestfriend, her first love, her everything, the guy gave her a whole new life. She was little when her dad died, she avoided everyone like plague, she was torn by sadness and ‘that guy over there’ had pulled her out from that darkness.

‘Do you know him before?’

‘Afamefula! Maka why? Why are you doing this?’ Amaka blurted out.

The waiter brought their orders, shortly later. Afam ate ravenously while Amaka was staring rather than eating. Her mind had gone far.
All of a sudden, Afam became uncomfortable by what he supposed to be Amaka’s loss of appetite. He took a ‘sorrowful’ bite out of his meatpie, he chewed it longer than neccessary, he pondered over it like a business proposal, and when he finally decided to swallow, it lingered on his throat.
After some futile efforts, he gulped it down like a bitter drink, making an amusing grimace. Amaka’s eyes fell on his and they both laughed.
‘Unsuccessful bite?’

‘More like a throat-grazing bite’ He whimpered, still trying to find his composure.

‘I’m filled!’ She said ‘let’s be on our way!’

Amaka had been thinking about how to converse with Awesome, she won’t just go, without having his contact. Doing that would mean ripping herself of her happiness and peace.

Afam got up and held Amaka, and they left the cafeteria. When they got outside, about to enter the car.
‘Uhmm, Afam, I need to get some food for Uju, You know she’ll kill me if I don’t’
With that, she sauntered back to the cafeteria, and ran to Awesome, and She hugged him tightly. Ignoring any hindrances, that type of hug happens once in a lifetime, it was soothing and she revelled greatly in the heat and intensity of Awesome’s body. Feelings and desire from yesteryears they had shared, came rushing back in a fragment of second.

Left to her, she would have stayed there for years, with no thought of leaving, but Awesome got over his desires and disengaged from her.

‘What are you doing in nigeria?’ ‘When did you come back?’ Amaka threw at him.

‘Who was that guy?’ Awesome asked.

The frown that ceased Amaka’s brows spoke volumes of her unhappiness concerning the issue. Awesome noticed the frown and smiled mischievously.

‘I don’t have much time, I came to say hi’ Amaka replied.

Awesome gave her his complimentary card, Amaka thanked him with a peck and ran outside, giddy with excitement.

‘Let’s go’ She said musically.

‘And where is the food?’ Afam asked when he saw that she wasn’t carrying anything.
I-I-I…..Eerm……I–I for–got’ She said stammeringly, out of fear.
Afam looked at her and shook his head, He knew she was hiding something, the annoying part was that he couldn’t place his fingers on them, He had no idea what it could be, but his ever-sharp instincts told him it has to do with the guy he saw earlier. He noticed that Amaka had behaved rather strangely, when she saw the guy, he couldn’t figure out the connection between them. He doesn’t have any idea if the guy would be a threat or not!

‘No problem! Please enter’ Afam said and opened the door for Amaka.

The drive from the Cafeteria was hitch-free, while silence engulfed the atmosphere in the car, Amaka focused her attention to the program airing on the Radio, while Afam kept a straight face and drove on.
When they got to her house, she checked her bag for the complimentary card, she couldn’t find it.
Fear gripped her, she collected it, she was damn sure ‘where could it be?’She asked no one in particular.

Amaka was downcast at the moment as she ransacked her handbag angrily, her countenance was falling. Her annoyance stemmed from the fact that the complimentary card was the only way of reconnecting with her bestfriend.

‘Did Afam took it?’ She asked herself miserably.’ Why would he?’ She asked again.

‘Looking for something?’ Afam asked and broke into her thoughts.

‘Not at all’ She replied dryly.

Amaka continued to search her bag, as if her entire life depends on it.

‘You’re definitely looking for this’ Afam said and handed over the complimentary card to her.
Amaka collected it, her face flushed red with embarrassment. She came down from the car lazily and hugged her shivering body in both arms, clasping herself as if she would fall.

‘Amaka! I don’t know who he is to you,that you were__ or the kind of connection or relationship you both shared in the past, but I don’t want him to come between us!’ Afam said firmly.

Amaka simply nodded and entered her house without looking back.

WATCH OUT FOR PART 2 TOMORROW