Chapter 4
After the long discussion with his aunt and grandfather, he was sent off to represent his grandfather at the monthly landlords meeting of their street. The location of the meeting was at Chinaza’s house. He couldn’t wait to see her. Her brothers were away at their cousins, and she was the only other person he had to share the new revelations with.
When he walked into her compound, he found empty chairs and tables, and no one in sight. Perplexed, he checked the time on his black Casio wristwatch. It was 11:30am, and the meeting was scheduled to start at 11am. He wasn’t sure if he was late, or too early. He searched his jeans pocket for the handwritten letter his grandfather had given him. It wasn’t there. He found it in the left b****t pocket of the denim shirt he had on. If the meeting was over, he would to get Chinaza’s dad to read the letter as soon as possible. He didn’t know if the content of the letter was time sensitive.
The curtains moved behind the sliding door entrance of the house. A head popped in and out of view; he wasn’t sure if it was Chinaza he had seen, or Ijeoma, her younger sister. The glass door slowly slid open, and Ijeoma stepped out, braids covering half her face. She was about four years younger, but was a little taller than her sister. While Chinaza was reserved, Ijeoma was more of the talkative. “Hey Wale, you came at the right time.” She said with a mischievous smile on her face. She had the tomboy vibe going with the ripped jeans and dark gray oversized sweatshirt she had on.
“What? What do you mean?”
“Maybe you can teach Chinaza how to…” She was saying and then ran out towards Wale giggling. Chinaza appeared from behind the glass door in jeans shorts and a white t shirt, with a stern look on her face as she approached her sister, who was now using Wale as a shield. “Okay. Okay. I won’t say anything.” Ijeoma said between laughs. Chinaza stood with arms akimbo, in front of them. The frown on her face slowly turned to a smile.
“What’s going on guys?” Wale asked, looking from one sister to the other.
“Nothing.” Ijeoma said, still laughing as she continued to hide behind Wale.
“How are you doing Wale?” Chinaza finally said, and turned around to walk back into the house.
Wale looked at her walk away, and then turned around to look at Ijeoma behind him. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” Ijeoma repeated. He stood there confused as she walked back inside the house. He stared at the empty chairs and tables to his right for a couple of seconds, before proceeding to the entrance.
Their living room was a simple one; two black, medium sized couches opposite each other. Ijeoma was sitting on the one backing the entrance, and Chinaza sat on the one opposite. “Sorry about all that.” She said, looking at Wale from where she sat with a smile.
“What’s up with the landlords meeting that was meant to hold here?” He said as he shut the sliding door behind him.
“They went to Aisha’s house.” Ijeoma said and it had Wale more confused.
“Aisha’s dad died last night, so they all went over for a condolence visit.”
“Oh! I didn’t know that.” He said as he walked over slowly to where Chinaza was seated. Even though none of them really were close to Aisha, she was the coolest and the most popular girl on their street.
“You came here for the meeting?” Chinaza asked as he sat next to her on the couch; her focus was on the TV hanging on the wall in front of her.
“Yeah; my grandpa has a guest and sent me instead.” He said and faced the TV on the wall. They were watching a rerun of Game of Thrones. It was the episode where Daenerys, the mother of dragons was trying to take over a city and she had all her unsullied soldiers outside the city.
“Have you guys ever wondered how she feeds all those unsullied soldiers?” Ijeoma said, facing them.
“Go and buy the vegetables mom asked you to buy smartass.” Chinaza shot back at her sister.
“She has a valid question though.” Wale said between laughs. “I never thought about that.”
Chinaza kept looking at her sister, till she finally got up. “I’ll be back.” Ijeoma said before going out the house.
They watched the TV series in silence after she left, till Wale asked, “So…What did your sister want to tell me earlier?”
“Nothing.” Chinaza said without looking at him. After a few seconds, she turned to face him with a smile on her face before saying, “Jude and I have been chatting a lot lately.”
“Jude?”
“The guy from the competition.”
“Oh! That guy.”
She looked at him for a while before saying, “Why are you acting like I’ve not been telling you about him.”
“Sorry; I’m bad with names.”
“Anyway, you know my birthday is tomorrow.”
“Oh shoot! I almost forgot.”
“So…” She started to say and stopped to move closer to Wale on the couch. “Oh my God, I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this.”
“What?”
“I don’t…I don’t know how to kiss. I’ve never kissed a boy before.” When Wale didn’t say anything, she went on to say, “I’m going to see him tomorrow, and I’m so tensed.”
“Oh!”
“I’m freaking out. What if he tries to kiss me and I fumble it?”
“Umm…I’m sure if it comes down to that, it will happen naturally.” He said and slouched on the couch.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know. I don’t know.” She said and laughed at herself. “I’ve been watching some Youtube videos on how to kiss.” She started really laughing at herself now, and he chuckled.
“Don’t worry; if it ever comes to that, you’ll instinctively know what to do.”
“Hmm…It’s easy for you to say. You’ve probably been kissing girls since you were 17.”
“Umm…more like since 15.”
“What! Are you serious?” She said and turned to look at him. He just smiled at her. She shook her head at him with a smile on her face as she resumed back her sitting position.
There was silence for a few seconds and then he said, “It’s no big deal really. Just go with the flow.”
“Maybe you can teach me.” She said in a low voice.
“Okay.”
“What? I’m kidding.” She said and tapped the back of his hand.
The room got quiet again and then she turned to look at him. The stare lingered longer than usual. He had never seen her look at him that way before. No words were spoken, but he automatically knew where her mind was at, it just shocked him a bit. Slowly, he instinctively started to lean in. With eyes closed, she moved her head closer to his. And just before their lips met, the sliding door opened.
