Our Mirage – Chapter 1

Hello to you…
Hey there…
Hi…

The greetings can go on.

How are you today?

Have you eaten?

What is wrong?

The care and affection can go on and soon you realize that virtually everything can go on if you are willing to fight for it. But some things just refuse to go on no matter how much you fight for them. Life is beautiful isn’t it?

TIDE BAMIDELE COLE 

2017
                             Hello Adekola, it’s Tide…

The parking lot was crowded and they had not even spent up to an hour in the shopping mall. It was going to take years to find the car.

“Do you seriously not remember where you parked the car Adekola?” Tide’s voice held annoyance. She was tired of standing under the sun holding evidence that they nearly bought the entire mall. To top it all, she wasn’t even dressed for this occasion. A sweatshirt she had taken from him and her ‘everywhere but not here’ crazy jean was what she had on with bathroom slippers to match. Her hair was equally messy. The shirt was starting to fall off her shoulders exposing the strap of her bra-top; now the world would know she was wearing a green bra-top with pink polka dots complementing it. Not the best choice for such a public outing. Adjusting it was almost impossible. She could not possibly adjust it with so much load in her hands and Adekola was busy brainstorming.

“Oga…”

He was ignoring her. Or maybe he just could not hear her.

“Adekola”

Adekola was not so far ahead. He could definitely hear.

“Deko-“

“Tide, I will find the car soon, just calm down and let me think.” He stared straight down, his back facing her. Tide caught some kids staring, one even pointed and laughed. Little brats. She was beginning to sweat, her light skin turning a dark shade of pink under the sun.

“Adekola, answer me!” She stomped her feet on the ground and growled trying to get his attention.

“Tide can you p-”  he turned around with a frown on his face, a frown that quickly disappeared when he saw her predicament. Soon enough, he was using his hand to cover the huge smile that had grown on his face. Both of his hands were free while he had left her to carry the bags all by herself. “What happened to you?” he burst out laughing, bending over to catch his breath. “You look like a monkey almost raped you… oh shit, Tide. I told you not to take that sweatshirt but you didn’t listen. You see yourself?”

She stood staring at him with a scowl on her face. He was tall, dark and quite charming but there and then, all he looked like was a jerk.

“So are you going to help me or should I just forget about your existence completely?”

He stopped laughing and walked up to her, “Oya sorry, let’s go to the car.” Adjusting the shirt, he collected the bags from her.

“I thought you did not know where the car was”

No reply. Adekola just walked straight ahead and turned into a deserted corner. The red Toyota corolla sat at the end of the corner. This wasn’t where they had parked the car earlier. She followed behind him and got into the car a while after he did.

“You lied”

“I lied” he stated rather happily. “I was going to prank you, make you stand under the sun and get slightly burnt but your disgraceful bra-top decided to say hi.”

“You witch, you knew I was feeling hot and my arms were aching but you still left me to burn under the sun” Her eyes blazed with anger but he just ignored, his focus on his seat belt. “Dekola”

“Sorry, Tide. Think about the fun we had and the love you have for me. I’ll start the car and turn the air conditioner on, soon you’ll forget there’s anything called sun” he turned, staring intently at her “Baby…Tide love… Honey bunny… sorry na.”

“I’ve heard, Adekola. Start the car and drive to your house, I want to take my perfume.” Her eyes were fixed on her phone. Nothing but gossip flooded the internet. She loved gossip. Dekola’s face held confusion, he processed her words and realization dawned on him.

“Mama, hold up. There’s only one perfume in that house and it is mine, I do not know what perfume you are talking about”

“You overthink. Just start the car already and drive to your house” she replied with a smile playing on her lips. “Think about the love you claim to have for me”

“I know it is my perfume you want to thief, just thief my heart and join too. Oh wait-” he took a dramatic pause, staring into her eyes as he started the car and smiled “you already have”. He leaned over and winked at her. He reversed and drove out leaving Tide muttering curses under her breath.

Tide paved her way through the busy hallway of St. Nicholas hospital. She acknowledged her colleagues as she walked out through the exit, smiling widely at a patient. Her hair was packed to the back, away from her face and neck. It was not the best day to be wearing the suit she wore; she never wore a suit to the hospital. Today, a supernatural visitation was what she received and she was yet to decide whether or not it was from God. It had been a very stressful day and only God knew how tired she was. Her legs led her down to the parking lot and a deep feeling of joy grew in her heart at her victory. It was not easy for someone as popular as she was in the hospital to get to the safety of her car without stopping to chit-chat with several people. All these never-ending conversations about things she’d rather not discuss.

Unlocking the car, she tossed her bag to the back and took off her beige suit jacket, tossing it as well. Right now wasn’t a time to be orderly. Hurriedly, she got into the car and slammed the door shut. Starting up the engine, she paused to get some air into her lungs. The little rush had made her exhausted. In no time, the air condition was turned on and soft music filled the car. Tide was too much of a mess to start driving immediately so she rested her head on the steering, smiling and getting lost in the rhythm of the song. It was Lorde’s liability. Not the best esteem booster song you’d find but it was perfect for Tide.

“Doctor Tee”

What?

“Doctor Bamidele” her name and a knock on her window snapped her out of the little zone she had managed to create for herself. If only she had driven out when she could. She turned down the music and lowered her window to behold the face of her favorite security man. He stared at her with concern which was exactly why he got the favorite security man title. Babatunde had an extremely enormous heart. He was wearing his uniform today, blue shirt on black trousers. He almost never put it on and that had gotten him in trouble with the management severally. He even wore his black beret too. His eyes were bloodshot from his years of smoking; one would be wrong to think he had stopped. He always said it would kill him one day and nobody ever staged an argument with him about that.

“Babatunde” her dimples were on perfect display as she gave him her best smile.

“Doc Tee, are you okay?” his grey hair glistened in the afternoon light. She liked grey hair. “This one that you have been sitting in the car since”

“Baba, you exaggerate a lot” her laughter was soft and friendly “I just got here a while ago. Don’t worry, I’m leaving now.” She sat up and wiped her brows.

“Don’t think too much sha … I have said my own. Shey I should open the gate for you?”

“Yes, please” He headed on towards the gate and she drove out of the parking lot turning her music back on. He stood at the gate saluting her, she laughed a little and drove out of the compound mouthing a thank you.

Her car was parked in front of a tall brown gate and Tide stepped out asking herself why exactly she was there. She walked cautiously towards the gate and peered in through a peep hole. His red corolla was parked in the compound, a sign that he was home. Tide stood for a while and after much hesitation knocked. Her hands trembled slightly. There was no reply so she knocked again, this time loudly. Still no sign of movement. Her palms got sweaty and she wiped them on her skirt making an attempt to knock one more time when the gate got yanked open.

He looked the same, tall and dark skinned. He wore black shorts and a lazy navy blue vest, standing a few feet above her. Her height was really nothing to write home about. Adekola stood there staring at her in shock. He surveyed her from head to toe and hurriedly replaced the look of shock with that of total indifference.

Was it something I did, Adekola?

“Hello.” She smiled awkwardly at him.

“Hey.” He did not return the smile.

“Um- you weren’t answering your calls so I felt something was off. I just th-”  Tide closed her eyes and inhaled deeply “I wanted to see you”.

“You are seeing me.” He stated plainly.

“I know, Dekola” she said between gritted teeth. “I don’t mean see you like, see you”

“So why did you come?”

She stared at him for a long while and he tapped his foot impatiently.

“Can I just come inside? It’s been a while… let’s just talk and catch up on old times-” she made a playful hand gesture and smiled up at him “-you get me sha. I just want to talk.” Tide stood there hoping that her little talk would get him to let her in. She tried not to get her hopes up, she really tried, but they still got up anyways.

“No, Tide” his voice was firm and his reply was sharp. Really sharp. Did he even consider it? His abrupt rejection came too quick. Tide wasn’t even sure she heard him right.

“What?” her voice was barely audible.

“I said no. No, I do not get you and I really have no problem with you coming in but I need to be alone right now.”

Was it something I said?

“Oh” was all she managed to mutter in reply. She swallowed a lump building in her throat, wanting to be alone too more than anyone could possibly imagine.

“Yeah” he spoke again. The indifference in his voice was killing her faster than anything else and he wasn’t seeing that. Or maybe he was. Maybe he was just ignoring it. “Sorry you had to come all the way down here.”

She managed a smile “What are friends for, Dekola? It’s nothing. We’ll talk another time.”

Or was it just you?

“Yeah, bye” and with that, he shut the gate leaving Tide to walk slowly to her car. She got in and shut the door, staring at nothing for a while and then played her song ‘liability’. She sat in her car, her eyes glued to the tall brown gate. Taking a deep breath, she drove off.