Battered Wife

14

Several days after I learned that Bisi was in the hospital, I was walking over to see Bisi before going to work with a flask containing her breakfast when a man stood in my way, blocking my every effort to walk past him.

When I looked up from his clothed chest that did nothing to hide his muscular body, I met the face of someone I'd become very familiar with in the past few day — Ayo, known as Elijah to all his friends.

I couldn't hold back the smile that slid onto my face at the sight of him as I teased, "What are you doing here? When we spoke yesterday afternoon, you didn't tell me that you were going to start stalking me."

A full smile formed on his full lips as he responded with a joke, "Can I stalk you if I have your permission?"

"Let's move over there," he said when the person who walked past me narrowly avoided slamming her shoulders with mine.

After speaking, he held my arm and moved me out of the way to the side lines with a couple of waiting benches. His grip lowered to my wrist as he waited for me to sit on the bench before joining me.

"But seriously, why are you here?" I asked.

"A friend of mine got hurt so I brought him here to get it fixed." he said.

I nodded, "Oh, okay. I'm here to see my friend too. The one I told you about before."

He nodded in understanding, patting the back of my hand twice before letting go.

"Is your friend going to be okay?" I asked.

"Mm-hmm, he's getting an Xray but it should just be a fracture." he said.

"How are you so sure?" I asked.

"Because I've seen several people get fractures and his symptom looks to be the same?" he answered.

Before I could ask any more questions, he changed the subject. "So how is your friend doing now?"

"She's getting better. Her back no longer hurts as badly as she can sit up for a longer while now. The doctor also permitted her to start eating solid food."

"Well, that's good. Means she's on the road to full recovery."

"Yeah," I answered, wondering why our conversation felt so awkward now that we were in a crowded hospital when our previous conversations on the rooftop had been fun, interesting and informative.

"Do you...do you know how to fight?" I asked, tentatively, unable to stop myself after dreaming about him in a long trench coat fighting for the nth time.

He frowned, his face seeming perplexed at my question. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"I..." How could I tell him that I kept seeing him in my dreams, wielding glowing weapons and fighting against not just people with pitch black eyes but also shadows with human forms?

There was a possibility that I would be labeled as crazy like that one time when I told my teacher that one of my classmates' eyes kept turning pitch black like he was possessed and I got warned severely and given a report card labeling me as mischievous which earned me some beatings at home.

I shook my head, "Never mind."

"Why not? Talk to me? I told you can always share anything with me. You can even share your blunt observations. I won't get mad." He looked concerned that I wasn't sharing what was worrying me.

I couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of my lips but I still lowered my gaze to the floor to avoid his. "It's just...Maybe, we'll talk about it later?"

"O...kay?"

I met his gaze and changed the subject, "Well, I have to go meet my friend before going back to work. I'll see you later?"

"Sure, just not today. I need to deal with some work stuff."

I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be able to meet on the rooftop today but I still forced a smile and nodded.

When I stood up, he stood up with me and reminded me with a gentle smile. "Don't forget that you can call me at anytime or send me a text message."

"What about on Whatsapp? Do you have a Whatsapp account?" I asked because I actually hadn't saved his number on my phone.

He shook his head and smiled at me. "And that's proof that you haven't saved my number on my phone. How about I just add my Whatsapp number on your phone personally?"

I smiled back at him and gave him my number, watching as he put his number into it, saved it as Ayo and dialed his number with my phone so he could save my number.

After we parted ways, I tried to tamp down the smile on my face before I met Bisi because I didn't know how to explain the relationship between Ayo and I.

When I thought too deeply about my relationship with Ayo, even though it was purely platonic, I felt guilty because I knew I liked him. And unfortunately, I couldn't share the news with my mother or Bisi because I knew they would disapprove.

There was something special about the handsome, reserved, caring and gentle man that just called to me deeply down to my soul such that I was dreaming about him.

Even though I was working on getting a divorce, I felt disturbed by the fact that I was attracted to another man while still being married to Remi. Even though I wasn't cheating, I felt like I had somehow lowered myself to Remi's level.

However, despite this, I couldn't stop meeting with Ayo on the rooftop to talk about everything and nothing at the same time. Talking to him, seeing his smiles and feeling his fixed gaze on my face, filled me with warmth and feelings that I had never experienced with any man including Remi. And I couldn't get enough of those feelings, even though I felt guilty about having them.