Paper Hearts | ✓

✍ Chapter Eleven✍

Eleven | Hitch a Ride

Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind— Dr. Seuss

~•~

Kemi sat on the orange chair under the rectangular shelter at the bus stop— at least the government of Enugu State had been thoughtful enough to renovate the bus stops by creating comfortable shelters for it's citizens.

She sighed as she checked her for the time on her phone, it was 5:00pm. She had spent an extra hour at work because her boss had insisted on keeping her back until she finished attending to prospective clients and sorting through new mails. The company had just launched a new software program that made website creation and design a whole lot easier and they were getting a lot of positive feedbacks but some customers still noticed some glitches in the program.

Another thirty minutes had been spent trying to solve a misunderstanding between a cleaner and a security guard. Trust most humans to find it hard to admit that they were the ones in the wrong even if it was very conspicuous.

At first, Kemi had been waiting for a tricycle or a taxi, but after waiting for nearly an hour she could settle for anything else be it a bus or even a bike— which was impossible because one wouldn't find a bike in this part of the city.

She glanced over at the crowded bus stop and observed that most people weren't as agitated as she was. An old man to her right was sleeping as if he was born and bred at the bus stop and a young lady next to him was breastfeeding her baby while scrolling through her phone.

The teenage girls behind her were giggling and gisting oblivious to the heartache of their parents waiting for them to return from school. As the saying goes 'imagination is something that sits up with a parent when their teenager stays out late.'

Kemi chuckled to herself as she remembered Iya Dunni from the Wedding Party movie shouting "our children have been kidnapped" when the couple arrived late for the reception.

By 6:00pm she was trekking away from the bus stop hoping to hitch a ride, she felt her phone vibrate in her bag. She brought it out noticing for the first the three calls she had missed, all from her mother. Kemi groaned as she called the woman who was probably by the gate chewing her fingers.

Bisola picked on the first ring. "Hello mummy—"

"Ahahn omo mi, do you want to kill me before my time eeh. Where are you?"

"Mummy I have been waiting for a cab or bus for some hours now oh. I have been at the bus stop. I have not been kidnapped."

"Oh you think this is funny abi!
Where are you? I'm coming to get you!"

Kemi removed the phone from her ear as her mother yelled endlessly. She looked around the busy road eyeing the few buses that were already full moving at a snail's pace. "Don't worry yourself mummy, I'll find a ride."

That said Kemi dropped the call, she knew she was in for some tongue lashing when she got home but it was better than stressing her mother. One of the many reasons she wanted to move out of her family home to her own apartment, oh the freedom.

She  noticed a car slowing down beside her.
"Hello pretty need a ride?" a husky voice called out from within the vehicle.

No I need a ticket to Jerusalem!

She turned to the sleek black Toyota Corolla that glistened under the street light and gaped at the man behind the wheels.

His fair skin shone under the yellow light of the car, he had on a red blazer with a shirt beneath probably on a blue denim— she couldn't tell. His brown hair was cut short with his light brown eyes raised up at the corners. Slightly pinkish lips curled up in a small smile which made his dimples prominent as she awaited her reply.