When A Playboy Loves

|| 29.

King

Remote in one hand, butt planted firmly on the sofa with my other arm resting on the edge, I stared at the blank screen in front of me. The doorbell rang and I jumped up, causing the remote to clatter to the ground.

Two Red, Tiger head batteries fell out of the Black remote, one of which rolled to a stop under the table. The other one disappeared out of sight. I bent to retrieve the batteries and for some reasons, I hesitated in picking them up. Instead, I stayed put in that crouched position, eyeing the lone battery with a strange fascination. Perhaps it was the fact that they now had more freedom than I did, no board or a despicable CEO to answer to or boss them around. But, I let them be.

My eyes trailed to the TV, it was off. I ran a palm across my face, letting out a deep breath as I did that. Not only was I standing in the middle of my parlour, hands on my waist, looking like a damn fool who lost his way back home, I was also watching TV that was never turned on. How wonderful!

Give it up for King Daniels, first of his name, second to none.

Second to none until Wole.

I tried to shake that comparison off but it settled over me like dew on the green grass. Idleness was a strange phenomenon to me and so was suspension. The words tasted like vomit, an abomination that should never be spoken out loud. This was my first suspension and hopefully, the last. 

The rest of my thoughts were centred around getting busy, figuring out what to do with all of these free time before I lost my shit. Concentrating on a task was now like a battle for me. One more look at my laptop screen, another day being idle and I would explode from inside out. 

It was even more strange that I didn't want to go out. I was on self-imposed isolation because none of the Fantastic Five really wanted to talk to me. They were the only humans I wanted to see and my SOS messages had been ignored. We all had busy lives, I knew that but I couldn't help the hurt or the tightening of my chest, I would have at least called or visited.

The doorbell rang again, I stilled and my thoughts receded to the back of my mind; if only they could stay there forever. My movements were slow as though I was waiting for the person behind the door to disappear. Only thing I got in response was the continuous ringing of the doorbell.

If I didn't know better, I would have guessed the person at the door to be Junior. He was the only one who had the guts to ring the bell like it was some sort of musical instrument. I was still mad at him, he picked some random girl over me. Never. You never ever did that to a brother.

"Who's there?" A peek at the peephole revealed an empty compound.

"Junior," came the response.

"Go away."

Unusual silence greeted me back. I took another peek through the hole, there was no one. A few seconds passed, nothing happened. I unlocked the door, poking my head out to see if he really did leave, there was no sign of him.

Really, Junior? How can you just leave?

With disappointment heavy in my heart, I locked the doors. I turned slowly and my heart nearly leapt out of my chest at the sight of the person in front of me.

"Tomiwa," I breathed out.

His face remained stoic, unimpressed by my obvious shock. We stood facing each other, none of us saying a word. Tomiwa's whole expression screamed disappointment, annoyance and his eyes threatened to drill holes into my head. I couldn't handle the intensity so I averted my gaze. My feet tapped an uneven rhythm to the ground, my hands balled into a fist I shoved into the pocket of my white joggers.