Inherent Love - Season 1 - Episode 3

5 years ago

Inherent Love - Season 1 - Episode 3

Modupe had been trying to hook Stephen up with a friend of hers for a while now, but he wasn’t ready to give up his single status. They were back at it again; Stephen giving reasons why he didn’t want a girlfriend right now, and Modupe stating all the reasons why it would be great move for him.

Stephen had finished his food, but was munching on the extra chicken wings that she had dropped in his plate. The bottle of water on the table was ice cold and every once in a while, Modupe would have to mop up small puddles of water from the table as a result of the ice flakes on the bottle dissolving. She went off to the kitchen to sq££ze the napkin in the sink, and as she walked back she asked Stephen, “When was the last time you had sex?”

“My goodness.” Stephen said out loud and nearly choked on the chicken he was eating. He coughed a few times and took a sip from his glass of water before adding, “What sort of question is that?”

“And I am not talking of when you…”

“Okay! Okay! I get you. You don’t have to spell it all out.” He said and looked at her for a few seconds with a frown on his face before adding, “You are now a bad girl.”

“I knew I would get your attention with that.” She said between laughs. When he didn’t say anything for a while, she continued with, “I know this is new territory for you, but you can’t tell how it would turn out if you don’t try.”

“I understand you. But it is the time. I don’t have time.”

“She’s a busy lady too; you guys will work out ways to see when you are both free.”
“So…I will have to take her out, buy her stuff and all that, right?”
“What is wrong with that?”
“I don’t have money like that.”
“That’s always your excuse.”
“But it’s true.”

“Stephen, you earn $2, 000 from your book sales monthly.”

“What!!? How did you know that?” He said, wide eyed as he stared at her.

“So, it’s true?” It was her turn to be shocked now. “That’s like 750,000 Naira. That’s 250,000 Naira more than Jack earns and we are married.”

He looked into space, and searched his mind for his next line of defense, but he couldn’t come up with any. How roles have reversed, he thought to himself. He remembered that day in 1997 when a little preteen girl was brought to him for care. It was odd for a girl to have a school father, but she was a transfer student from another Federal Government secondary school, and his Literature teacher at the time had wanted him to help out with her academics as she was finding it hard to adjust.

He was in Senior Secondary School 2, had just been elected the acting dining hall prefect and the Senior Secondary School 3 students had a few months to go before graduating. With his new level of authority, he made sure she was taken care of when it came to food, and also brushed her up academically. He became a friend of the family after she did really well in her Junior Secondary School 2 third term exams, and her parents were really grateful for what he had done in her life.

He graduated secondary school, lost touch with her for many years till one day a few years ago when he got a friend request from her. It was really odd at first, being that she was now all grown up, and he had known her as a girl, but with time, their friendship grew.
He looked up at her; smiled and shook his head as he said, “Okay. I’ll do it.”