Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 7

6 years ago

Oaths - Season 1 - Episode 7

☆☆☆☆
He knew I was looking at him, as well as I also knew he was looking at me. Our eyes met again for the umpteenth time and I looked away.

I took a sip from my glass and looked up, only to see him smiling. He never got tired of staring persistently which made me uncomfortable. I was about turning my gaze elsewhere when I felt something tapping me softly beneath the table. I looked down and saw his phone outstretched to me.

Everyone’s attention was diverted to one thing or the other as they discussed, so we were partially left out and secluded. I collected the phone and glanced down at it.

‘Can we see outside?’ was what I saw on the context screen. I smiled and typed in ‘Yes’ then handed the phone back to him.
He looked at the screen and chuckled with a wink at me, and then stood up, leaving his drink behind.

“Guys, let me get airtime. Excuse me,” he said and left.

A few minutes after he left, I followed suit. We met outside and strolled towards the mango tree without saying anything.

There was utter silence between us even after we got there. We just stood like statues, gazing at each other without finding words.

I soon became irritated and was prompted to ask, “Do you have anything to say?”

I had expected him to get provoked by the question, but instead, he just smiled and pointed to the bench, signaling for us to sit down. We sat and I distanced myself a bit from him, making sure to keep space.

He looked at me and smiled, as if knowing the meaning of the gesture I took.

“You don’t trust me, do you?” He finally talked.

“Why should I? I barely know you.” I answered.

He looked at me and smirked. His gap-tooth opened as he did. I hadn’t noticed he had a gap-tooth until then.

“But you know my name is Boma. Isn’t that enough?”

His question felt silly in a kind of way, but I had to respond.

“Yes, I know that. And you also know my name is Fifi. Isn’t that enough too?”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because we are friends.”
“What makes you think so? I barely know you,” I repeated.

“Then why did you help me last week when I was being chased by those rogues?”

“Because you were bleeding badly, that was the only reason I had to take you in. If not, I wouldn’t have thought twice before slamming the door to your face. It doesn’t mean we are friends,” I explained. He nodded in agreement like he understood the point. Thereafter, an awkward silence ensued.

“Can I ask you something?” I broke the silence.

“What’s it?”
“First of all, promise you’d be sincere in answering them.”
“I promise.”

“It’s about the first day we met, the night I wanted to get onions that you stopped me along the way. You were with two guys then. Who were they?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you just promised to answer anything I ask you, didn’t you?”
“I did, but I can’t answer this particular one. I barely know you too.”

“Fine. Keep it to yourself! What about the envelope you also sent through my friend and the sheet of paper included in it. What were those for?”

“It’s just a token of my gratitude for the help you rendered. If not for you, I probably wouldn’t be here talking today. You saved my life,” he said. “And I expected you to call me, but you didn’t. Why?”

“I didn’t feel like,” I lied. Telling him I burnt the paper and envelope could diminish his demeanor, so I had to lie.

“Besides,” I continued, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something since that night. How did you know my name wasn’t Lydia when I lied?”

“You stammered twice before responding, that was how,” he said.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You choose to believe what you choose to believe, Fifi. Can we change the topic, please?” He asked in a bid to divert the issue at hand. I gave up and stopped asking him questions temporarily, but deep down inside, I still held my suspicions about him.
We remained under the mango tree for a while and talked there. During the period of our discussion, one thing led to another and we resorted to sharing contacts.

He saved my name as ‘Fufu’ even after I cautioned him on the right spelling, but he claimed to like it that way. So I did my own back by storing his name as ‘bum-bum’ and showed it to him. We both laughed.

Later that evening when we returned home, I gisted the whole thing to Ijeoma and Mimi alike. They cautioned me to thread carefully with him, since we were still getting to know each other.

I was having a sound, peaceful sleep when a call woke me up in the middle of the night. It was unusual of my dad to call me at that hour, and I feared something wrong might’ve happened.

“Daddy, is everything okay?” I spared no time to ask immediately I picked.

“Everything’s fine, my dear. I only had a dream.”

“A dream?”
“A bad dream. In that dream, you were stranded in the middle of an ocean with no way to escape. You seemed all alone and lonely.
The only thing separating you from the water was the small shore you stood on. Suddenly, a small boat floated towards you with row-sticks and food in it, but you couldn’t reach it no matter how you tried. You eventually gave up hope and waited there, waiting for death to come to you when all you needed to do was take a bold step towards it,” he stopped.

I listened keenly to hear the next part, but he said nothing.

“Is that all?”
“That’s all,” he answered. “I don’t know what it means, but I’m sure it’s a bad omen, my daughter. Please take a moment to pray before heading back to bed.”

“I will, sir.”

“God bless you,” he said as he hung up.

I had a troubled mind throughout that night as I pondered on my father’s dream.