Forks and Knives – Episode 13

FORKS AND KNIVES – Episode 13

A story by Kennedy C Katongo

THE PAIN OF LOVE

“How did you even get to be friends with the richest kids in Lusaka. Did you bribe them to be your friends?” Jeff asked.

“Stop being crazy. You can call your girlfriend in, she might just get pissed at you for leaving her alone outside.” Roderick commented.

“Come on man. She’s not my girlfriend, right now am good just like this.” Jeff responded with a smile.

“Don’t be a liar. You will never be happy just as a friend. The fact that you have feelings for her will always get you. Trust me, I’ve been there. No wonder I don’t do these female bestie things. One minute you just friends, the next minute you a pocket of jealousy.” Roderick said as he slowly turned his body on the small bed.

Even though Jeff kept denying what his friend was sharing, Roderick’s point was very much valued. The thought of ‘What if she began dating someone’ always haunted him.

A few minutes went by and Tandiwe came up to the room were they were seated.

In her hands was a half eaten Sharwama and a bottle of Fruitree that hadn’t been opened yet. Roderick was kind enough to thank her for visiting, for everything that had once happened… She never held a grudge against him.

∆°°°°°∆°°°°°∆°°°°°∆

“Hey! Hi, is April around?” Goodson asked a young lady that had come out of the boarding house.

“Yes she’s inside. Can I call her for you?” The lady asked happily.

Without much, he agreed. Days had flown fast since their small incidence at the car park.

April had not responded to any of his calls nor text messages, it was so bad that leaving him on blue ticks was now a game. With every text, every blue tick and every phone call that wasn’t picked – Goodson was going crazy and insane. His emotions were raging like flames of fire. All he wanted was to for her to be there for him and the opposite of that was happening.

His last decision was to just visit her and hope she would see him.

The young lady knocked on April’s door. It was room 8-A.

“Hey. How are you.” She said as she opened the door. The young small framed lady was sweating as she stood on the door.

“You dripping. Is everything okay?” The young lady exclaimed.

“Oh! Yes. Am doing work out. Talk to me.” She said.

“There is a chocolate dude outside whose asking for you.” She said.

“Chocolate!” She giggled, “Okay. Thanks. I will be there.” She told her as she went inside to get a towel.

She had sports wear on, a tight crop top (purple in color) that covered the top part of her body and ended on the bellybutton and black leggings.

With a towel on top she walked outside to meet the so-called chocolate dude, she knew it was Goodson. After all, he was the only dark guy she had ever dated.

“What do you want?” She immediately asked him.

“I came to see you…” He responded as his voice trembled.

“See me! Why?”

“Come on April. Don’t be like that. Just hear me out.” He told her softly.

“I don’t have anything to hear. You have a girlfriend so I don’t get why you keep bothering me.” She said as she shook her leg.

“I see you working out.” He commented with a smile.

“Stop looking at me like that. What do you want Goodson?” She asked him.

“I wanted to see you. Let me take you out for a bite. Maybe some Hungry Lion?” He asked.

“You think food is going to work? Mmh you lucky am hungry.” She said as she gave him a mischievous look.

‘Damn him. He always has some trick to pull on me.’ Her inner voice echoed as she got into the car.

“How come you ain’t in school?” He asked her.

“Am working from the hospital these days. So I finished early and called it a day. The lead Doctor was kind enough.” She said with a smile.

“Lead Doctor huh.” Goodson commented.

“Yes. Don’t tell me you jealous.” She laughed, “His a good guy. They don’t make them like him anymore.” She giggled.

April was deliberately hitting on Goodson with those words because she knew just how emotional he got once she spoke about any guy with such fire.

∆°°°°∆°°°°∆°°°°∆

Malumbo returned and found his brother broken down in tears. His call with Jane had really left him broken.

“Hey… Hey. Are you okay?” Malumbo asked him.

“I don’t know bro. Can you please drive?” Mambwe asked his brother as he moved to the back sit.

“Talk to me. You look terrible. What’s happening?”

“I don’t want to talk about it. Just drive. I just need time to let these emotions flow out of my body.” Mambwe responded.

“Am here for you man. You know you can talk to me ka?” He said.

“I know. That’s why I’ve asked you to drive.” He giggled.

Malumbo knew very well how depressing it was when his brother was low spirited. However, he also knew it was just a matter of time and he would drop the bomb – he would say what ever was making him feel like a bag of sand.

“I think you were right.” Mambwe said as they were heading back home.

“Am usually right most of the time. Mind to be more specific…”

“About having your Ex as a close friend. You were right. I wasn’t trying to move on, I just wanted her to be my friend so that I wouldn’t feel like she had left me and moved on.” Mambwe said as he sobbed.

“Technically speaking, she didn’t leave you. I mean, personally I thought you guys would work things out.” Malumbo added, he didn’t need an explanation to put the puzzle in place. It was very much obvious that his brother was talking about Jane.

“Did you call her?” He asked him.

“Nah. I thought of it, but I just couldn’t. She’s actually the one who called me.” Mambwe pointed out.

Mambwe went on to explain his conversation with Jane on the phone and spoke of how she sounded happy , “there is no more room for me in her heart.” He added at the end.

“Don’t say that. I think it’s for the best. It’s time you moved on, meet other people and just socialize. There is more to the world than Jane.” Malumbo said.

“It’s not that easy.” Mambwe responded.

“Listen man, there is a lot of fish in the sea. All that you need to do is look at the big picture. I mean, you lucky it’s mum that broke you guys up. For me I had to catch her red handed, on top of the guy.” “My point is, your heart will pain, you will feel the hurt and even the betrayal. But there is always room to move on. You just need to accept what has happened.” Malumbo advised his elder brother.

Mambwe couldn’t deny the flow of wisdom that came from his brother. He remembered how reckless his younger brother was when she had found her girlfriend (almost fiancee) in bed with another man.

Malumbo was wrecked, depressed and just threw himself in a corner. This happened at the prime of one of his businesses… The business went down, he lost money, he was inconsistent with his projects. His life was just a mess. The thought of what happened to his younger brother gave him the picture of were he was heading.

“I don’t think I need all this relationship drama, I will just focus on work. I mean, at least let it be said that I tried.” He said as he sighed. The pain and the depression had got him.

“You will make it out. By the way, Roderick was saying hi. The guy was beaten by his girlfriend and the best friend to the girlfriend.” Malumbo commented.

“What! What did he do this time around?” Mambwe asked with a pinch of interest.

“Well, Roderick impregnated a girl from his work place – Frankly speaking he has been dating the same girl as well. Now when Cherry found out. She went bananas on him. The guys face is like a balloon.” Malumbo laughed.

” Ah! I told him the last time we met that he was going to trip himself and fall. Seems like he landed on his face.” Mambwe laughed.

There was just something refreshing about knowing that there was also another person going through so much hell just like you. And that right there is what gave Mambwe a bit of warmth as he laughed.

“So what has he planned to do – I mean about the baby?” Mambwe asked.

“He wants to go for the baby mama, Roderick has always been a family person. I don’t think he would allow the kid to be without a father.” Malumbo responded to his brother’s question.

“Yeah. Family is everything after all.”

To be continued.