IS THIS LOVE Episode – 4
IS THIS LOVE – Episode 4
A story by Kennedy C Katongo
A LOOK AT THE PAST-2
“Thanks for the chicken!” I heard his voice echo from behind.
As I walked down stairs I could not contain myself. The blush and the giggled that followed after every thought of him saying, ‘Thanks for the chicken.’
“Afternoon madam.” The driver said as I closed the door.
“Hello… What happened to dad?” I asked him.
“The meeting is still on going, so he sent me. Is there anywhere you would like to go before we set for home?”
“No. We can just go home – please.” I smiled.
It was always weird when one of Dads drivers came to pick me up, it was like dad would give them a talk before hand because the moment they meet me… It was something else. The ‘yes madam’ and other titles was all I got from them.
I texted Lister, in response sheet called me. It was always like this – me being more of a texter and her being more of a caller.
“Uncle hasn’t shown up has he?” She laughed.
“His still in his meeting. Anyway that’s not why I texted. So… I met this guy an hour ago.” I said happily.
“O-k-a-y! But you meet guys almost every second. What did you do? Give them a fake number again?” Lister questioned me in her sassy tone.
“That’s the thing. I didn’t lie, have given him my Facebook handle.” I told her.
Lister went on calling me crazy. She knew there was no way I would even talk to him. Relationships were not my thing, I had gotten my fair share of heart breaks and I was done. Being a strong and successful lady meant men would only come for two things – the first one is using you sexually and also asking for money.
Unlike many ladies my age, I never asked money from the guys I had dated, that way I owed them nothing… Not only that, my brother’s always made sure I was having enough for myself.
“Someone was under the anointing. You can barely respond to a stranger’s greeting and now you telling me you bought him food?” She exclaimed.
“It was just food. Stop making a big deal out of it.” I laughed.
“Haven’t you heard that a way to a man’s heart is through him tummy. I bet the poor guy is fantasizing about you right now.” Lister said.
After a long conversation with her, I decided to check his profile on Facebook. I accepted his request an noticed he was online… Within a second a message dropped. It was of him thanking me once again for the food. I just ignored it.
I began by going through his photos, there was nothing impressive about them – from there I went to check his details, ‘huh… His older than me. Nah, people lie on Facebook.’ I told myself.
“Weird!” I said to myself. We had a few things in common, the KEN Dumbo page, Mwebantu page and a few others. But what tickled my fancy was finding that we had a story page in common, Stories Written.
“Seems like his a man of good taste.” I said out of loud.
“Excuse me Madam, did you say something?” The driver asked me.
“Oh, sorry. It’s nothing.”
‘Movies, okay… Action not bad, Friends With Benefits – mmmh, what else… Oh.’ With everything I found, I would text Lister.
MATIMBA: “He loves Friends With Benefits… I didn’t think anybody loved that movie.”
LISTER: “What else is he going to love next? Fifty Shades of Grey the trilogy?”
MATIMBA: “That is listed on the books he likes. He looked innocent to have such a collection of things he enjoys.”
LISTER: “Stop stalking the man.lol. what’s the status?”
MATIMBA: “It says single.”
LISTER: “Single and Taken I guess.lol.”
It wasn’t like me to look up someone’s profile on social media, but there I was busy scrolling and gossiping about it with my crazy friend.
Later on in the evening, I had received 5 messages from Chileshe to which I hadn’t opened a single one of them.
@@ @@ CHILESHE @@ @@
“You look a mess. Where did the rains find you?” Mwenda asked me. I had just walked in, my trousers was wet from my knees down.
“The most amazing thing happened to me today…” I said as I began to take my clothes off.
“Dude look at you… You a mess, you even dripping water, what can be amazing about that?” He said as he pointed at the floor adding on that I pick up my clothes. “So how did the interview go? How are things looking?” Mwenda asked me.
“It was a drag. Am trying to be positive but eish, the minute they heard I was a student their faces would turn blue.” “But that’s not the amazing thing that happened.” I said excitedly.
Mwenda and I had been friends since the first day I reported and we met at registration. He was a good friend, a brother if I would add.
Unlike me, his family were leading a good life and were able to manage most of the things he needed for survival. However, since we had clicked the first time we meet, he asked me to be his bedmate: that time we were in Tanzania hostels. When he learnt of how hard things were for me, he made a bet with me; it was one that stated I would pay him when I could manage to pay him. In return, I was to buy food.
Looking at the costs, it was a great deal and I took it… 3 years later him and I were now in Kariba-B hostel. Since he really liked being private, I was the only person sharing the room with him. Apart from his girlfriend who used to visit us regularly if not always.
“Don’t look at me like that. Get on with it already – what happened?” He asked forcefully as he gave me a push.
“Well. I met a girl.” I smiled as I said it.
“You met a girl? Even yesterday you had met a girl. Right now I don’t even know how many relationships you are in…” Mwenda said. He took both his feet and placed them on the bed as I began to mop the water that my clothes had brought in.
“You don’t get it. She’s not just a girl – she must be an angel.”
“Stop fantasizing about other people’s daughters. That’s just creepy.” He laughed.
“Well. She bought me food.” I commented.
I knew telling him the food part would redirect his attention to me.
“Don’t tell me you ate it!” He had now faced me with eyes out of there place as he emphasized the phrase.
“Of course I ate it. I was hungry. Have you ever had to walk from Arcades to town and then back to intercity before?” She shook his head negatively. “Well that’s what I had just done. But don’t worry, I said no the first time. Then waited for her to insist.” I said. I got up and went to dry the mop outside so that I could give the floor a final wipe.
“Chileshe – But I gave you transport! Why would you punish yourself like that?” Mwenda asked.
“I had to buy something with the K10 that remained.” I responded.
“No wonder your interviews were a drag. You were already tired by the time you were getting there and the interviewer noticed that. What does Mr Keka always say about interviews? It’s like his daily song and you still messed up.” Mwenda said as he went on and on about what Mr Keka said.
I gave him space to talk, “Are you done? I need to finish narrating to you what followed.” I told him.
To be continued…
