Not Another Love Story – Episode 8

NOT ANOTHER LOVE STORY

Episode – 8

#ALLAN
Everything was just happening so fast. Being around Mwape made me feel like I was a whole different person.
I don’t know if this was the love that Lucas kept blurbing about _ if this was it, then it was amazingly-confusing.

I was lost in thought when I heard the gate open and close. Mwape was cat-walking her way towards me.

“What did she say?” I asked looking at her.
“We can go…” She smiled. I pinched her.
“Stop doing that…” she hit my hand.

We got into the car and left, during the way I made attempts at holding her hand of which she didn’t want.
We arrived at Debonairs… lucky enough it wasn’t closed.

“What type would you like?” I asked.
“I want Mushroom and Chicken, extra toping and any non-carbonated beverage.” She told me.
For some unknown reason, I thought she would be shy and just say, ‘anything’ but that wasn’t the case and I loved it.
It was while I was about to make an order that Ivy crossed my mind. It didn’t take long for me to figure out exactly why that was the case.

“Hey, Allan…” She called out to me with a smile.
“Mutinta (ivy’s friend), hey!” I responded nervously, without further or due, I ordered.
“You seem to be rushing; are you with Ivy?” she asked.
“No really, I’m just with a friend,” I answered.
“Does Ivy know t-h-is friend?”
“You know what? You need to learn to mind your own business and not play inspector on matters that don’t concern you.” I lashed out. My order did take long, I just got it and left without saying a word.

“I need to be in Livingstone this weekend, am wondering if we can go together…” I said as I made myself comfortable. I opened the box of pizza and handed her a bottle of Yembe.
“Livingstone!” She exclaimed, “What are you going to do that side?” She added.
“I want us to spend some time together…” I responded.
“Mmmh…”
“If you don’t want to go, it’s okay,” I said smilingly.
“I didn’t say that. I will have to think about it first,” Mwape said.

I don’t know what we had but what I knew for certain was that there was some magic happening between us and I didn’t want it to stop. If forever was a person, it would definitely be Mwape.

We decided to go for a night drive while enjoying our meal. Later on, I took Mwape back home because Ivy kept texting me.

When I got home, I found Ivy pacing around outside as if she was waiting for someone in labour.

“Where is my pizza?” She asked me.
“Have you cooked?” I threw a follow-up question.
“Don’t tease me like that. You know very well I can’t cook.” She said.
“Okay… Sorry about that.” I said. I got out of the car and walked up to her. I kissed her on the forehead and told her I was off to bed.
“You not going to have something to eat?” Ivy asked.
“What is there to eat when you can’t cook anything?”

It still puzzled me that a whole grown-up lady like her couldn’t cook. This is Zambia for crying out loud… The thought of her expecting me to eat food prepared by the maid every single time was offensive to me on so many levels.

“Allan, it’s not fair what you do to me _,” she said.
“You are back in the country, I don’t get why you want the maid to continue cooking food for me when you are here?”
“Than why do you pay her?” She objected.
“Are you being serious right now?” I asked her. She frowned.
“Can I go to bed now?”

I had a quick shower just to make sure Mwape’s perfume couldn’t be scented out. It was a good thing I stood far from Ivy when I walked into the house, otherwise the number of questions would have just increased.

Once I changed into my nightclothes, I went to the TV room to catch up on some Netflix.
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When I opened my eyes, the TV was off and I was covered with a blanket.

“sh*t! I dozed off again…” I said to myself out loud.
“Good Morning love…” Ivy’s voice hit me.
“Hey! why didn’t you wake me up?” I asked her. I got up and began to fold the blanket.
“You looked so peaceful and relaxed. I didn’t want to mess that up. Breakfast is already on the table… I wasn’t sure if you wanted some orange juice or a fruit.” Ivy said warmly. She got the blanket from me and handed me my toothbrush.

I didn’t know if she was doing all this because of the engagement party that she wanted so much, I didn’t care for it, however, it seemed like a big deal for her.

I couple of minutes later I was ready for work. It wasn’t every day that Ivy made breakfast, not that she didn’t know… She was a professional when it came to things like ‘English breakfast’ and the like. On my hand, I was more of a traditional kind of guy _ I was all about cultural heritage and the like.

‘She burnt the bread again…’ I said to myself as I held the slice of bread at eye’s length.
“Your toaster is broken.” She pitched in.
“Broken! since when?”
“Today…” She said without giving it much thought.

I looked at the eggs and without saying anything, she spoke up, “I reduced the salt like you told me last time?”
I ended up having my eggs with a cup of strong coffee. Just the way I loved it. When I was done, I got an apple and walked out.
From the car, I watched as she stood hopelessly waiting for me to drive off. I never understood why she did this, but every single day since she moved in with me she would stand outside the door and wait for me to drive off before going back into the house.
One side of me felt sorry for her, indeed I wasn’t being fair as I would criticise her on everything even though I could see that she really wanted to learn.
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“Is our lunch date on?” Lucas asked walking into my office.
“No. We can just eat out as usual.” I responded.
“I thought you wanted to make a fool out of Ivy; that’s why we were supposed to go to your place. What changed?” He asked.
“Nothing. I just feel am being too much. Besides, this whole marriage arrangement our parents agreed _ it’s like am the one who will benefit and not her. Yet, am busy trying to torment her.”
“Since when did you become so thoughtful of her?” Lucas gave me that ‘something is fishy’ kind of look.
“Did she make one of those crazy breakfasts again?” He teased.
“Not at all, there was eggs, coffee and burnt toast bread,” I said with a smile. He laughed.

Tbc…

KENNEDY C KATONGO