This Love Thing (eBook)

Adejumobi Agunloye (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
62 Seiten
Publishdrive (Verlag)
978-0-00-097879-0 (ISBN)

Infos

This Love Thing explores the different challenges that accompany our search for love. It follows the lives of three women and a family surviving the aftermath of a huge loss, as they search and run away from love.

Textauszug

Chapter One

 

Finding love is hard

 

Eyitoke’s first boyfriend was a lanky boy who played the guitar and was allergic to groundnuts. She turned down his advances for several years because they were too close. He was her seat partner at school and her next-door neighbour at home. But on the day they saw their WAEC results, he serenaded her with a song he wrote for her and she finally agreed to date him. Life was good until he travelled abroad. Eyitoke broke off the relationship, because she couldn’t cope with the distance. She couldn’t cope with the break-up either. And the only way she knew to deal with it was to get into another relationship.

Her second boyfriend was a third-year medical student who took at least five days to respond to her messages, never called, and was never physically available. Every time she raised the lack of quality time, he told her she needed to take her academics more seriously and stop being so focused on love. “Don’t you want to build your future?” He’d ask. She eventually started to build her future, and that meant demolishing her relationship with him and constructing a relationship with another guy.

Her third boyfriend was a photographer who loved to shower her with gifts like dumbbells, gymwears, cucumber juice, and weight loss meal plans. His birthday gift to her when she clocked 21 was a gym membership. Each gift was accompanied by a note that said, “You’re beautiful the way you are”. The day he broke up with her, he had a skipping rope delivered to her with a note that said, “you’re too good for me”.

After the photographer, Eyitoke’s love life became a series of failed talking stages, and string-alongs. Tired of waiting for love to find her, she downloaded a dating app, created an account, and began her search for love. The first date she went on was a disaster. The guy took her to an Amala joint that was beside a public toilet and told her to focus on the food. She decided to give it another chance and went on a date with a married man who left his son in the car to grab lunch with her. Eyitoke was about to delete the app when Martin sent her a message. And for the first time in years, she wasn’t hopeful about the date; she was excited. She picked up her checklist from her dressing table and began to tick off items.

● Dress to kill

“Check check check.” She said as she drew three lines across the item.

● Let your make-up scream like a siren

She turned to look at herself in the mirror and grinned. She went back to her list, cancelled out “a siren” and wrote “one million sirens”. Then she crossed it.

● Smell like a perfume factory

“Ah! At this point, I am a perfume factory myself.” She laughed.

● Test the new heels by walking to the kitchen and back four times before leaving the house “Done.” She said as she crossed off the item.

● Don’t forget your pepper spray

“Never ever.”

Eyitoke crossed off the last item on her list, put the list back on her dressing table, and looked at herself in the mirror again. She’s a curvy woman with brown skin, full lips, and bright eyes. “You too look at nauuuuu. God seeeee. You have tried. You have made me beautiful. But why won’t you give me a man? My own man? I’m just here intimidating my mirror with all this beauty. It really shouldn’t be, and this man better be my man or else…”

“Okay, sorry, I’m not threatening you. I just really want my man. If you give me my man now,

you won’t have to rescue me from terrible men. Help us help each other. I have an idea. Let’s strike a deal. If this man is my man, tell him to kiss my hand when we meet. Deal? Deal. Thank youuu.”

She looked around to confirm that she wasn’t forgetting anything before she grabbed her purse and headed out. She sang along to the songs that played on the radio as she drove to The Food Vault to meet Martin. She handed her keys to the valet and walked into the restaurant. She took a couple of seconds to soak in the beauty of the place: the artworks on the walls, the waiters moving around like robots in spunky black and white uniforms and customers who smell like money. Eyitoke was still comparing Martin to the photo on his profile when he looked up and met her gaze. She concluded that he was finer in person and reminded God of their deal as Martin stood up and walked to her.

“Eyitoke.” He said with a smile punctuated by a single dimple on his left cheek. “Martin.”

She beamed. “You’re a fine man.” She added as she leaned in to hug him. He smelled like baby powder and aftershave, but Eyitoke was too impressed to wonder about the odd combination of scents.

“What?” She blushed as she settled into her seat. “Nothing.” Martin said with mischief dancing in his eyes. “I’m just doing a quick calculation.” He added.

“What calculation?”

“Do you know that if all the lights in this room were turned off, this room would still be as bright as it is now. Maybe even brighter.”

“How? I mean, these lights are probably some of the sun’s children, what could brighten up this room better than they do?”

“You?”

“Sorry?”

“You’re brighter than all these lights. You’re brighter than them all.” Eyitoke’s face wreathed into a smile that led to laughter.

“God! You’re so beautiful.”

Eyitoke was about to respond when Martin suddenly facepalmed. “What’s the problem?” Eyitoke reached forward to get a closer look at him.

“I almost forgot the recipe they gave me to sweep you off your feet.” Eyitoke heaved a sigh of relief and settled back into her seat. “What recipe is that?”

“Watch me.”

He winked at her and she laughed. While she was laughing, he reached for her hand and kissed it.

It took every ounce of composure Eyitoke had to not jump up and break into a celebratory dance. The food was great, but Eyitoke was too busy forming wedding hashtags in her head to enjoy it. And when the date ended, she felt like going back in time to start all over again.

“I had the best night of my life.” Martin said as he walked Eyitoke to her car.

“Liar.”

Martin laughed, and gave her hand a light squeeze. Then he dropped it and said, “give me your phone”.

Eyitoke recognised the look on his face. The glint in his eyes suggested mischief, but she gave him her phone anyway. After turning it to her to unlock it, he took a picture of himself and changed his contact name to your boyfriend.

“Silly boy.” She stretched out her hand and he returned her phone to her.

“God is so good.” She started, holding his gaze. “He is.”

“You know I told him to tell you to kiss my hand if this relationship is it and he did”. She said with a satisfied smile on her lips.

Martin laughed, “did you really do that?” Eyitoke laughed as she nodded.

Martin stopped laughing. “Wait, You’re not joking?”

“No. You confirmed it. You mentioned a “they” that gave you a recipe and asked you to kiss my hand. Who were you referring to if not God?”

He furrowed his brows in confusion.

“God?”

“I was talking about my grandparents. My grandfather suggested it, and my grandma who almost never agrees with him agreed.”

“You mean, God didn’t….”

Martin raised his eyebrows.

Eyitoke’s eyelids drooped. Then she pursed her lips and shook her head. “Are you okay?” Martin reached for her hand but she stepped back. “I’ve done it again” she muttered

“What did you do again?”

“I’m sorry.” She said as she got into her car and without another word.

Martin’s mouth hung open.

How did he go from having the best night of his life to being so confused? Not knowing how to move on from what just happened, he yelled after her, “Am I still your boyfriend?”

*****

 

 

Friendship is entry-level parenting. Hence, people who are friends with troublemakers lose sleep as much as mothers with cranky babies. Pamela yawned and pushed back her seat. She was about to lean backwards when she heard the gate open. She leaned forward and watched Eyitoke drive in. She stepped out of her car and waited for Eyioke to join her.

Eyitoke got out of her car, with her heels in one hand and her purse in the other. She didn’t just look sad; she looked defeated. Like she’d failed a major test for the hundredth time.

“Hi, my love.” Pamela smiled as she hugged Eyitoke.

Eyitoke didn’t hug her back. She didn’t smile either.

“What’s wrong?” Pamela asked

“The last time I saw you in my house after a date, I had just said yes to a calabar-based circus entertainer.”

Both Eyitoke and Pamela burst into laughter.

“Finish your story.”

“I broke off the engagement that same night with a text message after blocking him everywhere. Then he called me with a strange number and said ‘What will happen to the baby names we chose?’

“I wonder how you meet these weird people.”

Eyitoke eyed Pamela, “why are you here?”

Pamela sat on the two-step stairs that led to...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.5.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 0-00-097879-5 / 0000978795
• ISBN-13: 978-0-00-097879-0 / 9780000978790