HIS SECRET
The first day I saw him, my heart skipped a beat. I couldn’t believe a man can be that beautiful. He was dining al fresco with two other men…his friends, I guessed. They were laughing hard to a joke one of them shared and didn’t notice me arrive.
I had just arrived home from school on the first semester break and was tired and hungry. Even though the bag I carried which contained my cloth and other essentials I would need for the three weeks we were allowed to spend on break before second semester resumed was not heavy, I was crazily tired. No thanks to the bus I boarded from Ekiti where my school was to Lagos where I reside with my parents. It was a hectic journey as one of the tyres got fed up and resigned and the driver had to replace it with a new one. We had not gone too far before another tyre resigned and we had to repeat the routine. By the time we got to Lagos, I was dead tired and all I wanted to do was sleep.
I mumbled a greeting to the laughing men as I walked past them to our own apartment. They answered me jovially and continued their discussion. My younger brother was watching the highlights of a football match when I entered the house. As our usual practice, we gave each other warm hugs, proceeding to gist about all we had each missed. My parents had gone for a get-together so there wasn’t much for me to do.
I had a quick shower and joined my brother in the sitting room, the thoughts of the beautiful man in my head. ”Ope, who are those guys outside? I have never met them before.” I asked him. ”Those are our new neighbour and his friends. Mr. Isaac, the fair one among them is the one who rented the apartment Aunty Funmi vacated.” My brother replied me without looking away from the TV. Suddenly he gave a small laugh, shook his head and said, ”Somehow, Dad feels something isn’t right with the man. He says he can’t place it but he feels Mr. Isaac can’t be trusted. Well, what’s my own?”
My brows creased as I take in the imformation my brother gave me. I thought about it for a while and then dismissed the thoughts. After all, my dad has problems with every fair person. He just doesn’t like fair people. I shook the thoughts off my mind, took an apple from the refridgerator and joined my brother on the sofa….
TBC.