“I don’t need any explanations. All I need is for you to tell me what you plan to do with her pregnancy…”

She paused and flinched as Kay tried to hold her by the arm. She said in a cold whisper.

“Don’t touch me Kay, don’t even try to put your filthy hands on me, Don’t!.

I stand before you this morning, very vulnerable and weak and I don’t mind. I’m tired of trying to put it all together for you. All you have done is constantly hurt me.

I gave up everything for you thinking it was the right thing to do. I chose to marry you even when I wasn’t sure what the future held.

I believed in you, I gave you everything Kay. Her voice quivered as she held back the tears that threatened to choke her words.

One mistake after the other, one affair after the other, you’ve disrespected me way too many times, I don’t even know what I stand for anymore.

But it’s okay Kay, you’re human, you’re just another man but you’re a mistake I made and I want you to know that I’m done, done trying to hold it together. She paused and looked him straight in his eyes, he looked frightened. She continued, very slowly.

Oh no, I’m not going to leave you, I’d stay right here.

I’ve given you everything I have to help you achieve your dreams and you’ve thrown it all away.

We’d be here together Kay, but I would no longer have any obligations to you as a wife, none whatsoever.

Previously on Endangered In Heels – Read Chapter One Here

I’d remain here for our children, to do right by them, but consider this marriage dead”

There was a finality to her statement . I’d never heard her speak like that. She sounded so cold. It was scary.

I don’t know if I hit the wall or if it was the wall that hit me. The speed with which I moved away from the door where I had been eavesdropping on my parent’s conversation was unimaginable.

I couldn’t bear to think of what my mum would do to me if she had caught me standing there when she stormed out of the room.

I was only 10 years old, but that conversation has lived rent free in my head.

My dad was hardly at home for the years I knew him. And every time he was around, he and my mom will fight about one thing or the other.

He died in a car accident when I was 16 years old. My mum became emotionally unavailable to us.

She was dutiful and cared about our wellbeing but it seemed she had built a wall around her that stopped us from reaching her.

She worked at the Ministry of Education for many years and ran a textile business on the side. After my dad died, she resigned from active service and focused on her business.

She was a very beautiful woman but her eyes reflected the pain from the disappointment life had brought to her.

I was the last of four children. My oldest sibling, my brother , Omatseye moved to Canada after he graduated from the University and has lived there since then.

The second child, Omatsola was our dad’s favorite. His death devastated her the most. She got married soon after he died.

My immediate older sister, Oritsetsemaye was the fiesty one among us. She loved the finer things of life and had big dreams.

Maye was smart and intentional about her life. She got a degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and got a job not long after.

The Universe aligned with her desires when she met her husband, a very wealthy man who was able to afford the luxury lifestyle she always dreamed of.

They had each moved out of the house early, leaving me by myself.

There was a 9, 7 and 4 age gap respectively between me and my siblings. I wasn’t close to any of them.

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I was just out of another meeting. I had taken up the role of becoming Mrs Anele’s personal assistant and stood in for her in company engagements she couldn’t attend.

Over the years, she had grown to trust me with the affairs of the organization. I had put in a lot of work and learned her style of administration.

My meritorious rise in the company earned me a lot of enemies, people who felt overlooked and threatened.

If my boss was male, I would easily have been accused of sleeping with him.

Rumor had it that some had resigned on account of my frequent promotions but I wasn’t deterred, I remained focused and continued to exceed everyone’s expectations.

My phone rang as I walked into my office space.

“Where have you been?, I’ve been calling you all morning” The familiar voice on the other end said.

“Good morning to you too Kola, I’m fine thank you” I answered, rolling my eyes.

“I’m close to your office, should I pick you up for lunch? He replied.

“Guy, you’re God’s answer to my hunger, please call me when you are here” I said and hung up.

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I have known Kola all my life. We grew up in the same compound as neighbors. He was 2 years older than me but we had similar personality traits and got along so well.

It was Kola who taught me everything from riding a bicycle to jumping ropes, football and Mathematics.

When I wasn’t home indulging in romance novels or running errands, I would spend my time hanging out with him and his friends, who had become my friends.

Our friendship however took a different turn when we were in Secondary School. He was preparing to write his final exams and I had just gotten into Senior Secondary School.

We were alone at my house one rainy afternoon. I had just fixed lunch for us and he was taking a look at my math homework.

On impulse, an urge arose in me to kiss him. I kept looking at him and couldn’t seem to control my thoughts. The tone the rainy weather had set didn’t help.

Kola had never made a sexual or intimate move on me in all our years of friendship. I knew the girls he liked and it never crossed my mind that he would be attracted to me.

Our relationship was more sibling inclined but that afternoon, I didn’t want to be his sister.

I was sitting beside him, I took my textbook from him, leaned in and kissed him, he responded without any hesitation.

It was my first kiss and it was just as I had imagined for it to be. It was soft, gentle and passionate like the description in all the fiction I read.

There was an intense flow of emotions between us in that moment and in the heat of it all, I freely and willingly gave him my virginity.

It was magical, void of all the pain that I had read came with losing one’s virginity. I didn’t plan for that to happen but it did, that was 19 years ago.

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“Kola that meeting was nerve wracking, I still can’t believe I was able to convince those guys to collaborate with us on our next project” I said as I dug into my pounded yam.

Kola had picked me up a few minutes after he called and we had gone to one of our favorite local restaurants.

I was having Pounded yam and egusi soup, he was having amala and ewedu soup with gbegiri.

“You are a very smart girl and I’m really proud of you babe, really really proud, your boss must be proud too” He paused and looked at me intently then said, You look beautiful in this  dress, I love it”.

“Thank you” I said looking into his eyes.

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Our now sexual relationship continued in secret after the first time. We were immersed in our own world and spent any alone time exploring our bodies.

We were smart enough to know we couldn’t afford to mess up by getting pregnant or losing focus on our studies.

Kola wrote his final exams and passed with distinctions. We were very happy until his parents decided he was going to University in London.

I was heart broken, very heart broken but there was nothing I could do about it. I withdrew into my shell after he left.

He wrote me constantly and tried to maintain communication but with time things fizzled out. I had no emotional inclinations towards anyone else and held on to the memories of our experiences.

After my final exams, things got financially bad for my mum and I had to rely on passing my entry exams to get into a Federal University.

That didn’t happen as I fell below the required pass mark the two times I attempted the exams. It was a really difficult period in my life. I felt left behind and it left a dent on my self esteem.

My mum couldn’t afford the fees for a private university and for the fear of becoming a burden to her and my siblings and wasting any more time, I opted to study Secretarial Studies at the Lagos State polytechnic.

Communication with Kola had become non existent. He tried several times to reach out but I withdrew. I followed him on Facebook and saw how much progress he was making with his life.

He had completed his first degree and had just started his MSc. I felt a sense of shame.

I would leave his messages unanswered, till they eventually stopped coming. I tried to date twice in school but neither of the relationships worked out.

It was my 4th year working with Mrs Anele when I got a phone call from an unknown number.

“Hey Timi” The person on the other side said. I froze. Only one person called me Timi. With everyone else, it was Timehin.

“Kola?” I replied.

“Yes, Timi, it’s me. Wow, I’m so glad to finally reach you, how have you been? We need to meet up, I’m in Lagos” He said.

In between excitement and anxiety, my emotions wavered. We made plans to meet later that week.

I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know if he was still the same person I used to know. I thought about how I was going to look and carefully picked out my outfit and even my scents.

I didn’t want to appear like I was trying too hard but I also wanted to have an effect on him. I was nervous.

My body image, sense of style and confidence level had increased since I took up employment with Mrs Anele and so it was easy for me to achieve my desired look.

Kola was certainly impressed with who and what he saw. His eyes expressed it even before his words.

“My God, Timi, you look so beautiful” He said when I walked up to him where he sat.

We met up at a Jazz club in Victoria Island. Seeing him brought back all the memories and stirred up all the emotions I had subdued.

He didn’t look bad himself. He was way more attractive with neatly trimmed beards and I was still as enthralled by his eyes as I was back then.

We eased into conversation so easily, it was as if all that time had not passed between us.

We caught up on our years apart and shared every single detail of what we had been up to. It was the best night of my life.

“No wife?, No Kids? What’s the story behind that?. I asked, looking straight into his eyes.

He took a sip of his drink and sighed softly.

“Timi, this marriage thing is not for me, I don’t know if I’d ever get to it” He answered curtly.

I didn’t probe any further, but I knew there was more he wasn’t ready to talk about.

I could relate. Marriage was the very last thing on my mind and I didn’t see myself getting committed to anyone.

I didn’t know how much my parent’s marriage had traumatized me, but it had.

It was almost morning when he went to drop me off at my house. That was about 7years ago.

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After our heavy lunch of swallow, we decided to go to Kola’s house to spend the rest of the day. I called the office to inform them I wouldn’t be coming back until the next day.

Kola had moved back to Nigeria permanently and started his own company 5 years ago.

Since our first meeting at the jazz club, we eased ourselves into each other’s lives and had become sexually involved again.

We had set emotional boundaries and respect for our individual spaces. We tagged ourselves friends with benefits.

We weren’t together but we were together. Facebook would say “It’s Complicated”, but it seemed to be working for us.

I have had to do a lot of editing and I find it so interesting how much my writing style has evolved.

It feels like I’m writing the story for the first time and I’m excited for the chapters to come.

How do you feel about Kola and Timehins relationship? How do you think it will end? In premium tears or happily ever after?

You know how much I love to get your feedback. Let’s meet in the comment section.

Remember to read, enjoy and share.

It’s your girl Jay and as always,

Peace, love and more love,

Xoxo