Emily shut down the computer on her desk as she gathered up her things from around her. Her face was blotchy and the ache she had banging away in her head showed through her wince every now and again. She wondered how she was going to be able to drive in the state that she was in. She decided that she might be better off leaving her car in the office parking lot. It would be safe overnight there.
She pulled herself gingerly out of the chair and minced her way slowly out of the law firm’s offices. It was rather late and everyone else had left for the day. The only reason she was still here was because a ‘helpful’ friend had sent her a link that ‘she thought might interest her’. On seeing what the link contained, she had burst into tears.
She had cried a flood of tears. She had cried in resentment for all the years she had spent wondering why Banjo seemed distant only to be assured by everyone that it was normal. She had cried because she had let them ‘waste’ her valuable time investing her emotions in a relationship that she could now see with the usual 20/20 clarity of hindsight, was never going to work out. She had cried because in all the years that she had been with Banjo, they had never looked like that together. He looked...absurdly handsome and happy with this girl by his side.
And in all that crying, she had fallen behind with her schedule and had spent the rest of the day playing catch up.
Truthfully, she had not expected her reaction to the pictures of Banjo frolicking with that girl, the girl from that night of the party. She had found out her name, Alero Bekere, whiz architect. Emily shook her head at herself wryly. She had cried!
Cried! Over Banjo! She laughed a wry bitter laugh that earned her a strange look from the security guard standing and holding the door open for her.
“Good evening Aunty. You stayed late today o!” he said in his usual amiable gregariousness.
“Good evening.” Emily smiled politely. She never managed to remember his name or whenever she thought she had, she would discover that she had called him by the wrong name. So she refrained from calling him by any name.
“You don’t look well Aunty. Hope no problem sha?” he asked a look of concern on his face.
His concern was strangely comforting and embarrassing all at once. Emily smiled a little less politely.
“I’m alright.” she responded. “I’ll need a taxi though if you can help me hail one.” she requested. It was late. She had not realized how late it was.
“Okay Aunty. Please manage our chair!” He pushed a chair closer to her and walked off to the road. A few minutes later, he came back. “Aunty, I’ve gotten one.” he invited her. He made to pick up her hand bag but Emily politely clutched her bag closer to her. He shrugged and led her to the taxi he had hailed for her. She thanked him profusely and soon the taxi was whizzing towards her home address.
She slunk down in the seat, exhaustion and a strange sort of lethargy eating at her. The fresh air seemed to have helped with her headache though. It had reduced significantly in intensity since she had stepped into the nighttime air.
Soon, the taxi came to a stop in front of the house. She settled her bill with him and stepped out of it. The gateman, who had been peeping through the peep hole since the taxi had stopped in front of the gate, rushed to open it on seeing her alight from the cab.
“Ah Ah! Good evening Auntie Emily. Wetin do your motor?” He asked in surprise, his eyes roaming as if he expected to see her car appear somewhere behind her by means of teleportation.
“I couldn’t drive.” Emily answered as she walked as briskly as she could through the gates.
“You no well? Daddy dey house.” He announced. Emily nodded her understanding as she continued into the house. She was tired and not in the mood for more concern from her father’s staff.
As soon as she got in, she made her way to the kitchen for a bottle of water. As she leaned against the counter, her mind resolved a few things. She had not so much been in love with Banjo as much as she had been in love with the idea of being in a ‘settled’ relationship, and with an Adeniran, the Adeniran too. She smiled a wry smile.
There was a shuffling noise coming from the living room area. Emily had not turned on the lights when she had come in as she knew her way around from living in this house practically for all her life. She wondered who that could be. She quickly turned to the sink to splash some water on her face. Just in case it was her dad, she did not want him to see that she had been crying. There were questions that she was not prepared to confront with him until she had had the chance to confront them herself.
The door to the kitchen swung open as she made the first splash on her face.
So many things happened all at once. The overhead lights came on, the sound of a giggle and a murmur and then a gasp. The thumping sound of her heart and the sound of something hitting a surface as she turned in wonderment to confirm with her eyes, what her mind was trying to assure her she had deduced with her ears.
Her father had his arms around Kome’s waist in an intimate embrace and he had been in the act of nuzzling her neck, while Kome had her hand on his cheek and a very tender look on her face, when they had both seen her and froze.
“Em!” Her father seemed to recover first. “I...erh...when did you come in?” he stammered. Kome seemed to have lost not only her speech but also all ability to move.
Emily stared wide-eyed as her father and Kome disentangled themselves from each other. The pounding in her head had resumed with renewed ferocity.
“Dad? When...are you...what’s...” Emily shook her head which only seemed to worsen the ache there.
“Emily, it’s...we were planning on saying something at some point. We wanted things to be in place. We wanted to be sure that it would work out between us before saying anything.”
The words seemed to tumble from her father’s mouth. Emily stood there as he made his way towards her with his arms held out to her. Kome remained just inside the door watching the tableau with shuttered eyes that Emily would recognize anywhere. She did not want to be hurt. She was hedging, she was holding back just in case.
“Dad stop.” Emily said quietly though her eyes remained on Kome.
“I did not realize...I should have suspected something.” She pushed off the counter. “It says a lot to me that I didn’t.” Emily smiled sadly at her father and picked up her bags. As she passed by him, she stopped to buzz his cheeks with a kiss.
“I hope I’m a big enough girl to wish you well.” she whispered and continued on her way. When she got to Kome, she stopped directly in front of her and looked at her, really looked at her, her nanny/big sister/aunty/housekeeper. There were so many memories she had that had Kome in it. Friend/confidant/shoulder-to-cry-on.
“I wasn’t paying attention.” she said brokenly to her. Kome opened her arms in invitation and Emily fell into it, the tears flowing again.
“What is it?” Kome asked, rightly deducing that something else had started off the crying. Emily shook her head on her shoulder still sobbing.
She felt her father walk up to them and stand awkwardly behind her. Kome gently ran her hand up and down Emily’s back in a soothing gesture.
“I’m okay.” Emily sniffled as she straightened up. She turned to include her father. “I’m so happy for you, the both of you.” she insisted. She gave each of them a hug and carried herself off to her room.
As she tossed and turned on her bed that night, she made certain decisions about her life from then on. As dawn’s light touched the sky, a different, newer, older Emily rose to greet it.