The Cleaning Lady (episode 9)

Episode 9

Lara sat quietly at her desk, stacks of paperwork in front of her. She clicked through the report aimlessly on her desktop computer, her thoughts elsewhere. Her mind wasn’t at peace. It had been almost two months since the incident at her house where she rained insults on Kunle, her now ex-fiancé. Her mind kept replaying the look on his face. She thought she was over him, but since that day she was surprised to find out that she thought about him all the time. She finally came to the conclusion that deep down in her heart, the fire for him she thought she had extinguished had somehow still been flickering. She longed to see him again but her pride and shame had held her back from getting in touch with him. Several times she had reached out and keyed in the 11-digit number she had memorized by heart on her phone, but she just couldn’t hit the dial button. Even right now she was staring at the phone in her palm.

Dupe knocked on her door, an important looking file in her hand. She laid the file down with a smack right in front of Lara, jolting her back to the present.

“Lara, o ni pa ara e nitori okunrin. You will not kill yourself because of this guy. I thought you were already over him” she said.

“Ore mi, will you blame me? I don’t know why, but I keep missing him every day.”

“Miss tani? Will you stop this trash talk? You said it yourself. He is no longer in your class. Let him be. Concentrate on your current beau. He doesn’t deserve this.”

“But Dupe what can I do? I thought I was over him. If not for his condition, I wouldn’t be with Charles.”

“So na because of prick you fashi the poor boy abi? Ashewo oshi. Abeg forget the guy and face Charles jare.”

“Dupe please help me” Lara pleaded. “I don’t know what to do.”

Dupe sighed and sat down, looking at her unhappy friend and pal. 

“The way you insulted Kunle, and in front of so many people, no man in his right senses will ever want to take such a woman back. You hit his ego, his pride, his manhood. I told you it was too much. You should at least have been courteous.”

“One can never tell the heart though. I’m sure with the kind of embarrassment you gave him, he would have somehow found a way to deal with his problem. He wouldn’t want to disappoint another girl, and with the kind of smack you said, his confidence will be low. He would be scared to approach another girl.”

“If this is what you want to do, and it’s against my better judgement, what I’ll advise you to do is try see him. He may reject you at first, but if it’s the Kunle I know, after you’ve loved up to him and showed you are really sorry, he may take you back. But its going to be difficult.”

“Just give him a call and tell him you want to see him. At least here you out and apologize.”

“Thanks Dupe. I know I could trust you. Please don’t let Charles know about this.”

“Ewo lo kan mi? I have my own relationship issues to sort out. If you like make you date two men. Just be ready to satisfy both of them.”

Lara laughed and relaxed in her chair, feeling like a huge weight lifted off her shoulders.