Chapter 26

My phone call to Dominic goes straight to voice mail, which is pretty disappointing, but I refuse to give up. I leave a message telling him that I called to check on him and that he should please get in touch with me when he gets my message and let me know that he’s ok.

I still don’t feel satisfied after leaving the voice mail message, because I feel a strong desire to see Dominic. I am not even going to lie to myself and deny the fact that I am very attracted to Dominic now. I don’t know if it’s the heroic role he played in the rescue of my children from captivity, or if this feeling has always been there but suppressed, but it seems I am now very interested in pursuing a relationship with him if he is still interested in me. Whatever reservations I may have had about dating him, has melted away after that phone conversation with my mum. Besides, Rasheeda was right – I don’t owe anyone an apology or an explanation about how I choose to live my life now. I am ready to spread my wings and soar to wherever I want.

My phone rings again and it turns out to be my friend, Deola. “Hello, Dee-dee,” I answer the call cheerfully.

“Uzezi! Jennifer just told me what happened to you and the girls. Are you guys ok?” She asks worriedly.

“Yes, Deola. We’re fine,” I assure her with a laugh. “It was just a huge misunderstanding, but that’s all straightened out now. We are fine.”

“A misunderstanding? That was way more than a misunderstanding. Plus, I am very annoyed with you for not pressing charges against Segun and his crazy family. Why did you let them off the hook like that? Do you still love him?”

The laughter that bubbles out of my mouth must have surprised Deola. “Why are you laughing?” She asks in puzzlement.

“Your question is what’s making me laugh,” I tell her. “How can you even ask me such? Me, in love with Segun?”

“Well, what am I supposed to think? Why didn’t you let them rot in jail?”

“Because I think that’s overkill. Those people are misguided, and they thought they were doing the right thing, but after spending the night in a dingy police cell, I’m sure they finally got clarity and learned their lessons. Trust me, they’ll never attempt such nonsense again. Besides, they signed an undertaking in which they promised to stay away from me and my daughters forever or face jail time if they ever come close to us.”

Deola sighs. “Look, I hope they honor that undertaking for the sake of those innocent children, if not, I will personally see to it that they get locked up in the deepest part of Kirikiri maximum prison. They should be thankful that I’m not the one they messed with, I wouldn’t think twice about sending them to the slammer for life.”

I can’t help but laugh at Deola’s words. My no-nonsense friend is definitely not the most forgiving person in the world.

“I’m glad that’s all straightened out, though,” she continues. “And that brings me to the star of the moment – Dom! Girl, please tell me you’ve given him a ball-busting blow job as a ‘thank you’ treat for his heroic efforts.”

“Deola!” I squeal in embarrassment.

“Mum, are you ok?” Kome calls out from the living room.

“Yes, darling. I’m fine,” I answer her. To Deola, I say, “You need to get thee behind me, Satan! What in the world?”

She laughs naughtily. “Oh, please. Don’t be such a prude. Did you at least kiss him?”

“Deola, must everything be sexual?” I ask with a laugh.

“Well, sex makes the world more fun. So, are you going to answer my question, or will you keep stalling?”

“We kissed,” I admit reluctantly.

“Aha! I knew it,” Deola squeals delightfully. “Now, you’re talking!”

“It wasn’t anything serious,” I tell her, trying to downplay the kiss. “It was brief. Sort of happened in a flash, you know.”

“I don’t care, Uzezi. A kiss is a kiss, whether it lasts a millisecond or an hour. You kissed, that’s progress.”

“Stop it,” I giggle, still feeling slightly embarrassed by her excitement.

“Whatever…so, what next? When is he taking you out on a date?”

“I don’t know, we didn’t talk about going on a date. We didn’t talk about much actually, and I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

Deola must have heard the disappointment in my voice because she sounds sympathetic when she speaks again. “Aww, have you tried calling him?”

“Yes. And I left him a voice mail a few minutes ago. I think I need to stop bothering him. Everyone knows that Dominic Inyang is one of the busiest persons in this country, so he’s probably inundated with work, especially after skipping it to attend to me and my children for two days.”

“Yeah, I get it, but he’s a billionaire for God’s sake. He doesn’t have to be personally involved in all of his businesses, that’s why he has people working for him.”

Deola is right and I can’t deny that even I have had that same thought before about Dominic’s role in running his businesses. A CEO’s work is mostly supervisory, so why can’t he make time to speak with me. Or has he moved on from me already? Did he grow weary of waiting for me to make up my mind about dating him and he just decided to ignore me instead? Has Pamela discouraged him from responding to my calls?

“Uzezi, are you still there?” I hear Deola asking me. She must have said something to me that I didn’t respond to because she sounds a bit concerned.

“I’m fine,” I assure her even though ‘fine’ is not the accurate word to describe how I feel right now.

“Are you sure? You didn’t respond to my question.”

“What question?”

“I asked if you think he’s deliberately ignoring you. But why would he?”

“You know what, I think we’re overthinking this. Besides, he has been more than generous with me, and I had my chance to give him the green light when I went on that lunch date at his place the last time. He’s probably no longer interested, so I think it’s best I stop bothering him and carry on with my life.”

“Is that regret I hear in your voice?” Deola asks me suspiciously. “Girl don’t give up so easily. Dom wouldn’t move mountains for you like he did when he helped you get your kids back if he didn’t like you. I believe there’s a perfectly good reason why he hasn’t gotten back in touch with you. And it’s only been a few days, so chill. Ok?”

“You may be right,” I say, but not convinced.

“Sure. I’ve got to go, boo. There’s this new guy I’m seeing now, and he wants to take me out for drinks tonight. I better go get ready.”

“You’re seeing a new guy? What about Tshola? Did you guys break up?”

“Ugh, Uzezi. Seriously? Tshola is old news. That dude was so disloyal.”

“All your exes are disloyal,” I remark dryly.

“The story of my life,” she replies with equal enthusiasm. “Gotta go, babe. I’ll be in touch.”

“Ok. Bye,” I end the call and return to where my daughters who are supposed to be playing Monopoly, are now watching TV instead. “What happened to Monopoly?”

“It got boring since you weren’t here to play with us,” Zino answers.

“I’m hungry, Mummy,” Kome whines.

“Ok, ok. I’ll go into the kitchen right away and whip up something for you hungry wolves,” I say jovially, earning me some happy giggles from the twins.

Back inside the kitchen, I happily tinker about prepping what to make for dinner as if I am about to undergo the most important task of my life. In truth, I’m just happy to have something to do to get my mind off thinking about Dominic and wondering why he hasn’t returned my calls or responded to my voicemail. The fact that he now seems to be avoiding me when I have finally made up my mind to give him a chance, is nothing short of frustrating. I think I’ll just fall back on ‘pursuing’ him and see what happens.