PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3 by Tomi Adesina

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3 by Tomi Adesina

’ NOT AGAIN!’’, I thought as I approached Paul. Paul was the last person that I expected to see, at least not in the market. Hi, happy Val’s day, he said; As if I cared, those words almost escaped from my lips as I nodded back.  How have you been? He asked. ‘Never been better’ I replied with a sarcastic smile lurked round my face; we were together for almost two years and it never worked, I replied. ‘That’s not true, Darlene, you never put in any effort to love me’, he said.’ You can’t force love’, I replied smiling. ‘You were in a haste to get rid of me’, he said. ‘You told me that you regret ever knowing me, why then are you stalking me?’ I asked. ‘I can’t just let go of you yet, I want to try, I want to fight for your love’, he replied. ‘That is if I have any to offer’, I replied bluntly. I could hear the disappointment in his voice as he said, ‘You will find the man you will love someday, how will you feel if he treated you this way?’ He asked. I grinned. Love is cliché; I replied and turned to meet Mrs Small staring at us, YES, I know that stare. ‘The overprotective Dad look’

‘You were very harsh on Paul’, Mrs Small said as she drove. ‘He was becoming a pain and he really needed to hear the truth from me’, I replied. ‘Don’t you believe in love at all?’ She asked. I scoffed. Is it a religion? I asked smiling but Mrs Small didn’t seem to find it funny, Listen Toni, Love is not what it used to be, maybe if I was born in the Romeo and Juliet days or maybe if I was loved by Shakespeare, I wouldn’t mind falling in love, but not in this generation, I replied, trying to sound convincing, even to myself. Why did you agree to date Paul in the first place? She asked with curiosity in her voice. To prove a point to my father, he but called me an ‘Amazon’ and said that it would be impossible for any man to want to date me, but on the day he said this, Paul took me out and asked me out, I really wanted my father to know that I could have any man at my beck and call and so I agreed, I replied.

                Congratulations Toni, Dare said as he walked into our office. Thank you Dare, she replied. How is your intern doing? He asked staring at me. She is doing just fine, she replied taking a quick glance at me. I looked disgusted. Did he call me an intern? I said to myself silently. Good night ladies, and enjoy the lovers frenzy he said and walked out. ‘‘I couldn’t help but wish my boss could just fall and break a leg’’. ‘Let me give you a ride?’ Mrs Small offered. Sorry, I will be working a little late, I replied. Later honey, she replied with a smile and left. Unfortunately, that happened to be a lie, one of the ‘’skills’’ I had to pick up from dating Paul, so it comes naturally. I picked up my phone and called Jake.

                                ‘’911’’What is the emergency please? Jake asked with a very familiar smile as he ‘’rolled up’’ in his car.  Why did you choose to humiliate me in this ‘’Jalopy’’ especially on Val’s day, I asked sarcastically. Jalopy, he replied. This is a limited edition ‘’1992 Audi 80 avante’’, only a hundred of this was manufactured and I happen to have the only one in this town, he bragged. And you should be ‘’honoured’’ to ride in one, he added sarcastically ‘’especially on Val’s day’’, he said with so much pride lurking around his face, as if he bought the car with his own money, the previous owner of the car, his dad probably got so sick of the car and passed it to him, and I am yet to find out what is so special about the car. ‘Whatever’, I replied. I ran into Paul today at the Central Market. He laughed. It is not funny, I think he is going to be stalking me all my life, I replied. Hey Miss Cinderella, the world doesn’t revolve around you, he said sarcastically. I clenched my fists and punched him hard. Is that the best you can do? He asked laughing, but seriously, is that what you are worried about? He asked. Of course, I replied. What else can I be worried about? I asked. I thought you would feel remorse about the message sent to him, it was a really irritating message, if you sent that to me, I would have driven you off a cliff, he replied with a smile. I could never send such to you, you are my best friend, I said.

                Hi Darlene, Dad said as I walked in. Hello, I replied coldly. When are you going to stop resenting me for not putting you in the family’s firm? He asked. When I survive my first week at Ade-Cole, I replied, pouring myself lemonade. It is for your own good, he replied. Yeah yeah yeah here we go again, I replied angrily.  I am a first class material from Harvard Dad! What else do you want from me? I deserve to be in your chambers not working for some ‘’slave driver’’ and you know it. Everyone knows that Williams Firm is the best in the continent; I yelled angrily and left for my room. I know you would get in on merits, but it is for your good, he called out as I slammed my door angrily.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3

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“Do you want me to give you a ride?” Dad asked as he came downstairs. There we go again, i knew the peace and quiet had been too perfect to last but thank God we didn’t have to go the through the ‘good morning-good morning routine’.  No, thanks, I already called Jake, I replied. “When are you going to get your own car?” He asked. “Maybe when I start earning my salary”, I replied, sipping my coffee. “Jake can’t continue to do everything for you; he has got his own life”, he said, slipping into his Suit. He is not complaining Dad; I replied and carried my briefcase. See you later, I added and walked out. Jake pulled up seconds after I walked out of the house.    

                “Are you satisfied with ‘the new golden carriage’? Jake asked as rolled down the tinted window with a grin on his face. “It is okay,” I replied. So you call my new ‘beamer’ okay? How many of this have you seen around,” Jake added raising an eyebrow with his “leery eyes” peering from under his dark glasses. Jake and I had been friends from as far back as I could recall, we went to the same schools, even Harvard, Jake bagged a degree in Architecture. He is very artistic and creative, that is my favourite quality in him, apart from his heavy masculine physique and cute face. Jake is the perfect listener. I rant about all my fears and pains to him, and he lends me the listening ear that I require. “Jake please don’t get me started this morning” I replied, ”wow, someone’s pissed, why didn’t you turn up for the party last night?” Jake replied with a queer, choked voice, “unlike you some of us have to go to work’’ I replied shifting my weight from the middle arm-rest, I was angry but not too angry to notice the comfy leather interior of the new BMW X6, Jake is self-employed with really no reason to work, He is the only son of the owner of the biggest construction company in west Africa.  Be a good girl, he said as he pulled up in front of Ade-Cole Law Firm. I smiled and hurried off.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3

 Good morning Toni, I said as I walked in. Hello Darlene, she replied smiling. Dare wants to see you in his office, she added quickly. A stream of anger and fatigue flew through my whole body; I immediately left for his office. “Good morning Sir,” I said. The name is Dare, he replied with a grin which he rarely did. We do a first name here, you should have read that in the handbook, he added. Yes Dare, I replied, feeling comfortable. I went through your credentials last night and I must say, it is top class, he said, “thanks”, I replied. He was too engrossed in he’s speech to notice the irony in my voice Does that mean that I get my office? I asked. No, at least not yet, the personal office thing comes when the firm feels that you are certified by all standards to be an office owner, he replied still with the strange and annoying grin. Why then did he call me here? I said to myself inaudibly. “Darlene, I would like you to accompany me to a press conference by 2pm, it is for the firm”, he said. I glanced at my watch. “It won’t take your time and you don’t need to say a thing, in fact, you have nothing to say, you are just going to be a figure there”, he continued. I wore a weird gaze at him. I am actually taking you because I think you are beautiful and would make for a good cover page standing by me, he added, why don’t you just a hire a Model? I asked bluntly. He laughed. Hiring will mean me paying her and I am not interested in paying for a thirty minutes interview. He replied. I wasn’t aware that that was part of our professional agreement…I can check with my colleagues to be certain, I replied, looking uninterested.  “Could you really check?” he asked. I frowned at his Sarcasm. Look Darlene, you are my staff and you do what I say, he replied.

 Dare forced me to a press conference, God knows what he would do to me next before this week runs out, I complained bitterly to Jake as he drove me home later in the evening. Who is Dare? He asked. My boss, Dare Ade-Cole, I replied. Do I sense a “beauty and the beast story” in the offing? He asked with a sarcastic smile. Yeah yeah…very funny Jake, I replied probably not impressed with one of Jake’s casual Jokes. “The firm operates on a first name basis between the staffs”, I replied. You will be fine babe, you are very strong and you will come out well there, he said.” Do you know why my Dad doesn’t want me at his firm”? I asked, with no provocation. If you work at Williams Firm, people will say that your Dad planted you there, they will disregard your merits, he replied. Jake that is so “flat”, I worked hard for my degree, I replied with a deep breath. Prove it at Ade-Cole and you will see that your father will be dying to have you at his firm, he said. I sighed. Cheer up babe, do you care for chicken? KFC is just right around the corner, he said. Thanks Jake, I replied. What would I do without you? I asked with a smile. Nothing, you couldn’t do anything without me, he replied with a grin.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3

Do you think that Dare would grant me the opportunity to attend the programme?” I asked Toni waving an invitation card before her. Toni raised her head slightly and took a quick peek at the card. “You will have to see for yourself, you are very new here and a function would be regarded as inappropriate”, she replied. “I have never missed it and I don’t intend to now”, I replied and left for Dare’s office. “Morning Dare” I said. He nodded. “I would like to be excused from work tomorrow”, I said. “Are you feeling ill?” He asked without looking up, his gaze was totally fixed to his laptop, who does he think he is? He should have at least looked at me. “No, but I have a very important function to attend”, I replied. “What function can be more important than your job here”? He asked staring at my hand. At least, he is looking at me now. “It is a service for my mother”, I replied. His look was now very stern. “Is she a clown?” Why would she want a service? He asked, looking irritated. Listen to me, if you go for it, you can kiss your job goodbye, he added and faced his laptop. I flung the card at him in utter disgust, “it is a remembrance service for my late mother, and I quit”! I yelled and walked out.

                “Cheer up honey”, Jake said as he wiped my tears. “He called my mother a clown”, I mumbled. That Jerk! “He doesn’t deserve your tears”, he replied. “I don’t want to work here again, take me away from here Jake”, I said. “We would clear your desk tomorrow”, he replied, opening the door for me. I sat in the car feeling awful; Jake smiled at me. Jake’s smile came as a relief, there was something “kind” about his smile. We left for his place. I will get you something to drink; he said and left for his kitchen. I stared at a picture of Jake and I on our graduation from High School. “How could he still keep such a picture?” I thought. I had no idea where mine was, and moreover, I thought the picture looked boring. We were just two youngsters leaving High School and looked quite nervous. I snapped out of my thoughts as he returned with a can of soda. “I want to start my driving lessons this weekend”, I said. “I am not tired of driving you around”, he replied handing me the soda. I know, but I want to be able to drive myself around and not wait on my office stairs for about twenty minutes like I did today, I said. “That was an emergency, if you had called me prior to the time, you know that I would have been there”, he replied. That is the typical Jake Martin-Oje reply. I have to put an end to his “over protectiveness”; although I can’t really say that Jake is over protective. “But I don’t want you running here and there for me”, I said.” Moreover, I don’t like your new ‘beamer’”, I added with a light smile. “What will ever satisfy you”? He asked with a wide smile.

                “Brethren, we are gathered here today for the 20th remembrance service of late Mrs Danielle Williams…” I watched the priest go over the formalities. I found it hard to shed a tear, maybe it was because I never really knew her, but as I stare at her grave like the past years, I feel drawn to her. She died on my 1stbirthday, she was trying to bake my cake when she heard me cry, she rushed to me but on her way, she slipped and hit her head and that was the end of my mother and my birthdays. My father never celebrated any of my birthdays and when he told me how she died, I vowed never to have fun on my birthday, anyways, and today is my birthday, my 24th birthday. My mother’s remembrance service has always been held on my birthday, so that was enough for me to feel sad and forget ever having fun. “What is fun by the way without a mother?”

                “Happy birthday”, Jake whispered into my ear. I nodded without a smile. Jake always tried to make me happy on my birthdays; he always baked me a cake, which I always dropped at the cemetery after the service. The cemetery was soon empty, Dad and his guests had left, leaving Jake and I and some anonymous figures paying their last respects. I stared at my mother’s grave; my mum would have been 50 if not for her unfortunate death. I dropped the cake and tears flowed down my eyes. That is the part where I always had to shed the tears, it felt special in a sad way to present the cake we never baked on my 1stbirthday. “Would she eat the cake?” I asked Jake with a smile. His amused grin broadens and he put his hand on my shoulder. I faced the grave and dropped a flower. “I am sorry for your loss”, a thick voice said with a musical British accent. I turned round to see Dare Ade-Cole in a tightly fitted black suit; I nodded and faced her grave. “Take the week off, see you on Monday”, he said and walked away. I turned back and watched him leave. “You might need a minute alone” Jake said. “I will be by the car”, he added and left.

                “A 24thbirthday needs to be cherished and spent well”, Jake said as he drove. “That rule doesn’t apply to me”, I replied. “Here we go again Darlene, for how long will you allow this to continue?” He asked. I gave no answer to his “rhetorical question”. He obviously knew my answer, why was he asking? “You cry every time on your birthday, I honestly think that you should tell your Dad to change the remembrance date”, he said. “I want the remembrance left on this date”, I replied. He sighed deeply. “I get it”, he said and drove on.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3

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I could hear the sound of slow hip-hop pulsing behind the closed windows of the Beamer as I approached. But Jake killed the music as soon as I reached for the door handle. I slid into the front seat next to Jake and told him to take me home.

                                “Who was that you were listening to?” I asked him.

                                “Um, that was Lil Wayne.”

                                “How to love?”

                                “That’s right.”

                Over the years, I had become knowledgeable in the subtle distinctions, regional and otherwise, in rap and hip-hop. Across the board, most of my friends listened to it. Some of them fashion their life styles from them. I wouldn’t think of being totally tuned to music, especially rap. I reached for the disk rack and chose one at random. I noted the handwritten ‘Dido’ on the disk. I handed the disk over to Jake and he slid it into the dashboard stereo. I didn’t have to tell him to play it at a volume so low that it would amount to little more than background noise. Jake knew I hated noise. I turned my phone on, checked my voice mail and had two unread messages. One from my great aunt, Aunt Sally, she was apologizing for missing my mom’s remembrance service, this is the fifth consecutive time she was missing the service, so I was used to her constant apology messages. The other message was from Mrs Small.

                I called Mrs Small back first; I was uninterested in returning Aunt Sally’s message. “Hi Toni”, I said, signalling to Jake to totally kill the music. “Hey Honey, how are you holding up?” she asked. “I have been holding up well for the past twenty four years”, I replied sarcastically. Honestly, why would Toni ask how I have been holding up? My mom has been long dead. “I just thought you might need comfort”, she said sounding a bit defensive. “Oh Toni, where is your sense of humour?” I asked. At this junction, she burst into a mean laughter. “I do not like the sound of your laughter,” I said into the receiver. “Dare came for the service”, I said. “Oh! That’s nice to know”, she replied. “I am happy to know that he at least has one human bone in him,” I said. “And speaking of Dare coming to my mom’s service, how did he get the address?” I asked quickly. “Apart from the fact that you in your rude behaviour flung the card at him, I gave him the address”, she replied. “Did he ask for the address?” I asked smiling impressively. “Yes, he did”, she replied. The line started to break as we spoke and so I had to end my call with Toni.

                The traffic heading downtown bottle necked on the third mainland bridge. I spent the time in the car ‘tweeting’ and trying not to think about going back to Ade-Cole and the argument I had with my Dad about resenting him, My Dad was right and that’s what hurts. For a long time, I had been angry with the old man for a lot of reasons. It was something I had thought about changing myself. In a few minutes, we broke free of the bottleneck. I looked out of the window and saw no accident, I saw nobody with a flat Tyre and no high way patrol cruiser parked on the shoulder. I saw nothing to explain the traffic. It was often like that. Freeway traffic in Lagos was as mysterious as the dark side of the moon. It moved and flowed, then stalled, crawled and stopped for no easily explainable reason.

                “Always thought that I would love to live by the sea…” Dido’s lyrics titled straight into my thoughts or rather interrupted my thoughts. I didn’t vision my life to be this complicated, never knew that Lagos could shrink so much that I would have to run into Mr Ex every other day of the week. I tried not to think about work. There are so many a****les to think about and so little time.

                Then solid bass blaring from the custom beamer speaker almost sent my head into the window glass, I turned swiftly to look at Jake with my hands covering both ears, I frowned at Jake who seemed to derive so much pleasure from the noise he had created, noticing the swift movement, he turned in my direction.

                                “What?” he asked with a smile.

                Then he noticed the frown and the hand to ear gesture it made, he let the volume down from the media control on the steering wheels. Then he looked back at me and noticed that I hadn’t looked away and still had the frown on, I spotted his fumy smile spreading across his face, showing his white but broken canine.

                                “That was M.I”, had to play him out loud.

                   I shrugged and thought, what it was with Ex BHS boys and M.I….he is like a super hero to them. No disrespect to the Lagos superstar, but I wouldn’t even have him on my rack. “Why do you hate M.I so much?” Jake asked as if he read my thoughts. “I have never liked him, even knowing that he is an alumnus of our high school,” I replied coolly applying my lip gloss. “What will you rather have me play?” “Adele?” he asked with a grimace. “More like it”, I replied smiling. “I will not play such music in this royal stereo of mine”, he replied proudly. “And I suppose M.I is royalty?” I asked mockingly. Jake and I were very used to banters, especially on our favourites; we basically didn’t like the same things. I can’t stand M.I, and Jake thinks that Adele is a pathetic musician. When it comes to our choices in Football, I love Chelsea Football Club, and Jake can go on everyday about Arsenal Football Club. To worsen our usual Footie outburst, Jake hates my best footballer, Didier Drogba. Why would anyone hate Didier Drogba? I couldn’t really blame Jake, Drogba is known for “ripping the brakes out of Arsenal’s Car” whenever the London derby arises.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3

                   Jake drove on into the night as I remained glued to my smashing new blackberry  I had several “pings” to reply and of course, have fun “tweeting”. The journey to my house was taking longer than expected, but I couldn’t be bothered, I was with Jake! I feel very safe with my “big bear” as I love to call Jake. Speaking about Jake’s physique, he had been working out since high school when I had problem with seniors boys coming at me because of the “so-called attitude” they said I posed at them whenever they wanted to go out with me. Jake got into fights in school because of me, I always got on people’s nerves and then I rush to Jake for help, he has always been there, and nothing has changed.

                   “Here we are”, Jake said as he pulled up. I stared at the very familiar environment, then turned and punched Jake hard on the shoulder. “What are we doing at the galleria?” I asked as I peered out of the tinted glass windows. “We are here to celebrate your first ever birthday and put an end to your annoying birthdays”, he replied turning his phone off. “Jake, my mom’s remembrance service started when I was four years old, so I don’t think it’s that bad, and beside I like hanging with my mom at the cemetery” I replied. “It is horrible you know what?, you’re hanging out with me today and we are having fun even if I have to drag you along screaming and kicking all the way” he said smiling, “Jake, am I crazy?” I said smiling back at him. “No you’re not crazy, and I’m the crazy one in case you forgot”, he replied closing the doors of the car.

PLEASE BREAK MY HEART Episode 3
#OpraDre

…to be continued

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