BURNT (EPISODE 11)

The moment Mila walked into the office that Monday morning, Simi was waiting for her with an expression of "spill the bean". Mila saw it and tried keeping a serious face but Simi saw through her pretense and dramatically drew out Mila's seat from under her desk for her to sit before rushing to pull her own seat. She sat looking at Mila expectantly while Mila pretended to be busy with turning on her system and checking her itinerary for the day. Simi couldn't take it anymore and disrupted Mila's obvious reverie.

"Alright! That's it! start talking Mila. Who was that that dropped you off just now?"

"What are you talking about?" Mila asked trying to feign ignorance

"oh no! don't do that. You just came to work this morning in a white range rover sports car, looking like a celeb,  with the driver acting all gentlemanly by opening the door for you and helping you out. Which Nigerian man even does that in this day and age?! And look at you. You're glowing!"

"Was that a range rover sports car? I didn't know that and how did you see me?" Mila said shaking with laughter already at the funny look Simi had on her face 

"Through the window of course" Simi answered laughing

"Wow! today of all days, Simi is punctual" Mila rolled her eyes then she said to Simi before standing up,

"Let's hurry to the cafeteria"

Simi immediately followed suit. They still had about fifteen minutes to gossip before the usual 9 am resumption time. They bought a mug of coffee each and sat down. Then to Simi's dismay, Mila took a sip of the hot drink, swallowed and then started.

"Do you remember Leo's friend from Zenbah?"

"yes. The one you got Leo's number from. I remember him. Don't tell me that's Tunji" Simi looked at Mila in awe

Mila nodded and answered "Yes that's him. I spent the weekend with him and he spoilt me silly."

"You biatch!" Simi shouted playfully "You literally spent the weekend at one of those fancy mansions on Banana Island with one of Lagos's most uptight but sought after bobo! Mila you've scored high." Simi was smiling triuphantly

Mila was amazed "You mean, that was Banana Island?" she asked 

"Yes of course. Didn't you know?"Simi was looking at her with a frown on her pretty face

"Not at all. I didn't even bother asking. By the way, how come you know all these and I don't?" Mila was sipping her coffee again

"Well, Leo and I have hooked up several times after I got his number again, thanks to you and I noticed Tunji's absence so I asked and he told me Tunji traveled. I asked him how come they always hung out together and he told me that they were best friends who lived close. Leo lives at Ikoyi too but not Banana Island." Simi drank her coffee as well and leaned in for more gist.

Mila nodded in understanding and continued. 

"That's cool" she paused then added "Oh Simi, I think I really really like Tunji. He's revived a part of me I thought I had lost forever"

"Isn't that a good thing? I'm really happy for you Mila. I mean, you should see yourself this morning, you look like you swallowed the sun. You look refreshed."

Mila smiled at that but said worriedly, "Thanks Simi. I really needed the rest but deep down, I just feel like something's off. Would you believe that all through the period Tunji traveled, he never contacted me. Not even once" 

she stopped talking to see Simi's reaction but Simi simply looked at her with a blank expression on her face and said,

"Mila, do you really like this guy?" Mila nodded then she continued, "Then you should be happy he came back to you and banged you real good till you had no choice but to glow. Cheers to the freaky weekend babe!"

They both burst into laughter at this and together, went back to the office. Monday turned out to be a  great day as Mila was lost in both her job and the memories of that weekend. Tunji made it sweeter by sending her two different messages at different times. The first was that he missed her and that made her wet her panties as those simple words turned out to be the magic words her body had been waiting for. The second message was that he would love to come take her out for dinner after work and she gladly accepted.

.....................

For the whole of  November  amd the first week of December, Mila and Tunji's affection for each other blossomed into a beautiful relationship that was made up of mutual understanding, respect and of course, lots of attention. Mila eventually got to understand that Tunji really, was a private person. He said little about his background and Mila never bothered him about it. He worked hard even when he had over two hundred employees to do the job. He also spoilt her with numerous surprises and every weekend, he brought her over to spend the weekend. Mila was happy and at peace with herself and the world. Whenever she looked into her mirror, she saw a new Mila looking fresher, unstressed, healthier, and happier.

On one occasion, she had dreamt that Nathan and her were going on a love stroll around the vicinity of his house and then, Kumbi had appeared from nowhere with his son in her hands beckoning to Nathan to come to her. Mila had held on tight to Nathan's hand but she was surprised when Nathan started walking towards Kumbi. She had tried pulling him back but he had struggled free of her grasp to meet Kumbi and they walked away leaving Mila standing there with tears streaming down her face. Nathan had turned back to look at her before they entered the house and the face she had seen wasn't Nathan's anymore but Tunji's. She had screamed in shock. That was when she had woken up. 

She prayed about the dream for the next two days against any impending evil waiting to destroy her relationship with Tunji. She even told her mom who had grown fond of Tunji about the dream and they had prayed together again. All will be well she assured herself but she wasn't so sure even as she tried believing it.