Wrong Start

Episode 16

Daisy Yawson

The club was swarmed with all sorts of people. People with weird hairstyles, the 90s clothes, the call girl, everyone with an identity moved their bodies to the song that played on the invisible speaker.

The girl in the straight dress held unto the shirt of a tall man in rather decent clothing, speaking inaudible words as she laughs loudly. The man watched her with fascination and greed like every other man in love would have. Her long braids tagged at her from behind while she smoothly and slowly danced to the rhythm. At this point, she could only see the face of the man she held. It wasn’t clear but she knew she wasn’t alone.

The man, Pete as called by their friends, asked if she was okay but all she could mutter was an ‘I don’t know’ while laughing hysterically. Her feet started to ache badly and her mouth went dry from drinking too much. Still, she wasn’t ready to call it a night.

Their exams had ended before she and her friends decided to hit the club but they had all left her to do their own deed. She was alone with a man she couldn’t recognize but wasn’t alarmed. Suddenly feeling the need to pee, she tried excusing herself but Pete was too drunk himself to be her escort.

Letting loose from him, she passed a crowd of people to the washroom which was crowded as well but managed to get inside one. Coming out, she caught a glimpse of her now flat tummy. The stretch marks were a bit visible in the light which she immediately covered. Her past. She called it her past. It’s been two years since she started college. It’s been crazy but she knew how much she had tried to forget what was back home. Her family. The pain still lingered from what she went through she had to seek the help of a psychologist.

She cries half the night due to depression and anxiety, from indescribable pain. Pete, being her close friend and a senior, had always been there during those times causing a one-sided love from his side. Everything moved so fast that they had kissed one night but separated soon after. The guilt and fear were unbearable but somehow, she managed to convince herself that everything would be alright.

Wiping the sweat off her forehead, Mimi went back to join Pete who had already taken a seat on one of those chairs they had around big circular tables.

“Are you okay?”

He seemed sober as he asked her.

Mimi felt something wasn’t right as she looked around confused. Something was amiss.

“I think I brought something with me and I don’t know what.” Pete brought out a diamond ring from his pocket and handed it to her.

“You said it was too tight and give it to me to hold for you.”.

“Omg, thank you for keeping this,” she sounded so pleased after seeing the second ring Ibrahim gave her after the birth of their son.

 

Pete had been meaning to ask why she always had it on her middle finger but ignored it since it wasn’t on her ring finger. Assuming a relative had given it to her out of love but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Do you like these kinds of rings?”

“Mmh, can we stop talking about rings, please?” Her accent which sounded native in his ears and her perfectly shaped body amused him. One thing he’d noticed being around her was her habit of staring into the distance.

Like she’d got the world to feed. They bordered him. And had suggested she visited a psychologist which had helped at first but had gotten worse with time.

He wanted to make her his but she kept pulling away from him like he was a taboo. The first time they’d kissed, she’d cried which had made him regret his decision.

“Don’t you have a class like tomorrow?”

“I do.”

“And?”

“Girl, I’m here because of you. You know that, right?”

“I do. We’re friends.”

“Ouch. Mimi…”

“Sorry but we’ve talked about this,” she said,  rolling her eyes at him which he again found attractive out of every other lady he’d met.

“Come on let’s go.”

Almost bumping into Pete who had moved ahead of her, Pete had seen the dread written on her face but not the person who stood by the entrance looking the least excited.

Her throat dried up and her anxiety kicked in. It seemed she’d forgotten over a period of time how sweet Ibrahim had treated her. Every other memory of them dated back to when he was mean to her. How he was unfair to her. Every other thing that followed was like a dream.

Pete had caught up to what she was staring intensely at.

“Do you know him?”

She could only stare blankly as she nodded her head in agreement.

“Who is he?”

“My…” after pausing for a few seconds, she finally answered.

“My husband.”

“What?”

“I’m sorry, Pete. It’s okay if you hate me for this but it’s the truth.”

Mimi hadn’t ever thought of him visiting the States just to see her. He’d been worried sick about their son having an ear infection due to the sound of the flight at that age. That conversation was a year ago and he’d also complained about how tight his work had been lately, and so she’d cancelled all the possibilities of him coming to see her.

And now, he stood there looking at her with a bit of anger on his face. She panicked seeing him like that.

Shortly after, Ibrahim left.

“He’s mad at me, Pete,” Mimi said as she frantically threw her arms around. Pete held her in place.

“Hey hey…look at me. He may be a bit angry but I would have been too if I were in his shoes. He tried comforting her.

“Do you want me to be honest with you?”

“Mmhm.”

“I saw the face of a jealous man seeing his wife with another man in a club. He might think of all the possibilities of who you are to me because that’s how we men think. Trust  me, Mimi, he won’t hurt you, okay.”

Those words calmed her down. Pete hugged her tightly before letting her go. He knew his pursuit would come to an end someday but, still tried. It seemed impossible to be away from her even for a minute. How was he going to stop trying? After knowing this, he was going to stop seeing her as he was hurt by the truth and had to give himself time to accept it.

As she left the club, his eyes never left her back knowing it would be the last time he saw her as a potential girlfriend.

 

As she got outside, she spotted Ibrahim leaning on a black Mercedes wearing a pair of jeans with a brown coat. The thin clothes she wore made her look ridiculous as the weather was very cold. The breeze brushed forcefully on her cheeks which were already swollen from the cold.

“Get in. It’s cold.”

She joined him in the front seat and he drove away. Not uttering a word at her, they drove silently till they reached a really tall building. As tall as a skyscraper.

“Where are we?”

“At a hotel. I have a surprise for you, come.”

They both entered the hotel and Ibrahim took her to one of the floors. He opened one door with a swipe card and they entered.

Stunned by the deco design of the room, she’d skipped the tiny human being that was already tugging at his Dad’s leg. A complete replica of Ibrahim but fair-skinned like Mimi.

 

“Have you eaten already?”

The toddler nodded, staring shyly at Mimi who had finally noticed him.

“He will be two tomorrow and he’s asked to celebrate his birthday with his mother,” Ibrahim told her while rubbing Enoch’s hair.

Enoch’s wet nurse excused herself to the room adjacent to the door leaving them alone.

“You look unwell. Are you okay?”

Mimi nodded, disturbed that he hadn’t asked the question he’d been meaning to ask.

Mimi went on his knees and called out gently to Enoch but the toddler never left his father’s side.

Mimi gave up on her fifth try and sat on an armchair in the big room.

“Won’t you ask what you’ve been meaning to ask, Ibrahim?”

He chuckled loudly. “Okay, tell me. Who is he and why were you in a club with him?”

Mimi looked shocked. It was almost as if he didn’t care. It was almost as if he trusted her not to hook up with someone else besides himself.

“He’s a friend of mine and we were having fun as it’s my last day of exams.”

“That’s fine.”

“You’re not pissed?”

“You want me to be? Mimi, listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on with you but I love you enough to trust you, to control myself and to put my priorities first and that’s our son.”

“What of you, Ibrahim? Huh?”

“Abigail!”

The maid responded from the other room and came out.

“Put him to sleep.”

 

“I want you. And I have never stopped loving you even after leaving Ghana. I have matured a lot, changed for us. For you…I honestly don’t know what you expect me to do. I want you to be with our son. Let him know you. He’s seen most of your pictures but if you think that’s enough then you’re not being fair.

There’s nothing I would want more right now than to enjoy the moment with you two.”

She was perplexed. How did he change so much in just two years? She was surprisingly disappointed. Did she want him to be rough with her?

She couldn’t understand herself at this point. Before she could stop herself, she said what she didn’t want him to know.

“I kissed another man.”

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