After the storm (11 page)

The
traffic started moving even slower, and she groaned as it came to a
complete standstill a few minutes later. She sighed and turned the
air conditioning a notch higher.

She
turned slightly in her seat as she saw a car that looked like that
of Abby, a colleague at Lavabre. On closer inspection, she realized
that she was not the one.

Thankfully the traffic eased a little some fifteen minutes
later, and she was finally able to take an exit route. About ten
minutes later, she parked her car in front of the block
of flats where Teju lived.

She
checked her face in the rearview mirror before getting out of the
car. She was more conscious of herself these days. Like Akeem had
told her, he wasn't chased by the paparazzi but a few photos of
them still made their way into the soft-sell magazines. So far,
everything they had written about her was okay, and she wanted to
keep it so.

She was
really missing Akeem. He was out of the country on a business trip
and was going to be away for a week, and she could hardly wait for
him to come back.

"I can't
wait to change your last name," he had told her on the way to the
airport two days earlier.

She had
looked at him mischievously. "Maybe we should take my dad's advice
about me doing my master's degree programme. The programme is only
for a year, after all."

"Maybe I
should cancel this trip and get married to you at the registry
tomorrow."

She
tutted, "What would happen to all the wedding plans?"

"No one
needs to know; we can still go along with it as if we're not
already married." He smiled deviously at her. "Just that I will
have certain liberties…"

She
touched his cheek lightly with her finger. "Very soon, Mr. Kadiri,
very soon."

"That's
what I keep trying to tell myself." He kissed her and then pulled
away slightly. "But aren't you at all tempted by my suggestion?" he
asked softly, before kissing her some more. "It's foolproof. No one
would know," he murmured against her lips.

"No
deal," Yemi said, and Akeem had let out a long-suffering sigh
before his head dipped towards hers again. Yemi had drawn back
after a while, her heart racing at the emotions that Akeem always
stirred up in her. She had wondered what the driver must be
thinking and had glanced at the rearview mirror, but the guy was
keeping his eyes discreetly on the road ahead.

Her
thoughts were interrupted as she saw a woman just coming out of the
entrance of Teju's building, and she quickly walked in before the
automatic door shut again. She was happy she didn't have to buzz
for Teju to let her in. Sesan had told her Teju was home that day,
and Yemi wanted to surprise her.

Sesan
was another person she needed to catch up with. She knew she was to
blame for their not being so close now as she was so occupied with
Akeem. However, even the times when they did meet, Sesan seemed
different. He was a little abrupt, and his expressions were always
guarded, very different from the playful guy who had been her best
friend and confidant.

"Hey, I
must be dreaming," Teju said, rubbing her eyes when she opened the
door and saw Yemi.

Yemi
gave her a quick hug as she entered the apartment. "I'm so
sorry, but I've just been so busy."

"It's
just four months to go now, isn't it?" Teju replied, locking the
door behind them.

Yemi
flopped down on the sofa. "Three months, two weeks, and five
days!"

Teju
laughed. "You forgot to tell me how many hours and minutes are left
as well?"

"I'm
sure I can calculate that too. I can barely wait!" Yemi took off
her shoes and wiggled her toes, trying to relax them.

"Is your
dress ready yet?"

"It's on
its way from France. I called the shop two days ago, and they
confirmed that it's been sent."

"Knowing
you, I'm sure it's going to be way out! But I'd have thought
you would have chosen to make it yourself?"

"I
wanted to, but Akeem wouldn't hear of it." Yemi made a face. "I'm
not quite sure if it's because he doesn't trust me enough or if he
believes it would be too stressful for me."

Teju
snorted, "Then he has not seen enough of your work. That dress you
made for me for my company's dinner party was a knockout. People
kept asking me who the designer was."

"I tried
telling him that, but he said he's the one paying for it so…" Yemi
shrugged. "I left it alone."

They
talked about her wedding plans, and Yemi filled Teju in on the
preparations so far. Akeem had hired wedding planners, and they met
with her frequently to update her. They were obviously very
experienced, and Yemi gave them a free hand so long as they ran the
plans regularly by her.

Teju
asked her about her plans to get a job after her youth service. The
service year would end just one month before the wedding. She
raised her brows when Yemi told her Akeem was not that keen on her
working so soon.

"We're
still talking about it, though," Yemi said to her. "Anyway, how's
Tosin?" Teju had gotten engaged a couple of months earlier.
Tosin, her fiancé, was supposedly "saved," so he met Teju's
standards.

"He's
fine," Teju said. "We're meeting later this evening."

"Have
you fixed a date yet?"

"We're
thinking of July next year, so we still have a little over a year
to plan."

"Well,
let me know if I can help with anything," Yemi said, walking
towards the fridge in the dining area. "I'm feeling a little
peckish." She opened the fridge and peered in. "What have you got
in here?"

"Oh,
there is some cake and sausage rolls in there. I made them last
weekend. Sorry I didn't offer you some earlier."

Yemi
grinned. "No worries, I can help myself." She brought the cake out,
cut herself a few slices, and went back to the sofa to join Teju.
"Mmmm…so moist and delicious. You always did have a way with your
cakes."

"Thanks.
I made it for my Bible study group. The girls came around over the
weekend, and I always try to have a few nibbles ready for
them."

Yemi
took another bite of her cake. "Oh, so that is still on?" Teju had
been inviting her to the Bible study group for a long time, but
Yemi always found a reason not to join them. "What do you guys
actually do?"

"Well,
we discuss practical things that affect our day-to-day lives, look
at them from the biblical perspective, and then we pray. Everything
is over in about an hour. You should come sometime. I'm sure you
would enjoy it."

"I'll
keep your invite in mind." Her eyes glinted mischievously. "But
don't worry about me, I'm still a good girl. My fiancé would be a
happier man if I weren't so 'good.'"

Teju
caught on to her meaning and laughed. "Way to go, girl!"

Yemi
sighed. "I must confess that it's hard at times, though." She set
the empty plate aside and stretched herself on the sofa. She felt a
little achy all over. She hoped she was not coming down with a
fever. "Do you and Tosin struggle with stuff like that?"

"It
happens to everyone, but there are ways around it. In fact, we
discussed something like this at our last meeting."

Yemi
giggled and wagged her finger playfully at Teju. "Naughty, naughty.
So that's what you girls talk about. Maybe I should come along and
hear your views on it."

Teju
smiled. "Like I said before, we talk about things that
affect everyone. The way we concluded that bit was to avoid too
much 'touchy feely' so as not to stir up emotions
unnecessarily."

"Touchy
feely…like kissing and stuff?"

"Yeah…Tosin and I don't."

Yemi
raised her brows. "Never?"

Teju
nodded. "We just made up our minds not to. Don't get me wrong, it's
not been easy, but so far so good. For us ladies, we're kind of
built not to get so easily stirred up but for guys…" She rolled her
eyes. "Their emotions can easily become like a tsunami, raging and
roaring. You don't want to mess with that."

"I know
what you mean." Yemi felt sorry for Akeem at times. He had told her
that she was the only woman he knew who had such inhibitions. "It's
been tough holding out, but I really do feel like it's a lot more
exciting to wait until one is properly married."

Teju's
face grew serious. "I'm not holding out because it will be more
exciting. I'm holding out because not doing so will offend God, and
I don't want to do that."

Yemi
stared a little warily at Teju and wondered why she always had
to bring a different dimension to everything these days. She
shrugged. "Whatever, the important thing is that I'm keeping
myself, and I'm sure I am pleasing God in the process too."
She frowned a little bit. "But hey, you know I'm not really a bad
person, and I go to church for goodness' sake—quite regularly
too."

Teju
took her time to answer, as if she were searching for the right
words to use. "Being moral or attending church regularly is not the
same thing as having a personal relationship with
Christ." 

Yemi did
not want to get into all that theological stuff. She took another
bite of her cake. She had other things on her mind, Akeem's
mother's behavior towards her being paramount. Mrs. Kadiri was no
warmer towards her. If anything, she had grown a touch frostier. It
was the same thing with other members of his extended family. They
were polite but distant. She felt they were probably just not
friendly by nature, but it still made her uncomfortable.

"Teju,
how is your relationship with Tosin's mother?"

"Quite
good. We get along very well, why?"

"I was
just wondering." She suddenly felt like sharing her experience with
someone and told Teju the concerns she had about Mrs. Kadiri. "So
what do you think?" she asked when she had finished.

Teju
paused before she answered. "I may be wrong, but her behaviour goes
just a little bit beyond not being naturally
expressive."

"That's
what I thought too, but Akeem keeps telling me not to worry about
it." She frowned slightly. "She has never really come out as being
openly hostile. It's more from the expression on her face and the
frosty reception I always get from her."

"You
don't really need a frosty relationship with your mother-in-law. Is
Akeem close to his mum?"

Yemi
shrugged. "She's his mother, and he looks out for her, but she does
not control him, if that is what you mean." That was one thing that
she was glad about. She had noticed how much control Akeem's mother
seemed to wield over Adil and his wife, Zara.

"You
still need to be very careful. Apart from praying about it, ask
Akeem how he can help you relate with his mother. Have you spoken
to your mum about this?"

Yemi
shook her head. "I don't want to get her worried." Bringing his
mother's attitude towards her to her parents' attention might just
trigger their earlier concerns again, and Yemi didn't want that.
"Who knows, I may even be wrong about Akeem's mother," she
continued. "It may all just be my imagination."

"I
sincerely hope so." At that moment, Teju's phone beeped, and she
looked at the text message. "It's Sesan," she said. "He says he's
in the neighborhood and will be stopping by shortly."

"Oh
great," Yemi said, cheering up a bit. "I hardly get to see that guy
anymore."

"He's
got a lot of stuff going on at the moment, and he is really busy at
work. But at least he's cheered up some at the prospect of going to
England for his master's degree programme soon."

"It's
funny that he would be going off without me," Yemi said a little
wistfully. "We've always planned on doing our master's programme
together. So many things are changing in my life. I almost wish I
could hold on to some of them, but…" Her voice trailed
off.

"That's
life. Many times we don't have a choice over those natural changes.
The old always has to give way to the new.

Chapter
6

The warm
rays of the rising sun filtered in through the half open drapes of
the bedroom windows bathing the room with a soft yellow glow. Yemi
stretched herself lazily on the bed. It was the morning of her
wedding, and she didn't think she could be any happier than she
felt at that moment. Tola was soundly asleep beside her. She had
flown in from England a week earlier, and both of them had stayed
up late the night before, too excited to sleep.

The
traditional wedding ceremony had taken place two days earlier, and
it had gone very well. Everything was done according to the culture
of Yoruba land where Yemi was from. Her aunties had not spared
Akeem, and they had given him a lot of tasks to perform in order to
prove that he was worthy of their niece. He was asked to dance
until they were satisfied and then, as he made his way into the
house, her aunties kept throwing traditional wrappers across his
path, signifying rivers, mountains, or whatever else that came to
their minds. Akeem was then meant to pay for these obstacles to be
removed. He knew about this custom and had come prepared. He kept
showering her aunties with the dollar and pound notes he brought
along with him until they started singing his praises and finally
allowed him into the sitting room.