Love's Second Chance (9 page)

“
I returned the ring, but not willingly!” Her heart lightened at t
he confusion on his face, he’d not been a part of it.
All along, from Utako to the hotel, and back home, she’d wondered if he was playing a charade. Was it possible he’d broken up with her, but now wanted a devious way to get back into her good books?

“
Your parents said they’d convinced you I was unworthy, and you wanted them to pass along your message to me. Your father was ecstatic
you never wanted to see or talk to me
. Your mother was there too, she
took my engagement ring at the end.”

“
Stop this! Don’t make up these stories,” Kevwe snapped,
his fingers drumming on his knees as he moved forward on his seat.
“It was a miracle I did not die when I learnt you left me.”

Anger burned low in him. Efe and his father had not got on, but the old man couldn’t have taken matters into his hands. His mother knew how close he was to Efe, and had loved her like a daughter.

“
Do you call me a liar?” Efe asked, her voice rising over his.

“
Someone is clearly playing with the truth.” Kevwe shook his head in vehemence.
“Listen, my parents stood by me through it all, my mother in particular. When I wanted to give up because you,
Efe, you were not there, she sat at my bedside throughout the night and spoon-fed me
.
When the POP cast itched, it was my mother who scratched it for me
.
Where were you when the pain overwhelmed me, and I cried like a baby? Where were you w
hen the physiotherapist pushed me to learn to walk again? Were you there to encourage
me? Were you?”

Kevwe jerked out of the dark past to the present, and heard Efe run out of the room. He followed her, but stood at the bedroom door while she blew her nose
into a handkerchief. He bit his tongue and turned his head away.

Efe had not been able to stop the sobs. It broke her heart to hear him talk about the aftermath of his accident with such pain, and she’d not been there to support him.
She raised a face covered with streaming tears up to him.
“That must have been horrible time for you. I can’t imagine the terrible suffering you went through.”

“
So you understand why I don’t want to hear any bad word about my parents. They were there for me when you disappeared.”

Fresh tears sprang to Efe’s eyes, but she blinked them away.
This
was the worst mix-up of all time, and it frustrated her he still didn’t quite believe she hadn’t abandoned him. She walked to the settee, and this time he took the armchair.

“
I don’t think we’ll achieve anything by going round in circles,” she said, “There are three people who witnessed what I just told you, your father, his friend, Mr. Edewor and your mother. We can find out the truth from any of them…” Efe tried
to piece the fabric of what
had truly happened in 2002
together
. Had it been a conspiracy?

The calm in her voice struck him, and looking closer, Kevwe accepted she told him the truth as she knew it. It would be convenient to blame Efe for accepting he broke their engagement, but he remembered he had also taken as gospel his parents’ words that she left him. He tugged at the collar of his shirt.

Perhaps he could accept his father had deceived her, but his mother?
He thought of Ofure, but his twin only knew the same as him, exactly what their parents had told them.

Efe crossed her legs, damning Kevwe for his stubbornness as she watched conflicting emotions flit across his face. She knew she had to consider the right words to say. This was dangerous ground because of how attached Kevwe was to his mother.

“
Let’s ask your mother,” she said finally, her breath coming short and fast. “After s
he took our engagement ring away, I had to accept you didn’t want me anymore.”

The others might deny deceiving her, but not Mrs. Mukoro. It was possible his mother didn’t support what happened, but if they’d planned to hurt her, Efe wanted to know why.

“
My mother knew how much you meant to me!” Kevwe shook his head and his eyes narrowed. His mother couldn’t have been part of it, e
ven if she had been there.
He could believe his father had pulled off an elaborate charade, but
not his mother. He wished for a way to confirm what Efe said without getting his mother involved. Confronting her smacked of the highest level of ingratitude after all she had done for him.

“
What exactly do you want?” Kevwe remembered Ofure’s warning to be rational, and gentled his voice.

Efe
spread out her hands. “I think your parents deceived me, and I want an explanation and an apology.” She had envisaged this several times, and she didn’t have to think hard for the answer.

Kevwe stood and paced the room. His mother couldn’t have known. Even if she let it slide while he was hospitalized, she would’ve told him when he got better. He tried to think of the ways forward, knowing this couldn’t have come at a worse time.

His mother still mourned their father and would be shattered to hear what had done this to them all. But what if she knew or she chose to defend her husband? Kevwe couldn’t imagine pitting the two women he cared for head to head.

Efe shook her head as she watched him pace,
the past about to choke her with thoughts of her experience of first love. She didn’t blink as she faced Kevwe; maybe
so much water had passed under the bridge, and there was no need to dredge. Either Kevwe did not care for her as she thought, or he did not want a future with her.

Even if they were both single, they had to move on and forget the past.
She pulled the unraveling shreds of her dignity around her like a cloak and stood up too. It was hard to discount their history, the ups and downs of their previous relationship, but maybe that was what she had to do.

**

9

Abuja. November 27, 2009. 8.30pm

Kevwe faced Efe across the living room. She now stood at the door, but he didn’t want to leave yet, and not on a hostile note. He felt they had a chance, and if he were careful, he would get past her walls. Since he left Ofure’s office to come here, all he’d been thinking of was their past love and how to win her back.

“
Efe, do you remember UniBen?” He finally said. “Well, this reminds me of those first days you kept trying to warn me off,” Kevwe continued. “You were either too young or I was in a secret cult. And then we were the perfect soul mates, the best couple on campus, and we had it all. You were the first woman I loved. You were to be my lover and the mother of my children.”

Efe looked into those golden eyes, and it was like the first time in the Hall 2 common room. She was a 19 year old Jambite, and he was her toaster. Ripples of passion washed over her, and she returned to her seat as hope flared, an echo of when she’d seen him in his brother’s office.

“
Kevwe, you don’t know how much I hurt. Seven, long, years.” Efe bit her tongue. Damn, she’d warned herself not to expose that to him, nor say anything to get his pity. In the few hours since seeing him again, she’d broken all the rules she made for this meeting.

“
We’ll get over this,” he said, “Let’s forget the issue with my parents for a moment because they don’t change things. Let’s think about the two of us.”

“
You think I’ll jump into your arms, no questions asked?”

“
I’m willing to woo you all over.” His deep whisper promised a lot, as he moving to sit beside her and take her hand. “You’re right, we were both hurt, but we can overcome it. I believe our reconciliation will come if you let it.”

Efe doubted it would be so easy. She knew it could be a mistake to be swayed, but the walls around her heart were shaking loose. She withdrew her fingers from his grip. Her brain was mush with him so close, and she could do without his touch confusing her further.

Along with nightmares of their break-up, she’d dreamt that one day he would beg to reconcile. But not like this. He wanted her, and that was good. But how she would face his family without the past being resolved? She didn’t want to sweep it under the carpet.

In a sudden move, Kevwe knelt before her. He gripped her wrist and stared into her eyes, intertwining their fingers right there on her thighs. There was no pity in his gaze, or in the feel of his hand.

Efe trembled. She would have jumped up if the feel of their fingers kneading her lap did not distract her so much. Her heart raced, and she could not think straight.

“
Let me show you how much I’ve missed you,”
h
e murmured, his eyes glowing.

His fingers stroked over her slender knuckles and along the length of her thigh. A rush of pleasure suffused her brain as he leaned towards her. His manly scent flooded her senses, and her head swam. God, she wanted to melt into him. Her heart jumped as she remembered how it used to be between them.

They had been young, so much in love. They’d shared a lot together, and it had been exceptional. Though she’d stopped just short of giving everything, he’d been the biggest part of her life for three years. When they split she missed him so much, and she had been filled with regrets. Maybe going all the way with him would release her from the prison of loss. Her body certainly wanted it, but should she allow it?

She whispered his name like a plea and shifted forward. He filled the space between her thighs as if they were made for him. The loneliness lying like a piece of hard ice in her heart thawed then, and their lips met and clung together.

It started lightly, but the kiss became hot in an instant, and then hungry and desperate. The hurts of the past disappeared; the only thing that mattered in that moment was the heat of arousal.

He pressed her against the settee and lowered his body next to hers. She lifted her face again to his, and her eyes looked at him with a mixture of desire and passion. She caught his head in her hands and pulled his mouth to hers.

He came like a magnet, and they both shook as their tongues dueled. Efe had never experienced anything as exciting as Kevwe’s kiss, and forgotten sensations swept over her as his lips continued to move on hers. Soon they parted for breath, and he smiled at her.

“
My heart is dancing
Atilogu
again,” the whisper caressed her.

Sweet memories enveloped Efe as she pushed Kevwe’s jacket aside and fumbled with the buttons of his shirt. The lights in the apartment were dim, and the hum of the air conditioner covered them like a blanket. Once she had the top three open, she ran her open palm against his chest, over his shoulder and down his muscular back. She loved the feel of him. She loved the texture of his tongue playing with hers and the warmth of his skin against her hands.

She couldn’t believe Kevwe was here with her, her lover, and pinched herself to be sure it was real. She smiled at the pain, closed her eyes and savored his groans, the pressure of his lips on her and the way his tongue flicked pleasure deep within her.

Kevwe lifted himself enough to fling off the jacket and pull his shirt out of the jeans. When he lowered himself, she quivered to his touch, the erect nipples under her bodice warming him.

His hands wandered over her, over the curve of her belly to her hips, claiming her and making her his, like he had always planned. She moaned and sat up, pressing him onto his back and pulling her hair loose from its bun till the weaves swirled around him. Leaning forward, she swung her hair back and forth, sliding the soft, silky strands over his chest. Heart pounding, loving the feel of it, Kevwe buried his hands to her scalp.

Efe moved onto him, kissed him, her tongue making its way around his lips and into his mouth, playing hide-and-seek with his. She bit him, small nips on his neck, ears and shoulders. He groaned, his hands now moving everywhere over her, and wherever they touched, her skin became even more sensitive. Holding her ribs, he eased her over his head, kissing circles around her nipples. She arched her back, murmuring his name over and over as long forgotten feelings swamped her.

When he slid down her torso, the air from the air-conditioner chilled her skin, making her feel vulnerable. She pulled him up, and their lips meshed again. She moved away after a while, but only to run her fingers over the scars on his face. She caressed them like a prayer, kissing the pulse throbbing along his jaw.

“
Is this what you want?” he whispered.

Efe paused. Did she want this? Her mind warned caution, but all parts of her body screamed yes. Want unfurled in her belly, and heat raced over her skin.

She got to her feet, “Let’s go into the bedroom.”

Kevwe lost all his clothes on the way to the bedroom, but Efe still had on her bra and panties when he pushed her down onto the sheets and covered her with his lean frame. His lips caught hers again in a kiss so deep, it swept away whatever remained of her senses.

He stroked his tongue slow and deep into her mouth till she reciprocated. Before long she was aroused to fever pitch again. They broke apart, their breath ragged. His glittering eyes pierced her to the bed as his large hands moved to her hips.