…Continued from Chapter Nine.
On my way home, I thought about my session with doctor Obi and caught myself smiling. My phone began to ring, it was an unknown number and I usually don’t pick up calls from numbers I don’t have saved. I hesitated but eventually answered, it was Tola. I hadn’t heard from her in a while, so this was a welcome surprise.
“Hello, good afternoon. Who is this, please?”
“Hello, this is Tola speaking,” it was a lady’s voice and she sounded familiar.
“Wait a second, which Tola am I speaking with?” I asked in anticipation.
“It’s me na,” the voice said, “it’s me Tola Aremu!”
I screamed in excitement! Tola was my best friend back when we were in school before we graduated and went to different universities. She studied in Canada while I studied here. We were inseparable back in the day and people called us twin sisters.
“Where are you?” she inquired “I’m at your house!”
“My house? You’re back? Don’t you dare move an inch Tola I’m coming!” I erupted in excitement as I hurried back home.
Our family house from doctor Obi’s office was only twenty minutes away but the crazy Lagos traffic meant I’d have to spend at least an hour to get home. I couldn’t wait to see my long lost ‘bestie’.
When I got home she jumped out of the chair to hug me, I missed her terribly and maybe if she had been around all this while, my story would have had a different turn.
“Tola baby” like I fondly called her “your boobs have increased o!” I exclaimed.
“You too, your bum bum has come out” she announced as we both laughed and cried at the same time, a lot of time had passed but we were like little girls again. This was the happiest I’d been in months; I finally had my best friend back! Things were beginning to turn around.
Now that Tola was back, my spirit was lifted and we spent a lot of time together sharing secrets and gossips. Like me, Tola had been through some necessary struggles; we shared similar experiences. She had her Michael days back in college, while I had my ‘Lekan’ days, but we’ve both made it through very bad relationships.
“So, I just started this psychotherapy thing today and the therapist is so fine.”
“You this girl, so you’ve gone to the hospital to ‘catch’ man?”
“Go jor! His name is Doctor Obi and mind you it’s not a hospital, it’s a private practice.” I chuckled
“Tell me about him.”
“Amebo oh! You still haven’t changed. Must you know everything?”
“Yes, every tiny detail,” she insisted
“Well, he is young, handsome, very polite and professional too”
“Sounds like Mr Right, are you planning on marrying him?”
“Ah, ahn! Babe Calm down na! I just met him today for the first time and you’re talking marriage already.”
“I was only joking, when are you seeing him again?”
“My next session is for Thursday,” I replied
“Can I come with you?”
“Haba! To where Tola? So you’ll come and disgrace me with your drama abi? Please stay in your house abeg.”
Six years have passed since I last saw or spoke to Tola and here we were chatting as though we had not missed a single day. We chatted the rest of the day and when it was dark, she left.
The loud noise of the speakers calling for prayers from the mosque next to my house jolted me up, it was Thursday morning and I woke up not feeling like my complete self. I was up late the night before looking at Instagram pictures online but now I had to get ready.
Today was my session with doctor Obi and I had to shake off this feeling. I decided to sleep a little more, but I woke up three hours later. I had overslept and was running late so I ran straight into the shower.
When I got to doctor Obi’s office, I was a little unsure what his reaction would be to my lateness. Frantically rushing in, I apologized incessantly.
“I’m so sorry I’m late; the traffic this morning was terrible.” I lied as I tried to catch my breath.
“Take it easy” putting both hands on my shoulders “take deep breathes,” he said.
His hands felt so warm on my skin and I thought about hugging every inch of him.
“It’s okay; I just got in not too long ago myself,” he continued.
We were standing face to face with both his hands on my shoulders, I looked up at him and our eyes locked.
To be continued next week.