My Instagram Love

Episode 5

“Lola, no! You’re getting it wrong.” Tunde’s voice depicted total remorse and his eyes seemed to be on the verge of pouring out bitter tears. “You are not a stranger to me. Not at all!”

“So why didn’t you tell me about her?” I questioned, sounding so soft and keeping my cool in a way that would surely hurt his already guilty heart. “I told you almost everything about my family when we had our previous chat earlier. Why didn’t you tell me you were married with a child?”

The moment I concluded my statement, Tunde’s eyes widened like an owl’s horrific eyes. “Married?”
“Yes!” I nodded with wide open eyes as well. “Aren’t you married?”
“I’m not married.” He denied it almost immediately. The tone of his voice went higher than Celine Dion’s high-pitched voice during a studio session. “Just let me explain. May I?”

I simply shrugged and nodded affirmatively, getting ready to hear and see through his blatant lies. “Go ahead. I’m all ears.”
“First of all, before I proceed, can you do me a favor, Jessica?”

I looked at Jessica who gave him a surprised look in turn but said, “Yes. I can.”
“Please, I’d like to have a moment with your friend alone.” Tunde said pleadingly, intertwining both hands to express how serious he was about his request. “I mean, that’s if you don’t mind sparing us a few minutes of your time.”

“Sure thing.” Jessica waved her palms at the screen, laughing for a weird reason I couldn’t even fathom. “I really don’t mind. Off I go!”

When she left my room and shut the door behind her, a wave of silence wafted through the air for a while between the almighty Prince Charming and I. We just stayed rooted to our spots, staring into each other’s screens without saying a word.

“Lola, believe me when I tell you this…” Tunde broke the awful silence between us at last, drawing his office chair closer to his laptop. “I actually wanted to tell you about Alice, but I… I just–” he trailed off and covered his face with his palms, shaking his head remorsefully. “I just couldn’t get myself to do so.” He concluded, banging his fists on the desk this time around.

“You need to calm down.” I said, feeling sorry for him. “Take a deep breath.”
Reluctantly, he did as he was told.

“Now, blow it out.” I said softly, gesticulating with my hands for emphasis. He did that as well. When I noticed that his troubled temper had been leveled to my satisfaction, I continued asking the necessary questions:
“So, as you can see, my best friend Jessica is out of the room just as you asked her to leave. I’m still all ears. What do you intend to say to me?”

“Look, you should know I have my reasons for not telling you these things in the first place. I was still–”

“Can you kindly go straight to the point?” I interrupted him abruptly, wearing a frown of displeasure. “Please?”

“Right.” Tunde said, running his right hand into his full afro hair out of frustration. “I’m so sorry, beautiful.”
“This is not the right time for pet names and witty remarks. Don’t you think?” I cautioned him, waving a finger at the screen. “Just go on. I’m listening.”

Tunde nodded and proceeded as instructed:
“I used to have a wife.” He cleared his throat, prepping himself for a long talk. Or so I thought. “We were inseparable lovers right from our teenage years even until we became young adults. We thought we would always remain inseparable even as grownups, but life soon tore us apart. We would’ve probably remained that way if–”
“If what?”

“If she hadn’t died during childbirth.” He concluded after some seconds, taking his eyes off the screen so I wouldn’t see his face.

Those words pierced my feeble heart more than sharp knives; more like shattered glass on a wet ground would pierce into one’s bare feet. Even though I didn’t know the woman in question, I could really tell that he seriously took her dearly. He was extremely shattered by bringing up the memories they both shared and talking about her again as if he wasn’t supposed to let her overwhelm his mind and his heart. As if he had been avoiding this same issue in the first place. Now, I could see things from his perspective. I understood why he never told me anything about his daughter and his dead wife. I felt so bad for him.

With my vulnerable heart beating as fast as a professional athlete, my eyelids and dry lips quivering like a new born baby’s legs, and my hands trembling on top of my mother’s laptop’s keyboard, I managed to compose myself and said softly: “I’m so sorry to hear that, Tunde. Forgive me for bringing up these memories. I didn’t mean to.”