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| RUNAWAY LOVE ❤🏃 (A true story) |
CHAPTER 6
It was pitch dark out there on the veranda. Also, my younger sister and her friend, Eli, were in the room. So, I had no choice but to let us have it right there on the veranda. It felt very good because I was a very adventurous man, but for Solange, it was something completely new for her.
After we were done, she put on her undies and adjusted her dress. I held her hand and took her back to her house. Before I left, I held her hand and reassured her again of my love for her, apologizing at the same time for hitting her and promised never to do it again.
A few days later, she told me that it seemed she was unsafe while we made love last time on our veranda. So, it was possible that she could be pregnant for me. At that time, I was still in my late teens and was living in the village. So, I had no other options but to wait and see if her period would arrive at the right time.
For the next twoo weeks, we were very worried and I kept asking her if she had been feeling like a pregnant woman, but her answers were always in the negative.
"What if you are actually pregnant?" I asked her.
"Hmm! I don't know what to say, hut it won't be good. I will run into serious trouble back home. In fact, I will be kicked out of the house. She replied.
"Come and live with me if you are kicked out of the house." I proposed.
"Sounds like a bright idea, but how are we going to survive? You don't have a job."
"That's true oh."
"So, it will be very difficult for us."
"Yes, but we will survive. I have never heard that someone died of hunger in this country. Besides, you can go live with my mother."
"Really? Will she accept me?"
"She will not find it funny, but will have to accept you because you are carrying my child. I hope it's a girl. I love female children." I smiled.
"You love women in general." She laughed. "Anyway, I would be glad too if it turns out to be a girl. What do you think we should name her?"
"We should name her Mayraya, after my mother." I spoke excitedly.
"Your mother is called Mayraya?"
"No, she's called Maria. I have just modernized the name.
We both laughed at this.
That day, in spite of the fact that we were both worried that she might be pregnant, we still made sweet love before she said goodbye and went home.
The next day, she came happily to our house and told me that she had good news.
"What is the good news?" I asked impatiently. "Please, tell me."
"My menses came last night." She replied.
"Wow!! Thank God. I am relieved now." I was happy.
"You should be. After we made love, I went home to clean up and that was when I noticed it."
"So soon? So, I was the one who went and shook it." I laughed.
"Na so."
A week later she came to see me and she was very sad. I couldn't tell what was making her sad, but I decided that I would do anything and everything to make her happy again. All I needed to know was what was troubling her.
"Now, what is the matter, Solange?" I asked, a worried wrinkle on my brow.
"Phi, I will be leaving you." She replied, sadly.
"What? Leaving me? Why? When?" I was confused. That news had hit me like a sledgehammer.
"We are moving to Buea?"
"What do you mean by 'we'?"
"Everyone of us. All this while, my boss had been building his house somewhere at Great Soppo in Buea. Now, the house has been completed. It is time for us to leave." She sadly explained.
I took about two steps backwards and covered my face with both hands. It was not good. It was not good at all. Why was this happening to me? I had become so used and fond of her that my life reolved around her. Now, she was leaving me without warning. Why?
I felt my head spinning. My legs became weak and heavy as if an invisible force was dragging them. I had a sudden stomach ache. I had not realized how much I loved Solange until the reality of us separating happened.
I managed to compose myself and asked.
"When are you guys leaving?"
"January next year."
"That is about four months away. Chai!! Only four months. Solange, I will not be able to cope without you. I love you so much and have become so accustomed to having you around. I know we have had our ups and downs, but we always look for a away to solve and overcome them."
"That's true, Phi. I have been crying since last night when the news was broken to us. My other sisters are very excited, but not me, not me, Phi. What will I do without you. I have never loved anyone the way I love you now. How do I face life without you by my side?"
"The worst part is that there will be no means of communication. I hear Buea now has network. I wish I had a phone, I could be calling you all the time."
"Yes, I hear there are two network companies now, MTN and Mobilis. I would love to have a phone as soon as I get there."
"Chai!! This village is really a hole." I lamented. "Someday, I will leave this place for good."
"Phi."
"Yes, Solange."
"Will you come to Buea to look for me?" She asked, looking deep in my eyes.
"Yes, Solange, I will. I will come for you no matter how long it takes."
"Please, Phi. Promise me. Promise me that you will come for me."
"I normally don't make promises, Solange, but in this case, I am making an exception. I am promising young you that I will come for you."
"Thank you. I feel a bit relieved now."
"Don't worry, we still have four months to be together. We have to maximize output during that period." I spoke.
"I know what you are talking about, bad man." We both laughed.
Well, we began maximizing output that night. We made love on our balcony before she went home.
Four months passed very fast and one morning she came to see me. I was at the back of our house.
"Phi, our send off party is tonight. Will you attend?" She asked.
"Only if I am invited."
The send off party was free for everyone, invited or not, but I didn't go because I was not in the right frame of mind to go. I just wanted to be home and be thinking of how miserable my life was going to be without my love, Solange by my side.
They were supposed to leave the next day but the truck that was hired to carry their goods to Buea failed to show up. I was very happy when I was told that the truck had failed to come. I prayed and hoped that the truck never came.
That night, Solange came to see me. It was our last night together because her boss had called the truck driver and had reprimanded him for not showing up as scheduled. The apologetic driver has promised to show up the following day without fail.
"Phi, I am leaving tomorrow. No one knows about the future, but this might be our last time together forever." She spoke sadly.
"Please, dont say that, Solange. I already promised to come look for you, though I don't know how and when."
"That's what I am talking about. It's so sad and I feel so terrible."
"I have the same feeling, but know that whatever happens after today, you will always be in my heart."
She started weeping, and I soon joined her.
"Please, sing a song for me, Phi."
That night, in the rain, I sang two songs for her. The first one was 'Goodbye my Lover' by James Blunt. The second one was 'The Promise' by Tracy Chapman. Those two songs had the theme of love , separation and the hope to be reunited again. She wept all through as I sang. She shifted gears when I sang this line:
"If you make a promise, and if it is one that you can keep, I swear to come for you, if you wait for me."
Well, at the end of the night, with all the cold and our both bodies drenched by the rain, we made love for the last time. We made love like no man's business. We made love like there was no tomorrow.
The next morning, I woke up from sleep, opened the door and saw a huge truck parked in front of their gate. Their stuffs were already parked. She waved at me and waved back. As she got into the car, she stole one last look at me. The look carried all the promises we had made, but mostly it said, "I will wait for you."
As their little convoy of two cars exited the neighbourhood, I ran back into the bedroom, fell heavily on the bed and wept seriously. I thought of everything we had been through. I thought of the first day I met her, how we fell in love, our crazy fights, the love making on our veranda, her beautiful face and big bwests, and I cried harder.
After about an hour of sulking, I woke up from bed and made a firm resolution. My time in this village was over. Whatever I did henceforth, would be geared to one purpose and one purpose only...
... to go find my love, Solange.
TO BE CONTINUED...