Chapter 10: Chapter 10

I lied to my mom the next morning that I was going to Faith's place in the afternoon. I prayed she wouldn't find out I was lying the whole night but fortunately for me, she had a party at Ibadan and wasn't returning home till the net day. The downfall however was that, she had already informed Faith's mom that I'd be coming over to spend the night.

I spent over five minutes arguing with her that I was okay with sleeping at home alone but, she insisted.

“You would be spending the afternoon there anyways so what difference will it make and besides, my mind will be at rest if you stay there for the night.” She said, before leaving the next morning.

Tayo messaged me around 10:30am, not long after mom left home with a promise of bringing back the famous party jollof rice with her.

I sent him my house address since it was closer to the cinema and started dressing up. After taking my bath, I combed my thick and shaggy hair before packing it with a band.

Applying eco gel at the edge of my hair, I slipped on my jean and top. I put on my white sneakers and carried my sling bag but, not before stuffing in my phone charger, earpiece, a little cash and my current book.

Tayo arrived around 2 hours later and I opened the door for him, I didn't invite him in because I didn't fully trust him yet and besides, there was no need to. I was ready so; I just grabbed my bag from the chair and we left the house.

We had just gotten out of my compound when he started leading me towards a car.

"Where are you going?" I asked suspiciously since he wasn't going in the direction of the bustop.

"To the car." He replied, pointing at the car.

"That car?" I asked quietly, taking a good look at the car after overcoming a bit of my previous suspicion.

I stared at the car and even though I was bad with vehicles, I knew it was going to cost more than just a few millions with its silk, shiny black body and tinted windows. I didn't know what model it was but all I knew was that it had ‘VOLVO’ written at the back.

"Who owns the car?" I asked, looking at the car in total astonishment because I could tell that it wasn’t just a regular car. My dad owned a car after all and, it was nice but wasn’t as nice as this.

"My father." He replied, easily.

"Did you drive it here." I asked, since I couldn't see anyone standing near it and I also couldn't see anyone inside due to the tinted glass.

"No, I didn't. My father’s driver did." He said, knocking the window of the driver seat as the glass rolled down.

"Good afternoon sir." I greeted the man behind the wheel who just nodded at me and threw me an easy smile.

We got into the car which was thankfully very cool, the air conditioner was on and I welcomed the cold air after walking in the noon sun. The first few minutes of the ride was filled with an uncomfortable silence as he sat beside me clicking away on his phone.

"So which movie do you want to watch?" He asked all of a sudden, engaging me in a conversation.

"What will they be showing?" I asked, since I was totally clueless about what was currently showing in the cinema’s these days.

"Merry men by 12pm and Kings of boys will be shown by 2." He said, tilting his phone to me as he showed me an image of their schedule.

"Let's watch King of boys, I want to watch it." I said.

"That's cool then, I also wanted to re-watch it." He replied.

We got to the mall in no time and the driver slid into a parking space at the parking lot.

"Thank you." I said as we were about to alight and he replied with a very polite smile, "You are welcome."

The mall was busy and packed with crowds probably because it was weekend and, most people were out, some with their family, some without.

"We still have more than an hour before the movie, let's get something to eat." He spoke loudly, above the noise and clutter before holding my hands in his and leading me in the direction of a restaurant which was less filled.

Cool air enveloped me as we entered, the air conditioner played a part in that and I welcomed the air again after trudging amidst the crowds to get there. The atmosphere was a cozy one, slow music played quietly in the background and you could tell the restaurant was specifically designed for lovers. There were a handful of couples scattered across the restaurant as we finally found a spot beside the window.

I settled across Tayo as a waiter approached us, I ordered for salad and chicken while he ordered for fried rice, grilled fish and yoghurt.

“Do you want coke or any other drink?” He asked as I shook my head.

“Yoghurt is fine.” I said.

“Alright, you heard the young lady. Yoghurt and two bottles of water.” He added, dismissing the young waiter.

"I must say, I was a bit surprised you agreed to come out with me today.” He started as I smiled.

“I am still in shock myself.” I replied.

“Hmmm, really?” He asked.

“Yes.” I muttered.

“So, tell me. What made you agree to this date.” He said, a mischievous smile on his face.

“And… who said it’s a date?” I teased him as the waiter arrived with our orders.

“I thought we both agreed yesterday that this is a date?” He asked, giving me an incredulous look that says, “Really!”

“Enjoy your meal.” The waiter said, leaving us.

“You said it was date but I don’t remember agreeing to it and, I thought you said it’s going to be with you and Bode, you tricked me!” I said the last part, feigning surprise.

“Well, about that…” He trailed off, scratching his hair.

“Hmm hmm, what do you have to say for yourself?” I asked, digging into my salad.

“Nothing. I just wanted to spend time with you and get to know you better.” He said, his voice lowered a notch as his eyes bore deeply into mine. My heartbeat got faster and I felt myself shy away from him and whatever it is that he was making me feel at that moment.

Looking away since he refused to, I picked up my bottle of water and gulped down a huge amount directly from the bottle as the water went down the wrong pipe and I started coughing.

“Sorry.” He said, looking worried and kind of helpless as he stood up. He came over to my seat and rubbed my back with his hands, saying a continuous sorry till I had calmed down.

“Sorry about that.” I said as he returned to his seat.

“That’s alright. So, would you like to tell me about yourself?" He asked, opening the yoghurt as he served mine first before his. Catching my eyes, he muttered, “Its ladies first.” and I smiled at him.

"Well, there is really nothing much to tell." I said.

"You don’t really mean that, do you? Because I would like to know everything. Tell me everything there is to know about this gorgeous girl in front of me." He said, smiling as I blushed at the compliment.

"Okay, my name is Enitan Hassan, I am14 years old but I guess you already knew all that." I said.

"Hmmm, beautiful name." He commented, while I just blushed harder.

"What is wrong with you?” I asked myself, inwardly cringing before going on.

“Okay, so I love to write, read, sing and dance. I am very gentle but I have my limit. I hate rude people and those that are not objective." I added.

"Cool, guess you will like me then because I am not rude and I am very objective especially when it comes to going for what I want." He said, adding a wink making me laugh.

"Excuse me but, do I sense some hidden hints there.” I blurted out without thinking.

“Perceptive. I love that.” He replied, a look of approval graced his face as he raised up his glass.

“A toast to the first of many dates.” He said, his glass raised.

“Who said I would want to?” I asked him, playfully.

“I know you would.” He replied, as I raised up my glass and we cheer to it.

“Okay then. It’s your turn now, tell me about you." I said curiously.

"What do you want to know." He asked, the easy smile still on his face.

"Everything also." I said, smiling shyly as I recall his earlier compliment.

"My name is Adeleke Olutayo, I am the second and last son of senator Adeleke...” He started as I interrupted him in surprise as I began to place his face with the handsome man in his late 40's that I had seen on the television a few times.

It is unlike me to watch the news but whenever I am surfing through the Tv stations, I loved to stop whenever I came across his name because of his pretty face. I had once asked my mom if she also thought he was handsome, and she had replied. “He is a fine man but not as handsome as my husband.”

Back then, I had scoffed in my head and thought. “That’s a very big lie!”

"Are you for real?" I asked, still surprised. I couldn’t believe I knew the son a senator.

“Yeah.” He chuckled as if he had expected my reaction.

“Wow, this is so surprising.” I muttered.

"Yes, it is but we will talk about that later. It's almost five minutes to two." He said, as we stood up.

“… I just turned 16, I love music and singing, I can't dance, I love reading and most importantly I love gadgets." He said, as we made our way to the cinema.

We got to the entrance of the cinema where we got our tickets, popcorn and drinks. When we walked in, the movie hadn’t started.

We found ourselves a seat as I began to munch on the popcorn whose paper bag had TBC printed all over it.

The light went out as the movie started, I stared at the big screen in excitement as the opening credit rolled in. I felt Tayo looking at me as I turn to look at him.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“Nothing, just wondering how you are this beautiful.” He said as I blushed, shaking my head in disbelief. I looked away and ignored him afterwards as he stared at me all through the movie while I enjoyed the movie, alongside my popcorn.

The movie was nearing the end when I noticed I had finished my popcorn. I groaned inwardly as I wondered if people ever bought two popcorns just for themselves.

“We should have bought the plastic popcorn instead.” Tayo said.

“Yea, we should have.” I whispered as he passed me his barely touched popcorn.

“Thank you.” I said happily, resuming the movie.

It wasn’t until I was back home staring at the store nylon with goodies in front of me before I realized what I have done. I couldn’t believe I had gone on a date with Tayo, Tayo whom I had told my best friend I was not interested in. I found myself thinking of competing with Faith over him as I recalled how the day went.

After the movie ended, we left the cinema and went to one of the popular stores named shoprite which was inside the mall. Walking into the store, he told me to get whatever I wanted but I felt so uncomfortable about spending his money that I just picked up a few chips. He got himself chocolates, cakes and ice cream as I thought. “He must have a sweet tooth.”

“Are you going to eat all that?” I asked, curious as I wondered how someone who looked as fit as he did could eat all that sweet things.

“Of course, not…” He drawled out. “My younger sister and Bode’s are going to devour it.” He laughed and I nodded.

“How they manage to eat all these though, I still wonder too so please don’t ask.” He added, shrugging as he threw me a side glance.

“I was going to.” I muttered.

“What are you picking?” He asked, looking into my basket as if he had just noticed it was basically empty.

“Hmmm, nothing much.” I said, feeling awkward. It was the first time a boy would be spending money on me and I did not know how other girls enjoyed it but, it was weird.

“Do you like chocolates?” He asked, I replied automatically thinking it was just to know me better but ooh, how wrong I was.

“Yes. I love them.” I replied, grateful for the change in subject as he walked through the chocolate section adding more to his basket as I followed him.

“Hmm, really. What about ice cream?” He asked, going through the brand and ingredient of a particular chocolate which in my opinion was too cost.

“I love that too. I basically love anything sweet.” I replied.

“Hmmm hmm.” He said, not paying attention to me or at least that was what I thought.

“What do you think of this. Is it nice?” He asked for my opinion on the overpriced chocolate.

“Yea, it is very nice and would probably taste great. I am sure your sister would love it.” I said as he nodded, picking up six bars of the chocolate.

“I am sure she would.” He muttered, throwing a big smile in my direction. It went on like that, buying stuffs, asking my opinions, dropping the ones I thought his sister might not like and buying the ones I thought his sister will love.

It wasn’t until we were in the car and driving back did I realize, he had bought all the things I said his sister would like for me and he had just bought the regular things he knew his sister like for her.

“I can’t believe you actually bought all of these for me. This is too much; I can’t accept it.” I said to him as he walks me to the door.

“You would have to because my sister definitely prefers skittles over m and m. She is not going to eat it.” He said, as we got to the door.

“But…” I started.

“No buts, just think of it as a thank you gift for coming out with me today and I hope you would again.” He said. I muttered a silent “Thank you.” as he turned around with a wave and a promise to call me later.

My phone rang, breaking me out of my thought as I opened my bag and brought out my phone.

“Good afternoon ma.” I said, picking my mum’s call with a racing heart. I wondered if I had been out.

“Enitan, where are you?” She asked, yelling so I could her voice over the noisy background.

“Faith’s mum just called me to tell me you have not arrived at their place.” She added, I could detect the hint of worry in her voice.

“Haa mummy, I am still at home. I want to pray before leaving.” I lied.

“Okay. I will call her to let her know you will be a bit late but make sure you go before everywhere gets dark.” She said, ending the call as I let out a big sigh of relief. Turns out I haven’t been found out after all.

Getting up, I hurriedly made ablution and perform solat. Once I was done, I packed a small overnight bag, dropping some chocolates and chips in it. I brought out the ice cream and drank it to prevent it from melting as I wrapped the rest of the goodies tightly in the nylon and hid it away under my clothes.

I left the house some minutes later with my overnight bag and my wardrobe keys. I was taking no chances of my mum finding out about my little moment of rebellion.