CHAPTER 3: HOPE.

#JUST_BEST_FRIENDS

Author: Sam Freddy

CHAPTER 3: HOPE.

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The next day was beyond hectic for Yomi, because he had to assist his friends in moving their belongings to their new apartment with his car. Tayo, Anastasia's brother, wasn't left out of the hustle either. Yomi and Tayo collectively helped in setting up the one-bedroom apartment to the ladies' satisfaction. Together, everyone cleaned and furnished the crib on Sunday. At the end of that day, all that was left was to attach an overhead fan to the ceiling and paint the walls of the room to another preferable colour. 

On Monday, after lectures, Yomi drove Anastasia and Idara to a well-known supermarket to get the necessary items. While both ladies did the shopping, Yomi waited in his car, listening to music to kill time. He was about to change the radio station when someone knocked on his car window. 

Lo and behold, it was the same fairsome lady whom he saw at school on Saturday night. She was smiling at him through the closed glass at the other side, waiting for him to unlock the car door. 

With a little bit of hesitation, Yomi unlocked his car door, and then she opened it and got in quickly. 

“Um, hey.” The lady greeted through gritted teeth. “I'm not sure if you recognize me from the other night, at school to be precise.”

“I actually do.” Yomi responded calmly. “What can I do for you?”

The lady took a moment to look him over, then she smiled to herself and spoke: “Um, first off, if you don't mind my asking—” she almost stuttered, “—is this your whip?”

“Yes, it's my car.”

“Wow!” She was obviously surprised. “Not bad at all. You know, right now, seeing you up-close has made me realize how wrong I was about you. I never knew you were so fresh like this o!”

Yomi's face was grim. “Thank you. All glory be to God.” He turned off the radio and glanced out the car window. “Now, how may I help you? Hurry up. My friends will soon be back.”

Having heard that, the lady suddenly became so guilt-ridden that she couldn't even maintain eye contact anymore. “Look, I'm sorry about the things I said to your friend that day. I didn't really mean to insult you or act saucy to her. I swear.”

Yomi simply listened in silence, his eyes slowly wandering around the environment. 

“The truth is, I was in a very bad mood when she came to me, so I kind of vented my anger on the both of you, which was so not cool of me. I admit it. Honestly, I'm not always like that. Something just went wrong on that particular day, and I'm really sorry that you both had to suffer such pointless embarrassment in public, all because of me.” She facepalmed in utter regret. “As it is, I doubt if you would ever forgive me for what I did. Clearly, my chances are very, very slim.”

When she was done talking, Yomi observed her facial expression for a moment, then he huffed and rubbed his palms together. “Chill. Life is not that hard, miss. You are forgiven.”

“Seriously?” A deep furrow appeared on the lady's forehead. “Just like that?”

“Pretty much.”

She grinned. “Aww. Thank you. I am very grateful.”

“Yeah. It's cool.” Yomi smiled warmly. “Funnily enough, I still don't know your name, miss.”

“Ah! That's true!” The lady snapped her fingers as it dawned on her that she hadn't introduced herself all along. “Sorry about that. My bad. The name's Candy.” 

Yomi instantly furrowed his eyebrows. “Really? Is that your real name?”

Candy almost laughed, but she comported herself instead. “Nah. It's just a nickname. Candice is the real deal.”

“Man, I should've known that.” Yomi banged the steering wheel and snapped his fingers quite hard. “Damn thing was right under my nose the entire time. How could I not tell?”

Candice chuckled. “Come on, don't beat yourself up for nothing. It's perfectly okay,” she grinned again, amused by Yomi's antics. “And now it's your turn.”

“Right.” Yomi gave her a knowing look. “My name is Yomi.”

“"Yomi"?” Candice quoted with great shock, checking him out one more time. “But you are too cute to be a Yoruba guy nau. I mean, hell, you don't even look Nigerian at all. You really look like a low-budget white man. I swear down!”

Yomi burst out laughing. “Yeah. I get that a lot. But now it's even funnier, coming from you of all people,” he touched her smooth, pale skin for emphasis. “A typical case of the kettle calling the pot black, don't you think?”

“Nah. I don't agree.” Candice's face lit up with pure joy. “As you can see, I am an albino, not a low quality Michael Jackson like you, sir.”

Defeated, Yomi simply laughed out loud and shook his head in response to Candice's hot punch line. 

“So, jokes aside,” Candice sighed. “How can I make it up to you, Yomi?”

Yomi gave it a quick thought and said, “Well, since you asked nicely, tomorrow is my birthday, and I'll be celebrating it at the Love Garden. Eight PM.” He gave her forearm a gentle, loving stroke, then winked coolly. “Just be there.”

__________

At midnight, Idara dialled Yomi's number, hoping to be his very first caller for the day. Despite the fact that she was stressed out from the day's work and needed to rest badly, she still wanted to make sure that she triumphed over his friends concerning who would be the first lucky person to call and offer him his well-deserved birthday wishes. 

Of course, nobody was in a competition with Idara, but for some weird reasons she took it as a personal challenge, like her life depended on it. Frankly, she was determined to not sleep until she had achieved her aim perfectly well. 

Unfortunately, all through the first three rings, Yomi's number was reported busy on another call. Disappointed, Idara raised her fist to punch a very soft pillow beside her, but she quickly figured that doing that could disturb Anastasia's peaceful sleep, so she stopped. Instead of resorting to violence, she simply waited and called back after a minute that seemed like infinity. 

This time around, the odds were strongly in her favor. She realized that when her call went through and a soothing “Hello!” came from Yomi's end of the line. 

“Argh! Finally!” Idara heaved a sigh of relief. “You this big head; I've been trying to reach you since, like, forever. Who were you talking to?”

“Someone new.” Yomi sounded very odd. “Even if I told you who it was, you surely wouldn't believe me. So there's no need to.”

Idara's curiosity instantly came to life. “Yomee, you of all people should know that I don't like getting put or left on suspense. Please, just tell me who it was. I'm really curious.”

“Sure thing. I'll tell you, but not easily,” he said. “I want you to try and guess before I do.”

“But I'm very tired, as we speak.”

“Well, it's not a do-or-die affair, madam.” Yomi whistled playfully. “If you can't guess, then simply forget it.”

Knowing that she'd been cornered smartly, Idara slapped her forehead just once and snorted. “Oya, no vex, abeg. I'll do it, big head,” she gave in easily. 

“So, um, let's see...” She thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed, “Was it Jordan?”

“Jordan kor, Adidas ni. Try again.”

“Uh, was it Tracy, your crush?”

“What! I can't believe you still remember Tracy.” Yomi's voice was as loud as a trumpet. “That was, like, three years ago, mumu. I've gotten over her disrespectful ass since 2017. So, no, she couldn't possibly be the one who called. Next trial, please.”

“How about Jolene, your beloved ex-girlfriend?”

Yomi laughed at that. “Presently, Jolene hates me more than the devil himself. Why would she wanna call me?”

Idara chuckled. “Yeah. True. Um, perhaps Selene could've been the one?”

“Eww!” Yomi almost choked on his own saliva. “Please don't ruin my mood. I don't want to remember that immature girl, abeg.”

Idara snorted again with laughter. “So who was it, then? I'm tired of guessing. I've tried.”

“No. I no go gree o. Try one more time.” Yomi insisted strongly. “Just one last time.”

“All right, then.” Idara sighed. “Well, I think it should be Irene, the poor girl you cheated on with Selene. Right?”

“Wrong.” Yomi answered sharply. “Correction: I never cheated on Irene. Let me burst your brain small,” he giggled serenely. “What you don't know is that Irene was two-timing me around the time that Selene came into my life. Irene isn't as innocent as you think she is. Let's just say that Selene saw something good and took it from the hands of an ungrateful woman. That's all.”

Idara rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Na you sabi. All I want to know is who called you earlier.”

“Oh. Right. About that...” Yomi whistled again, slightly. “Do you remember that chick from Saturday night, the one who shamed us in public?”

“Hell, yeah. I don't think I can ever forget her.”

“Good for you, then, because she was the one who called.”

“What! How come?” Idara couldn't believe her ears. “How's that possible? How did she get your number? I don't understand.”

“Chill. Let me explain.”

With that, Yomi gave Idara the full, sweet gist about what happened between him and Candice during the day. By the time he was done explaining, Idara's eyes and mouth were literally wide open. 

“So why didn't you tell me all this during the day?”

“Easy: Because I wanted to surprise you at my low-key party. I invited Candice and her friends, too.”

“Gosh!” Idara facepalmed in utter disappointment. “Yomee, I can't believe you actually did that. Worst of all, I can't believe that I actually sat on the same seat where that rude albino slay queen sat upon. I won't be surprised if I sleep tonight and turn all white before dawn. Ugh!”

Yomi grunted. “Seriously, you need to stop speaking ill of that lady, Idara. Believe me, she's not a bad person. I don't really know her that well, but judging from the short conversation we both had, I can already tell that she's a very special babe. I just wish you could see her the way I do.”

Idara's heart pounded in her ears as she took in Yomi's words, bit by bit. Something about the way he talked about Candice just wasn't right. The passion in his voice, his sudden sense of protection over her, and his tactical choice of words were all beyond the ordinary. She sensed something fishy and realized that she had to figure it out, one way or the other.

“Yomee, what makes you think she's very special, though?”

“Correction: I don't think so. I know so.” Yomi's voice was incredibly calm. “After she apologized to me, we both locked gazes for a moment, and I saw the sincerity in her gloomy eyes, Idara. She has these beautiful bright green eyes that glows like pure emeralds. You should've been there to see them, too. She was so pretty, even with just light make-up.”

On hearing that, it finally dawned on Idara that her dear best friend was really attracted to the so-called Candice. Almost immediately, she remembered Anastasia's exact words, which were: “As for me if I like someone, I'll shoot my shot straight up and leave the rest to fate.”

Then another one followed suit, when Anastasia had said: “Okay na. Stay there dey dull yourself until another sharp babe go thief am for your eye.”

From that alone, Idara tapped enough motivation and braced herself for what was about to happen. In order not to lose her personal crush forever, she had to do something real quick. 

“Yomee, I, uh, have something I want to tell you.”

“Really?” Yomi sounded quite curious. “Come on, go on. Tell me something I don't know.”

Idara sighed. “Look, Yomee, what I'm about to say might sound weird or cheesy, but the truth is that... that I—” she stuttered badly, “—I, um-”

“Isabelle, what's wrong? Tell me what's bothering you na. I'm all ears.”

With another distressed sigh, Idara closed her eyes and started talking cautiously, “Yomi, I lo-”

“Keep your voice down jor!” Anastasia interrupted Idara as she turned over. “You're disturbing me.”

“Oh, no. I'm so sorry.” Idara's eyes were now wide open. “I didn't mean to. Don't be annoyed.”

“Okay. I've heard you. Just stop disturbing my sleep sha.”

Idara simply giggled at that. 

“If I were you I'd listen to her and go ahead with what I have to say, right away.” Yomi's curiosity was now on full display, judging from the tone of his voice. 

Idara, however, was suddenly quiet, gathering her thoughts. 

“Hurry up ooo! Time no dey again, madam.”

Having lost her confidence, Idara sighed for the umpteenth time and shut her eyes again. “You know what? Let us just forget about it for now. It's a very sensitive issue that shouldn't be said over the phone. I'll rather tell you in person. I think it'll make more sense that way.”

“Okay o.” Yomi agreed, a little disappointed. “So, what now?”

“Now, get some sleep.” Idara took a deep breath, and then she blew it out in a whoosh. “You'll need it, big time.”

Yomi managed a chuckle. “Yeah. You, too. Goodnight.”

“Actually, it's already morning, olodo.” Idara joked. “And hey-” she paused abruptly. 

“What?” Yomi's curiosity was awoken. “Huh?”

“Happy birthday, young man.” A genuine smile was etched on Idara's face as she spoke ever so softly. “I would've loved to sing to you, but I don't want to interrupt Asia's sleep again before she swears for me.”

Both Yomi and Idara laughed at that. 

“See, Yomee, I don't have the strength for long talk.” Idara continued almost immediately. “I just want to let you know that you are the best best friend in the whole wide world. I cross my heart.”

“Haha.” For some reason, Yomi found Idara's words highly hilarious. “Well, yes, I know that, too. I'm just too much. The last of my kind; extremely rare.”

Idara couldn't help but laugh to her heart's content. “Get out jare, olodo.”

“With all pleasure, dear.”

And with that, Idara ended the call, smiling to herself. She may not have succeeded in expressing her feelings for Yomi today, but there was still time, and hope. 

So much hope.