CHAPTER FOUR

Romeo. Real life Romeo. In front of me. 

I swallowed like a rock the size of my head was forcing through my throat. 

He was made of lava or maybe lava was made of him, I don't know– no one knows. My eyes scanned him head to toe like a machine detecting metal. He wore a skin tight burning red turtleneck shirt that hugged his slender frame and tucked that into one shiny scarlet leather pants and paired with Balenciaga platform boots.  And the worst of all…his locs were dyed blood red.

It was Valentine's Day, I knew that but this guy already looked drop dead gorgeous when he rocked his plain black locs and used a lip balm on his pink lips. How can they do this to us? To me? To my poor heart? That red pumping thing stopped pumping for a solid minute, I must say. 

His light brown skin complemented his whole scarlet package too well; they could be woven together and we would never know.

I swallowed again, that damn rock wasn't moving anywhere. 

"Hi," he said. His smile, as usual, made his gold flecked eyes disappear. But I didn't need to see his beautiful pairs to 'see' them. I had them ingrained in my mind's eye from pressing my face into the screen during his livestreams. Clearly it didn't take much to imagine them on him, warm as the rays of golden hour sunlight, staring into my soul like he always did unblinkingly on our screens.

"H-hi." I stuttered. "It-it's really you…you're real." 

"I hope so." He chuckled. Took a step close to me. "If you don't mind me squeezing myself in that little spot." That spot was beside me. 

I didn't answer, I just shifted to almost the edge so it wasn't little anymore. 

He sat with a grunt. Holding his knee, he crossed his legs automatically. I looked at the tiny space still between us and I wondered, my head blown wide open, I could touch him if I wanted to. He was right there. Not even an arm length away, like two fingers away. How is this happening? Is this even real? Why do I feel like I will wake up to the call to prayer from the mosque in my street? This must be a dream, there is no way the biggest musician after Rema was casually sitting beside me, what universe was that possible? 

Romeo was a big fish through and through. He has been a celebrity since he was ten. With popular parents and his stunning eye colour, rare in this part of the world, he featured in every Nollywood movie that required a pompous kid, the ajebutter. He was the kid who would grow up to be Ramsey Noah or Majid Michael from Ghana. Everybody knew him and if you managed to escape that critical childhood experience, you would meet him on every billboard found in the cities of Nigeria. If one brand wanted to sell a chocolate drink that makes one run faster than Usain Bolt and there he was, another wanted to sell the detergent that makes one the best in class, look no further than making Romeo the kid with glasses. From actor to model and then to musician with his debut album coming out two years ago, he was fifteen then, talk about talent meet looks. Romeo was loved by all. He was just so adorable. Many good looking people are said to be pleasant to look at, he was the opposite because there was nothing pleasant about losing control of your senses. 

"Is that him?" he asked. 

"W-what?" 

He pointed to the phone I held with both of my  hands and didn't remember the image of the boy that was causing tears to pool in my eyes merely seconds ago was still open in front of me. 

"Oh. Yeah."

"He looks smart." 

"He is." I glanced at the photo just to be sure I remembered what he looked like because my brain was in a foggy town painted in red. 

"Not smart enough for sure." He said.

A small chuckle escaped my lips. I turned the screen black and kept it face down on my lap. And like my phone, I didn't raise my head up again.

"What's your name?"

"Colette." 

"Lovely name."

"Thanks." I added after a beat. " You have a lovely name too."

"Romeo? That's not my real name."

"No. Preye. Romeo too is fine, it is romantic."

"Nothing romantic about dying" He clicked his tongue. "But I get what you mean."

"Yeah, you're Lover boy. I love all your songs. Everything. I wanted to propose to…him with your song but he–"

"Said no?"

"No. He proposed to another person. He never loved me, I thought he did." I took a full breath. "I really thought he did."

"His loss."

"My friend said that too."

"Your friend is right."

I nodded but I wasn't sure I agreed. What was Hussein losing from not loving me? He looked happy with his brand new girlfriend. I didn't hate him enough to wish him anything less than happiness, even if it wasn't from me. If Nonye makes him happy, sure. You know, sure! Have fun!

Romeo burst into laughter beside me. His shoulders vibrated with every rising note in his laugh. I glanced around for what had tickled his funny bone. 

"I'm sorry, I just remembered this dream I had just now. I was sleeping when I heard you cry but my brain didn't interpret it that straightforward instead it was like I had a newborn baby, no mother in sight and I was trying to get her, him, it whatever to stop crying but hell no! Nothing was working. I left the baby and drove out of the house. That's ridiculous."

I huffed out a chuckle. "You left your baby?"

"Look at me. I suck big time."

"Sorry, I woke you up."

"No, nah. I was going to wake up sometime. Who was going to sing the concert?"

"I can't believe you're here with me right now."

"I can't believe I left my baby." He gasped, holding his heart like it was about to fall out of his chest.

I couldn't help but releasing all the bubbles of laughter in me. I watched him as he shook his whole body so dramatically like he was overwhelmed with the fear of his ragged imagined parenting. 

"That's insane. What kind of father would I be?"

"I think you will be awesome."

"It's not about what you think, sweetheart." He sighed. "There was no one in the house and I left…it."

"Maybe you went to find a babysitter."

"No." He sulked. His pouted lips stretched to almost his nose.

"Well, you didn't leave me." I shrugged. 

He paused as if he actually gave it a thought. When he thinks, his brows always came together to form a pyramid at the centre of his face as his eyes scanned the roof above him.

I watched him, my whole body turned in his direction. I had a smile made on my face that I didn't remember forming. Then he met my eyes. My heart skipped a beat, then two but I didn't look away. 

"I guess there is hope for me then." He smiled, just a little. Thank God I still saw his eyes, I saw them dancing in mine like starlights. 

Something started in me. 

Something with wings.