Chapter 2: First date

Omotayo 

  My back ached terribly from sitting in one position for too long. Ini had spent over three hours trying to supposedly 'bring out my beauty' as she called it but I only saw it as a waste of time since I know I'll still look great even without the excessive use of makeup.

"I swear Tayo, anyone that sees you now will think you're on your way to a funeral," she tells me and I furrow my brows confused. 

"What am I doing wrong now?" I asked her and she responded by making me look at the mirror in front of me.

  "You looked depressed. Not even a glint of happiness or excitement in your eyes. Do you think your date won't notice your lack of interest? He will and the date will end even before it starts and that means my efforts and your parent's efforts to help you get back up will be wasted," 

 She sounded upset and I almost felt bad till I remembered she's the reason I'm in this mess in the first place. It's not like I willingly volunteered to go on a date and they can't expect me to be smiling when I'm not at all excited about tonight. 

"Just a reminder that if your three dates don't go well, you'll be forced into an arranged marriage. So just take my advice, smile with genuine happiness and when you're with your date, loosen up a bit," she tells me quickly before patting my shoulder and walking out of my room. 

****

   It was 7pm when I arrived at the restaurant my date and I were set to meet. The truth is, I'm a punctuality freak and the only thing my date could do to piss me off at this point was to arrive late. At least, that would give me a good excuse to bolt out of this place. 

"I have a reservation for table 14?" I said to the elderly man in front of me and he directed me to the window seat table that was as expected still empty. I decided against asking if anyone had arrived before me and just instead sat patiently and by patiently, I mean if he's not here in ten minutes, the date is definitely over. 

  Less than five minutes later, an average height man appears in front of me and I'm temporarily hypnotised by how great he looks. He looked mid-thirty, obviously the type that works out since his physique was beyond amazing and that face alone would make any woman fall at his feet. Let's not even talk about that beautiful smile he has on his face, he looked so overjoyed to see me and I partly found that strange. Did he know me?

  "Hi, I'm Tobi. You must be Omotayo?" he asked and I nodded in reply. "It's really nice to meet you. You're really pretty," he said, barely audible with his last words but my dog ears never fail me. 

"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," I replied to him, giving him the best compliment I could think of. 

"Waiter!" He hollered and a smallish looking lady walked over to our table, handing us two separate menus to place our order. 

  "I'll be having fried rice and fried fish," I said to the waiter who simply nodded and waited for Tobi to order. He passes the menu back to her before placing his order and turning his attention back to me. 

  "So what do you do for a living?" he asked. 

"I'm a lawyer and you?" I replied, trying my best to play along with the conversation to avoid any awkwardness.  

"I'm a hotelier and an interior designer," he told me and I'm honestly surprised. Looking at him, it was more than obvious he had a lot of class and was pretty well off but I could have never guessed he was running a hotel. 

"That's really nice but I'm surprised o, not many guys pick interest in interior designing. It's mostly done by women," I said and he chuckled lightly. 

  "Trust me, I've heard that comment a lot but that's exactly what made me develop an interest in it. It wasn't something anyone I know expected so that made it much more interesting for me," he replies and I nod in understanding. 

"Unfortunately, I can't say the same for myself. Everyone already predicted my profession even before I knew what it meant. They say it's because I had a sharp mouth and I argued a lot," I said to him, laughing at the memory of mom constantly telling her friends and my dad that her daughter was definitely going to be a lawyer. At first dad thought she was only trying to impose her will on me but turns out, a mother's intuition is always right. 

"You actually look like someone who would talk a lot but more like a coded talkative. First, you act gentle and when you adapt, your talkative side comes to life," he says jokingly and I chuckle a bit although I have to agree with him. I liked to observe first before I showed myself. 

 Our food arrived and we temporarily stopped our chit chat to enjoy our meal but in between he made comments on how my chewing habit reminded him of a mouse and of course I clapped back by saying he ate like a goat that hasn't eaten grass in weeks. 

Our conversation continued over a bottle of wine and I had to say I enjoyed chatting with him. He seemed pretty intelligent and he definitely knew how to use his words which was a point one for him. 

"So you mean to tell me your ex did that?" I gasp loudly after he told me how his ex fiancee left him stranded at the altar to run off with her childhood boyfriend. 

  "The most painful day of my life. I actually thought I'd never see another woman as beautiful or attractive ever again but here you are proving me wrong," he says with a wink and I blush a little at his comment. 

"And here I was, thinking I was the only one with bad experiences in relationships. The good thing about it is that you've moved on and you're happy with where you are right now. Nothing else should matter," I said to comfort him and he offered a small smile of gratitude. 

  I check the time on my phone and I'm shocked to see that we'd been talking casually for more than two hours. It wasn't a bad thing but if you had asked me earlier today if I was successfully going to spend an hour with a stranger, I'd have sworn that it won't happen but here I am, enjoying myself and actually not faking the vibe, the smile on my face or the constant laughter that erupted from my mouth whenever Tobi starts with his silly jokes and throwback pickup lines. 

  Sadly, the night came to an end but lucky for Tobi, he was able to loosen me up and also get my phone number, something I hadn't done in almost two years. He had offered to drive me home but I definitely couldn't allow it since he was still a stranger as far as I'm concerned and letting him know where I stay was too big of a risk so we parted ways with a hug and he promised he'd call me sooner than I expected.

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  I arrived home around 10pm and the first thing I did was take off my shoes and throw them in the corner of my room. I sat on my bed for a while, contemplating on whether or not I should shower or just use wipes to clean my makeup and go to bed. I know it sounds dirty but I was too tired to care right now. 

  I heard a strange noise coming from inside my bathroom and I paused for a while hoping it was just my imagination but when I heard the shower running, I panicked and picked up the nearest sharp object which was my forty thousand naira purse with edges that can create a hole in between a person's eyes.

I tiptoed towards the bathroom door and abruptly opened it and lo and behold, the intruder was none other than my silly best friend, Ini. She looked back at me shocked and even had the brilliant idea of covering her private area with a transparent sponge. 

"Chaii, mumu child," I muttered to myself before excusing myself from the bathroom. 

(Stupid child) 

  "You lack common courtesy Tayo. Ordinary knock, you can't knock," she spat out as soon as she came out and I hissed as loudly as I could. 

"In my own house, I should be knocking again? Are you not supposed to tell me first before you barge into my house?" I fired back at her and she folded her hands together like an old woman. 

"Check your messages on W******p. I specifically said, I was going to spend the night here so don't blame me, you pervert! Be looking at my fine buttocks!" she blurted and started to put on her nightwear.

Where did they get this child from? I wondered to myself, still laughing at the last part of what she said. 

"You know I have two extra bedrooms, right? And they both have bathrooms," I tell her but she simply shrugged and continued her business. 

"Your room is the biggest and besides you know how terrified I am to sleep all by myself without my teddy bears," she pouted and I rolled my eyes at her. It still baffled me how a twenty seven year old slept with four huge teddy bears and thirty smaller ones. According to what she told me, teddy bears were her best friends growing up and she doesn't sleep without one except when she has company. To her sleeping alone is terrifying and although she never really talked about the real reason, I knew there was more behind the story than she told me. 

  "Oya gist me about your date. How was it?" she asked and I could tell that was the only reason she chose to spend the night here but with how tired I was, she wasn't getting any scoop from me. 

"I promise we'll talk about it tomorrow, I'm very sleepy," I told her but she kept insisting and I reluctantly told her his name and other minor details but promised to tell her the rest tomorrow and eventually she agreed and dropped the subject but not before ordering me to go and shower because supposedly, I smell like fried fish. 

"Also don't forget to tell your mom how the date went cause she hasn't stopped calling me to gist with her about it," she muttered sleepily and I sighed at how unbelievable my mother was.