Chapter Four

His heart was beating wildly, and he felt as though a devil had been let loose inside of him. At that point, the pace felt slow, and Alex was unable to control his urge. Before the bus could hit Charlotte, he sprinted out to where she was and forcefully shoved her, causing both of them to slide to the opposite side of the road.

Alex felt relieved, shocked, and uneasy at the same time. They both felt uncomfortable because of how similar their situation was to two people of opposing genders bumping into one another.

After a few awkward seconds of staring at one other, Alex got to his feet.

People, including Brian, had crowded around them, before one of them could speak or before Charlotte could rise up. 

While Charlotte was being grilled by onlookers, Alex remained puzzledly standing.

You nearly implicated someone due to your negligence."

"Why use earphones while crossing a street?" People, particularly the market women, questioned her about such things.

"Do you realize that due of your carelessness, you nearly implicated me?" The bus driver who nearly struck Charlotte enquired.

"Who knows the difficulty you would have placed me in if it weren't for this gentleman?" He kept on yelling.

"My man, I appreciate you saving my life. Thank you, very much " The driver approached Alex and gave him a shoulder pat."

Alex was unable to respond or even move an inch from the spot he had been after he stood up, because he was shocked of what had happened. 

Charlotte eventually stood up. "Thank you, Alex," she whispered, feeling ashamed of what had happened.

Alex simply nodded before deciding to leave the spot. 

"Guy, how did you do that?" Brian asked when he moved closer to him.

Alex abruptly took off running, instead of responding to Brian's question, since he was so perplexed and shocked.

He ignored Brian's call to wait, since at that very moment, all he needed was to clear his thoughts.

As soon as he arrived home, he greeted his father, who was pressing his phone in the living room, before dashing to his room.

When he reached his room, he questioned why his father was at home and recalled that his father had previously informed him that he was on some weeks leave. 

As soon as he entered his room, he swiftly turned on the fan's switch, because the incident left him feeling nervous.

"What the fuck just happened?" 

"How on earth did I miraculously do that?"

"What has been happening to me lately, for God's sake?"

He was asking himself these rhetorical questions. 

He got out of bed and took off all of his clothes, leaving only his underwear. He considered going to bed because that was what he needed to do to unwind and clear his brain.

He was awakened from sleep by the smells of his favorite food, plantain and beans.

Like the majority of houses in Nigeria, they do  not have a schedule for meals. Most people simply opt for any food, and neglect the appropriate time for it to be eaten. 

He woke up reluctantly, after he had yawn .His

stomach growled, to inform him that what he needed at that moment was food, not thinking about what happened

He got up from his bed and went to the kitchen to see if the meal was ready.

Their kitchen was adjacent to the dining room, with a small window carved in the kitchen, such that people in the kitchen could see a person in the sitting room and vice versa. 

He went straight to the kitchen and met his mother frying plantains, which is popularly called "dodo" in Nigeria. 

"Good evening, mum." He greeted his mother, still rubbing his eyes from his long sleep.

"Good evening, my dear son," his mother replied.

"Have you been home for long?" He asked his mother, as he saw the beans was already cooked and was ready to be ate. 

"Yes, why did you ask?" his mother asked him.

"Well, it's because the food is almost ready, and I know that it takes a long time to cook the food."

"Yes, you are very right. I wanted to call you and ask for help, but you were sound asleep and looked like you needed it so bad." His mother said, while smiling. 

"That's right. I was tired and stressed out as fuck." He replied, trying not to let her know of what happened, but his mother looked at him sternly.

"Oh! I'm sorry." He apologised, placing his palm on his mouth as he spoke simultaneously, realising that he said the F word, which was forbidden at home.

His stomach growled again, but it was very loud, that his mother heard . 

"You can eat some fried plantains, that I have fried, to fill your stomach till the food is ready. " she told him, while smiling. 

Alex picked up some of the plantains from the plate where they were kept and immediately ate them. He struggled to eat them comfortably, while moving his tongue fleetly because the plaintains were extremely hot.

His father entered the sitting room from the bedroom that belonged to his father and mother, while he was still struggling to eat the plaintains.

Good evening, sir," he greeted him, still struggling to eat the plantains.

"Evening son. What happened to you this afternoon?" He asked Alex, but he was confused and did not reply his father.

"You looked glum, when you came home from school this afternoon." His father continued, after realising that, Alex was clueless about the question he asked him.

"Really?!" he asked, in surprise.

"Yes, of course. "It seemed like you were forced to greet me." he said, as he sat down on the sofa in the living room and turned on the television.

"I'm sorry dad. It is probably because I wasn't feeling good today, as it is one of my off days." He apologized. 

"You don't need to apologize. It happens sometimes." His father replied. 

While the conversation was going on, his mother was busy preparing the food. Alex decided to give her a hand, after the conversation between him and his dad, ended.

"By the way, were you gloomy because of what happened this afternoon?" His father asked him suddenly, while looking back to make an eye contact with Alex. 

"What happened?" he asked his father, feigning ignorance. 

"You don't need to deny, the clip of the incident has been trending on the internet since some hours ago." 

"What clip!?" he exclaimed, because he did not expect someone to record the incident, and calmed down after hearing his father's reply, hoping that it might not be what he was thinking off.