Love's Second Chance (8 page)

She fished in her handbag and then thrust a business card at him, “C
ontact me
when you’re ready to listen
to my own version of events
. I think we’re done here.”

Kevwe grabbed her arm as she passed by him, twisting her to face him
. They stared at each other, breathing hard. He wasn’t sure if it was passion or anger that filled him, and he didn’t know whether to wrap her in a hug, or shake her till her teeth rattled.

She looked up and met his eyes.
“Release me, now.” For someone who seemed plain enraged, he was doing a lot of holding on to her. What did he want? Could he want more than just an explanation from her? Was there any hope for them?

“
So you can run off to your American dream again?”
Kevwe snarled, and then turned to stalk into the building.

**

8

Abuja. November 27, 2009. 6.30pm

Kevwe was in a daze as he entered Ofure’s office and closed the door behind him. He continued placing one foot in front of the other till he reached the settee, before stumbling into the succor it offered. His head sunk to his knees and spots appeared before his eyes. Only his twin’s voice in his head drew him out of the dark place.

“
You didn’t listen to her,” Ofure said.

Kevwe
sat up and rested his head over the back of the settee.
“We used to talk so easily
, but her desertion has ruined that
now.” He went over what happened in the car park again.
The years had been too long and the wounds too deep
. He’d thought himself over her after all
these years, but he knew now it was not so.

After some silence, Kevwe glared at his brother.
People often said Ofure
could be as obstinate as a mule when
it suited him. Right now, Ofure believed Kevwe had handled the meeting with Efe badly, and he wanted him to know it too.

“
You’re wrong!”
Kevwe
burst out
, “You know how it was, or do I have to explain it again? You were there
for the worst months of that dreadful time.”

“
Yes I was,” Ofure said.
He stood up from behind the desk, and picked up the lab coat hanging on the bathroom door
, shrugging it
on
as he turned
. “So what will you do now
?” he asked, sitting
on the chair opposite
Kevwe
.

“
I don’t know,” Kevwe replied with a sigh
. His
mind raced to the past, and the pain of those days felt immediate, as if it just happened. And it had, there in the car park.
Ofure stood up, and his awareness of where he was returned with a jolt
.

“
Can you imagine, she said she didn’t know of the accident?”
Kevwe asked. When Ofure shook his head, he continued, “I don’t know,
I just don’t know what to think.
I wish we could return to the early years
.
.
. ”
He broke off, and t
he silence stretched
painful memories over him. The worst was her absence from his
hospital bedside, when he knew Efe had chosen her freshly minted American green card over the cripple he’d been.

Ofure came to sit beside him. “
I used to agree with you, but I watched her in the car park,” he said, “She looked just as upset as you were, so maybe there’s some truth to what she says. I honored your wish not to discuss Efe after you discovered she left the country, but d
o you remember when I searched for her in UniBen? S
tudents were on holidays then, but I found that in her rush to withdraw she did not wait for a transcript
. Don’t you wonder why she gave it all up? Is it possible she was ignorant of the crash, and forced to leave, maybe by her parents?”

Kevwe shut his eyes. Seven years ago, he forbade Ofure from probing into his heartbreak because he felt it was the best way to put the episode behind him. With his parents refusing to get involved, the search for Efe began two months after the crash because only then would Ofure agree to leave him for any length of time.

The accident happened in March, and in the months before Ofure returned to America in August, Efe and her family had disappeared into thin air. Before leaving for Germany in the December of 2002, Kevwe put the lid on any wishes or thoughts of Efe coming back to him.

“
But however deep you buried it, you still want Efe.”

“
Yes,” Kevwe murmured. He looked up, baring his deepest thoughts. There had been no
woman since, and now maybe there could not be anyone other than Efe.
The feelings for her he’d thought dead only needed to be scratched to surface again. They had been simmering since last week when Ofure told him about her.

“
You do love her.” Ofure met his gaze.

Kevwe let his head hang.
Her betrayal may have wounded him, but it hadn’t killed his love
, he knew that now
. But
love needed a strong foundation of trust,
and he
wasn’t exactly sure if they could ever find that place together once more
.

He turned to his twin with vulnerable eyes. “How c
an we start
again with the past shadowing us? I don’t know how to do this.”

Ofure placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, “Kevwe, take things one at a time. Go and see Efe, listen to what she has to
say,
and
l
isten to your heart. Love doesn’t go wrong. By the way, d
id you ask her about Adetiba?” Ofure raised an eyebrow.

Kevwe shook his head. He’d been so caught up in the moment when he’d stood with Efe in the car park, he forgot everything, any other person. The years had rolled back when she hugged him, and he’d imagined she was all his. Then when she claimed to be unaware of the crash, the turmoil had overtaken the joy and thrown him back into the pain and anger of loss.

“
You know all this won’t matter if she’s engaged?” Ofure raised his eyebrows. “You may never get her again?”

“
You don’t understand. Efe
is like a part of me, we were meant for each other. If we can work this out, we’ll be fine. I know it.”

“
How can you be so sure?” Ofure asked, getting up to pick some charts.

Kevwe shrugged, remembering the way she’d talked, her tears, how she looked into his eyes, and touched him. It was possible Efe still cared for him. Even if she was engaged, he had to find out his chances; he couldn’t just let her go. “As far as she’s not married, we’ll beat this.”

Ofure stood at the door. “Love will usually help work things out
, but go slow,
don’t fly off the handle
. Remember the patience you once used to woo her?
”

Kevwe studied the card in his hand after
his twin left. He preferred to believe Efe had feelings for him, and he only had to find a way to get them past this block. He would contact Efe and then try to recreate the sweetness of their first love.

**

Efe returned to the office quivering. She knew no more meaningful work was possible that day, so she took
permission from her boss, picked up her
bag and left. Thank God for all the times she’d worked late; Mr. Akinyele usually frowned on staff leaving before their shift ended, and hers was to have run till ten.

At home, she sat on one of the dining-room chairs staring with unseeing eyes at the plate
of rice she’d microwaved. Her mind was far away, and when the
phone rang, she jumped. She was disoriented at first, and didn’t
know whether it had been the doorbell or the phone. When it rang again, she picked up
the BlackBerry, her hand shaking.

“
Who is it?” she asked in a small voice.

“
It’s me, Kevwe. We have to talk.”

Efe closed her eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn’t as if she had not been expecting this, she’d been hoping he would call. The tears were close, but she blinked several times to stop them.

“
Where are you?” Kevwe continued.

“
I’m home.” Efe decided to be open and vulnerable. The meeting with Kevwe had rattled her, but it made one thing plain, she still cared a lot for him. And if he had come to Abuja to meet with her, then it was the least she could do. “I couldn’t remain in the office after what happened earlier.”

“
Forgive me for spoiling your day. I knew we would meet, but I didn’t think about how it would affect you.”

“
That’s fine. I thought I was only going to see your brother, so it was tricky to get faced with you too.” Efe recalled the past few hours. “It didn’t help too how you tried to jump down my throat in the car park. I only told you the truth.”

“
I’m sorry, believe me, and I do want to hear your truth.”

After Efe gave him her address, he said to expect him within the hour and dropped the phone. She saved his number to her contacts and then changed into a long, colorful sundress with small sleeves. Washing her face, putting on fresh make-up and tidying up the apartment kept her hands busy as thoughts swirled in her mind.

Except for the brief moment at the beginning when Kevwe’s feelings had been written in his eyes, he’d been a different person. Now, listening to his voice on the phone, she could see the emotional man again, the one who’d stolen her heart.

**

When the bell sounded around 8pm
, n
erves dogged her steps as
she went to get the door.
Kevwe walked over the threshold, and she was struck again by how much it seemed like time had not passed and yet so many things were different.
With the shock of the first meeting out of the way, Efe now noticed how fantastic he looked.

Still dressed in the fitted lightweight suit and jeans he’d been wearing earlier, he exuded confidence. A moustache dusted his upper lip, and the scars on his face only added to his dashing looks. Those same features had made her the envy of a lot of girls in UniBen, but he didn’t belong to her anymore, and hadn’t for the past seven years. Her attraction to him had to be subdued; he must’ve moved on by now. She felt his eyes on her and turned away.

“
You look beautiful, Efe,” he said, “I’m sorry I didn’t say it at the hospital. The years have been kind to you.” Her dark eyes were stormy with emotion, negating the severity of her hairstyle which had her braids caught in a bun at the back of her head. Her face stood out, wide, long lashed eyes, and a small nose and mouth. She avoided his gaze, her chin pointing down to her chest, and Kevwe noticed again how much she had filled out.

She gestured towards the armchair, as she rested gingerly against her teal settee. He ignored the armchair, and joined her on the settee. He continued studying her but she looked away. Sitting beside him, and being alone with him in the small confines of the air-conditioned flat, got to her.

“
Can I get you something?” She broke the quiet and shifted forward, ready to stand.

Kevwe shook his head. The question struck him with a strong sense of déjà vu. How many times had she asked him that while they were in university? He reached out and placed his palm over her left hand which was closest to him. She was startled but did not move away.
“Let’s just do this.”

After waiting a minute for her to start, he decided to go first. “Tell me why you were not there after my accident. As my fiancée, you were the first person I asked for when I first regained consciousness.
I
t was a blow to hear you deserted me because you thought I was crippled
.
I was shattered and i
t
drove me crazy
.”

Efe stared at him. “I already told you I didn’t know.”

“
But how can it be?
”

“
Please answer this,” she begged in low tones, putting into words the only sense she could make of what happened. “Did you mean to marry
me eight years ago?”

“
Of course I did.”

“
And were your parents in total support of your plans?”

“
My father may have had his issues, but
when he knew how serious I was about you, he was ready to accept you as a daughter-in-law.” Kevwe was
puzzled by her questions. He’d taken her to meet them after all.
“My mother loved you.”

“
Then I don’t understand. Why did they tell me
you didn’t want me anymore?”

Kevwe recoiled. “Why would my parents do that?”

“
I’d like to know too.” A strange smile played on her lips.

“
Efe, this is serious. I’d understand if
someone had intercepted the message from my dad, but w
ho returned your ring?
”
That had been the final nail in the coffin when his search for her ended fruitlessly. And there was no way his parents could have deliberately hurt him, not while he was on a hospital bed.