Amidst temptations batch 15
AMIDST TEMPTATIONS
Episode 22
I found it weird that his father would act like that but I knew I was going to marry Martin anyway, there was no one else for me, lest I die a spinster. His Father clearly had a say though and mine too, but I just told Martin we would talk about it and went back home.
Rebecca wanted to know how it went but I didn’t tell her, I just wanted to sort this out on my own, so I told her they all liked me.
Fellowsh¡p was more fun because Paul was doing a good job, people were flooding in and we were thinking of moving to a bigger site. I was no longer an Exco but still tried to attend even with my tight schedule.
I was leading praise and worsh¡p smiling in glee and dancing when I looked and saw a familiar, very familiar face…I froze, the choir continued as I stared at him, he clapped still and watched me, Rebecca traced my gaze and saw him, I tried to continue but I couldn’t concentrate. What was he doing here, he was like a leech I couldn’t shake off, whenever I felt I had made progress he came back with a force. It’s been over a year but I still felt the same sizzling energy between us….Ignoring him, I focused, he doesn’t exist to me.
After the section ended, I walked straight to him
“What are you doing here?” My glare was evident
“I came to church..I promised you remember..that when i returned I’d follow you to church”he said
“And you didn’t see any other one to go to, one close to your house maybe?”
He looked around “you are causing a scene” he said calmly, he was right, people were turning, I took his hand and led him outside, with tingles shooting up my right arm…Jesus, I was in church
“You should go..please go”
“You are driving me from church?, I promise I didn’t come to see you, I just came to fulfill our bargain, maybe you forgot but I didn’t, and I’m really enjoying myself..you sing and dance beautiful”
“See…all back to me”
He sighed “Emilia you made it clear by not contacting me for a year even when my mother..”
“I don’t..”
He stayed me”I’ve moved on…as you’ve clearly seen”
I remembered Tania again and my eyes clouded, I made to go and he pulled me to him in a tight hug
“What..are you crazy..we in church”I said, trying to push him away
“What, scared God would complain..am sure he approves”
What was he playing at now, he says he’d moved on, next he was hugging me
“I have missed you” he said, I should have told him back but I just finally pulled away
“We should go in,side” I said. He pulled me down to sit with him when we got in, Paul came to welcome him later, I left him in his hands and escaped.
I wondered about the game he was playing when he came again the next Wednesday, then the next.
We had a reunion and he was there, when I asked why, he said he was invited with a duh look… I lost it
“I don’t know if this is your ploy to get me but you are wasting your time, I have a fiancé” I said
“Do you?” He asked then turned ahead to to watch the girl singing. After it ended, he came behind me as I talked with Sister Sharon who I haven’t seen for years, after she walked away he said
“It wounds me sister that you wouldn’t think that God has finally touched my heart”
“Has he?” I turned and asked, we held gazes as my eyes fell to his l-ips, my cheeks flushed as he looked away then leaned forward
“Quit flirting with me in church, cos you can’t bear the consequences”
My stomach turned, I made to go but he held me back
“Your boyfriend is coming over”, I turned and true to form, he was, I couldn’t tell him Martin and I had issues
” what is he doing here?”Martin asked, why was he so aggressive
” Martin, he just came to church”
“To find you I suppose”
“Is something wrong in that, I was invited by one of your beautiful sisters to come, now I have, I don’t see any of the love you christians profess”
“Stay away from my woman” Martin puffed
Sean got close to him “I did…now I’m back”
I shut my face with my palm as Martin threatened him
“Hey stop it both of you” they glared at each other, Martin took my hand
“Be warned..” he told Sean “we need to talk” he said as we walked away
“About what?” I asked
“About us..and what my father said”
I didn’t want to talk about it, not now, I needed to think it out and decide if this was a waste of time or not
“I’m taking her home..” Sean said out of the blue, he had come to meet us and challenged Martin with a glare
“Emilia..”Martin called when I walked away from him
“I’m sorry” .
Sean and I walked out of the hall and I shut my eyes thinking this was the second time I was choosing Sean over him, hope I didn’t regret this again.
*************
Episode 23
“Rachel is dead” Rebecca said coming into the room
I turned from the mirror to look at her, she had just returned from the market that saturday while I applied my make-up
“Rachael..you mean Sister Rachael the secretary”my blood went cold “how?”
Rebecca came in and took off her bag, pulled her slippers and sat on her bed,hands on her forehead she sighed then
“Yes..I was told by her former roommate as I was entering school”
“Are you serious..what could have killed her?”
She was silent then
“Heard she had an abortion”
“What..?’
” yeah…died on the table.. Its so sad”
“But why would she have an abortion, didn’t the father take responsibility?”
She shrugged “who knows”
I remembered my sister and got very sad, “That’s just sad..a big blow to the fellowsh¡p”I turned back to my make-up, powdering my face
“Yeah you should tell Martin, they were quite close”Rebecca said
I frowned “I’m not in the mood for that..I have a date”
“Martin is now ‘that’…did you guys breakpoints?” she sounded like she had been waiting for it
“You just like gossip, who knows if what you are saying is even true”I scoffed
Rebecca tsked”okay now..because I’m telling you sef, so where’s Sean taking you?”
“He hasn’t said, but I guess around” I said trying to apply the mascara, though I felt I was doing it wrongly, I wanted to look good for Sean, those girls around him always had heavy makeup on, Rebecca hit me with a pillow
“You so happy..never seen you blush this much”.
” No I’m not” I turned to snap and she burst out laughing at the poor job of a makeup I did
“Well..guess I have to clean this off” I took up the wiper
“Didn’t even know you had a makeup set”
“Was a gift from Erica on my birthday”
“Aww..who knew it would be handy..here let me help”
She took the eye pencil from me and drew a better line, I looked better “thanks” I said and took up my purse”I ll bring you chicken”
“Yea rii…just have fun”she said going to light her stove.
I didn’t know I was grinning like an idiot till I got outside and saw myself in Sean’s mirror..omg..I got in the car and he leaned over and k-ssed me for long before he leaned back and took me in
Turning on the ignition to drive away he said
“you look good”. I smiled as my cheeks turned redder, I’d chosen a blue ski-ny jeans and green top, with sandal heels
“So where we going?”I asked
“Its bad luck to know where we’re going”he replied
“Okay”, I took out my phone and checked my messages and true to form Rachael was late, it was all over my fellowsh¡p page and on facebook..oh god, poor girl she must have been confused like my sister, glad my sister didn’t end up like that..God was merciful to my family but why would she do it, she had been a dedicated Exco member before she graduated from business administration, I had imagined she would be serving now, what could have gone wrong in her relationsh¡p, why would she choose to remove the baby when she could easily marry the guy?, why was she even sleeping with him?. Martin was calling me again, he had left so many missed calls on my cell I lost count, I didn’t want to think I was cheating on him because I hadn’t necessarily done anything wrong..yet, well I needed time and space away from him to think, spending time with Sean would give me the closure i needed, i needed to decide who i should be with once and for all, though with the way I was feeling, I knew I might break up with him and throw caution to the wind, I loved Sean with all my heart and admitting that out loud felt right, I was in bliss, I was in heaven, it was something I couldn’t explain..I felt like I was finally able to spread my wings and fly.
“Hm let me guess, you taking me to watch a movie” I said as we drove into a complex
“No”
“Uh..”I wanted to try again
“I’m taking you to an art gallery” I gaped at him, we walked into the building, there was an exhibition going on and people were there, his work wasn’t there but he normally liked to draw inspiration from great artists and collect them for antics, we stared at a beautiful painting
“I think your work needs to be seen” I said
He nodded”I hope to get something like this in future, just my work”he said
“You not gonna practice law?”I turned to ask
“No..I’ve finally decided to follow my passion, I’m an artist, it’s in my blood”
“And your father?”
“After my mother’s death, he no longer cares…” he looked down, I placed my hand on his arm
“I am so sorry…about your mom, I never got a chance to say that”
“That was my fault…I pushed you too hærd”
I looked unsettled, were we going to talk about it?
“I understand Emilia, you are a Christian, and as much as i want you and i know you want me…your faith comes first”he said
Was he saying he was going to wait?, I wetted my l-ips
” What if i don’t want to?”I asked, he smirked and walked away to another painting, I couldn’t believe I just said that.
We got to meet a lot of persons he was acquainted with, and I felt happy being a part of his world, but that was the beginning of the date, next we went to the movies, I had picked the movie but it wasn’t looking interesting
“Told you”he said
” shut up”I said throwing him popcorn, he laughed, he had wanted us to watch another movie but I had insisted
“how come you can’t swim?”he said taking my hand up in his
“Cos i can’t, I never learnt”
“I ll teach you…if you want”he said k-ssing my fingers
I scoffed”You just wana see my undies”
He burst into laughter, so people turned in the theatre
“I can’t believe you just said that”
“You know its true”
“No its not”he said, eyes still sparkling in laughter “I ll teach you anyway”he said
I discovered I couldn’t wait.
We decided to ditch the movie and go sit out somewhere, he told me about his travels and where he went for a year to chill, he had gone to South Africa when his mother died, said it was her favorite place and he just wanted to connect, i thought it was amazing and I wished I had been there for him during that period..
“So what about Tania?”i asked, she had been on my mind ever since, if I was going to make the decision to date him, what about her?, he stared at me like he was surprised I had even brought her up,
“What about her?” he asked
“She was all up in you the last time?” I sounded like a jealous girlfriend but I didn’t care
He just shrugged, not a bit bothered
“I was just tryna be nice, it was her first time in benin”he paused ” why, you thought we were dating?”he asked with a smirk at me
“You did it on purpose”
“Did what on purpose?”why did he find everything funny
“You guys were all..” I paused, “Did you sleep with her?” Did I just ask that, but I needed to know
He chuckled, then laughed, kept laughing, i frowned, why did he think it was funny, when he controlled himself he said
“You so funny Emilia..no…I couldn’t.”his eyes trained on me
” you do not know how special you are to me Emilia, there’s no one else for me, I’m all yours, you don’t have to be scared of anything”
I looked at him and sighed, I didn’t know what we were, it was confusing how i so wanted to be with him but was still skeptical because of the kind of person he was, i didnt know if he was…safe.
“You hungry?”he asked standing up, I took his hand and nodded, as we went to the eatery. I ordered my usual, he drank his wine as he watched me eat
“What?”
“Can’t wait for you to carry my babies”
I swallowed, only Sean would up and say that, I took up my wine and sipped, then cleaned my mouth with the napkin
“Don’t go getting ideas, we just hanging out” I said not looking up, I was still dating Martin and till I broke up with him officially I couldn’t say yes to Sean, he stared at me
“We are?” He circled the rim of his wine glass, “So I have to get a ring for you to say yes?”
Why did he enjoy making me uncomfortable, I cleared my throat and changed topic
“Why didn’t you order anything?”
“Cos I’m not hungry”
“you are never hungry”
“I don’t eat out” shouldn’t I have noticed?
“Why..?”
“When are you breaking up with Martin?”he asked suddenly
I looked up and met his gaze, I knew that was coming, i just didn’t expect it to be this soon, but I needed that closure, i couldnt lead both on for so long, I had to make that decision, even though it was going to hurt someone
My l-ips were dried, I swallowed, finished my wine then said,
” Soon”
TBC