Roses and Thorns – Episode 22 – 23

Roses and Thorns – Episode 22
By Jennifer Godwin
They hopped into the car after the mechanic was done fixing it. Melody couldn’t help feeling butter flies in her stomach, ever since they came out she had been grinning from ear to ear. They hit the road in silence and Melody felt the need to start up a conversation, she turned to stare at Joel and then let out a full breathe before saying,
“You have a nice car” she smiled.
“Oh, thanks” Joel said swerving the car to the right.
“Okay” Melody shrugged, her plan didn’t seem to work.
“You know? I like your physique” Joel finally said sparing her a glance.
“My physique? what is there to like? me that is fat and round like an orange” she chuckled staring out through the window.
“You seem to have inferiority complex” Joel said with anger creeping up his face.
“No, i don’t, but if you had said you like my complexion, or you like any other features of mine that doesn’t have to do with my physique, i would have agreed with you, but am just fat and there is nothing there to like” she said casually.
“You are not fat, you are chubby” Joel hissed.
“Well that is what they tell us to make us feel better, i am fat and i know” Melody sneered.
“You are not fat, you are chubby” Joel hissed again.
“What is the difference between the two?” Melody looked at him.
“The difference is that you are Chubby and that lady over there is fat, can you now see the difference?” Joel said just in time to see a fat lady standing by the road side.
“Okay, i give up, am not fat” she said laughing out loud.
“I love chubby women, you know that saying? that real men eat flesh and not bone, you know when you are holding the person, it’s like you are holding something, so nne ijuru eju (Girl, you are thick)” Joel said giving her a wink.
“I thought you are an aje butter pikin? so you can speak your language?” Melody said laughing hærd while she held her stomach.
“Of course, i can speak my language, nothing like aje butter in this one ooo” Joel said laughing too.
“Okay sir” Melody replied.
“See don’t spoil this moment now with this your sir sir of a thing, you already know my name” he said sparing her a glance.
“You know? you don’t look like you laugh and play like this, those first times i spent with you, i was even scared of talking to you, you were so serious” she said looking at him.
“Am only serious when am on duty, but when am with someone i love, i can play ooo” he said casually.
Melody’s heart started beating fast, she wondered if he knew what he said and what it meant, she looked at him but he still drove on like he never said a thing.
“What did you say?” she asked as her heart still beat.
“I said i can play when am with the person i love” he repeated again casually.
Melody shrugged, since he didn’t read meaning to what he said, she wasn’t going to either. They stayed in silence again for few minutes before Melody spoke up.
“Uuuuuuhn, can i keep these?” she asked pointing at her outfit.
“Can you keep what?” Joel asked turning to look at her.
“These clothes i wore today, i know you already got too many for me, but can i still keep these ones?” she said pouting her l-ips even though he wasn’t looking at her.
“Sure, you can, they are yours now, i didn’t even have plans of taking them back because i knew you were going to stretch them with your thick body” Joel replied with a chuckle.
“Fat you mean?” Melody said with a tuant.
“Thickness overload, did you see how they were staring at you back there at the shopping mall,? girl you good” Joel said winking at her.
Melody smiled looking away shyly, she didn’t like the fact that he was beginning to have control over her heart, she blushed and the butterflies in her belly came back.
____
The old man’s eyes flicked open, he found himself in a strange room. The ceilings were painted white with a ceiling fan hanging from there, he looked to his and saw a water dispenser placed with water filled to the brim. He looked up a little and his eyes rested on the plasma television hung on the wall. Aside those things he saw, the room was empty, then he remembered the bed he was laying down on, he looked down and noticed that he wore a big blue gown worn mostly in the hospital, he wondered if he was in the hospital or dead.
“Okenwa?” he called out slowly but got no response.
“Okenwa?” he called out again this time around raising his voice up a bit higher than before. The door flung open and a young man came into the room with a bucket of water and a small napkin towel, when he got close to the old man, he let out a muffled scre-m.
“Oh my God, you are awake sir” he asked as a smile plastered on his face.
“Udoka,? you are here? what of Okenwa?” the old man asked again.
“Sir, Okenwa is fine, you will have to rest first, i will send for him later”. the young man said moving the drip stand a bit.
Episode 23
It was early in the morning, Melody woke up with a yawn, she searched around for the Tecno camon 12 pro that Joel got for her the previous day, she checked the time, it was 7:15 am, she hurriedly got up and went downstairs to the kitchen. She let out a full breath, that was the first time she would be entering the kitchen. The kitchen was stocked up with adequate utensils. she smiled and admired the settings of the kitchen starting from the wall painted blue to the kitchen utensils and then the four burner gas placed at the extreme close to the cupboard, the big deep freezer close to the door, the wooden hanger for hanging spoons hung above the gas cooker, and then the big cupboard that contained the foodstuffs. she smiled again, “it was really good to have money” she thought, Then she gathered the dishes and packed them in the sink. just as she was about to pour water into the sink, Joel called her name from the doorway, she dropped a ceramic plate and it got shattered.
“Gosh, are you okay?” Joel asked running to where she stood.
“You scared me, why did you sneak up on me like that?” she asked bending to pick up the broken plate.
“Don’t touch it, I will pack it myself” Joel said heading to where the broom was kept, he collected it, turned around only to see Melody still crouched on the floor, he rolled his eyes and walked towards her.
“You are really stubborn you know?, i told you to let it be” Joel said going to get the packer.
“Ouch” Melody cried out flinging her hand in the air in a painful manner.
“You this stubborn Yoruba woman, i told you to let it be” Joel said running back to where she stood, “Let me see” he said holding her hand, he blew air on the wound and then stared at her, she had traces of gathered tears in her eyes. “Is it painful?, should we go to the hospital?” he asked car-ssing her thumb.
“What? you really know how to waste money, who goes to the hospital for such a small wound?, it is not even bleeding” she sniffed and chuckled at the same time.
“You are stubborn, I told you not to touch the plate” Joel said still car-ssing her thumb.
“I broke it so I guess I should be the one to pack it” she muttered while scratching her head with her other hand.
“Who even told you to come to the kitchen? did anyone tell you to do the dishes?” Joel asked dropping her hand softly.
“Am used to running errands for people and you already accommodated me, clothed and fed me, so I guess the least I could do was to do the dishes this early before anyone wakes up because your Mom wouldn’t have loved it if she had seen me doing any of the house chores” she shrugged.
“Well I think you should stop guessing then because you always guess it wrong” Joel chuckled going back to take the packer.
“But I want to do something, my hands are itching, am used to doing something with them” she said with a pout.
“Listen to me babe, you are a guest here, you don’t need to do anything around the house” Joel said crouching with the packer to pack the broken plate.
“Yes sir” Melody answered with a blush, he had called her “babe”.
” I want you to get dressed, we would be going out later, like in two hours time ” Joel said pouring the pieces of the broken plate into the trashcan.
“But where are we going to?” Melody asked with a shrug.
“Somewhere” Joel answered with a wink.