amidst temptation batch 8

AMIDST TEMPTATIONS
 
Episode 12
 
They lived in GRA , the family house, not that I was surprised, Serena was yet to resume so I had decided to go visit her at home to fill her in on the happenings at school, Rebecca was writing her resit exams so my room was usually empty. I looked again at the address she texted me to be sure I was in the right house then went to the gate to ring the bell. The gateman opened the gate and peered at me, he was an elderly man with an orange and black uniform
“Na wetin you want?”
“I’m looking for Serena”
“Say who you be?”
“Emilia, her friend, she’s expecting me” he sized me up
“madam nor dey see anybody..but make I call am” I rolled my eyes as he shut the gate again, seriously. Five minutes later he opened the gate and directed me in. The house was a typical duplex with a large compound area, recalling her father was a politician I wasn’t surprised at the structure, Nigerian politicians were known for looting money to live lavish lives. I hoped i was finally going to meet the parents. There was a maid who directed me to Serena’s room but those were the only lives in the house, it was very quiet.
“Dr Osazuwa told him to leave the class but he refused, i’ve never seen Victor so adamant” we had been gisting for an hour now, Serena was laid on her bed while I filled her in on the happenings at school
“So what happened, did he get any punishment?” She asked
“Yes he was told to call his parents or be reported to the HOD”
Serena laughed ​​​​”He should have just left, it was just a lecture missed”
“Yea..you should come back, we have missed you”
Serena scoffed”No ones missing me, they all wish for my downfall”
I gaped then”I missed you”
“You don’t have a choice, your my best friend”
This was the second time she was calling me that
“I am?”
“Yeah, you the only one who’s been with me all through this, my other friends are busy with their lives”
​​​​​”I’m sure they care but your gateman said you not seeing anyone”
“Yeah, I just feel they are fake,do you know Trisha slept with my boyfriend, I couldn’t believe it, I know he’s a pig, but my friend ”
I was tongue tied, I didn’t know what to say to her “I can’t resume till I drop the crutches, most persons can’t wait to say cripple to my face”
“Lol why would you think that, I’m sure they all wish you well..”
“They dont, you ll be surprised how much they wished I had died”
I was surprised at the reality of life, here was Serena, Popular, Rich with all the luxuries of life yet she felt alone, it made me realise again that life was empty without God
“They don’t have the love of God in them, you shouldn’t expect anything less”I said wanting to seize the opportunity to tell her about Jesus when her brother walked into the room, he looked surprised to see me, he was wearing suit so I figured he just came from work
” hey sis, how you feeling?”
“I’m better, now Emilia’s here to keep me company”
“Yeah I can see that..hey”
“Hi” an awkward silence, he raised a bag
“I brought you icecream”
She clapped her hands in glee, now I knew why she didn’t want to resume school, he excused himself and left to change. When I saw him again he was in the kitchen talking with the maid, they both turned and looked at me and went silent
“Uh..Serena needed water”,I said, the maid opened the fridge and brought out a chilled bottle and gave me
” Are you staying for dinner?”she asked innocently, I had planned to leave soon so was surprised at her question
“Uh..no”
“You should, I ll drop you off” he said, maybe I should have said no, but I didn’t want to be rude again.
We sat in the dinning table to eat and not for once didn’t I wonder again about the parents
“Where are your parents?”
They looked at me then each other, she continued eating while he cleared his throat
“They..they on vacation”
Meaning he was no longer in office, I decided to leave it at that as we ate the delicious fried rice, the dinner was awkward as even though he kept talking with his sister we kept meeting gazes, the ride home was worse, I kept playing with my fingers while he put on the radio, then reduced it..
“Can I ask you something?”
I nodded, anything to break the silence
“What can I possibly do to make you mine?”
I gulped, my heart started pounding , I hadn’t expected that at all
“Sean I told you..”
“I can’t stop thinking about you…trust me, i’ve tried”
I closed my jacket on me as I was suddenly cold, I blew out a breath
“You haven’t tried enough” I said, he looked at me then packed, I looked at him surprised
“Can we go out tomorrow?”he asked
“No, we talked about this” was he gonna bring it up again?
“Why you so afraid of me, or you just want me to suffer, am sure you happy am begging”
” Don’t sound like I’m doing this on purpose.”
“you like me too..you just playing hærd to get”
“I’m not..playing hærd to get, its never gonna work between us, we are worlds apart ”
“You think you’re better than me right, because you are a Christian, won’t you even give me time, did you become convicted in one day?”
I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation, he would never see the light and I didn’t want to waste time arguing
“Please..take me home”
He turned ahead and drove off, not sparing me a glance.
I decided not to go back there again, but it was weekend and Serena begged me that she was bored, when I got in the house I saw a girl wearing a t-shirt and coming downstairs , she was pretty but i wondered why she was unclad
“Hey..who you?” She asked
“Is Serena in?”
“Shes asleep, maybe you can come back later”she said,
“I ll wait” we eyed each as i wondered who she was, Sean came from the kitchen, saw us then
“Chanelle this is Serenas friend Emilia”
“Oh..ok” she pulled him with her towards the pool area, I stared in shock.
I didn’t mention it to Serena who was clearly awake, we decided to play a game after I gave her my notes for photocopy as she planned on resuming on Monday, Serena took me to the pool area where he was swimming with Chanelle, I wonder what he wanted with me when he had a girlfriend,
“Hey Serene, the water is soo cool, you should get in”Chanelle said
“She cant swim with one leg”Sean said, Serena hit her brother with the walking stick but he dodged
“You should have just died, my life would be so much better” he said
“I make it better you moron”, I laughed liking how they played as I remembered my brother David
” well what about you, you have two legs” Serena said
They all looked at me”I can’t..I can’t swim”
“That’s so weird” Chanelle said swimming away
I looked at her, yea, it was weird.
I helped Serena pack for school then told her I had to go
“Why dont you just stay”
“Tomorrow is Sunday, I have to go to church”
“Yea church, thats true, why dont you stay and we ll go together?”
“I dont think thats a good idea”
“Why?”
I didn’t know why Serena always wanted me in the house, like she was playing a game I wasn’t unto, if she did know I wasn’t comfortable in the house with her brother in it she didn’t show, it was a bad game and I knew if I didn’t leave soon I would get burnt.
“I’m sorry, I can’t stay”
“Ok let me tell Sean to drop you off”
“Can I just take a taxi?”
She looked surprised, I sighed, it was the last time I was coming anyway
“ok”I agreed, I waited in the sitting room for Sean to get ready, I decided to look at pictures, I saw two portraits of the parents, then saw a door leading out, opening it, I was faced with darkness, I should have gone back but I was curious, with my phone flashlight I found the light switch, it was a studio, with lots of canvases, paintings, I looked at the first one and it was just splashed painting, I never did understood art, but the next painting was deep, there was fighting and war, with people dying, the next was about Jesus eating with his twelve disciples..
” I knew I’d find you here”I turned, “let’s go” he said hand on the light switch,
“This is yours”
“Go figure”
“They are beautiful”
“Yeah”
“Why would you draw about Jesus if you act like you don’t know him” he was silent, I decided to drop it and went towards him so he could put off the light
“You dont know me dont act like you do”he said, yeah, I guess he was right
“But I guess you curious enough to want to”
“I dont like you like that”
“Liar..” He said as he trapped me against the wall”your heart is beating so fast, I know you asking God why you want an unbeliever, Im just wondering why you fighting it” I pushed him away
“I ll become a Christian”he said” I ll do whatever you want, I’ve never felt this way before Emilia”
“It doesn’t work that way, I won’t be deceived, you have your pick of girls, why would you want to be the object of my temptation?”
When he k-ssed me, I knew I was gone
“I guess you being jealous is a start” he put off the light and went out.
Episode 13
 
When Serena returned back to school everything went back to normal, Rebecca passed her resit exam so could fully join us in the next class. I went for my clinicals and decided to fully focus on it and of course fellowsh¡p. I hadn’t heard from Sean, not that I was worried, Martin and I were usually busy hanging out anyway.
Today we decided to distribute tracts as a form of evangelism with the rest of my fellowsh¡p members, even though he was no longer president, now in final year he was still actively involved in the fellowsh¡p and I found that really fascinating, we were laughing about a man who had refused to take the tracts claiming he was a christian already
“He could have just collected it and given it to somebody else”he said
“I really dont know how people think”
“Are you going back to the hostel now?”
I checked my watch “I still have some time”
“Let’s go eat then” he said, I nodded, we were waiting for a cab when a car pulled up, I looked and thought it was familiar, when the glasses rolled down
“Emilia”
I stared at him and gulped, what was he doing here and how did he find me, Serena of course, I glanced at Martins
“Do you know him?” he asked, I looked instead at my shoes, should I say yes or no?
“Where you going, I could drop you?”Sean said
“I’m fine”
“Dont worry she’s with me” Martin said putting his arm around my shoulder, Sean stared at us
“Clearly there’s no cab around”
I gave Sean the eye to go but he wasn’t bulging
“Who’s he, thought you said you didn’t know him?”
“I dont..he’s Serena’s brother”
Sean had come out of the car
“I need to talk to you..hey” he said to Martins
“She clearly doesn’t want to talk to you”
Sean looked at him “mind your business, will you”
I at that moment wished the ground would open and swallow me wh0le, Martin was in his face in no time
“I think you should go”
“Get off my face.. Who’s he uh?” They both looked at me, I bit my l-ips nervously, I took Martins hand
“Martins..I ll go with him” before things got out of hand “he just wants to talk”
To say Martins was shocked was an under statement
“Emilia”
“I ll call you, I’m sorry” I just didn’t want them bawling over a little matter and I knew Sean wasn’t going to leave till I went with him
“You better have a good explanation sister”Martins said to me as I got in Sean’s car.
Sean drove off parking dust on Martin, he was seething and I didn’t know why
“Why do you have to be so dramatic, I clearly told you no”
He opened a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth
“Who’s he?” he asked like I hadn’t spoken, I gawked as he lit it
“Are you gonna smoke now?”
“Answer my question​” he said calmly, I glared hærd at him, I surely hærdly seen this side of him before, he went out of school gate
“Take me home Sean”
“Thats where I’m taking you”
” Are you out of your mind?..drop me now” clearly I had gone with the wrong person, he just blew out smoke as he drove in silence
“So that’s why you haven’t given me the time of day uh, that’s why you won’t date me, because of him, who’s he, your boyfriend? ”
“Its none of your business”
“Yeah it’s not my business”he agreed
“Please take me home”, he just kept driving, now he was far into town, I wondered how I was gonna go back home
‘I’m sorry.. Didn’t mean to act like that” he suddenly said..bipolar much
“..and smoke too”I said
He threw the cigarette out the window
“That too..I just wanted to talk to you?”
“How did you find me?”
“Been out of town, called you when I got in but you weren’t picking, went to your hostel, some girl told me where you were”
Rebecca, I couldn’t believe her
“Well can you take me back now?”
“I wanted you to go somewhere with me”
“You not gonna achieve that by kidnapping me”
He changed lanes going back, he sure was crazy, he looked at my gown
“You should change into something comfortable, then we can go out”
Was he serious “No”
“Because of him?”, I rolled my eyes “That’s why you have been avoiding me”
“Why would you think that, I’ve been busy”
“Busy with what” I showed him the tracts, he sighed and stared out
“We always gonna have that bridge between us won’t we?”
“Yes Sean.. Its obvious”
“Is he..a Christian?”
“Yes he’s born again”
“That’s the only reason you chose him over me”he said with so much confidence
I rolled my eyes”Cos I like him, everything is not always about you Sean” satisfied with the look on his face , I continued “you really should stop wasting your time ”
“Ok” he agreed, I made to open the door, he stayed me “go in and change, we going out”
My mouth opened to protest but I decided to stop arguing, I got out and slammed the door.
“So Serena’s brother came to look for you, he said..” Rebecca began when I got in,
“I saw him” I said “you shouldn’t have told him where I was”
“Why what happened?”
She went and looked out the window because he was playing a very pagan music, I met her gaze
I went out after an hour and got in his car
“Fine..you win..just get out of here”, he smirked and drove off.
TBC