Read Episode 1 Here (What if we rewrite the stars?)
2
The question she asked Femi continued to linger on her mind as she sat at the edge of her bed that’s flushed into the right-angle corner of her room. The coldness of the wall completely bathed in the warmth her back exuded. She sat there, naked, tired, and resting from a Saturday marathon of tears, prayers, and regret. Her thighs fused to her chest with her arms wrapped around them. The room's darkness became a canvas on which her mind painted the events of the past 24 hours.
Just yesterday, she was in her mother’s house, sorting through preparations for her wedding that’s six months away. Then came her fiancée, who took her to a new eye doctor who diagnosed her with degenerative myopia. The shocking diagnosis canceled their planned date that night. A subsequent utter silence characterized the drive to her house.
“How can there be any wedding when I’ll be blind by then? Tell me, Femi. Will you marry me? Will your family allow you to marry me?”
Despite answering a loud and resounding ‘yes’ to these questions she threw at him without hesitation, she still made him leave. Her shouts, muffled by tears and fears, filled the room. Rains of several hurtful words proceeded from her mouth to the man of her dreams. To make her stop, he left. “If that’s what you want, I’ll leave,” he said as he steadied his hands heavily on her shoulder and sat her back down.
Standing there in front of the man who had spent the past three years saying she was perfect for him, she felt overwhelmingly imperfect. She didn’t know what she wanted. She didn’t know what she needed.
That night, through the tears that had forced the removal of her eyeglasses, she watched him walk out the door, his head facing his feet. He was disappointed, hurt, and distraught. But hers was greater. She was going to lose sight, and there was nothing science could do about it.
The gravity of the words she hurled at Femi yesterday continued to weigh on her. She was harsh. She knew it. Toyosi had always been more of the gentle dove than a wild goose. The woman every man looked forward to waking up to see. But the doctor's words pushed her into a realm she had never been before. Now, she felt alone. She was alone. She hadn’t summoned the courage to tell her mother and sisters of her condition. Femi hadn’t told them either; if he had, they’d have broken through her locked door by dawn.
Her iPhone dinged, and a message from Femi showed up – his 23rd for the day. Every half hour of the day welcomed a message from him. Though she wasn’t replying to him, he was helping. His words were reassuring, for now. The new message, dinging a second time in a reminder, reflected one of her recent worries.
“Can I tell your mum? I just spoke to her now, and I feel guilty that she is in the dark about the whole thing.”
Toyosi’s worry went through the roof. The thoughts locked on the front of her chest, causing her to bawl her eyes out again. What was she going to tell her mother? How would she tell her mother that her daughter, who was finally settling into a ‘good’ job, would be without sight in six months? The old woman had testified about her engagement to the church. It’d be embarrassing if the wedding never held after.
Sinking back into the bed was all Toyosi could do, with the hope of disappearing into the pores of the Mouka foam. The hard knock on her door yanked her out of the dream she was in. An hour and thirty minutes were gone by already. Fear gripped her heart, and she was in the boxer she stole from Femi last month in seconds.
Talk of the devil, there he was, on the other side of the door, standing with a paper bag held firmly to his chest. He looked new to her. Like he wasn’t the man that made her heart race whenever he fielded that smile of his, just like he was now doing. Now, he looked new; he was new. Was it because she was now staring at him through the lens of her grief?
“Want some ice cream?” he asked as he set the paper bag on the dining table. He didn’t wait for her answer before bringing the cup alongside some biscuits to the table.
The silence was unusual but expected, and he was determined to be with her through it all. If only she could see that. She could. Toyosi’s head sank into the sofa’s headrest, her eyes closed. She felt him around her, though, hovering and not coming to physical contact. Several random conversation starters jumped timidly out of his mouth, but none seemed to intrigue the once-chatty Toyosi he needed.
A few seconds passed before he got closer, sinking gently into the three-sitter sofa. Right beside her. He mimicked her position – head denting the headrest, hands palm-facing the seat, legs crossed—an overall somber position.
He could hear her sniffles. His finger folded into a fist on the seat. She was crying. He hated that. But he hated more that there was nothing he could do. Nothing he could give her than hope. Maybe a little bit of humor? Was it right to laugh in a situation like this? A situation this unimaginable. Or should he call her mother himself? They needed to know, right? What if….
Her head rested gently on his chest. His closed eyes flung open. His train of thoughts stopped abruptly. Surprise. Glee. Delight. She was finally coming to him, letting him be a part of her process through this news of imminent blindness.
His heart said thank you, but his mouth interpreted the phrase as “Have you eaten anything today?”
Toyosi shook her head in a no.
“What can I do to make you happy?” he asked.
She was there. She heard him. Her tears had stopped. She missed this beating of his heart. The gentle thud of it against her ear. It helped pace hers’. He was calm. He was there. A reassuring presence saying all would be well. All her heart needed to do was to slow down to the pace of his’. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six… Their hearts began to beat in sync, and she felt protected for the first time in the day. Toyosi’s hands wrapped around him. But she quickly snuggled under his shirt unto his bare body. The warmness from his ripped muscles enveloped her in peace.
“This makes me happy,” she finally said.
“Oh. The cuddle hormone is kicking in.” He chuckled briefly. “You sure you don’t want me to ring your bell right here on this sofa?” his fingers were looping through her messy hair.
She smiled. He felt her cheek move on him. “Hell no.” She said through an eventual laugh. “Like you even have the mind to do that. Scared-ass man.”
“I’m not scared.” He shifted up the sofa a tad. “I’m just saving the cookie for the wedding night. I want to be novel to the magic I’m sure your body will conjure that night.”
“Valid point.” She was drawing circles around his right nipple now – her happy place. “It’s crazy how everyone thinks I’ve already carried you into me, especially Bimpe. I still can’t forget the look on her face when she suddenly opened the door and saw us shuffling and ruffling on this sofa like she caught us.”
“That’s one troublesome little sister you have there.” His laugh was loud. Big. Happy. Like him.
She was laughing too. She needed that.
Her hand was caressing his nipple now.
“Thank you,” she said. “For coming back.”
“I’m you. You’re me. Remember?” He paused slightly. Whatever is happening now, it’s happening to both of us. Not just you. I’m here. So, stop pushing me away. And yes, you’ll pay for sending me out yesterday. You owe me ten emails about why you love me.”
“Why do you love me?” she was sounding serious now. “If I was blind, will you still love me?”
“Is this that scene where you ladies ask your man if he would he still love you, if you were a yam?”
“Maybe?” Toyosi laughed.
Mission accomplished. She laughed. He’s happy.
“Yes, I’d still love you. I still love you. I will always love you.”
He sat her up. With the focus in his eyes now, she knew he was about to do some serious love assurance recitation.
“I love you Toyosi, I’d always will. I love you for everything you are and will be. It’s not your eyes that I love. It’s not your arm. It’s you. In whatever package you come in or morph to be. Even if you suddenly become a bully tomorrow, I’d gladly maximize that to letting you ride me out every night upon marriage.”
“Ewww,” her face spelled the beautiful disgust. “Must you always be naughty?”
“It runs in the family.”
They laughed in sync.
As he was saying, “If it makes you feel any better. We can tell your mum and sisters, and we won’t tell my parents. No one in my family has to know. We can also move the wedding up. We can do it next month. We can…”
The door blasted open.
“What won’t you tell your parents? Why will the wedding be moved up?” Ariyike, Toyosi’s elder sister, stormed in with serious questions, knocking down their defenses.
Is there a continuation to this series?
I love eeeetttttt! 😊♥️