Always Yours (Lagos Romance Series) (15 page)

It didn’t matter what his explanation was, I thought silently, even if he didn’t leave now, he would still
leave,
he was still somebody else’s fiancée.

He took my face in his hands and lifted it till I was looking at him. “Tell me you didn’t mean those things you
said.” His eyes searched my face, looking.....hopeful. I sighed.

“It doesn’t matter Michael” I said. “It doesn’t matter what I said,
just
..go
.”

“But Sophie.”
He looked exasperated. “I thought we had something here.”

“We don’t have something” I said, I pulled my face from his hands and turned away. I couldn’t bear to look at that hopeful, pleading expression in his eyes. “You have something” I said. “You have a
fiancée,
you are going to get married. What am I to you, a passing fancy,
some
unfortunate girl who just can’t get over you?” I shrugged. “Just leave, Michael, it doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me Sophie.” He said softly.
“Because we do have something.”
He sighed. “I love you, I’ve loved you for years and I’ll love you for years more. It’s not something I can fight; it’s not something I want to fight.”

I felt the tears start to come up again. Why did he have to say this now? These were the words I had been waiting to hear for years and now that he said them they only made me sad.

“Don’t say that” I said. “Please don’t say that, Michael” I couldn’t bear it. I got up from the couch. “You have no right to say those things to me.”

“Yes, I do.” He said. Getting up and moving towards me. “And I am not engaged” He said. “I haven’t been engaged since a few days ago, or a few months ago.” He shrugged. “Depending on how you want to look at it.”

I looked up at him, hardly daring to believe what he was saying. “You’re not engaged” I repeated dumbly

He shook his head. “No I am not.”

Not engaged.

Somehow my brain still couldn’t process what he had just said. I couldn’t move or say anything coherent. I searched his face for some clue as to the meaning of the bomb he had just dropped. I could only see his eyes, searching mine, waiting for a reaction.

Not engaged!

Finally it began to sink in. Michael was not engaged, not engaged to Folake! A wave of pure happiness burst inside of me. I gasped. He was still watching me expectantly and as he saw the glow of understanding burst out on my face, he began to smile.

We must have stood there for a long while before I realized that we were both standing, grinning foolishly over the demise of a relationship. I sobered up instantly, feeling a little guilty.

“When?”
I asked.

“In SA.”
He shrugged. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.” He said. “I and Folake were holding on to something that had no real basis or substance.”

I sat back on the couch. “Why?” I asked, curious. I needed to know why he had continued in a relationship
that was so plainly wrong. “Why did you both hold on for so long?”

He came to sit beside me. “The way I see it, we were both holding on to the familiarity of being together, while she waited for her real boyfriend to propose to her.”

I frowned. “You knew about that?” I asked.

“Not really” he replied. “But most of it came out while she was hurling every insult she could think of at me in SA.”

I sighed. “Are you ok?”

He nodded. “I am.” He looked at my face. “Seriously I am
,
she was just mad because I got to it before she did.”

I searched his face intently. “So apart from the familiarity, why did you hold on for so long?” I asked.

“I don’t really know”. He shook his head. “I guess I was trying to be loyal to her plus I didn’t really care that much. I had kind of convinced myself that maybe love wasn’t meant for me.”

I sighed. “Why?” I whispered.

He got up and went to stand by the window. I watched him, wondering what he was going to say. He turned back towards me. “Sophie” he said at last. “Why did you go so far to shut me out of your life?”

I sighed and looked away.

“Why did you change your number and refuse to reply any of my messages? Was the thought of being with me so abhorrent to you?”

I buried my face in my hands. “I don’t know” I whispered. “I was a child. I thought you had been playing some kind of game. That you had used me and dumped me.” I grimaced. “It all made sense at the time.”

“Used you and dumped you? How could you think that? You were the one who refused to talk to me”

“But you said you were sorry” I cried. “That was the first thing you said to me after we made love. I assumed you were sorry because you knew I’d be hurt after you dumped me.” I sighed. “I
had a ‘
Jambite
Rush’ paranoia at the time. Don’t forget.”

“I said I was sorry because I knew you didn’t want a relationship or a boyfriend at the time. I felt as if I’d forced myself on you, taken advantage of you in some way when I should have waited till you were ready.”

“I was ready, Michael” I sighed. “You didn’t force yourself on me, you didn’t do anything that I didn’t want” I paused. “I thought…. It doesn’t matter what I thought.” I smiled. “I guess I should stop jumping ahead of myself and stop assuming that your intentions are always nefarious.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Like the way you assumed the worst a few minutes ago?”

I nodded.
“Never again.”

He came back to the couch and took both my hands in his. “I had convinced myself that I had somehow wounded you so deeply, I didn’t deserve to be a part of your life. I was willing to go along with the charade with Folake until I saw you again, then I just had to know, that I still had a chance with you.” He paused. “I love you, Sophie. Please understand that you are the most important person in the world to me.”

I laughed. It was a happy, tinkling sound. I don’t think I had ever felt so happy, so fulfilled. I kissed him lightly on the lips. “I love you Michael Ade-Cole, I’ve loved you for a very long time.”

We sat there on the couch, holding each other; every so often he would drop a kiss on my lips, my cheeks, all over my face. Or I would reach up and do the same and we would both laugh like little kids.

“How long do you think that dispatch rider has been waiting at you place?” I asked finally.

His eyes widened.
“God!
I completely forgot.” He looked so confused that we both burst into laughter.

“I should get over there right away.” He said, still smiling. He dropped a light kiss on the tip of my nose, making me giggle. “How do you feel about taking a drive with me?” He asked. “I find that I am not inclined to let you out of my sight.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him pull me up from the couch. “I feel exactly the same way.” I replied.

I did eventually ask Michael for the full gist of how Folake had reacted to the breakup of their engagement. It turns out that after hurling some verbal abuse at him, she had spitefully announced that it was about time anyway, and she had already been planning to call it off. She told him that Chief
Adeleke
was planning to propose any day and she was going to marry him.

She didn’t marry him though. I suppose he never proposed. But girls like Folake always survive somehow. The last I heard of her, she was having one of those huge society weddings to a multimillionaire nightclub boss with a penchant for young and beautiful, light complexioned girls.

Michael isn’t interested in dating, or in a long engagement, he wants to marry me as soon as possible. I’m ecstatic but I don’t want to rush, after all we do have the rest of our lives to spend together.

Speaking of ecstatic, my mum is beside herself with joy. I suppose one of her dreams is coming true. Her daughter is getting married in the foreseeable future. Michael’s mum, in fact his whole family is also very happy, I already knew they didn’t like Folake. But it seems it was an open secret within their family that Michael was in love with me and that he was trying to get me back. Wow!

I’m still working hard. Living Lagos is a very important part of my life. And Ada! What would I do without Ada? She so happy for me that sometimes it’s amusing to watch her in raptures over the fact that I and Michael have finally got it together. I still think there’s a story somewhere involving her and Eddie
Bakare
. I intend to unravel it soon, who knows. It might be interesting.