Simi’s heart raced silently when
Seye was called up to the front.
From where she sat, a few
rows to the front, she had a clear
and close view of him. Dressed
smartly in an admiral blue
fitted two piece suit that agreed
really well with his light skin tone,
he looked even more good
looking than she had imagined he
would now.
He was much taller about six feet
six inches, his shoulders broad
and he had bulked up in
the right places. He wasn’t the
lanky, skinny teenager anymore
who she had grown up with,
that was certain.
His once dark and full curly afro
was now tamed, closely cropped
at the sides with finger
length curls flopping forward in
the centre. He even spotted a
nicely trimmed beard and
mustache carefully shaped to fit
his chiseled facial structure.
She remembered teasing him
when they had been younger on
how his looks were
effeminate because he had taken
after his German mother.
As he turned to address the crowd
of colleagues, his steely gray eyes
roving through the
crowd, she decided she had been
wrong, he might have taken after
his mom in looks but he
was pure male.
“He looks like a GQ model.”
David, my colleague and close
friend whispered to me and my
other friend seated on my other
side, Irene.
Irene chuckled and I couldn’t help
a small smile myself. Indeed, he
did. He was all grown up
now and his presence very
commanding.
I wonder what he would think of
me if we met,rather, when we
met. It was only a matter of
time and I couldn’t hide from him
for too long. He was here now, we
would be working in the
same company and it was
inevitable that we would meet
eventually.
Did he remember? I wondered.
Even though it had been ten years
since we saw each other
last, it felt like yesterday to me.
We had been kids at the time, my
parents working and living on his
family’s estate. We had
forged a friendship then that had
led into much more before it had
ended abruptly.
That was then anyway, now we
were both grown adults, I doubt
what we were as teenagers
mattered anymore. I had even
heard he was presently engaged
to a Victoria’s secret model.
“You grew up in his house, Simi,
were you two friends?” Dave
asked me.
I had not only grown up in his
house, I had spent most of my
time around him. We had
attended the same secondary
school, he had been two years
ahead of me but that hadn’t
stopped me from hanging around
him any chance I got. I’d had it
bad for him, and he had
also reciprocated my feelings but
that was then, ten years ago.
“We were not that close.” I lied
smoothly. What was the point in
telling them we had been
friends when he had probably
forgotten my existence by now.
I watched him as he spoke, his
voice so deep, a slight hint of an
accent, his hands gesturing
as he spoke with so much
conviction and his gray eyes
scanning the crowd.
“He sure is quite good looking, I’m
quite sure the ladies are mentally
taking numbers, what’s
your number, Simi?” David joked
I turned fixing him a ‘not funny’
glare and he chuckled.
“He’s engaged, David.” I told him.
“So? Engagements can be
broken.” Irene chipped in.
I raised a brow, ” You too, Irene?”
“Can you see what I am seeing,
girl? This guy is smoking, I have
certainly taken a number.
I’m flirting the first chance I get.”
“Emmm, did you forget that you
are engaged?” I asked her. ” Or
were you playing when you
told us this morning, you and Joel
were picking wedding dates?”
She.smiled with a concerned
frown, “I am just joking…whats
wrong with you today, you are
so serious. You can’t take a
simple joke.”
I shook my head and turned back
to look up at him, only for my
gaze to meet his staring
straight at me. He paused in his
speech, then his lips quirked in a
smile obviously meant for
me and it seemed all time
stopped. In that brief moment, it
was me and him, no one else and
I knew he remembered.
My heart did a little skip just as he
broke off our eye mooching.
Turning, he continued with
his speech.
I released the breath I hadn’t
known I had held on to for that
short moment, wondering if
anyone else had noticed? I didn’t
have to wonder for long.
“Erm, was it only me, or did you
guys notice he just smiled at
Simi?” David asked and Irene
nodded turning to me.
“Simi you said you didn’t know
him.” Irene accused.
“I said we were not close but he
must have recognised me.” I said
trying to dig an escape
route from my lie.
“Well, that didn’t look like a
recognition smile.” Irene argued
“right David?”
“It certainly did not.” He agreed.
“It was a smile of unspoken
promises, past, present and
future.”
Turning to him, I fixed him a stern
stare. “Are you now a poet in your
free time, David? Can
you two just get off this thing
already? The guy is engaged and
he isn’t even my type. So two
of you should just let me be and
stop trying to fix me up with any
guy you come across.”
David and Irene exchanged
glances before David spoke up.
“There’s something wrong with
you today Simi, normally you
would be laughing at our jokes
and not taking them so close to
heart.”
They were right. I wasn’t
comfortable talking about.Seye
this way, it belittled everything we
had shared but my friends didn’t
know about our past. I had to find
a way to act without
letting my emotions get the best
of me before they would figure it
out.
In the meantime, I wondered why
Seye had looked at me that way. I
hated to admit it but like
Dave had said, it had held a great
deal of unspoken promises, past,
present and future.
Fac
