“I want out”, Tina melted in John’s arms as he tried
to comfort her and make her reason with him.
“Please, we have come too far to quit now. We made
this work seven years ago, we can still do the same now. We were magical.
Remember how everyone was jealous of our love?” John broke the minute long
silence which had crept into the room and stole the tension from the
atmosphere. “I am not in a haste, I can wait. Do anything but don’t walk out on
our love” John added almost immediately, trying to hide his sorrow in his
choice of words.
“I have tried my best but there is this great
distance between us. The more I try to come close, the farther away I get from
our love. The truth is bitter but it must be told in this case. We no longer
belong to the same class.” Tina emphasized as her soprano voice echoed through
the emptiness of the day.
“We no longer belong to the same class?” John asked
rhetorically as Tina left the sitting room to answer her cell phone.
John knew it was Sam on the phone when he heard Tina
giggling. Tina met Sam at law school and since then, the she had for John flew
through the window. Like a master football player, Sam maneuvered his way into
her heart, crept into their lives and destroyed the love they had nurtured for
seven years
.
John sank into the sofa when he heard Tina
professing her undying love to Sam on the phone. A picture of how they had
started their love journey flashed through his mind. He could vividly see Tina
in her favorite red top and black jeans hawking oranges at his mechanic
workshop.
Their love story began like a fairy tale and it
became so real that John had to sponsor Tina’s education. According to him,
Tina was his future and so he sacrificed his passion of becoming an engineer
for to be able to become a lawyer. Meeting John was an answered prayer
according to Tina’s mum who later died of diabetes a year after Tina started
schooling. John had stopped his schooling after his SSCE and decided to become
a mechanic since no one was there to sponsor his fees.
“I just can’t bring myself to believe you will be my
husband. How am I going to introduce you to my fellow lawyers? Your presence
around me is an insult to my personality” Tina shouted, bringing John out of
his journey on memory lane.
“Sam just called and I will be spending the night
at his place, don’t bother to wait for me.” She added as she slammed the door
and hurriedly left to meet Sam who was already waiting outside.
John sat on the sofa as Tina’s words kept repeating
in his ears.
Few minutes later, the phone rang. It was a call
from the police station. There had been an accident and John was asked to come
to Siloam hospital and diagnostic services to get Tina.
Sam was seriously
injured but Tina escaped the accident untouched. Sam had lost quite a lot of
blood and as matter of urgency, he needed to be transfused with a pint of
blood. The laboratory result showed that Sam was O negative and needed a donor
urgently or he dies.
Tina was later told by the doctors that John had
paid the bills and was also the one who donated the blood that saved Sam.
“Why did you donate your blood to save him?” Tina
asked with tears in her eyes. "He is the reason I wanted to leave you and
you still saved him?"
“I don’t know. I guess I just want you to be happy.
If you are happy with him, I shall swallow my love and allow you be with him. I
love you too much to have you pass through the pain of living with someone you
are not happy with. I saved him for you.” John said with tears in his eyes as
he left the hospital.
Three days later, Sam was discharged from the
hospital and Tina stayed with him until he had fully recovered.
After a month of silence from Tina and Sam, John
heard a knock at the door on a Saturday
morning. He opened the door and found
Tina dressed in her favorite red top and jeans. She was carrying her tray of
oranges.
"This was how you met me years ago and I don't
mind living this life just to fall in love with you all over again." Tina
whispered as she hugged John tightly. "I don't know if you can fall in
love with this orange seller all over again." She concluded.
"Welcome back home, but I prefer the lawyer
you've become." John smiled.
Another piece by DANIEL GANA AKA THE PASSERBY
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