Nine years in 3 weeks

She stretched her hand while passing the bottle of water to me forcing me to copy the same stretch to receive it. We were just a few metres from her home, she stood on the other side of the path, between us dry leaves lay on the path which was utmost two metres wide. I held the bottle of water behind my back with both hands, I was supposed to say my greetings, but we were not so used to each other -maybe I am shy- sometimes. We have been neighbors for the past twenty-five years and this was the second time we ever came this close to one another, mind you, the first was just yesterday. The reason of coming to meet her here is that she refused to come over the fence to my farm after I send her a short text asking for water. She insisted me going for it. I didn't know why exactly she didn't want to come over, but my farm was mostly busy with casuals and people coming for vegetables, fruits and sometimes consultancy. I expected her to act in a rush or something, but after handing me the bottle, she remained on the same spot. There was no way I would just turn back and resume my tasks, the sun was scorching and at least the overgrown trees along the path provides a good environment for the afternoon sun, there was a cool breeze. I took a step behind and leaned on a tree behind, she noticed the movement and our eyes met. She quickly turned away and her eyes got busy looking at the environment. This was the perfect moment I could really look at her. She had a narrow, smooth face with dazzling tiny dark eyes. Her nose was one that would never wreck a kissing moment perfectly in its position leading me to her upper lip which was shorter than her love pink lip, no gloss was applied but despite the weather, they were wet. Her hair was braided and tied in one knot behind and the braids fell on her left shoulder. No necklaces on her neck as no make up on her face. She was natty! Her n*****s slightly popped from her tshirt, she was petite, with a flat tummy held by a tiny waist. She was wearing a kitenge skirt which was lose on her but I could easily see her hips holding it making me predict her booty size. Damn! She has grown! I was to finish my adventure in exploring her when their shamba boy passed between us. "Were you really thirsty?" Belle asked in a smile. "Yes... Yes really thirsty!" I said open the lid to take a sip of the water. After greetings which took longer to come through we talked about campus life. I had graduated in the field of Media two years earlier than her, in the field of Construction. We talked about party nights in campus, parties during internships and briefly about our current situations. She was addicted to t****k, me to f*******:, watching and writing the two latter ones were more of hobbies to me. "Which are you reading now?" She asked with curiosity. "This Girl by Colleen Hoover," I said confidently. "I would borrow it after you are through," "Yes sure it's nice!" We had a long talk on different things till she checked her phone and we had been there for one and hour hours. She bid me goodbye but stood my ground to get a reassurance of my prediction of her behind, I smiled! Honestly I had no feelings for her, my mind was set that she was taken and it was still too early to feel for someone you really dont have a good foundation with although this didn't stop the thought of me having her as a close person to me, more than a friend. She walked on for some steps before turning back with a smile. "Don't forget to return my bottle," "There is no way you are getting it back," I said jokingly. She is my neighbor, a good relationship existed between our parents since their family moved in to this pace, not even a fence separated our lands but no one ever complained about each other. Despite that as kids, no history can ring in my mind about our lives back then, schooling held us up and none had spend long at home, not to mention almost no home to home visits. My circle was too small, the kind of life that when my phone rang, I could easily predict who it was. This time it rang, it was her, asking whether I had left for home. I was seated under an orange tree the empty water bottle between my legs. I couldn't tell why I kept running the bottle through the call but I hadn't stopped thinking about her. She has a wonderful smile, nice lips and fine figure. We had a short talk before she asked to do some chores lest her mother would be mad at her after job. ****************************************** Usually, we had supper as a family and stories would be much anytime. I really loved the jokes and everything we did as a family, telling stories about the day and poking each other to bursts of laughter. My elder brother and his wife always sat next to me as I faced my dad on the far end as mom occupied the left seat immediately after mom, with my sister on the right often fighting for that place with her daughter, Sophia. My phone chimed, it was a message from Belle. Since then I got buried into my phone, she was fast in typing her messages and constantly complained about my speed. Her messages reminded me of campus times, stickers and emojis all over, she had a cool sense of humour blended with nice serious sly questions. I didn't notice that my meal hadn't been touched until the entire room went silent with my eyes meeting the entire stares of the family who held their chins with folded arms, I was in the middle of a smile, my phone in both hands. "Wow!" Exclaimed my sister. "Whaat?" I said in amusement. I put my phone away and immediately after the meal I left with my phone to my house direct to bed. I beeped her to make it known I was back, this time, I felt more like I was into a deep conversation with her. My interest was to know her likes and dislikes though she never asked about mine, I never bothered to say lest I got misunderstood by her. It's in this conversation that I realized she had been home for the past three months. Apart from scrolling through job vacancy sites, her addiction to reels and short videos to celebrity gossips was loud enough. I was curious about her love life which never came up in her messages. You look stuck in this conversation Isn't your boyfriend mad at you? Which boyfriend? You can't be alone in this world... Oops... guess you wanna tell me about your girlfriend (s) coz you are very slow in the chat... Oh my! When my phone rings, I can say who is calling, haven't found a reason to fall in love again though. After this, I felt a lot more attracted to her, not in terms of feelings but I have a weakness in finding olen minded people with good communication skills attractive. She was not affected by village mentality, neither had she been spoilt by campus life. I took charge of the conversation telling her about my campus life to employment, she was more interested in my love life than anything else.