AWERO

Ódo

The next couple of weeks that followed were a contrasting one to both. If there had been anything Dunni was weary about it would be running into Omotoye, she changed herroutine completely, she'd wake up earlier than she ususaly did to go the stream, would skip days she was so sure a huge number of villagers would go harvest or work on their farmsto days there were just a handful of people, she'd feign sickness to avoid going to the market on major market days and whenever she did, she prayed fervently to Oya to prevent her from crossing paths with Omotoye, but in the peacefulness of the night when she was all alone and the noise had been drained out save for the chittering of cricketsand the croaking of toads, when the nights' breeze filtered all her thoughts she'd find herself reminiscing on her last encounter with 'Motoye, she was already covered in a mist of sweat and arousal, she could feel her insides clench delightfully and her n*****s hardened as she tried wipe off beads of sweat from her chest, she thought about him,his foreboding figure, the way he'd smiled at her when they first met, how the hair on the back of her neck stood when his lips had brushed her ear, when he'd touched her, wherehe'd touched her, how he had touched her, how his eyes shone brightly with lust when she looked in them, she stifled a smile at the thought knowing fully well that his eyes were only but a reflection of hers on that night, she thought bout the firmness of his hand when they cupped her breast, how he had moaned with pleasure when her thighs madecontact with whatever was between his legs, she could hear her own heartbeat at this point, and could feel a sensation building up inside of her, she tried to stop butshe couldn't, she could feel him near, egging her on, whispering his name into her eyes like he did the night before and the night before that, she could feel him on her skinhis thumb running through her curves, and then it was his forefinger, it skidded from her lips, past her neck to her breast, his grip was firm and gentle at the same timeand as it touched her n****e she let out a moan, her lungs drew back in air, her heartbeat quickened almost immediately his finger drew a line down the south of her figure,stopping only to make contact with the hairs that shielded the walls to her v****a, she exhaled and inhaled almost immediately, her body grew numb and succumbed to thepleasure the second she felt his forefinger go inside of her, she let out a moan but this time it came with a little discomfort but she'd rather this than for him to stop.In out, in out he moved rhythmically inside of her, then she could feel him quicken his pace, her eyes drew shut, she clenched her teeth and placed a hand over her mouthto prevent her mother hearing her moans from the next room, she whispered his name into the palm she covered her mouth with, the sensation in her grew to a pitch and withinseconds she felt elevated to the point where she thought she was in between the embers of stars and the heavens but when her eyes finally opened and the little semblanceof her senses returned she looked around but he was no where, she smiled, drew her eyes shut once more and they didn't open till the next morning.

He knew one thing for sure before Dunni, he knew he was never the type to dwell on one woman much less one that has made it so obvious she either didn't like him or want to have something to do with him but someway somehow she still had a hold on him, he found it an herculean task to stop thinking of her, even after all his effortsand messages through Daud and some of her friends, and after all his series of attempt to get in touch with her since their last meeting and at every point she eluded him, andshould they come in contact she would spare him but one glance, his words would be drowned by her friends laughter, she ignored him to the point that one of her friendapproached him to advice him to give up on her, that she obviously was not interested in him, but how could he he thought to himself when Shalewa left, not like he had nottried to but it just wasn't happening, he had tried to forget her face, what it meant to him and that one night they'd shared together but the harder he tried to the moredifficult it was for him to get over her.

It was one of those odd hot afternoons you would rarely find people going to the farm but here he was with his cutlass and sac preparing to go to the farm to check on histraps, Daud had offered to go with him but he insisted he shouldn't, he wasn't going to stay long he had told him, he had with him his uncle's hunting gun, a machete, a jarof water, some boiled potatoes his grandmother had made that morning, a small container of palm oil to eat the potatoes with and soon as he was sure he had not forgottenanything he got on his way to the farm. Upon his arrival he went to check his traps but none had caught anything, he went ahead to check Daud's traps too but his had caught nothingeither, frustrated and hungry after almost two hours, he made his way to where he had kept his Sac, the branches of the tree shielded him from the scorching sun and he carefully unwrapped the potatoes his grandmother had packed for him and he dug in, dipped them into oil and stuffed them angrily into his mouth, frustrated their trapshadn't caught even a fly, he pushed it down so violently that he almost choked on it and as he reached for the jar of water in front of him, his hind eye caught sight ofa deer trapped in thongs of the bush, instinctively he reached for his gun aimed at the deer almost the same time that it saw him, his first shot missed and as he tried toreload to take aim the second time he noticed the deer had managed to wiggle away leaving behind it tail and a trail of blood, he chased after it, stopping to pick up thetail tossed it in his sac and continued his pursuit, he kept following the trail of blood, he wasn't ready to go home empty handed or with just a deer's tail, he kept at itfor twenty minutes till he came across it again and this time he was barely thirty feet away and he raised the gun , pointing at it direction quietly not to scare it off again, he aimed at it and had a clear line of shot but as he was about pulling the trigger his eyes caught sight of another target of his, it was Dunni, allalone by the river, he froze and before his wits could kick in the deer had escaped for a second time but he didn't bother to run after it this time coz for the first inthree weeks there she was all alone.

He took the clearing that led right up to the river, his eyes trained on her like she was the deer that ran off, he wore an emotionlesslook, his head raging with words to say to her, how to react when she tried to ignore him again, he thought he could have his emotions in check till he drew nearer and nearer and at each melody she sang out loud the softer his heart beat to the tune that he failed to notice a log that laid in his path, he tripped, let out a cry of pain,she raised her head startled, she hadn't noticed anyone till that moment, she started to run towards the other the direction when he called out to her "Dunni, Oladunniduro mo sa lo emi ni Motoye" she recognized his voice, looked beyond her shoulder and saw it was him, she let out a sigh of relief, turned back to go pick up her "ikoko"her eyes were a raging fire, obviously angry at him for startling her then she caught sight of the gun in his hand and her anger multiplied, she didn't hold back and saidso many bad words to him, picked up her pot to leave but he reached out and touched her by the arm, she slapped his hand off turned around to hurl insults at him againbut was stopped in her tracks when he let out "Mabinu Dunni, mi o ni lo kan la ti ja e ni aya, mabinu mi o le ro wi pe mo le ba e pa de ni idi odo ni wan ni kan, mabinuko wun emi na la ti ma le e bi mo si se le o la ti ojo yi, mabinu Dunni sugbon oro ife re si ti wa je oba lo ri emi mi, ko si ohun ti mo le gbe se mo la la yi ronu ni pa reMabinu nitori mo ni fe re denu denu o si ma wun mi ti mo ba le fi o se aya Oladunni omo abebi, Mabinu Dunni Mabinu".

She was taken aback by his sudden outburst, the expression on his face had so many emotions written, he looked lost and defeated almost like the deer he had tried to kill earlier, she took her time to read every little detail hiseyes gave away and her heart softened, she stretched her hands towards him, he linked them with his and she pulled him to her, she wrapped her arms round his waist andtook in his smell, he reeked of soil and sweat, she gently pushed him back, took in his sight, smiled before planting a kiss at the side of his cheek then she whispered"Mo ni ife re na Omotoye".