Simplethings

Chapter 1-3

NIFEMI HAD READ SOMEWHERE online, that extreme boredom could cause people to die prematurely. Sitting in a sophisticated restaurant located in the heart of Victoria Island, she had listened to the impeccably dressed young man opposite her go on and on about what she didn't care about for over two hours. She was beginning to fear that she would die of boredom.

Luckily for her, they were already having dessert, and she couldn't wait for it to be over. Then the usual conversation would happen. "Can I see you again?" The man would always ask.

"Oh no. I'm very sorry but I'm just not interested." She would reply as sweetly as she could and then run for her life.

But she knew the man opposite her wasn't just an ordinary man. Yemi Adekoya, one of the most eligible bachelors in Nigeria, and the heir of his father’s multinational oil and gas company, was a lady’s man. And when he wanted something, he always got it.

She remembered the mischievous glint in her mother's eyes when he came to pick her up. He drove by himself, instead of using a driver, and had charmed her with compliments and jokes. She was enjoying herself in the beginning, laughing at his jokes and making conversation. But as soon as they got to the restaurant, the discussion seemed to shift to himself and his achievements.

Then she discovered that he was incorrigible. He went on and on about the places he travelled, the people he had met, the politics he believed in, and other nonsense that she couldn't possibly care about—his opinion on the middle-esst tax policy, for example. He didn't bother to ask her about herself, or know what she liked and did not like. He ordered fish without asking her what she wanted, and she really hated fish. So for the past two hours, she sat there, listening to him, poking the fish with her fork and counting seconds of the clock.

"So are you having a nice time?" Yemi asked her. She replied with a nod and a tight smile as she reached for her glass of water. He didn't seem to notice her discomfort. "Nifemi Adekoya. Sounds very nice shay?" He teased and she choked on the water she was drinking. He laughed loudly, causing people seated on the neighboring tables to glance their way. "I'm just joking." He laughed.

"Well, can we leave? I'm getting tired, and I have to be up early tomorrow." Nifemi said after the dessert, faking a yawn.

"Oh, of course, let's leave." He replied, standing up and calling for the bill. She stood up as well, and waited for him to pay, before following him silently to the car. She couldn't wait for him to drop her home so she could call Theodore.

As she sat in the car, she thought of what happened that morning. Yemi had kept quiet after a while, when she stopped replying him. She would never find happiness with any of the men her mother set her up with. They just weren't for her. Someone else would love Yemi, with his charm and jokes, but every second she spent with him, her mind was on Theodore.

What about your own happiness?

She heard Theodore's voice loud and clear in her head.

I'll find it later, she had replied.

But why was she looking for it, when she had found the one who made her genuinely happy? And with a wide grin written across her face, she practiced what she was going to tell Theodore later that night, after she had escaped from Yemi and evaded her mother.

Nifemi wanted something for herself, and for the first time, she was determined to go for it.

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