The Longest Period Of Longing.

She's broken don't fix her

Oslo Nwachukwu prided in himself on the fact that he understands women, at least to a large extent. He liked the fact that he could look at a woman and know exactly how to please her or avoid her. Either way worked in his favour. He somehow wondered if Uche was his curse and karma, in a way he felt no man could be perfect and Uche was the mystery he was meant to solve as he crossed through life with different women, but now he’s stuck. If it were a video game here is a level where he would quit, well maybe not, because like all gamers the tougher the game the more frustratingly interesting it gets but then it gets tiring. Oslo pondered as he sipped his iced tea in Lekki Lagos brunch cafe. He looked at the tea’s label and wondered how life can be very interesting and humans very changeable. It’s funny how he always hated tea even as a child, you could poison him by offering tea, the blandness disgusted him and he believed people pretended to like it, even the chocolate drinks tasted like a sugary vomit. He hated anything tea, especially when they’re lukewarm. Uche came into his life and became his opposite. She drank all kinds of flavored tea as water. She drank tea in the hot and cold weather. She drank tea as alcohol, and whenever she’s in her ‘new moon spirit’, she buys different kinds of herbs and makes her own tea using any blending machine available. It was a wonder to watch. The only disadvantage was him being the taster as she would chase him around to try just a mouthful, and after a while she began making teas for him as well, promising him that he’ll love it which always proved wrong, until the day she made him a ginger and pomegranate tea, he knew she was experimenting but it came out strong, rich and tasty. Since then whenever he had a bad day he requests for a tea like that. So hence how he became the ‘tea man’.

The waiter came and cleared the table opposite him and Oslo requested for some croissants to add to his tea turning his tea brunch to a real meal.

He had always wondered how Uche grew up, and she never really said much about her childhood days which means they were not very bright and she mentions her father very little times or with very great moments, like the way you talk about Superman. A hero you admire and witnessed his epic fights like when he fought off villains for your sake. Nice, but not as a family member but rather as someone you want others to think you like but in reality you’ll love them to stay far away from you.

She talked with her mother like how you would talk about an examination. Brief, important but not liked and also showing no much affection or showing a faked affection. Either way she never dwelled too long on any topic regarding them. Oslo wondered if she loved them individually. He remembered his own mother and how Uche came to ask of her even before she would make talks about her own mother. It was all a muse and really not his business. Might be the reason he wondered why she was sometimes cold. Not cold in unfeeling, but cold in expression. He wanted more of her. He saw her for who she is and he wanted it so badly that for an instant he was ready to face any scary truth about her he might later discover.

They met at a friend’s wedding ceremony and ever since he genuinely wanted her in his life as something, anything at all would do. If she wasn’t going to marry him at least she could move in next to the other apartment closer to his own respectively. It was that bad.

Hers was a relationship he wanted to last forever.

Oslo’s phone beeped and it was his wife Angela…a voice note saying “ Oz darling, can you please buy the banana bread from the Annex plaza, thank you and I love love you”

Life can be painful, Oslo thought to himself, Not the everyday activities, but the pain in knowing you missed something in your journey through life, something you’ve never experienced, maybe a path that you’re supposed to take in life through someone. But you missed it and you missed it all.