RIPPED (OFF)

MY NEXT STEP WON'T BE MY LAST STEP

I successfully stayed out of sight, staying locked up in my apartment after my classes for a few days.

Moreover, it was time to take stock of my four-year stay in Europe and there was also a need to mop my emotions thoroughly up because my departure was imminent.

Meanwhile, since the temperature hasn't dropped below 20°C since mid-June in Basel. I, like the other days since the weather change, was at the sea today again to inter my feet in the soothing shore and relax.

I slotted in my key upon getting home and turned it left until it clicked a couple of times. I walked in on him cascading down the rungs of the staircase on his wing into the living room, looking disoriented.

He was dragging a duffle bag by its trolley, trapping a cell phone he spoke discordantly into between his neck and his shoulders.

He was making a frantic effort to button the sleeve of the right hand that was dragging the bag using his other hand.

He ended the call when he saw me step in. "I have been meaning to talk to you about so many things. I should start with the way you stormed out the other time; but right now I need some hands with something… please,"

He rattled in a single breath, then, paused to catch his breath. He looked troubled. A curt glance presented his face as that of a man who was still worth saving at all cost- handsome.

"Why don't you start with a hello?" Civilization is built on the little things." I shot back, tersely warring so hard within not to cast another glance at him.

"Hello," he dinked at me, projecting a calmer exterior as if my word dampened him.

"Are you in trouble?" I ejected and felt good about how indifferent that came out.

"I know I would have said a few wrong things, and now I want to...

"...what you want isn't going to alter what I have to do next," I yanked the turn off his mouth rudely and walked off with it.

"Can you at least be fair and hear me out? He shot after me and bared both hands in a shrug.

"My father was hurried to the hospital last night and I need some hands packing a few things that I may need for a few days"

His voice came with an undertone of vulnerability, and it softened me.

"Any guesses on what's wrong with him?" I asked in genuine concern the next minute as we drove off the property in a hurry.

"We have been managing him of some chronicle organ issues for some time now,' he said, keeping his eyes steadily on the road as we chopped the distance away.

There are things I should say that might scare you..."

"...Then, you'd better not do that," I replied, speaking a little earlier before my turn again.

We drove for about fifteen minutes in utter silence which appeared to have calmed him considerably.

Then, I decided to ask him a question without actually asking him the question.

"Why Canada? Cuba would have been a better destination for a honeymoon," I tracked off as solemnly as I could best feign, hoping the fresh topic would help him take his mind away from the prevailing predicament.

"There's no truth in all of that which I said" He sputtered.

"So, why did you lie to me?

"That was not me lying, it was just me saying things the way they were not" He submitted, philosophically.

"To what end?" I queried persistently.

"To the end I became sure I was falling for a woman who needs something from me...who needs me! He flicked a glance at me and exhaled slowly.

"You know, my father told me how much my mother was sufficient in herself that she needed nothing from him and that was the beginning of their end.

She didn't need anything other than one- money.

Not even me, the only good thing I can put a finger on that they created together.

But astonishingly, when she left, she never even turned back to it, not to take a last glance.

I have kept away from love matters until the moment I saw you at the beach.

The sight of you sent a quiver down my spine and I was coming straight to you when I remembered I had to make good that which I promised myself...never to love a woman who needs nothing from me.

I lingered a look on him, placed my left palm on his right hand resting on the gear lever.

A sea of strong current surged through my being when he kept his gaze lucked to mine.

"Did you love her, your Mom? I probed, lifting my hand away from his , and returned it safely to my bare high where it lay idly.

He came after the hand, grabbing it as if it held the air he needed to live another second. He pasted a kiss on its back before owing it all through the journey.

"I never got a chance to find out. She was gone long before I could say."

"You mentioned having a fiancée, didn't you?

"Care about a little secret…? To a man like me, pay attention to what he does than what he says," he said pinning his gaze at me a bit too long.

"Hmm, I can't take the place of your mother but if you could have a chance with me, you will have a memorable sail."

In a moment, he wheeled into the parking lot of the hospital and the engine idled down before he let me have my hand back.

Then, he said something sweet, looking pointedly at me, "At whatever cost, I will embark on the voyage with you, Light."

As he placed my hand reverently back on my thigh, a fresh dawning settled in that I hadn’t worn something decent.

He interpreted my expression appropriately and reached out to his exhumed a neatly folded shirt from the back seat and handed it over to me.

He made to leave his seat to afford me some privacy while I changed into the shirt. I held him by the arm and pulled him back.

He swept a glance over my naked upper body and swallowed hard, then, peered out of the window the rest of time as I got into the shirt.

We walked into the elevator fingers interlocked and into a room with an empty bed space where the dead body of his father was wheeled off to the morgue.

The turn of recent events would mean that my next step won’t be my last step.