OPEN HEART SURGERY

BUFFALO SOLDIER

He needed to clear all obstacles, thorns and thistles on the path of his relationship. But the thorn in his flesh was his best friend, so Zak thought Dara would be the best place to start.

Dara ran down stairs to meet him. "Hi! Darling, are you okay?" She said, in a refined manner.

He took a deep breath and tried to let it out without an obvious sigh, "Yes, I'm fine." He answered, and tried out a smile which failed as he stood in the center of her mother's living room which seemed to spin with his fears. "Please can you seat?"

Dara got a little uneasy. With her eyes still on him, she took a seat and Zak continued, nervously. "I'm sorry about what happened the last time in my room, it was my mistake.”

“It was our mistake, a romantic mistake, i guess?" Dara replied.

“That's why I came to apologize. It's not going to happen again.”

“Fine, but that was what you said the last time, and the time before that.”

“I'm certain of it this time.”

Dara looked at him curiously. "I see you're almost getting to the reason why you're here, and I'm listening."

“Dara, you have always been my best friend and i would kill to keep that. And you know I never did anything without letting you know." He said, taking a seat beside her.

“What do you want to say Zak?" Dara asked, almost losing her patience.

“I wanted to officially let you know that Nicole and I, are dating.”

“Sorry, I didn't get that." Dara said.

“Nicole and I are in a relationship." Zak rephrased.

“I heard you the first time, I was only asking for a little more explanation on what you just said.”

Zak took another deep breath. He already knew this was going to be a hard one. "I don't know how else to explain it, but we're serious about it.”

“Congratulations! You just explained it, 'serious', is the word I wanted to here." Dara gave him a poisonous smile. She already knew they were dating but she was waiting for this moment, when he would muster up courage to stand before her, like he just did. "So what you're saying right now is that you're officially telling me, that you've been sleeping with my best friend?" She continued, agitatedly.

Zak had not expected her to twist his explanation in a s****l direction. "I've not slept with Niki."

Dara chuckled as she stood up. "Once again, you're officially telling me that she's the nun and I'm the whore.”

“Where are all these assumptions coming from?”

“My heart Zak," Dara said. "The heart you're playing with is where I'm assuming from."

Zak stood up to be on the same platform with her, although not on the same page. "What are you talking about Dara, you never gave it to me.”

“How would you know Zak?" Dara yelled. "I stood before you every day and you never looked at me like you should have. Every time I put up a drama before you, did you thing I was Julia Roberts?" She yelled even louder.

Zak was speechless. She had never been so blunt about her feelings for him like that, ever before. “I'm not an actress," She continued. "It was all for you to notice me, but I guess that's just too bad for me, because she never even got off the plane before she became the chosen one.”

“Dara, I'm really sorry, I never imagined you'd feel this way.”

“Did you imagine that after having s*x with you countless times that we'll keep playing that brother-sister bullshit?”

“Dara three times is not countless." Zak retorted.

“Once, could be an accident. Twice, would be a coincidence, but three times is not a mistake for a woman!" She yelled. "It has a meaning Zak." Zak looked sadly at her, maybe he never should have made the announcement sound like a big deal but he knew if he didn't, she would do something stupid pretending she wasn't aware of his relationship with Nicole.

Zak felt pity for her, he wanted to love her like that, but Nicole had taken up every single space in his heart. "I had imagined you'd understand that we were better off as best friends." Zak said, politely.

“Zak Afamefuna Obinna Ikenna, have you been talking to a seer, maybe the one at Bekinta, or did you learn all these in medical school?" She asked, ironically. "We have shared everything, from money to clothes, food to our bodies and it never occurred to you that we could have something beyond best friends?”

“Dara I've always been confused about your feelings.”

“Zak, I'm a woman! Our feelings are always confusing. They even confuse us more times than we wish they wouldn't.”

Zak moved closer to plead with her. "Nicole please, you need to understand-"

The expression on Dara's face told him something was wrong. "Did you just call me Nicole?" Dara asked, incredulously. She bit her lips and gently shook her head at the unbelievable insult to injury. "I've never felt so insulted in my life Zak, the only reason it breaks my heart is because it's coming from you."

“I'm really sorry but please let's call a spade a spade." Zak said.

Dara struggled not to lose her temper. "Zak, s*x and spade might start with an 'S' but how can anybody call s*x a spade." Dara said. "To men s*x could mean one thing but to a woman it could mean everything, it just depends on the kind of woman. What kind of woman do you think I am Zak?”

“Why don't you tell me?" Zak replied, carelessly. His answer came to Dara like a heavy weight punch.

Dara stepped back. "If you think you're going to treat me like one of your blood stained glove, you are so wrong because I'm going to fight you with anything I find in my heart, be it love or hate." Dara told him, sternly.

Aunt Rose walked past them to get the door which had rung twice. "My guests are at the door, you both might need to go upstairs or preferably out of my house until they leave.”

Zak walked to Dara and hugged her lightly. "If you wage war against love, and you win, how do you hope to find peace?" He whispered into her ears.

“I hate you Zak." She muttered, as she watched him walk out through the back door, the tears ran to her face and she ran upstairs to find a pillow for her shameless face.

Nicole had left for work early that morning. 'The House of History and Philosophy' at the University, would assemble to listen to her presentation in a few hours. Although she was not ready, she had told her team she was. "I think I left my flash drive in my room." Nicole said, partially confused.

“No, you didn't, it's on my desk." Mrs. Sambo replied.

Nicole gave a sigh of relief and hurried to Mrs. Sambo's desk. "It's not the one," She said, disappointedly. "This holds the presentation but not the statistical data.”

“You know the dates on those things are what matters most. Why don't you call someone to bring it over?”

“There's no one at home and I'm not really sure where I left it."

Nicole had left Zak's place late the night before, with the Jaguar and barely had enough time to put her presentation together before rushing off to the campus. "I'll need to go get it myself.”She said, searching for the car key in her bag.

“Leave the flash on my desk, and make it snappy, I don't appreciate that crazy rush people do at the last minute. Mrs. Sambo said.

“I'll be back in thirty minutes tops, which should leave us with enough time to avoid that crazy rush." Nicole said, with a grin as she hurried to get the Jaguar on the road to Top View Villa.

She kept the Jaguar at a steady speed that could still be described as driving fast through that side of town, until she had to slow down and wheel in through the West gate. Pushing the gas pedal down again, Nicole headed for the West gate check point as her phone rang beside her. With one hand on the steering, she lifted the phone to her ears. "Yes, Mrs. Sambo?”

“Driver, Jaguar XF, 2-15! Stop your vehicle immediately! Hands on your head! I repeat, stop your vehicle immediately!" The announcement came from the West gate security control public address system and it filled the air and echoed into the Jaguar.

Nicole knew she was driving a Jaguar, but she did not know about the XF or the 2-15, so she looked around to confirm her fears and, yes! She was the only driver on the road. Confusion fell upon her in full dose. She was not sure if to disconnect the call, put her hands on her head or stop the vehicle.

Staff sergeant Diana bounced into the road, about fifty meters from the Jaguar. Nicole's confusion was converted to fear without a converter as the pretty girl in military uniform pulled out her pistol and buffaloed towards the Jaguar. Nicole's phone fell to the floor, her hands went for her head and her leg floored the brakes but Diana had already squeezed the trigger three times.

The gun sounds replaced the announcement. The gun shots were no warning. Her target was flawless. The bullets went through the windscreen into the jaguar to breaking Nicole's heart, and completely turn her off.

Nicole had gone against all the rules. No one had told her that drivers were not allowed to receive or make calls within the check point parameters. Zak must have assumed she knew.

She had driven an extra 2km/hr above the acceptable speed limit within the check area.

She had taken an extra second to stop her vehicle, and had also responded to the command in the reverse order, by putting her hands on her head before stopping the vehicle, instead of stopping the vehicle before placing her hands on her head.

She had driven past the yellow warning line which was the maximum limit for vehicles before checks. Her car tires were on the red line, three meters from the yellow. Nicole had clearly gone beyond the red line. With all these charges forwarded to the appropriate quarters, death from a bullet would feel like a warm kiss on a winter night, compared to the trauma obtainable in Top View disciplinary housing.

Staff Sergeant Diana could fire three more rounds at Nicole and would still be as guiltless as Rev. Sister Martha Theresa.