SOME EXES NEVER DIE — THEY JUST HAUNT YOU LIKE GHOSTS

TEARS FOR A LIFETIME (EPISODE 4): MY MISTAKE (1)


I did not see Uncle Jide for the next week. All I could think about was the kiss. I was struggling with the memory of my first kiss, the fact that it was with the person that I called ‘Uncle’. I didn’t know what to do but my heart told me that loving Uncle Jide was very wrong. I decided that I was going to hide the fact that I was falling on him or ‘crushing on him’ as my friends in school would say. I was going to tell him that I couldn’t agree to any of the things that he proposed.


On the Monday of the following week, Kemi and I got back home from school and we saw Uncle Jide’s car parked in the compound. I got so nervous, I told Kemi to go in to change that I was coming in. I sat wondering how I would face him. It was then I noticed there was a spot on the floor by the garage that needed to be brushed and that the plants needed to be watered etc. (Of course, that was Ahmed – the security man’s job). Thank God he wasn’t around at the time. I wonder what he’d have thought. I don’t know how long I was there for but Kemi came to meet me and she said that Uncle Jide had asked of me twice, she was wondering why I was working outside in my school uniform and she was hungry. I had no choice but to go inside with her.


Uncle Jide was sitting in the living room, I greeted him and he answered. He didn’t ask after my day like he would normally. I quickly rushed up. When I served his lunch, I got a nod. No ‘thank you, my baby’ or pet names or anything. That was how it went on for the next few days. I wasn’t happy at all. Uncle Jide hadn’t said more than a few words to me. He would play with Kemi as he used to play with me and he wouldn’t even look at me when I was talking to him. By Friday, I couldn’t take it anymore. I stayed up until Uncle Jide got back sometime around 10pm. When he walked in and I greeted him, he just nodded and was about to walk by and I said ‘Uncle, have I done anything wrong to you?’ He didn’t say anything.


I asked again. He said nothing; he just kept looking straight at me. By the third time, my voice was shaking. He said ‘I am not your uncle.’ ‘Uncle, I can’t call you by your name, it’s disrespectful’. ‘When you’re ready to talk to me, you know what to say.’ He was about to walk away and I said ‘Why are you treating me like this? What have I done?’ He got very angry. ‘How am I treating you? You don’t love me right? The other day it took you almost an hour to come inside and you knew I was around which means you didn’t know how to refuse me. Now, I’ve left you alone and you’re complaining. Have I beat you or insulted you? How am I treating you, Rita?‘


The tears had started. ‘No, Uncle.’ He flinched. ‘No… Jide. You used to ask after my day and talk to me and play with me all the time. Now, you only know Kemi. You don’t even ask after me.’ He held me ‘Don’t cry, Rita. You know I hate to see you cry. The only way I can do this is if I stay away from you totally. I’m sorry.’ He walked upstairs and he left me weeping in the sitting room.


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