LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT ?

Rose is dead.
She was found lifeless in her bed in the early hours of the morning.
That is very tragic news.

Was she murdered? “Nope”.
Was she ill? “I have no idea”.
Did I know Rose? “Nope”.
Then why do I find her death so concerning?
What’s special about it?

Let’s get to the starting point.
Where everything began.

 

I stretch out my plate as the woman starts to dish spaghetti.
The scent emanating from the food to my nostrils is extremely appealing.
I cannot wait to dive in and enjoy a pleasant meal.

She continues to package the food and ensures no strand drops from the plate.
She proceeds to attach a fork and stretches her hand as the food is now pointing directly at me.

I look at her with a bit of hesitation and she says, “Collect your food na”
I reply, “Please add fish, Madam” as I stretch my finger to point toward the section where the fried fish are properly arranged and well garnished.

She laughs and answers, “Customer, this one you de chop fish, you don cash out”.

 
I don’t blame her.
She’s right, every single morning that I’ve queued to buy food from her; I always insist that I don’t want meat or fish.

Those are luxuries. I would eat my rice or spaghetti empty or if the going is tough, eba with soup early in the morning.
Then I’ll leave hurriedly to work shortly after.

But today is different. I have a bit of money and I may as well flaunt it.

The lady behind me is so damn beautiful that I can’t let her see a general like me eating only spaghetti.
I order fish and even get a cold drink to step down.
I may go broke but I can’t afford to lose my aura at this moment.

Everything on the tray plus the drink is N3,000. 

That’s change for a Rich kid but it means the world to me.
I proceed to take a seat as I am about to start eating.

I can barely focus due to the lady who is behind me when I am placing my order.
She is the perfect definition of beauty, ranging from her bodily features to her smile.

I stare for a long period of time to get a glimpse of her beauty and words cannot express how good she looks.
If I want to try, I’ll say, She is like a melody that lingers long after a song has ended so subtle but unforgettable.

Even the stars envy how she lights up a place, stars can only shine but she glows.
An epitome of beauty I must say. At a point, our eyes made contact and I quickly diverted my gaze but I knew I had been caught already.

I start eating my food but I ensure to eat it slowly because it’s expensive.
3000 naira has to be digested differently than 800 naira.
To make things even worse, she makes her order and out of all the seats to take, she chooses the one right opposite me. I begin to panic.

Am I dressed well?
Are there strands of spaghetti around my mouth?

 
How will I eat this fish and maintain steeze?
What if I choke while drinking the Sprite?

I bury my head deep into the food with the hope that I will not initiate a conversation and neither will she.
But I am wrong.

Immediately she takes her seat, she says, “Good morning” as she waves towards me.
With a lot of food in my mouth, I hurriedly swallow it just in time to respond to her greeting.
I look at her plate and I notice she ordered just a scoop of rice with salad while a glutton like me ordered four scoops of spaghetti with fish.

I can barely maintain eye contact due to how attractive she is.
I maintain composure as I raise my head directly to her eye level.
There’s no need for me to make an attempt of talking to her, a lady of this caliber will surely have a man.

But before I leave for work, I should start a conversation.
I have nothing to lose at this point.

I adjust my sitting position and I get more upright to show a little bit of dominance that I never knew I had in the first place.
I start with “Hi there” and she smiles and responds “Hi”.

At this point, my brain is scanning at a speed I can barely comprehend.
I don’t know what I’m going to say next !!
She notices how shy I am and smiles.

She starts, “I’m Daniella and you are?”
I don’t know if it’s the food or my own brain cells fighting against me because I don’t know how I have forgotten my own name.

I begin to stutter and I answer, “I’m John by the way”
As she initiated the conversation, it gave me the free ground to flow.
So I ask, “You stay around here?” and she answers “My mom and I just moved in”

I laugh as I answer, “Me too” and she laughs too.
Well, that’s a lie. I’ve been living around this street for as long as I remember but anything to make her smile right?

We continue discussing and discussing.
I take a look at the time from my phone, it’s 9:20am.
I’m late but I can’t miss this conversation for anything.

After several minutes of talking, I notice how social and free she is.
I could not even believe she would talk to me. It feels like she has a lot bottled up and needs someone to pour it out on.
We exchange contacts and I get up as I am about to take my leave.

I ask her, “Have you paid?” and she responds, “Of course”
Thank God, she did because I do not even have the money to pay for her meal.
I’m just being a chill gentleman.



Now I need to find a tricky way to find out if she has someone she’s dating or probably seeing.
I can’t afford to be daydreaming in the office about a lady who is already settled down.

An idea strikes and I immediately execute.
I ask her, “I would love to recreate this, as a date, if your man would allow it?”
Now, this is where she will answer, “Yes or No”

She does not answer and looks me dead in the eyes and says, “I’ll call you” I don’t know if I have recorded a success or not but it’s a lot of progress to me.

I ask her, “Where are you headed?” and she says “I want to meet my mom back home”
I respond with, “I’ll see you around”
We wave back at each other and take our leave.

I stand as I watch her fade into the crowd of people crossing the road.
Then, it immediately occurs to me that I’m super late.


I rush and board a bus as I move to work. The journey normally lasts for 10 to 15 minutes but today’s own feels like an eternity.
I am extremely uncomfortable and move restlessly around my seat as I think of what I would tell my boss.
I reach there and it’s 10:30am.

I’m sweating profusely as I rush to find the logbook to sign.
Maybe today is the day I get queried.
Who knows?

I sneak in through the front door as countless lies flash through my head, ready to be released to my unsuspecting boss.
Before I could even greet the first person, I locked eyes with him and I swallowed a huge gulp of saliva, waiting for hell to be let loose.

To my surprise, he greets me, pats my back, and walks away.
I am scared of why he hasn’t reacted as I stand in the middle of the hallway, completely frozen.

He turns and looks at me and says, “Just don’t bother signing, I’m used to your lateness”
I take that as a compliment as I rush to my desk and I start to get busy immediately.

I can barely think straight as my thoughts are diverted because of Daniella.
I save her contact as “Dani” with a moon emoji and I proceed to check if she’s on WhatsApp.
Of course, she is.

She must have saved mine earlier because I can see her status uploads.
I drop a message and leave it as I plug in my phone and I head back to work.
Evening comes quite fast and I can’t wait to leave these premises.

I have a bit of shopping to do before I get home and I need to relax, be calm and collected so I can text Daniella.

Throughout the day, she hasn’t responded to my text.
Maybe she’s busy or she isn’t a texting type.
I will probably call her once I’m settled.

But as I got through my phone, I noticed she had a lot of status uploads but my message remained unanswered.
I should have known that someone in her class and looks wouldn’t rate me anyway.

So I go through her status uploads to see what she posted and I come across her first post.

RIP ROSE!
You meant the world to me!
It’s sad to see you leave!

It was accompanied by more and more sad write-ups and pictures of a lady who looked to be in her 50s or early 60s.
As I read through the write-ups, I discovered that Rose is her mother.

I don’t know Rose.
I just read about the details of her death.
But it felt different.
The lady I just fell for, has lost her mum.

I met Daniella just today, but I feel the urge to be there for her.
I can imagine the mental trauma she is going through, she was very happy this morning.
And this evening, the world is crumbling around her.

I call her with immediate effect and she doesn’t take the call.
I call again and again but yet, no answer.

Well, she doesn’t know me and she’s in a state of grief.
It’s best I let her be.

I pack my bags and begin to prepare to leave.
My countenance is down and I don’t think I can shop at the moment.
Perhaps I’ll get the groceries when I return tomorrow.

I begin to walk towards the hallway, there’s no need to sign out because it will implicate me more.
As I’m stepping out, I get a call and it’s Daniella.
I pick up and she sounds like a mess.
She’s trying to pronounce words in between tears.

She says, “Please can I see you?”
Without a shadow of a doubt, I answer, “Yes, I’m on my way”
She describes her residence and it’s close to my apartment.

I quickly board a bus and I get there.
Her place is buzzing with friends and sympathizers giving their condolences.

I sit outside close to a pavement, so I can wait till others are gone.
I begin to eavesdrop on what really happened to Rose.
Her mom’s corpse had been moved to the mortuary already.

One lady says, “It’s so painful that she died in her sleep oh” and another responds, “May her soul rest in peace”
And they continue chitchatting.

With time, I go inside and I meet Daniella.
Despite the tears and stress, her face card still didn’t decline.
I show my sympathies and tell her how sorry I am.

I’ve lost a loved one so I know the pain and trauma.
I am willing to be by her side.

 
We stroll around and discuss as I try my best to cheer her up.

Most of my jokes fly over her head but I’ll give her time to grief.
I take my leave and promise to see her in the morning before I go to work.

But she says that she will be scared to be alone at home.
I tell her, “Your friends will be with you” but she replies, “I want to spend the night with you”
It’s sweet as she sees me as a source of protection.

I can’t possibly say no to her request.
I tell her to pack up and I will return to pick her up.
I have to get home and put the place in order so she can say goodbye to the people who came to visit.

I reach home and I begin to undress.
The death still disturbs me and I begin to question why God allows some of us to go through some sort of pain.
My thoughts come to a halt when I remember a statement.

Rose was found dead in the morning.
She died in her sleep.
But I met Daniella in the morning and she was happy.
Did she leave the house knowing that her mother was dead?
I felt something fishy about the story but I didn’t think deeply about it.

I begin cleaning and I quickly take a shower.
I came out and I changed my bedsheets while I furnished the couch.
It would not be nice to share the same bed with her on the first night and not under these circumstances.

I will sleep on the couch and she will take the bed.
I check the kitchen and I have some noodles and egg, if only she’ll have the appetite.
I step out so I can go to pick her up.

I reach her apartment and it’s unusually silent.
Everyone had left.
I can imagine how lonely she must feel.

I knock on the door and there’s no answer.
So I call her line, and yet no answer.
I twitch the door knob and step into the house.

The lights are off and it’s affecting my vision, so I switch on my flashlight.

Where is she?
I turn and I see her seated on the sofa.
My heart skips a beat. “What are you doing there,” I ask as I laugh.

She responds, “I’m sorry”
I get confused and I ask “Why are you sorry?”
She walks and stands in front of me and whispers, “You shouldn't have come here”.

Though it was dark and gloomy, I could still get a glimpse of her face.
But it feels different now. The once beautiful damsel looks creepy.

No smile on her face. A stern look and her eyes felt like they pierced through my soul.
I am still confused and I ask, “Daniella, I’m freaking out, what’s going on”

No answer. She just continues to move towards me.
And I notice an object in her right hand but I can’t make out what it is.

 
I stand my ground as my mind races on what is really happening.
Could this beautiful lady kill her own mother and then mourn?
What’s the motive behind it?

I don’t think she would go that far.
Maybe I can talk to her.

I stretch my hand to hold her as she is coming closer but then I notice she’s with a knife.
And in this moment, I realize I am trapped in her house, with her dark secrets, and her deadly intentions.

I tried to run, but my feet felt abnormally heavy as if rooted to the spot, and all I could whisper was, “You killed your mother..."

My instincts, I should have followed them earlier, but I decided to trust the damsel in distress.
The words “I'm sorry” were still on her lips as she raised the knife, and I knew I was next."

I stumble backward, tripping over my own feet, and falling into the same darkness that had consumed her mother's life.

She tries to stab me and misses as we wrestle on the floor.
What she fails to understand is that I am not her mother.

I flip her over and place my hands on her throat with a grip so powerful she could barely get a breath of air.

She begs me to let her go but she doesn’t know that she’s now trapped in the darkness with her nemesis.
I proceed to stab her five times in the chest as I watch the smirk on her face fade as her hands stop fighting back and fall to the ground.

I look down at her, and for a moment, I feel nothing but a sense of relief that it was over, and I was alive.

The darkness closed in around me, but this time, I am the one holding the power, and I know I will never let it consume me again.
The sound of her final breath still echoes in my mind, a haunting reminder of the life I took to save my own.

As I walk away from the carnage, I know that I will never be the same, forever changed by the horrors of this fateful night.
In the end, it was her life or mine, and I chose to live, but at what cost?

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