It was finally starting to rain in Lagos, “Thank God” Dami thought as he started to make his way past Dowen college and out of LEKKI phase one. He noticed the usual “hook up” girls seeking cover from the rain unsuccessfully, he’d stopped judging them a long time ago…the situation of the country had opened his eyes. He had never patronized the commercial sex workers who appeared magically on admiralty road every night but he allowed himself to steal glances as he drove past them.
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As he drove past “The place” restaurant he noticed a lady with quite a beautiful figure on the other side of the road, even walking in the rain she had a certain elegance and enough curves to drive any man crazy. The way she walked reminded him of someone, he reminded himself to focus on the road a split second before she turned in his direction. He hit his brakes a little too abruptly “Ada?!”, he hadn’t seen her in years, she still looked gorgeous. He made a U-turn and parked directly in front of her rolling down his windows,
“Ada, a beautiful woman like you shouldn’t be walking in the rain, hop in”.
She was stunned, as grateful as she was to get out of the rain she wasn’t sure she wanted to be in the same space as Dami, “I’m close to my place, don’t worry about it” she replied shivering.
“You’re still stubborn, Come inside before you catch a cold Ada,” He said with a huge smirk on his face. She loathed that smirk!!! But it was freezing outside, she hopped into the car and thanked him before opening her phone and focusing on it to avoid having a conversation with him.
“So where are you headed?” He asked making another U-turn and heading out of LEKKI Phase one. “I’m headed towards Ikeja, you can just drop me on Falomo bridge or anywhere that’s convenient for you…I’ll find my way.” She responded, her head still buried in her phone.
“I’ll drop you off, it’ll be hard for you to find a cab or a bus in this rain”.
“You don’t have to Dami…seriously I’ll manage”.
“I want to…” he said softly, cruising past Ozumba Mbadiwe towards the mainland.
Dami had always been a sweet soul, she had been madly in love with him but she had known they wouldn’t work out from their university days, She had wanted a husband, a family, kids. Dami had always been a hustler, she used to joke that his obsession with making money was more suited to an Ibo man and she was the Ibo person in the relationship.
“Those were the days huh,” he said interrupting her thoughts as if he knew exactly what she was thinking…he had always been able to do that and it irked her even now.
“Yeah…those were the days,” she said, looking at him for the first time since she got into the car.
“Did you get everything you wanted?” He asked softly, gazing into her eyes as if searching for the answer in her soul and not from her lips.
“I did…for a while, then I wanted something different” she replied truthfully.
He had heard all about her marriage and divorce, she had disappeared afterward and he didn’t think it was wise to invest any more time or thought in the woman who had broken his heart.
“What about you? Did you get everything you wanted” she asked politely even though she knew the answer already. Dami Adenuga had become a mogul, it was difficult to avoid his success, he was everywhere.
“I’m getting there, slowly but surely…” he said with a charming smile that informed her that he was very proud of himself.
“I’m truly happy for you Dami, I always knew you’d be great,” she said reaching for her phone again.
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He grabbed her hands a little forcefully just before they touched her phone.
“Don’t patronize me, Ada, you didn’t believe in me, you left me at my lowest and now all of a sudden you always knew?! Give me a break”.
“That was years ago, and we were kids…let it go Dami” The tone of her voice indicated the end of the conversation.
They drove in mostly in silence for a little while with Dami cursing every fiber of his being that had made him offer her the ride, He had loved her with all of his heart, as soon as they were done with College the first thing on his mind had been how to take care of her, of them…he had wanted to give her the world. Not because she had shared everything with him in school, her allowances, her home when he could no longer squat with his old roommates, her ears whenever he needed to vent, but because she had been his everything…until a few months after graduation when he had come back to the apartment they shared and every piece of her was gone…when he found her she was married, less than a month after she had left him. He had channeled his anger and pain towards his work and a few years later he had everything he had ever wanted… except her.
“Dami I didn’t leave you because I didn’t believe in you…I didn’t leave because I didn’t love you…” she said quietly looking outside the car to avoid his eyes.
“Do you remember just before our finals, when I asked you what you saw for us after graduation?” She asked.
He remembered everything, he had shared his entire plan with her, how he planned to invest in wholesale purchase and distribution of drinks and liquor with his savings before diversifying into other businesses, he had worked as a sales boy to put himself through college so he had the connections and he understood the market, he knew it wouldn’t take him long to make it once he got school out of the way….he nodded in response to her question.
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“You had big dreams Dami, but my parents had been on my neck to get married since my second year. You know how my mom is…I fought them off for you for a long time because I thought you would fight for us when we were done with school, but it became clear that you needed to focus on fighting for yourself and your dreams…I didn’t want to get in the way of that”.
“We could have figured it out together Ada,” he said bitterly.
“Don’t you see how long it took you to get where you are? My parents were going to stop supporting me which means I would have been dependent on you…I would have slowed you down…I didn’t want to come between you and your dream…I needed to remove myself from the equation to make it easier for you” she said finally looking at him, he could tell she truly believed what she was saying right now.
“We could have talked about it and figured something out together,” he said shaking his head,
“Now we’ll never know”.
They spent the rest of the drive-in silence, thinking of what could have been.