"What kind of rubbish is this? when one thinks that everything is settled another trouble rears its ugly head.." Kalu lamented as he fixed the bedsheet on his bed.
"...my father is just saying whatever he likes without any explanation.. how am I even sure he has any reason for saying what he just said." he left the bedsheet half fixed and slumped on the bed in what could be described as frustration.
The dream he had the last night was so devastating that he had been caged in an angry mood for no reason all through the day.
At the market it was like he was offended by a customer.
The anger in his heart couldn't be concealed for it was displayed by his facial expression.
He only wore a fake smile whenever his uncle was around to prevent unecessary questions.
He didn't know who else to relate the problem to apart from the prophet.
And the stress of visiting the prophet had begun to weigh on him for lack of chance.
At a time, he pushed every thought aside and decided not to let the issue bother him anymore.
He concluded not to pay heed to whatever the father had said anymore.
"I have found love and that's it, there is no going back!" he assured himself.
Rosaline would be going back to her parents on the coming Monday, she had already given Kalu the address of the parent's house.
Kalu had promised to visit her the same day so that he would use the opportunity to make the acquaintance of her parents especially the mother.
Rosaline had been so close to the mother that she hardly kept any secret from her.
The mother had encouraged her to always introduce her friends to her so that she could know her company.
Since she had fallen in love with Kalu she needed to introduce him too, to the mother so that she could know him as part of her company.
Kalu had intended to leave the market earlier than usual that Monday and it was like the situation of the market knew his mind and was dancing to his tone.
The market started getting scanty earlier than usual for the customers began to leave early like it was about to rain and they were hurrying not to be wetted by the rain.
He had attended to all his customers. and was waiting to see if a late customer would appear, for sometimes some customers did come at that time when market was about closing though such situations occurred once in a while.
If not for the appointment he had with Rosaline, he would have still be in the market till the closing time irrespective of the absence of customers.
He needed to be in time at Rosaline's place so that he could spend a little time with her before day could get dark.
The parent's address was not that far from Kalu's place of residence.
And Kalu was happy about that.
He could easily breeze through her place at anytime without taking much of his time.
Abuchi had earlier informed him in the morning that he won't be spending much time in the market that Monday. He was to attend a business meeting that would be holding outside the market.
It was clear that everything was working to Kalu's favor. Since Abuchi was no more in the market, no one could stop him or demand for the reason he had closed that early.
The neighbours had wanted to know why he was leaving at that time but he didn't bother to answer any of them as they were throwing the question jokingly at him.
Kalu had made enough money of his own from his activities in the market that day, to replace all his spendings during the weekend.
So he decided to take a taxi right from the market to the address that was given to him by Rose since he hadn't been there before.
He didn't want a situation whereby he would be asking people for the address as he had always done at other times when he had to be in some places for the first time.
This idea of taking taxis to places where he hadn't been for the first time was introduced to him by John when he was narrating to him all he had faced on his first visit to Rosaline.
It was a nice idea that had never crossed his mind before, for taxi drivers knew all the locations and addresses there in the city.
All one needed to do was to know the information of the place one wanted to go and convey it to the taxi driver.
The taxi driver would just take him to the address without strain after they had reached an agreement concerning the price.
Rosaline was already outside waiting for him as soon as the scheduled time of Kalu's arrival was approaching for
that had been their agreement.
Kalu never thought about coming with a taxi, it wasn't planned before they met the last time so he had told her to be outside any time from 4pm, that should be the right time to start looking out for him.
To avoid walking around looking for someone to ask for direction since he won't be having the whole time in the world for the visit.
The taxi as expected took him directly to the address.
Before it pulled over, Kalu had already seen Rosaline seated on a pavement infront of the compound.
He gave the driver the amount on which they had agreed and alighted at once like he was being chased down by the driver.
Rosaline got up at once from where she was seated and wrapped her arms around his neck while Kalu's hands wound round her waist in a tight hug.
After they had let go of each other, Rosaline now led him like a lamb into the compound.
Kalu took his time to look around the compound as they entered before proceeding with her into the house.
It was a small compound with a well sculptured four bedroom bungalow that was standing just at the middle.
The house was purchased by Rosaline's father some years ago from an estate manager.
And Rosaline and her parents had been the only occupants.
Being a compound that was occupied by one family, it was well taken care of, unlike the multi-occupant compounds where it was always a problem to maintain a good environment because of the issue of I am-not-the-only-one.
When Kalu got into the sitting room that was well furnished, his gaze slowly shot around the whole corner.
He was surprised not to see anyone seated there.
He had been rehearsing on how to be humble with his greetings and be at his best in whatever conversation he would be engaging with them so that his good manners could easily be recognized by Rosaline's parents even as he seated in the taxi.
He was so carried away by Rosaline's questions on how his day had been at the market that he had forgotten to ask her if her parents were actually at home for it was certain that they could never leave an important appointment just because of him.
Though Rosaline was the main reason he was there not the parents. At the same time, seeing the parents was an added exercise to him.
"Is there no one at home?" he asked as Rosaline was pointing to the three seater cushion for him to make himself comfortable.
"My mummy is inside" replied Rosaline "let me go and inform her that you are here already."
She disappeared into the passage that led to the rooms.
Kalu was a bit disappointed to hear that the mother was inside.
For as he entered and saw that no one was seated in the sitting room, he had started imagining being alone in the house with Rosaline.
So that he could have the opportunity to kiss her and cuddle her the way he had wanted, just like in his dreams.
As he was seated staring at the family pictures that was hanging on the wall, Rosaline returned to the sitting room again.
She got seated close to him and whispered in his ear "she will be here in no time!".
Kalu nodded in response.
Then Rosaline took another permission "please I would be back!" she said and passed through a door beside the dinning room, which must be the kitchen.
A young fair woman in her early forties walked out from the passage that Rosaline had entered earlier.
The woman wore a long hair that was easy to be identified as artificial due to subtle difference between her front hair and the rest of the hair.
Her eyes was fixed on Kalu as she approached the sitting room.
From the appearance of the woman someone that knew Rosaline so well could be able to discern their relationship without any form introduction or pre-information.
Kalu got on his feet immediately as soon as he saw the woman in a humble greeting.
The subtle smile that shapened the woman's lips as she walked to her favorite seat, was a morale booster to Kalu.
The woman responded warmly to his greeting by first of all demanding to know if he was actually the one the daughter had told her about.
"Are you Kalu?" she asked.
"Yes" Kalu responded in a gentle manner.
The woman permitted him to get seated for he was still standing.
She then started asking him some questions about himself.
Kalu was surprised to learn that Rosaline had been discussing him with the mother all the while.
But from the nature of the woman's questions he could understand that Rosaline hadn't mentioned anything about being in relationship with him to her.
What the woman laboured was that her daughter was fond of him. And he knew that being fond of anyone could be in different means it didn't just mean being in love with the person.
As he was talking with the woman he could see Rosaline setting the dinning.
He never expected that such an arrangement would be made on his behalf. And Rosaline never hinted him on that.
After Rosaline was through with setting the dinning, she now came to make the formal introduction between her mother and Kalu.
She started with introducing her mother to Kalu, then she introduced Kalu to her mother.
Kalu had guessed right for she didn't introduce him as her boyfriend.
"Mummy Kalu is my good friend!" she had said.
After the introduction, Kalu was then invited to the dinning by Rosaline.
The first day, Kalu met Rosaline, he didn't imagine that she was from a home as comfortable as that.
Though they were not super rich, they were comfortable and what could be described as average, for they could be able to afford the basic necessities of life. And could help others in that aspect if the need arised.
Kalu was amazed at the kind of meal that was presented to him.
It was fried rice with chicken sauce. And nothing that was supposed to be there to make the food rich that was missing.
He already felt like a king for the way he was honored by Rosaline and her mother.
During the meal, he came to understand that their father wasn't staying there with them.
For he had been longing to see the father since the mother had shown herself.
But he was told that the father had gone back to the village since he retired as a civil servant. Though he did come once in every month to visit them.
Their father had worked as a manager in the country's telecommunication industry. No wonder he was able to afford that kind of comfortable house.
Rosaline's mother inquired about Kalu's family while they were at the dinning and Kalu told her the whole truth about his family.
The way the woman related with Kalu, it was obvious that she liked everything about him. Both his appearance and his manners.
Her words suggested that she approved Kalu and Rosaline being lovers even though she didn't mention it directly.
She advised them to remain good friends as they had been and never to engage in anything that would hurt each other.
After they were through with the meals which was so palatable and was well eaten by Kalu and the rest, they returned to the sitting room.
It was already getting dark by then and Kalu was carried away by the classic treatment he was given that he didn't care about the time again.
He was given a bottle of soft drink as they were seated in the sitting room in continuation of their discussion.
Rosaline never wanted him to go and from the reaction of the mother it was clear that she too was so comfortable with Kalu's company.
It was when Rose put on the light for the sitting room was already getting dark that was when Kalu realized that he needed to go.
Rosaline and her mother persuaded him to spend a little more time with them but after he had explained his condition to the mother which Rosaline was already aware of, the mother permitted him to go.
But Rosaline was still grumbling for nothing mattered to her more than the presence of Kalu.
Kalu was the first boy friend that Rosaline would ever have in her life.
Many boys had been asking her out but she had been rejecting all of them for she hadn't seen anyone that was truly accepted by her spirit.
Both the boys from wealthy homes who were ready to splash money on her, she had rejected.
Her beauty was such that didn't go unnoticed by any one around her.
But as soon as she set her eyes on Kalu on that faithful day, her spirit accepted him and she fell for him.
Kalu too believing she was the same girl that had always paid him a visit in his dreams, had already fallen for her before he met her physically.
Rosaline's mother wanted to see him again some other time.
After the fantastic entertainment that Kalu was presented with, Rosaline's mother was still pleading with him to bear with them for not giving him anything.
Kalu wondered what else the woman had wanted to give to him apart from those delicious meal which he had already filled his stomach with and the heartwarming welcome.
He had promised them to be back on the coming Sunday.
Though Sunday was too far for Rosaline to behold his face again but for the sake of the mother who was there with them she didn't have to disagree with him.
She was playing with caution just like Kalu in the presence of her mother so that she couldn't notice that they were already in a relationship.
Rosaline requested to see him off as he finally got on his feet to go.
And they both walked out of the house without holding each other after Kalu had said goodbye to the mother.
As soon as they stepped outside, they quickly held each other by the waist like the love birds which they were.
But Rosaline made sure that the door was shut before then to ensure that the mother couldn't see them from inside.
Forgetting that the mother could be standing at the window looking at them as they walk through the compound though the woman didn't bother to do that.
Rosaline wanted them to pay a visit to her good friend who was living around the neighborhood.
She couldn't wait to introduce him to her friend. She had already informed her about his visit and promised her to bring Kalu to their house.
But due to lack of time, Kalu pleaded with her to postpone the visit until the next time he would come.
"please let's just go there, you won't waste anytime there. She will be outside waiting for us..she just wants to see your face!" Rosaline begged.
Kalu also appealed to her about his own situation which she finally came to understand and submitted to his pleas.
There was this profound courage in Kalu as his right arm wrapped around Rosaline's waist as they walk down the street to the major road where he would board a vehicle back home.
And Rosaline found a great deal of comfort in his arm.
The courage emanated from the fact that it was already dark by then. For one could hardly identify a familiar face in darkness.
Moreover he was sure that no one knew him around that vicinity.
Kalu waved down a taxi as they got to the major road.
Before he bent into the taxi, they stood to face each other expressing their love for each other and how they would miss each other.
It could be clearly seen that Rosaline was a bit taller than Kalu. A height she inherited from her father.
And she leaned forward and kissed his lips in goodbye before returning back home while the taxi drove Kalu away.
There was this happiness amidst the desire to remain together that enveloped there minds each time they spent time together.
And the happiness always took them all through the day till the next.
Clara dragged her feet as she prepared for work.
The last time Alex was at her place, he had said something about believing her story about Rose.
And she appealed to him to be back so that they could discuss more about it.
For her to also let him know her plans and learn his own suggestion.
But since then she hadn't set her eyes on Alex again.
Now that she needed someone to help her in bearing the burden of her sister's crisis.
For all her efforts to fish out the herbalist hadn't proven as easy as they seem in her imaginations.
She had left the picture with the police for lack of what to say to them if she should go back.
They had been demanding the presence of her mother which wasn't possible as it stood.
Alex had shown to be a good friend of Clara's mother from the way the two of them had been relating concerning the marriage issue.
Maybe he should be the one to convince the mother about the possibility of Rose being alive or even if he couldn't convince her he could still come up with a better idea.
For Clara had been all alone in this battle for close to fifteen years now and she needed a fresh ideas and support.
And it seemed like she was already loosing the battle.
"Who knows, the involvement of a second party could be the only ingredient needed for the desired victory." She exclaimed.
That was the reason her joy knew no bounds when Alex professed to her that he had finally believed.
"Is it that Alex said what he said just to pull my legs or to make jest of me?.." she wondered ".. how come he never wanted to come again as he had agreed?"
She was too weak to go to work for the joy which was initially sparked up in her heart by those words of Alex was gradually fading away and being replaced by sadness.
She got seated on the bed not minding that she was almost late to work staring outside the window in a deep thought.
"please God let it not be that Alex had changed his mind.. or that he didn't mean what he had said to me" she prayed.
After she had seated for a while, she dragged herself up to leave for work but as she walked to the door, she came back inside again and decided to stay back.
" I don't think I can go to this work" she said to herself " let me continue to wait for Alex at least for today!"
She dumped herself on the bed once more with her eyes redirected to the window again.
"Should I go to his place and check on him.. maybe something important had kept him from coming" she weighed in her mind with her head raised in thought.
"No I can't do that it would look like I, am now the one chasing after him.. It's not right for a woman to chase after a man.." she decided.
"...Moreover I don't actually know the particular place he stays."
She started undressing to retire into her house wear since she had finally made up her mind not to go to work for that day again.
After lying on the bed for sometime, she decided to visit her mother to know if Alex had been there and to hear his latest report if he had.
"Is even through my mother that I will confirm if he was just pulling my legs or if he really meant what he had said to me concerning Rose." She took a deep breath as she dressed up again to visit her mother.
Clara's mother was so surprised to see her by that time of the day as she arrived.
Normally she supposed to be at work by that time.
Clara lied to her mother that she was given an off by her boss, so she decided to come and see her and be with her for some time.
Since that last time she slept over at the family house, she hadn't visited again and she promised the mother before leaving that day that she would be back.
The mother was preparing to go to the market as at that time.
Clara knew that the mother would request for her company so she had first presented her with the excuse that she needed to relax because she was having a slight headache.
The mother brought some pain relieving drugs and asked her to take them to relieve her of the headache but she enclosed those drugs in her palm and went to the dinning and took some water pretending to have taken them meanwhile she threw them out of the sitting room's window.
She needed to go straight to the discussion that had brought her so that she could go back home for she was still in anticipation of Alex.
She wouldn't want a situation whereby Alex wouldn't meet her at home if he eventually came.
But she knew so well that inasmuch as her mother would like to have a discussion with her, she would never want to initiate one until she had returned from the market.
She contemplated if she should change her mind and accompany the mother to the market so that they could be discussing while on their way. In that way, she could quickly go back home once they were back and continue waiting for Alex.
That idea was welcoming to her, so she volunteered by herself to accompany the mother to the market.
The mother didn't buy the idea for she had initially complained of having a slight headache so she adviced her to stay behind and have some rest as she had proposed. She promised Clara to be back in no time.
But Clara refused to go with that suggestion again not minding that it was her initial bidding.
She told the mother that she was now alright.
The mother wondered how come she suddenly became alright when it wasn't up to ten minutes she had supposedly taken those drugs.
The mother finally gave in to her persuasion and allowed Clara to go with her to the market.
They discuss as expected as they walk to the market.
Clara forcefully introduced the discussion of Alex as the mother was nagging on the story of her brother and his fiancee.
It was surprising to her mother to hear her come up with the very same issue she had loathed all the while.
"Has Alex visited you recently?" she asked the mother after she had kicked off with showerig praises on Alex for being a good man.
The mother was glad to hear Clara at least talk something good about Alex.
"Thank God my daughter has begun to fall in love" the mother thought to herself.
Clara was disturbed though she didn't let it show to learn that Alex had not visited her mother as well all this while.
"What could be the problem.. this is unlike Alex" she thought clearing her throat in disappointment.
She felt like going home immediately for she had obtain the information she needed but she couldn't just leave her mother on the way.
So she went on with her to the market still cooperating with the discussion to make her mother feel good.
Immediately they came back from the market Clara left at once without waiting to help the mother prepare the meal.
She told the mother that she wanted to visit a colleague who was not feeling fine, promising as she had always done to be back as soon as possible.
Her face frowned in disappointment when she couldn't find any trace of Alex being around as she walked into her compound.
She opened the door and went inside the house in a dull mood.
She knew that some of her colleagues at work could come and check on her to know why she didn't come for work in the evening when they had closed from work.
She had already decided to tell any of them that cared to know that she was not feeling to well.