Chapter Fourteen
As planned, Catherine never returned to the Adebayo mansion neither did Deji.
The news of Catherine's mysterious disappearance pleased Helen, but when Deji didn't return home, the family panicked. Nobody could tell his location.
Five months slip by and Tim and his wife heard nothing from Deji. The thought of Deji eloping with Catherine saddened them even more.
Helen dared to foster hope. She hoped Deji wasn't going to desert their friendship and love for another, for that she hoped he'd come back to his senses and come looking for her. But as days turned to months, she was convinced he'd made his choice. He had chosen Catherine over her, over the love they shared, over the friendship, over their childhood promises.
Deji may have forgotten but Helen didn't. She didn't forget the late-night romance they shared before he traveled. The promise that he was hers and only hers. The promise never to forget her. But he'd gone back on his word, fallen in love with another, and left her alone.
For years she waited, waited for his arrival, waiting to be held in his arms, to hear all he had to say. Though their union was one of convenience. A marriage to serve the interest of both families. Helen however couldn't deny there was more, there was love. She felt it, and he wanted it too.
Before he left she'd promised to wait. And he promised to return.
As she read through the letters which reminded her of the days they were younger. They were letters he wrote bearing out this heart to her. When they were young and in love. It was a kind that she wasn't going to let go. She wasn't going to let another have what she'd groomed and anticipated her whole life. She'd spent the last years of her life waiting, hoping for his save return to make her his wife, to rekindle the love and friendship they shared and enjoyed as kids.
As Helen trickled through the piles of papers, she tumbled on the last letter he wrote her. It is dated two years back.
As she picked up and read through the words painted in black ink, tears stream down her cheeks. Tears she'd held back when she first read it.
The day was different from the others, unlike the day the rain fell nonstop. It was the third day of the month of August. A month she dreaded because of the weather. Sunshine was unusually a rear gift during this month. Workers with no means of transportation often arrive work drained and students use the weather as an excuse to skip classes.
On such days, Helen spent the day at the office assisting her father with demanding work.
For most men, it was an unusual sight to have a young lady running the office in her father's absence.
"it is a man's job"
"she should be in her husband's house"
"who would want to marry a woman that engage in men's business"
The whispering never end. But Chief Adeji won't care less if it was his sons or daughter running his business in his absence. As long as the result was satisfactory, he never mind. So did Helen. She never care about the whispers, rather she was always looking at getting the next business deals and next, and the next. She was her father's daughter after all. Result was all that mattered.
Whenever the rumor of her refusal to settle down like other maidens of her age came up. All she had to do was let herself be reminded of her promise to wait for the man of her dreams. The band wrapped around her wrist kept the hope alive. It was a betrothed gift she'd gotten from Deji. And the memories of the steaming night before his departure nurtured the hope.
It was a night she'd never forget. It was a night she gave herself to him whole, the night she surrendered her soul and body to him. It was her promise to him. That night, Deji made her a woman.
At the office, one could hear the typewriter sound overshadowed by the noise of place cramped with people scurrying to meet deadlines, herd together in the busy space.
But Helen did not notice these, instead, she hurried through the crowd of people into a tiny space that she occupied, oblivious to her surroundings. Letter at her hand, it's been five months since she last receive any from Deji. The delay got her worried and thinking he didn't receive all the letters she'd sent across to him for the past months.
When she received the letter that morning, she couldn't contain her joy. She felt like manner had been sent from heaven to quench her hunger. Helen squeeze herself into the space cut out from the rest of the room divided by panes to prove privacy for each worker.
Helen carefully broke off the seal from the letter and trickle through the words with her fingers in her usual way before reading. It was a ritual she did each time she received a telegram from Deji. And the letter was no different, only that it took more time than usual to arrive.
The dates indicted the letter was written a week prior to the time she's receiving it. And the address was different was the others. Another indication he'd moved.
As Helen finally settle down to read the words, she sighed and relaxed in her seat, to ease the tension building in her mind. Why hadn't he written her all this while? Was something wrong?
She worried, her anxiety getting ahead of her.
Dear Helen,
I've spent the last frustrating months searching for something tangible to do. As you already know, I will be rounding up my academic year in fall. And I have to do a little volunteering jobs while carrying out my research. Enough about me. How are you? I miss you so much. I am sorry l have been trying to write ever since I reached California, it is a beautiful city and I am sure you will like it greatly.
Did you find a man yet? Your last letters spoke of engaging suitors. I hope they are worthy of a woman like you. It would hurt me greatly if he turns out to be a jerk.
Jerk is a slang used to describe unworthy men. I can not say much on this letter but I promise to write you again soon with full details of what I will been doing.
Please stay safe and out of trouble. Hope you find the right one soon.
Love,
Deji.
Helen sank into her seat after reading the letter for the third time. Was she hoping the words would magically change? Her heart raced, the letter sounded different from what Deji wrote her in the past. She grew suspicious of something but didn't want to jump to conclusions, so she resigned from her suspicious thoughts and awaited his other letters. The ones that he would provide more details on what he was doing.
Helen waited many months more but the letters never came.
Finally, with help from his parents, she fought for Deji to return.
Helen read the other letters that held sweeter memories of them. Letters she'd planned to read back to Deji. Instead, she wallowed alone in her dark room, she had drawn the window shut. Shutting out the light from her room. locked out, everyone. The dark room reflects the coal in her heart, the heat, and the anger. The betrayal, and the injustice. The years she spent waiting for his return