Raina woke up from her sleep with a sudden urge to go the bathroom. She had slept for more than 3 hours! She did her business and went downstairs to see if Darryl was awake. Surprisingly, he was nowhere to be found.
She decided to move around the house to see if she could find him. Most of the vacant bedrooms were locked. The house had 4 bedrooms. The bedrooms were located upstairs with the kitchen, and living room area downstairs. There were also 2 other vacant rooms which were supposed to be used to be as a study and a play area. Raina briefly wondered which architect had been the one to draw a plan for the house. She had asked Darryl but he had only shrugged in response. He had told her however that the house was completed shortly before his mum died and that she had never lived in it.
She remembered his room from the tour she had on her arrival yesterday and made her way over. She knocked on the door lightly but got no response. She did that twice and getting no response, proceeded to open the door. She turned the door handle; it was unlocked. Ordinarily, she would have hesitated before entering another male’s private space. In fact, apart from Leroy, she had never entered any other guy’s room. However, her curiosity to know more about her brother’s friend lured her in.
She had expected to find clothes all over the place and in that, she was disappointed. Darryl was well organised. The room was large and save for a desk beside the bed, it was devoid of any clutter. The room reeked of male and she could sniff the barest hints of his perfume. Darryl had splayed his frame across the bed and had not stirred even once throughout Raina’s inspection of the room.
She closed the door softly behind her and entered the room fully. The room was tastefully decorated in light blue and brown decor. There were posters on the wall and portraits as well. Notable among them was a pencil sketch of him hanging on the wall and another portrait of an elderly woman hanging on the wall. She studied the painting and saw the resemblance to his mother lay in his nose. She was lost in her reverie when she heard an alarm going off.
She looked around her and realized Darryl must have set an alarm on his phone for hers was silent and in her hand. She stared at the bed and watched as his hand slowly emerged from the cocoon of his duvet and promptly silenced the offending gadget. He opened his unfocused sleepy uncomprehending eyes on her and widened them when clarity finally set in.
‘Raina?! Why are you here? Is there a problem?’
He quickly threw off the sheets and Raina realized for the first time how much of a handsome guy he was truly. She stared at his physique, transfixed by how appealing it was to her.
‘Rain, is anything the matter? Sorry I overslept. I came to rehearse my lines but before I knew it, I was sleeping on the bed.’
Raina had still not been able to utter a word. Darryl approached her and pulled her to the bed so she could sit down.
‘Hey, you are scaring me with those eyes of yours. If they get any bigger, I am going to leave you here alone.’
‘Sorry. Don’t know what got into me. Your room is lovely. I wasn’t expecting it to be this nice and well-organised.’
Darryl realized she was acting shy around him and figured too late that it was because he was not wearing a shirt. Thank goodness he still had his sweatpants on. She had probably not seen any guy up close apart from her brother.
‘Thank you. Sorry for my state of undress. I was not expecting anyone to sneak into my room.’ Raina had the grace to be embarrassed. He quickly pulled a T-shirt hanging over the chair over his head.
‘Oh, no need.’ Raina replied quickly and swallowed nervously.
‘No need for the apology or the shirt?’ Again, he arched an eyebrow.
Raina paled instantly. Goodness! Could he read her mind now? She noticed he was trying to contain his laughter and realized he was only teasing her.
She put on an air of superiority and sailed out of the room, his laughter on her heels.
‘The apology of course. Humph!’
‘Come on, I am taking you out as promised. Let’s go and get something to eat for lunch.’ Darryl immediately announced this upon arriving downstairs.
‘Lunch? It’s almost 3pm. It’s way past lunch.’
‘How about ‘dunch’ then?’
Raina furrowed her brows and looked at him in a weird way.
‘Is that a new word you are trying to form? It sounds so lame.’
‘Maybe. It will catch on, don’t worry.’
Raina scoffed at the idea. ‘I sincerely hope not. Let’s get going. I am famished.’
They locked the house behind them and Darryl drove her to a restaurant located on the Labone beach. Raina stayed with her family in Osu while Darryl stayed at Cantonments. Raina noticed there were several establishments crowding the beach and she wondered briefly which one they will be entering.
The buildings were made of wood and plastered with advertising banners of various beverages, mostly alcoholic. Raina was wondering why Darryl had made her leave home just to come to this place. It did not look posh at all. The good thing though, was that the beach was clean. Sanitation was often a big issue around some of these beach establishments.
‘Which one are we going to?’
‘Follow my lead. Have you been here before?’
Raina shook her head. Most of her life so far had been about school, church and home. She had not gotten room for much exploring. She hoped to remedy all that before she started university later this year.
‘I haven’t. You know I rarely go out.’
‘Yeah, that’s understandable. You are the last baby of your family and you are a female as well. It’s better to go out in groups or with good approved male company.’
‘Well, I am no longer a baby. At first, I would have complained but now with recent happenings, I am glad my family looks out for me. I often seen posts on social media about girls who have been raped on outings with friends through no fault of their own.’
‘Hmm, yeah, these things happen. One can never be too careful.’
‘I guess you fall into the category of ‘good approved male company’.’ Raina looked pointedly at him awaiting his response.
Darryl was a trifle abashed. ‘Of course, I do. But hey, I am family so I can’t be denied. Don’t worry, you can always call on me to take you anywhere you want to go. I will do it for free too. That is if you don’t mind the stares and the occasional photographers.’
‘Mr. Famous!’
By now they had entered the eatery and Raina’s scepticism was written all over her face. The place was decorated simply with colourful oil-cloths covering the tables with wooden chairs placed next to the tables. They were quickly ushered to their table by a waiter who greeted Darryl as ‘Boss’.
‘You must come here often.’
‘This is not my first time. Don’t look so sceptical, the food tastes way better than some of the other pricier establishments.’
‘Alright. I believe you.’
‘Let’s place our order now, shall we?’