COME BACK OR ELSE: Kasala for Durotimi

Lights on. A small stage. Two chairs facing the audience. A moderator's table to the side that nobody is sitting at because things have already gone sideways. A banner on the wall that reads LOVE COURT: WE SETTLE IT HERE. Somebody's auntie is in the front row with her phone up. The audience is already murmuring. Someone just said "but who is Morenikeji" and three people answered at once. DUROTIMI SPEAKS<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1777134072435-01-01.jpeg"/> Look...I just...Okay... Can somebody help me understand what is going on? Because I genuinely do not know what to say right now.I was sleeping. Peacefully. Like a man who has done nothing wrong. Next thing somebody's uncle. Somebody's uncle I have met maybe twice is banging my door like EFCC and before I could find my slippers they put me in a car and brought me to a church and sat me next to Sarah. Sarah.I am not saying anything bad. I am not. But have we spoken to each other before? Have we? And they brought a pastor. For me. In my pyjama trousers.Is it by force?I am interested in Morenikeji. That is all I know. She, Sarah smiled at me once and that was it. A normal thing. A normal human thing that happened between two people.. But this one. I don't understand. I genuinely do not understand.I will think about it.He stood up, biting his cheek as he looks away lost in thoughts and walks down the stage to sit somewhere else, like he was avoiding someone. SARAH SPEAKS<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/1777134065984-01.jpeg"/> She walks in. Simple fitted top. Clean trousers. Small earrings. She sits down, crosses her legs and looks at the audience like a woman who has prepared. She glances at Durotimi before he leaves the stage. Wait. Wait, did he just. Did everybody see that? He just bit his cheek. He just bit the left side of his cheek.She turns to the audience. Does Morenikeji know that when he bites his cheek he is trying not to say something he does not mean? Does she know that? Does anybody want to tell her? She looks at Durotimi. You are surprised. You are actually surprised right now.She smiles. Sits back. Crosses her legs again. He will think about it, he said. Okay....Okay... no, I'm fine. I'm fine... Exhales loudly... Right.You know what, thank God I called everybody. Thank God. Because if I had kept quiet and done the quiet dignity thing I would have been standing by that mango tree till Jesus came back and Durotimi still would not have seen me. So yes. I called people. I organised. I took action. And if anybody has a problem with that they can meet me outside.They took him for counselling. Nicely o. Gently. With love. With a pastor who cancelled two naming ceremonies. Two. And this man stood up and walked away.Walked. Away.Because of pink lips? Because of Morenikeji?No but since when. Since when did pink lips become a qualification. Does he know? No, does he even know, that I have been loving him since primary two? Primary two. When mama put me in my best dress with the white socks with the frill. The frill o... I was six years old suffering for Durotimi and he was there smiling at people under trees. We came to the same school. The same school. And he is directing his attention elsewhere. It is not a fight. I am not fighting anybody. Morenikeji did not know. How could she know. Nobody tells anybody anything in this Lagos. I do not blame her. But Durotimi knows.She pauses. Like she remembers something. In fact....In fact let me tell you people something. Yesterday I was talking to my friend about this whole matter. My friend that has been hearing this Durotimi story since. She listened to everything and you know what she said? She said Sarah, God is in this. And this morning she called me with good news. Her words, not mine. Her brother, Born of God, has volunteered to be a pastor at the ceremony. Born of God.His name is Born of God and he has volunteered.So I am asking. I am sincerely asking. Is there anyone, anyone at all, who does not believe in this union? The florist believes. The registrar believes. The original pastor believes even though he has not met Durotimi. And now Born of God has joined the committee. Is there anyone remaining?She looks at the camera. Then away. Then back.He smiled at me once and I thought he saw me. It took me three seconds to realise he was looking at somebody behind me.Three seconds.I have been paying for those three seconds since primary two.She straightens up. Calm. Unbothered. Classy. I am counting. Twenty days. Two hours. Four minutes. Two seconds.He said he will think about it. Let him think. The pastor is still on standby. Born of God is on standby. The registrar still owes me. My burgundy aso-oke is pressed and hanging. The camera cuts back to Durotimi. He has not moved. He is staring at a spot on the floor. Long pause....... Durotimi: She knows which side of my cheek I bite?Another pause.......Is she fine? No. Genuinely. With love. Is she okay?He looks at the audience....Y'all should please, check in on her.. hmm..I will think about it... Not for consideration, but to wrap my head around whatever all this is all about... He bites his cheek again, looking into space Someone in the audience leans over and tells Sarah what Durotimi just said. She turns slowly. Are you fine?? Are you?? She laughs. Not a loud laugh. A quiet laugh, enough to be dangerous... Durotimi. I have been fine since the day mama put me in my best dress with the white socks with the frill and I walked into that classroom and saw you for the first time. I have been fine through every Tuesday. Every mango tree. Every joke of hers that was not funny that you laughed at anyway. Every voice note you sent at midnight that was not for me. I have been very fine.The question you should be asking is whether Born of God is fine. Because he has been fasting for this wedding since Thursday and he does not even know you yet.I am counting,the pastor doesn't like being kept waiting. You know what to do. The audience erupts. Someone shouts ah!Another person, is on their feet. <blockquote> She stands.. smoothed her trousers.. walking down the stage.. Her heels click against the tiled floor as she walks out. Sharp. Steady. One after the other. She does not look back.</blockquote>

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