by Vina Fenty
I walked beside Tejiri and Zainab, who was now whispering to Tejiri and handing her the letter. I blushed shyly as I watched Tejiri turn to me in surprise. She started to open it, and I slapped her hand lightly.
"Not here, when we get to the lair," I said in admonishment, and she quickly obeyed me.
At the clinic, Tejiri and Zainab walked off to a corner where Tejiri talked animatedly to her for a few minutes before sending her off.
When she came back, she was smiling sweetly at me, and immediately she stretched her hands, I grabbed it in mine, and we walked in peaceful silence to her lair.
She couldn't wait once we were sitting on her bed, she started to tear the envelope while I fumbled with the rechargeable lamp cum record player plugged to the wall. I put in the 'Styl-Plus' album tape that I had, and their hit song 'Runaway' started to play, and it was in the mood of that song that I slid into Tejiri's laps and kissed her.
Her hands shook as the piece of paper she had been clutching fluttered away from her grasp, but she didn't move, she just sat there motionless as I stole soft sweet kisses. She tasted so sweet, and I liked how she was letting me take the lead with this kiss.
I soon felt her hands on my thighs, and upward they went till she was holding my waist. Feeling my warm skin underneath my dress must have triggered her because she started to kiss me back. It didn't last very long, though.
She ended the kiss and said, "I have to read this letter now." and I knew it was just a ploy to stop the kiss and prevent it from escalating.
I climbed down her laps as we climbed into bed, our faces inches apart. She pulled open the letter and started to read in a voice that echoed all of my emotions, "dear Tejiri, I remember the first time you introduced me to legends and Greek mythology. I remember how enthralling all of the stories had been. One story stood out, though, the story of Helen of Greece and her beauty. How beautiful could she have been to inspire so much love and devotion from Paris of Troy? How beautiful could she have been to incite a war that made many want to die fighting for her? So I started to think that maybe what they meant by beauty wasn't really what we considered as beauty these days. Maybe beauty encompasses so much more than we imagine. Then I thought to check the dictionary for the meaning of beauty, and of course, one definition fit perfectly. It said that 'beauty is the quality of being pleasing to the senses.' It makes perfect sense that beauty should please all of the five senses and not just one or two.
Then I thought about you and how you please all of my senses and even more that science hasn't yet discovered. You please my eyes. You are a pleasure to see, to watch, and your smile usually brings me immense pleasure. It is something I look forward to, and that is why I make all those boring jokes that you miraculously find funny. I want to make you happy for the rest of our lives. You please my sense of hearing as every word you speak pierces straight to my heart. You know almost everything, and when you talk, I'm amazed at your intelligence. I could spend hours listening to you speak Chinese, and it would be the best conversation we ever had. Your voice is a melody, and I could tell it apart from a hundred voices. You please my sense of smell. I can't begin to explain it, but sometimes I wish I could bottle up your smell and spray it all over my belongings, especially my pillow back at home, so I wouldn't miss you so much during the holidays. You smell like heaven. You please my sense of taste, and that is why kissing you is one of the best things I have ever done. You taste like strawberries dipped in chocolates and creams and one day, when we are above eighteen, I hope that I could taste other parts of you, don't laugh, I am seriously serious. You please my sense of touch. Tejiri, I didn't believe in any of those electric charge nonsense that most of your romance novels aptly talked about until we started to touch, hold each other. It became clear that there was something unusual that happens to me whenever I hold you. Sometimes I wish I could physically run into you and just merge into one with you. I want to feel you every minute of the day, I want to hold you all the time because you're so beautiful to touch. Your skin feels like butter and whipped cream.
You are the most beautiful person that I know, and you please me by just by being you. So now I understand the Hellenic wars because I would go to war for you, cross seven seas, and travel across oceans just trying to get to you. I would fight until I drew my last breath for you, and when it does come to it, I will die loving you. If I lost everything, it would be worth it if I gained you.
I love you, never doubt that. I would never stop trying to make you realize it. Happy birthday my love."
She'd laughed, smiled and then halfway through reading the letter she had started to cry.
Through her tears, she managed to say, "this is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I love you so much, and I admire how you've put all these to writing, but I can't begin to explain how I feel about you, talk more of putting it in words."
The kiss this time was more passionate than any other we had ever had. It was deep, it was rough, it was messy, and it was ruining my panties. Nothing could have stopped me from undressing Tejiri, nothing at all, not even her, except for the bell that was now chiming loudly, signifying that it was time for headcount. A useless exercise that the new female Principal had put in place to checkmate those not sleeping in the dormitory. Tejiri had given the exercise a month tops till it died because the execution of a plan was easier said than done with all of the past principals we've had.
We held hands and walked back to the dormitory for the headcount. It was after the headcount that we sneaked out again. We didn't go too far as the school guard was known to make patrol rounds spontaneously.
We sat just behind the window, directly opposite our beds. We talked about random stuff for a while until I brought out the book I had bought her.
It was a 'James Hardley Chase' book that she had wanted for a very long time, and she hugged me fiercely when she saw it. That was the first time I had stayed up till dawn, and it was one of the best times of my life because I was with Tejiri.
*****
Things soon got sour for Tejiri and Zainab as the following year in junior secondary school three. Zainab had gone for the holidays and simply never come back. No explanations, no reasons, no address, no phone number at the time. She had simply existed, and one day, she didn't anymore. It was the saddest thing ever, watching Tejiri go through the pain of not even having closure.
Every day since then, I had to sit Tejiri down and come up with possible case scenarios. It was never enough until we learned to simply not speak about her anymore.
Years later, here I was, face to face with Zainab. I had so many questions, and I couldn't wait to ask them.
"Babe, I know, we have a lot of explaining to do, but I'm so hungry right now, can we hold for a bit?" Tejiri asked with all seriousness, and I couldn't help the loud laugh that bubbled out of my chest.
Tejiri was such a foodie, and she never let me forget. She did, however, manage to give me a small tour of the house, and then she said, "it's your house too babe, you'll get to know it better, let's just go and eat please, Zee and her girlfriend made you dinner."
I laughed once more as I pulled my Tejiri off with me to go feed her. True to her words, I met Zee and Dr. Irene, setting the table and what I saw looked and smelt yummy.
We had a sumptuous dinner, and I'd never been more content. Once we had cleared up the dishes, we took the party to the sitting room as Tejiri brought out a bottle of champagne from the refrigerator in the kitchen. She popped it open with a flourish as I screamed happily. She poured the wine into our glasses, and she proposed a toast to me.
We drank happily, and I couldn't wait to ask a million questions, and I started with Dr. Irene, "so how did the two of you meet, Zainab, I didn't even know you were into women."
The two women looked at each other and smiled fondly.
"I realized that I was attracted to girls a long time ago but watching the two of you in school helped put things in perspective," Zainab said as Dr. Irene took over f
rom her to say,
"We met during her National Youth Service when she was posted to my hospital, and no, we didn't do anything sexual till she was through. I asked her a million times if she was sure, but she insisted that she was in love with this old woman. Here we are."
I looked to Zainab in wonder, and she blushed hard before saying shyly, "I've always liked older women, I'm not saying you're old babe, I just meant older than I am."
We all burst into laughter as Dr. Irene took the banter good-naturedly.
We chatted for a short while, in which Tejiri told me all about finding Zainab again in the US. They had met after Tejiri had come out of her social media hiatus. Since then, Tejiri had been responsible for the younger girl. Zainab had also helped Tejiri through rehab after she'd gone into alcohol and women when she'd found out I was married. Zee has also been very beneficial to us getting back together, and I appreciated that.
Suddenly, Tejiri broke the spell of the past that had wrapped around us by announcing that it was time we all freshened up and got ready for our trip. I raised my brow in askance, but she just pulled me up and dragged me upstairs. It was on our way upstairs that I saw it, a square dent carved into the wall almost as tall as I was. It was covered with beautiful transparent glass, and inside it was the letter I had written Tejiri for her birthday in beautiful calligraphy. When I read it, I found that she had changed her name in the letter to mine. It was beautiful, it was artistic, and once I read it with my name replacing Tejiri, I couldn't contain myself or my emotions. Above the magnificent spectacle was the original letter I had written in an elegant frame. It was much smaller but still so beautiful.
"You're too much sometimes. This is so beautiful," I said softly as she came from behind and held me in an embrace.
"Everyone that has seen it has had the same reaction. That letter got me through all the bad times."
Minutes later, all thoughts of the questions I had earlier flew out of my head as Tejiri took off her clothes and started to take mine off. I swallowed noisily as I stood there dumb, just watching her and allowing her to undress me.
"See, it's not so bad. So stop questioning everything and just live in the moment, babe," Tejiri said. She kissed me deeply before dragging me naked into the showers.
She washed me from my head to my toe, and I reciprocated, paying attention to her beautiful breasts. I remembered how the other students from our secondary school had gossiped about how beautiful Tejiri's breast was. It had made me extremely jealous to realize that everyone got to see something I considered mine alone. Her breasts had grown bigger since then, and they looked even more beautiful, just a handful but perfect in every sense.
Our shower soon took a change in direction as Tejiri pushed me against the glass wall enclosing the shower.
My hot breath steamed the glass as I breathed in and out. She knew my body and knew what to do to bring me off in a couple of minutes. I was writhing and riding on her fingers as the last of my orgasm ebbed. God! She was so good with her fingers and her tongue and pretty much everything else.
While searching for something to wear after we got out of the showers, I realized that all of my things had been transferred to our room in the new house. I wondered just how much time it had taken for her to pull something like this off.
"If you want, there's a room I prepared for you, I just don't want you to feel like we have to stay in the same room. I don't want to stifle you or..."
"Why would I want a separate room? We do not even need two separate bodies, I wish we could move into one body and just exist from there. I want to be with you every second," I said, cutting into her sentence, I couldn't even wait for her to finish it.
My response made her laugh hysterically as she considered the implications of truly living in one body.
"How would we make love then, I love having sex with you," she finally replied, and it was my turn to laugh.
"Touche! Separate bodies then, but same room. I want to feel your body next to mine every night when possible."
She kissed my forehead and put my clothes out for me. She always loved to pick out my outfits.
"I'm your cuddle bunny, anytime, now dress up. I'm sure our guests are waiting downstairs."
We all drove out soon, and a few minutes later, we were at a high fenced facility. We parked our SUV and waited while Tejiri went around the spacious compound to a building. I looked around and noticed a single helicopter standing in the open field. When Tejiri got back out, she was laughing and talking with a sandy-haired European man.
He shook our hands and introduced himself as Mark. He was our pilot for the day. When I tried to ask where we were headed, everyone looked away, and Zainab changed the topic to how penguins were terrific animals. They were all acting smart with me, and I decided to relax and just let things happen.
Mark gave us numerous instructions and handed us our gear. I was already so excited by the prospect of riding in a helicopter, and nothing could have wiped the shit-eating grin I had on. Tejiri and I sat close to each other as we exchanged glances and generally communicated with our eyes.
I liked that the other couple with us had their moments enough to not interfere with ours. We were all in our little worlds with the love of our lives, and I liked it.
I got a hint from the communication on the radio by our pilot and the Lagos control tower. I heard Benin a lot of times as our helicopter started and picked off from the ground. The buildings and scenery looked smaller and smaller as we went up higher. I clutched Tejiri's hands in excitement as I looked down.
Some minutes later, the pilot called the Benin control tower and was routed back to his final destination, which happened to be Asaba. My eyes immediately met that of Tejiri, and she shrugged.
I didn't want to spoil the moment, but my heartbeat accelerated. I knew Tejiri enough to realize what her big surprise was. I didn't think I was ready for this, and it showed when I asked her softly, "babe, are you sure?" she shrugged again and squeezed my hand.
When we did eventually land at the Asaba airport, two cars were waiting with their doors opened. One had a red carpet leading to it. As I watched, Zainab and Dr. Irene quickly entered the darker SUV without a rug and drove outside the tarmac.
Tejiri came back from talking to Mark and held my hand as she guided me to our ride. She opened the door for me and helped me climb in as she climbed in behind me. Once settled, the driver wrapped up the carpet and put it in the car's trunk before finally driving after the first car.
My mind was working overtime, I didn't know how to react to this whole new experience, and it was eating me up. I started to chew my nails and fidget, why would Tejiri think this was a good idea.
"Hey, give this a chance, I know how you feel but just be open-minded. You're making me think that this was a bad idea, and all I wanted was to make you happy on your birthday. I should have listened to Zee and taken you to London or Paris, what was I thinking," Tejiri said alarmed.
I gave myself a pep talk before sitting up and facing her. I didn't know what to say, I didn't want her distressed.
"I'm not going to lie, it's going to be nostalgic for me, but I'll be open-minded. I loved the helicopter ride, I loved everything we had done today, and I loved the house before I forget, so it's still my best birthday ever regardless of what happens going forward."
She pulled me into a hug as she kissed my forehead multiple times, and I caught the driver watching us through the rearview mirror. When our eyes met, he quickly focused back on the road as I tried to gauge his reaction, he didn't show any emotion.
"I'll stop, will just hold you now," Tejiri said as she traced my gaze to the driver.
I didn't care if he noticed us getting cozy, I was in the mood to put a homophobe in his place anyways.
Surprisingly, being in the town of Asaba started to feel good. I asked the driver to turn off the air conditioner and to lower the windows so I could feel the breeze touching my face. Once he did, I move away from Tejiri to my si
de of the window as I leaned my head across it and sighed. My hand found that of Tejiri, and I held on for dear life.
I absolved the scenery, enjoying the significant changes that had happened in the city since I was last there. We drove past the Church that Sam and I had got married, and I showed it to Tejiri. She watched my reaction knowing how I felt about my marriage, but I smiled sweetly at her, I didn't feel sad at all, it just seemed like something that had happened to me in a past life, I had no emotions at all to give at this point except joy that I had found her again, nothing else mattered but that.
Soon I was laughing as I showed her the bookshop I used to buy books for her, it had been converted to a mini Mart now.
"Mr. Ovie had every book in the world stocked in that his bookshop and he was always happy to see me buy a book, he had no idea that I hardly read any," I said to Tejiri. She craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the place I was showing her. She laughed when she found it.
"I appreciated every book you gave me, especially because I could never find them myself."
We giggled and held our hands even tighter. Soon we were out of the city center as we drove into the suburbs. A few minutes later, I could see the large fence painted white and green. I swallowed deep in my throat as I remembered the first time I had seen that fence and how it had made me feel every term when I had to resume back from the holidays.
"I used to hate this fence, this gate, I never cried because of my ego, but before you came, I always felt like running away. I hated this confinement of a school," Tejiri said as we watched the fence till we got to the gate.