Improvised Plan #ProjectNigeria

4- Room Mates

Ola:

"Why did you decide to help me?"

"Why did you lie to your friend?"

"I asked you first," I retort, tearing my eyes off the ceiling fan above our heads. Saheed has been gazing at me since I started eating, and it has been making me uncomfortable. We are seated in one of those fancy restaurants at The Palms, Lekki, with a plate of food before me and a bottle of water on his end.

The waiter had disappeared over five minutes ago to get me a drink- which was supposed to arrive before the food. Wizkid's Soco plays in the background, and I idly wonder what on earth the pop star meant in the intro.

Saheed tilts his head to one side, regarding me. "You sound so grateful."

I sigh before stuffing a spoonful of fried rice into my mouth. I'm going to need my energy for this man, I'm sure. But it's only going to be for two weeks- if we can even stand each other for that long.

"Nonye has been pestering me to get a man. Last week, while we spoke over the phone, I lied that I was in a relationship just so she wouldn't remind me that my womb clock is ticking. Then she called three days ago to reveal that she was paying a surprise visit from Canada and would like to see this 'man' I've got."

"Interesting," Saheed says with a chuckle. "You set a trap for yourself."

I roll my eyes. "I didn't know it would get to this point. I thought I could stall for a month or two. I didn't know she would do this to me."

"Why didn't you just come clean? 'Nonye, I lied to you. I have no man.' You'd still be alive." His brows fuse over his eyes, and his full lips form a thin line.

"She can't keep secrets. She told literally everyone who knows me. My siblings, my father..."

"Bingo," he says with a snap of his fingers. "There it is, you want to impress your Dad."

"I do not," I reply hotly. "It's just that they all seem excited and I couldn't bear to tell them the truth!"

"Okay, you want to impress everyone then. Worse."

I open my mouth to remind him that last night, he also mentioned his father. But I close it and focus on my meal instead. I hadn't known how hungry I was, and I'm grateful Saheed had intervened.

"Well, what if we'd never met?" He drawls. There is something about the way he speaks, slowly and confidently, with the knowledge that anything with ears in the vicinity will listen attentively anytime he opens his seductive mouth to say anything.

Seductive. Ola, you don start.

I shrug. "I wasn't even thinking about that."

"You keep surprising me."

"Look, all that matters is that you're here and you agreed to do this. I'm grateful. But why, though?"

He rests his elbows on the table and leans forward. "Let's just say I'm curious."

I scoff. "Haven't you been in a relationship before?"

He shrugs. "What's that got to do with my curiosity?"

"Saheed, what are you curious about?"

"Pretending. How all this-" he spreads his arms, "will go. This isn't something I get to experience everyday, you know. Helping someone lie."

I make sure I gather all the rice grains on my plate before helping them onto the spoon with one of the discarded chicken bones. He watches me aptly, a corner of his lips raised in amusement. My drink still hasn't arrived. Did the waiter travel to Ogun State to get it?