Tseju's Bayo

Chapter Fifteen - Does This Count As A Kiss?

Sunday afternoons in Nigeria were for sunday rice and chicken, goat meat or fish stew stepped down with a chilled bottle of either Coke or Pepsi. Tseju sha preferred Mirinda. "Where are we going this time?" Tseju asked as she walked into the open arms of her hot Chocolate Man. She let out a small 'oof' when he tightened his hug, almost squishing her small frame.

They settled into a familiar silence, each person affected by the familiar scent of the other. That two minute silence of just holding and "inhaling" the other person had become a routine whenever they hugged. It was like their souls touched each time their skins were pressed up against each other, and they just forgot to pull away.

This time, it was Bayo who broke the comfortable silence. "We're going shopping." He replied, his arms resting comfortably around Tseju's small but full frame.

An image of a room overun with clothes flashed into Tseju's mind and she attempted to pull away from the hug to confront her boyfriend about his exorbitant spending and his plan to turn her room into a boutique. "Huh? Brooo you literally bought me half of a boutique last week. I've become a second class tenant in my own room!!! The clothes have taken over."

"Oh wellll. Give some to charity. But no, we're going makeup shopping." He replied before pulling her back into the hug. "And if you call me bro one more time, we're gonna get a haircut."

That threat was lost on Tseju, all she heard was, "MAKE UP!!!!!!!!" she squealed into his chest, her eyes lighting up like Khal Drogo's pot of gold just before he dumped it over Khaleesi's brothers head.

12 matte lipsticks, one lash book, one Fenty Beauty foundation, one Nubian eyeshadow pallete and one Morphe brush set later...

"Are you sure this is enough make up?"

"Not at allllll!!! But this will do for today. Thanks boyfriend." Tseju replied as she stood up on her tippy toes to place a quick peck on Bayo’s chin. But, at that exact moment, the prayers of all the people who have been asking for a kiss since pushed Bayo’s head about roughly 4 inches to the right, and Tseju's lips instead of touching his chocolate cheeks, touched his chocolate lips and she was either too stunned to move or she planned this all along, but she just stood there. And so, they stood lip to lip, no nasty tongue action, for all of 27 seconds, 46 nano seconds before Tseju sporting a ridiculously huge smile on her face, pulled away.

Cough. Clears throat. "Okay, if we're done, i would like to take you out for lunch now."

Resisting the urge to press her lips against his again and also the urge to atleast touch her lips, she replied. "Well, if it so pleases my lord, i would like to go for lunch with you."

"Great! Heads up tho, my sisters bludgeoned their way into lunch."

"What!" Tseju's eyes almost popped out of their socket. She moved closer to him, preparing her own bludgeoning when a familiar scent caught her attention.

"Oh my God! Bisi!" She screamed to capture the attention of the retreating woman. Turning to her boyfriend, she pushed the shopping basket containing her recently purchased makeup products into Bayo’s hands. The same basket he'd repeatedly begged her to let him carry. "Babe wait here. I'll be right back." She said, before taking off in a fast trot to meet the woman she called Bisi.

"Oh! Jesus! Tseju ahhh!!! It's been a minute girllll!! How you doing???"

"I'm great! Where have you been? You just dropped of the grid girl! Why now?" Tseju knew exactly why, but the Nigerian in her couldn't resist asking a question she already knew the answer to.

"You know why..."

"Abeggi!! Man no reach make you cut off totally from your friends na."

"Well, I'm sorry, but i did what i had to. If i had stayed in touch with any of you, well, I'd have been tempted to ask about him. It was for the best, it's okay if you don't understand..."