Crossroads by Segun Peters
Synopsis
Michael and Lynda fall in love on the first day they set eyes on each other as fresh men in the University of Lagos. But low self-esteem, misplaced priorities and pride causes them to instantly deny it in their hearts. They would not even bring themselves to admit an attraction so obvious to everyone else.
In a lengthy emotional hide and seek, they go their separate ways but never succeed to stop their hearts from calling for each other. They go into different relationships, pursued separate successful careers, but the farther apart they travel, the more their hearts bleed in search for each other.
Fate played its role in bringing them together again in several instances but the stubbornness of their heads, Lynda’s self-pride and David’s broken past keep coming in the way and ruining what should be a perfect romantic reunion.
1
August 2015
Lynda’s heart throbbed. The familiar image glared at her smilingly from the enormous conference screen. She thought she recognized the face of the celebrated software entrepreneur. Didn’t she know that smile? The gentleness and kindness in his eyes had an enchantment that always took her breath away. He had been gone eight years. But. Alas!
“And the last, but by far not the least of the rising Youthpreneurs to herald this year’s N.Y.E.L.S. is CEO of MegaSoft Incorporated, David Micheal Oluwafemi,” the sonorous voice of the host announced.
The applause was resounding, decibels above the ovation given to the fourteen before mentioned young business owners leading in their industry. Lydia’s eyes flung to the far left of the conference hall as a young bald-headed man sprinted up the stairs and on to the stage. They followed his motion as he hugged the beautiful host and air kissed. They followed his smile and composure as he receives his plaque recognizing his industry. They followed his aura and rapport as he in a few warm words thanked his team for bringing his company to the fore for recognition and they, not him deserved the honor. Her eyes ogled after him as he climbed off the stage and escorted to his seat by the people who acknowledged his achievements, lined on his path with warm handshakes and generous smiles.
He was the same person. The boy that she once has written off is now celebrated.
DAVID
October 2002- February 2007
“David. David. Open door.”
David rushes to open the door for Gbenga.
“Gbenga, how far now. You don do the assignment?”, Mayowa, David’s room and course mate called out from across the room on his bunk.
Gbenga side stepped David into the room. “I never do am. But I go do am this night.”
“Okay. I go show for your room be that.” Mayowa concluded and continued with the book he was reading.
Gbenga turns his attention to David. “Look, the boys are going to the meeting. It starts by six-thirty. Are you coming?”
David had recently moved to the hostel and barely a day had gone before Gbenga Sofoluwe found him out as one of the Christian Light Bearer Christian sects. His demeanor, as Gbenga said gave him away. Two things a Bearer was known for; sterling behavior and preaching activity. As acclaimed, no Christian sect beats them to this. It happened they were Bearers along with Sola Badejo and Tunde Bakare. They were all in the same department and hostel. Gbenga knew the answer would be yes. He expected nothing else from David.
Gbenga went out to his room to prepare for the meeting. It was just 4 pm and it seemed there was not going to be enough time to prepare. Being one of the Christian Light-bearers, it took more than grooming up to prepare for a meeting. It was more like preparing for a class and you may be obligated to answer questions. A first time is an opportunity to make an impression on the congregation and for that, answering a question was not negotiable. In haste, David went through his choice clothes and readied them. He had no tie. He dashed to Gbenga’s room, where Sola was also a roommate and negotiated the best tie for his black shirt. He settled with Sola’s red tie. After this he pulls out his special bag for meetings. It was time to prepare for spiritual class.
While he studied, he fantasized. What would it look like, first time in another congregation? Would there be a lot of young people of their compeer that is, students at the university, since the meeting hall was in the campus vicinity? Would they extend to him the warmth he felt from his congregation back home? And best part, would he meet attractive girls? Gbenga had assured them they would. The boys even had strategies in place. Oh! There was a fifth Light bearer. David called Esosa on his phone, and he promised to be in time. David felt comforted. Five friends from the same department making a grand entrance! It would be a blast!
Far from it though. They were late; thanks to Tunde. They walked the thirty minutes distance; thanks to Gbenga. They made a lousy entry; thanks to Sola and they sat in the worst corner, the far front, just by the podium. The meeting had already begun when they entered. They made a lasting impression that preceded them afterwards that day; “late comers”.
The meeting here was the same but felt different. The atmosphere was vibbed with youth and exuberance. It was just as Gbenga said. The entire hall was filled with students like them. When the time for questions and answers came, the boys readied to display. Gbenga went first amongst them. Tunde was second and Sola and Esosa had their chance before the meeting ended. David did not raise his hand to attempt a question. He lacked the confidence to. The atmosphere of vibrant, intellectual and seemingly rich vocabulary deflated David’s dream of impressing the congregation. Maybe not today, he thought.
“Pass the mic to the sister over there”, the handler of the session directed. “Please, tell us your name.”
“Lynda.”
David recalled that voice. It stood out so distinctly that his ears were tingled. Her answer was concise yet brief. Her words were effortless, and it filled the hall with her aura of confidence. She overwhelmed David. He felt an urge to turn and see the face to the voice, but his neck was stiffened.
“That is the girl I told you about,” Gbenga whispered to Sola.
“Sure G,” Sola said to him with a smile and a fist bump.
At the end of the meetings all his friends disappeared from his side, “associating” as they said, but he knew it more than that. They were hunting potential flings. Had he not planned to join them in the adventure? Of course, but he was holding back, staying close to an isolated wall for refuge. It was difficult to place it but in crude words, he felt out of place.
David looked around at the happy faces, smiling and conversing with glee and interests in the other persons. He did not feel up to it. Maybe because he felt they were better than him. Maybe the shame of the sort of family background he had places him below their polished social standards. Maybe because the spiritual history he has is dwarfed by these highly privileged light-bearers. They obviously have practicing parents, unlike him. Maybe he is not supposed to feel this way, but he can’t help it, especially from what his eyes sees. His cloths were of poor taste, nothing fitting and they hung impoverish on his body merely to cover up his naked shame. They dressed differently, even extravagantly as if there would be a prize for the best dressed at the end of the night. He had never worn a suit in his life and some of them could afford to, on a weekday, on an evening. The girls glowed in their dresses and their skin shone with elegance. He was obviously outshined by their appearances. Perhaps he could have gotten the cue the way he compared with his friends. But boys, they help each other shield the obvious. The congregation uncovered it all to him. He felt exposed of his humble background and naked to his shame. It was why he blended to the wall in hopes no one would care.
David’s eyes went towards the hall exit and he was just in time to move forward to steady a sister who was staggering to the floor. The contents of her bag spilled. David held her up, feeling her frail trembling body in between his hands.
“Are you alright?” David asked. She was embarrassed. She looked away, reclining against the wall. “Stay still.” David bent over and quickly gathered up her things into her bag. There were several pills. David wondered how sick this girl was. He held up the bag and inquired. “Do you need help with anything? I could be of assistance.”
Her face was not that visible because of the poor illumination and the hair that covered half of her face. David saw her hesitation. She took the bag from him, straightened herself and found her composure.
“Thank you.” She said. “I am fine.”
She stepped aside and walked out of the hall premises. David kept looking until she was out of sight. He hoped she was alright. He wished he could assist her somehow, but she already said she is fine. He hoped she was indeed.
He was back to his current reality. No one noticed what had happened with the sick girl. Indeed, no one cared. He reclined into the shadow again, waiting for the time his friends will be ready to go.
The boys rounded up each other and matched out the meeting hall, enjoying the walk back to the hostel on the busy Akoka streets. They laughed and joked about simple things.
“David, I saw you after the meeting. You weren’t reaching out”, Sola said.
“Forget it, Sola. I was fine. They could have taken the step too, couldn’t they?”
“Come on David. I don’t know the congregation you came from, but here you take the first step. If not, people will not notice you.” Gbenga said.
“Look Gbenga. Isn’t that Lynda? She is with her friend Tamuno too.” Sola said.
“Sure boy. How far? Make we run am?” Gbenga said to Sola.
Sola took his hand in a warm handshake of partnership. “I got you covered, bro.”
Without any hesitation, Gbenga and Sola hurried forward and flanked the two girls who were some distance away from them. Gbenga took to Lynda’s side, while Sola was by Tamuno. It didn’t take a minute before they eased into each other, talking like a group of merry friends. David looked with amazement. How did they do it? He knew he would never have the courage for that.
“These boys are being too forward. They can get burned by these campus girls if they are not careful”, Esosa commented, as cautious as he always was.
“They are light bearer girls, Esosa. They are not the typical campus girls. I am sure they will treat each other in fairness”, David replied him.
“Don’t be naïve, David. They are first humans. UNILAG girls are the same whether light bearer or not. You will be surprised the things I hear about this so-called light bearer girls.” Esosa said.
“Forget that one, Esosa. No UNILAG girl can burn my guys. These girls are raw meat for my boys. If they mess up, my boys will smoke them,” Tunde jumped in.
The argument went back and forth between Tunde and Esosa. David’s ears filled with horrors about the secret lives of the supposedly good light bearer girls. And whenever Tunde highlighted Sola and Gbenga’s game, David felt a bit worried. He looked up to the pairs ahead of him. Lynda was the girl he had heard in the congregation. From his angle he could not see her face, but he could tell there was an air of innocence on her. She was slender and fragile, but she took sure and firm strides that speak confidence of her. What if she really was a serpent, David feared for his friend.
But if Gbenga was the wolf…
David wished she would not hurt. His heart wouldn’t forgive it. But why should he care?
David, Esosa and Tunde walked through the campus gates and just beyond them the two pairs were waiting for them. Apparently, they had come to the place their paths part. David felt his heart thumping. He saw Lynda’s face for the first time, adorable.
She looked up adoringly at Gbenga, her smile was charming. His heart did not thump from envy neither attraction to the beauty. His heart thumped from fear. He was going up a class above him. Would he survive?
“Meet my friends. This is Tunde. That is Esosa. And meet David.”
Lynda had taken each their hands and Esosa and Tunde had said a word to spark a two or three sentence conversation. When he shook hers, his hands were feeble and fell from her before she could grip it firmly. David said no words and looked away. If he was white, they would have seen the blush on his cheeks. David crawled up inside his timidity and when it was time to greet Tamuno, he simply waved and looked the other way. They continued conservation as a group for a while, but David was left out. He couldn’t stand to raise his eyes to either Lynda or Tamuno. Worse was, his voice lost connection to his lips.
Gbenga hugged Lynda the same time Sola hugged Tamuno as a parting gesture. How quickly they bonded seemed like magic unknown to David. The boys turned to the route to their hostels. David hoped they would not discuss his behavior. They did not. In the hostel room, David climbed on his bed and looked up into the ceiling fan. Will he survive in the university congregation of Christian light-bearers? It was hard getting by with academics. It was already tough to get by with his upkeep. It was his first week and third day on campus grounds and sadly, he had no food to eat, neither did he have money to buy some. He forced his eyes closed. He will worry about that in the morning.
“David, what are you doing this evening?”
“Nothing, Gbenga. What’s up?”
It was a Friday evening. Surprisingly, Gbenga had chosen to stay for a weekend, first time since he moved on campus. Sola, Tunde and Esosa had been like him, going home on the weekends, just after classes were over on Friday. In 6 weeks, David felt glad that he would have a company for the weekend. This would be better than to hole-up in his room and watch movies in the common room.
“I am going to see Lynda this evening. I thought maybe you could join us.” Gbenga said.
David felt his familiar timidity occupy the space in his body. Hanging around Lynda?! No, that would be too much for him. In the last weeks, he had avoided contacts as much as possible. He went to the meetings alone on Sundays and hurried off just after the meetings had ended. This would be the first time he would be meeting a light-bearers outside of the congregation. He wasn’t ready. It makes it worse if it was Lynda.
“It doesn’t feel appropriate. What will I be doing when you two are hooking up?”
“Hooking up?” Gbenga laughed. “Who said we were hooking up like that?”
“I don’t know. You two have been seeing each other a lot lately. I just thought you guys had a thing going on?” David said.
“Yea. I thought so too, bruh,” Gbenga said. “That was until I realized that girl is proud and stubborn. I can’t deal with a girl like that. Besides, she is not interested in any kind of relationship. That girl has a lot going on in her life to be thinking about relationships.”
David thought for a moment. “If she is not your type and she is not interested in a relationship, then why are you guys meeting up at all?”
“It’s called playing cards with no strings attached. You should try it some time.” Gbenga concluded, digging his face back into the college physics textbook he was reading. Without looking up, he added, “So are you or not?”
“Meet David. You have met him before, but I don’t know if you recall…” Gbenga said to Lynda.
“I remember David. We met once that first time I met your squad.” She smiled and then leaned forward to whisper into Gbenga’s ears. Gbenga’s eyes lit up and he began to laugh hard, walking back and forth in mock amusement. He closed his mouth as if he could not contain what he heard. All the while, Lynda had a smile on her face and was pleading with Gbenga not to say anything. David felt deflated. He felt like he was in a show glass for their comic relief.
“No. No. David is my friend. I will be loyal first to him. So I will tell.” Gbenga neared David, placed his hand on David’s shoulder reassuringly. “Lynda here says you are the cutest of us all but the one with the worst attitude.”
Lynda gazed distantly and David could see she felt embarrassed.
“It’s okay.” That was all David could say.
David saw Lynda complain again to Gbenga in another whisper. Gbenga looked back at him. He feared for another awkward comment from her.
“Lynda says you drag your feet when you walk. Can you walk better?” Gbenga said.
“I meant I don’t like the sound of people dragging their feet on the ground. It is annoying.” Lynda said.
“Sorry. I’ll try.”
Inside the amphitheater, David listened to Gbenga and Lynda go on endlessly with their argument.
“That was not Socrates.” David’s mild voice broke through the arguing pair. They were more taken that he contributed at all even if he contradicted what they had just learnt recently in PSY 101.
“I agree with Gbenga, David. Socrates originated that statement. It is what we learnt recently.” Lynda said to David, whose eyes were moving surreptitiously from her gentle lips and glowing face to the ground where he bid his shyness. If he was ever going to say anything, now was the time.
“I know. It’s in the material we are reading from. In truth, Socrates mentioned it, but he did not originate the maxim. The maxim was already an inscribed template in the temple of Apollo before Socrates came to expound it to mean ‘The unexamined life is not worth living. The aphorism was credited to pre-Socratic philosophers too like Thales of Miletus and Pythagoras of Samos. In fact, that statement predates the Greek civilization down into ancient Egypt. As it is sometime believed, Egyptian philosophy strongly influenced Greek wisdom. We were taught wrong.”
A silence lingered after his last words. Lynda was obviously surprised that he could do better than talk; he spoke.
“If my lecturer says it is something and David says it’s another, I will believe David. This guy loves philosophy and reads anything he could find about it. Trust me; he knows what he is saying. Never mind he is studying computer science.” Gbenga said, slicing the tension building up.
“What does that have to do with the argument? You heard what the lecturer said, Man does not need religion. He only invented it to control society.” Lynda guided her assault on David.
“I don’t know if it means something. Somehow, it all simmers down to a different argument which is individualism or collectivism, which one elaborately defines the essence of man? Does an individual life belong to himself, or it belongs to a group or a society?” David went on.
The familiar pause came again. Gbenga looked from David to Lynda. He could see the tension between them. For the first time, someone was a match for Lynda, and he loved it.
“Are you saying that the belief in God is the reason mankind has not achieved the peak of his existence?” Lynda queried.
“No. I do not say so,” David replied. “The bible says so. According to the Christian Light Bearer doctrines, Babylon the great is world empire of false religion and the beast is the political atmosphere of the time stated in revelation. There are no two other reasons than these for the downfall of mankind.”
“But that is false religion. They do not worship God. And the political powers are influenced by Satan. Your argument does not make any sense.” Lynda said.
“You know what guys, continue with your argument, and I will be right back”, Gbenga rose from among them and makes a beeline for the stalls ahead.
Lynda climbed down to sit close to David. Her scent filled his nose, and her proximity was a bit captivating for him. David held his breathe as long as he could, fearing to upset the moment.
“So, tell me David,” Lynda began. “What ideals would individualism have created instead?”
It was difficult for him to think straight with her this close to him but talk he did. There was a change about her now. She listened and uttered no words in resistance. Her eyes roamed from his eyes to his lips, and back to his eyes again, as if savoring the words as they dropped from his lips. David could not bear to keep his eyes on her too long. Whenever he looked, he felt drawn into her eyes too fast that he rescues himself by coyly turning his eyes away. Gbenga came back and joined them, offering them each a bottle of soda. Then he took a seat a foot away from them, allowing David to enjoy his first chance to impress a girl. It was night, and the crickets began to sing in the bushes nearby. David knew they sang the song of his first victory. Who would have thought he was with the girl he fancied?
“Guys, it is late. We better take you to your hostel, Lynda.” Gbenga broke in, to Lynda’s disappointment, although she agreed with him.
It was an hour before midnight. Gbenga led the way down the amphitheater, and right there and on, Gbenga took charge again. He took Lynda’s hand and led the way to her hostel. David fell behind them, keeping a respectable distance behind them as he listened in to them talk about simple things like roommates and what she would eat when she got back to the hostel. Lynda flipped her head backward, this time with a warmer smile.
“You are dragging your feet on the ground again.”
“Oh, I am sorry,” David said.
Lynda’s smile broadened. “It’s okay,” she said. “At least now I know you are not a grump.”
David could have sworn that she winked at him. How would he explain the brief twinkle in her eyes that was there and then was gone?
At her hostel gate, Gbenga and Lynda exchanged a few words of pleasantness before she hugged him. David looked away. He was behind them.
“And you too,” Lynda said as she came forward opening her arms to embrace him. David, hesitantly walked into the embrace and he felt her arms tighten around his back in a firm squeeze. “You especially made my evening.” She released him from the hug and then proceeded to say. “You should have my phone number. I will give it to you now.”
That came as a shock to David. David looked at Gbenga to catch the fleeting expression on his face. He stammered, “You know what? I will get it from Gbenga. There is no need to bother yourself.”
Lynda hesitated, displeased by his turn down. She shrugged it off, “Okay. Call me when you have it. Promise?”
“I promise.” David assured her.
Lynda left to her hostel, looking back through the gates to catch his eyes one last time before she took the bend that took her away from sight.
“Wow.” Gbenga said. “You know she likes you now, don’t you?” Without waiting for a reply, he turned around and began to lead the way back to the hostel.
David fell into sync with him. He did not know how best to continue the conversation, but he had to try. “I don’t think so. She may have enjoyed our conversation, but I doubt it was anything.”
Gbenga looked sideways at David for a moment before his eyes straighten again towards the road. David could sense it. Gbenga was not comfortable with something. David thought, just for his friend, he had better kept his distance from Lynda.
He did not get her number from Gbenga as promised. He did not call as promised. They did not meet up with Lynda for several more months. He wasn’t about to betray the trust of a friend even though Gbenga said nothing.
Back from their hangout with Adeola, Tunde’s crush, David and Tunde had barely settled into the room when Gbenga exclaimed.
“Haaaa. See me see trouble o. David, come. Which charm you use on this girl?” Gbenga called out to David, looking up from the phone from which he had been texting all the while.
“Which girl be that?” Sola asked.
“Na Lynda na. She has been mentioning David’s name throughout our conversation.” Gbenga said.
Gbenga went on to explain to the whole room that there was no time he met with Lynda that she didn’t ask about David. Now, he was persuading Lynda to come to the send-off party with him, but she has refused to come. She and her friends have decided not to come to any gathering organized by the family committee in a protest she had refused to tell Gbenga about. Gbenga offered to meet with her to try to convince her, but she would only grant him audience only if David would come. Perhaps, David could be able to convince her otherwise, so she said.
The room became torn in two. While one part praised David’s ability to charm the high and mighty Lynda, the other half who knew Gbenga had love interest in Lynda fell silent without knowing what to make of it. David hated to be thrown in the open like this. It was eight months ago he had his once chance to talk with Lynda. Every time after that they met in the meetings, they never said a word to each other, only when they coincidentally bump into each other and have to say a greeting and move on. Those times were awkward for David. David took it she was avoiding him as retaliation. He did not call her as he had promised.
When they opened the food that Adeola had given Tunde and David, the whole room wouldn’t help but pass the comment that David could have charmed Adeola again. His food was twice as rich as Tunde’s in size and amount of fish in it. The whole room, six of them pounced on the food and ate it with gusto. The only person who wasn’t so excited was Tunde.
“We will be going to Honors tomorrow evening to meet with Lynda. Tunde will be coming too,” Gbenga said.
Gbenga and Tunde were losing their love interests, and somehow David was convinced they blame him for this. David however believes he doesn’t deserve to be treated like the snake when indeed he had nothing to do with their inability to win the hearts of their crushes. Tomorrow will come, and he will prove them wrong.
