The Unclosed door...Part 4

Uncle Jide kept his promise. He was around for all our visiting days. Sometimes he would come straight from school and go back to school the same day.  Tayo had once hinted me that Uncle Jide wasn’t very close to his Mom. She didn’t understand why but she was happy that she was the centre of his attention.

Few times when my parents or Bola came for me, Uncle Jide would wait for me till they leave. Uncle Jide never came empty-handed. A day to our visiting day, Uncle Jide would call us through the house mistress’ phone and ask for a list of what Tayo and I specifically wanted him to buy for us.

Because of Uncle Jide, visiting days became what I looked forward to.
On the first visiting day in SSS3, Uncle Jide bought phones for Tayo and I. We had told him we could use phones in SSS3, but we didn’t imagine that he would buy for us. He bought the same phone for us and loaded both with airtime.

“I will be going for my Youth service soon. I was posted to Abuja. Even though I’m far away, I promise that we will always talk on the phone. You don’t need to call me…just flash me when you need anything… Okay?”

Tayo jumped on Uncle Jide, thanking him profusely for the phone and also telling him how much she will miss him.

The news that Uncle Jide will be away for long came as a shock to me. Uncle Jide had assumed a major position in my life and I didn’t know how I will cope with him being so far away. I looked at the phone again and consoled myself with the fact that we would be in communication.

“Uncle Jide…thank you so much, I am very grateful”

“Its okay Layo, I know you like pictures a lot…that was why I bought you guys a camera phone.”

I had series of pictures on Uncle Jide’s phone. No visit was complete until I use his phone to take a lot of pictures and then beg him not to delete them and he never did.

As usual, we settled down to eat in one of the classrooms. As Uncle Jide was bringing out the food, I took my new phone and was taking his pictures and pictures of the food. Uncle Jide is really handsome. He has this curly hair that looked like a baby’s own, his eyes were dreamy…like I could get lost in them. There is something about him that made me nervous; I just didn’t get it.

“Layo… Layooooo”

“Yes..Yes…sorry, what were you saying Tayo?”

“Your food is getting cold… what are you even thinking about?” “Abi its Michael you are thinking about?” “Uncle Jide, Layo has a boyfriend now o, his name is Michael”

“Boyfriend indeed” I chuckled.

 Michael had sent me a love letter earlier that week, telling me how much he had loved me from junior school and how he had been hiding what he felt. I had always seen Michael as a friend. Tayo on the other hand, once had a crush on him but she overcame the crush when she realized that he always gave me special attention.

Tayo and I never talked about it but we had an unspoken agreement to always get rid of anything that can jeopardize our friendship. We had learnt to put ourselves first before any other person.

“Tayo, you are funny o…so you want that boy to be my boyfriend. Ehn? Someone that can’t even speak correct English, you want him to contaminate my English abi”

Tayo and I laughed so hard, we were brought to tears. I realized I wasn’t hearing Uncle Jide’s laughter. When I looked at his face, my laughter fizzled out immediately. I had never seen his face like that before. It was really grim…like he was angry at something.

“Uncle Jide…whaat.. is.. wrong?” “Did we say something?”

He looked at me like I wasn’t talking to him.

“So you are having boyfriends now?” “Oh! Because you have proven nature wrong with your big stature, you think you can go about dating your classmates?”

I was confused. Why was he talking like that? Was he even listening to what we were saying?

 “I don’t have a..”

He didn’t allow me to finish the statement.

“Tayo…go and call me that boy”

Tayo ran off immediately looking as confused as I was.

“Uncle Jidee…” He raised his hands up signifying that I should not say anything.

“Good afternoon sir” Uncle Jide looked up to face Michael.

“So you are the one disturbing my Layo, is that what you are sent to school to do? Let me warn you, next time I hear about you chasing her again, I will go straight to the principal…you can leave”

“I am sorry sir” Michael ran off like a scared dog.

“As for you Layo, don’t let me ever hear that any boy is hovering around you again…I am leaving”

Uncle Jide left that day without hugging me. For a long while, Tayo and I were rooted to a spot. We couldn’t comprehend what happened. A lot of questions were playing in my head but I couldn’t get an answer to any.

According to Tayo, he had never acted in that manner concerning her before. In fact, his behaviour was totally strange to her. All of a sudden Tayo chuckled. She looked at me and winked.

 “ Layo, I think my brother likes you”

To be continued...