As the first hints of sunlight emerged in the sky, Kunle's eyes snapped open. "Kelly, wake up," he whispered.

Kelly turned over and groaned. "Why? It's so damn early." She stretched like a cat and lay on her stomach.

He shook her shoulder several times and sighed when she mumbled and didn't respond. People always said that taking it easy and being carefree were strengths. His girlfriend's tendency for such was a weakness as far as he was concerned. Sometimes everything wasn't going to be alright. Some situations required a defensive response. Ina n jo lori oke, o n sun. There is fire on the mountain, and you're sleeping, he thought.

His mum and dad would be back from the engagement they attended interstate. Kunle wanted to be as far away as possible from his home. He needed to think, strategize and figure out what to do. His father's watchful gaze and his mother's twenty questions would be unsettling. Kelly would also be to eager to please, and would probably spill the shrine room tea.

Kunle smacked her rear. Hard. "Get up, now," he ordered.

"Yes, daddy." Kelly rose with a cheeky grin on her cute face.

"Now's not the time for that, Kelly."

"Yes, it is. Finish what you started."

Kunle jumped out of bed and threw his clothes in his small overnight bag. "How about you finish packing instead?" Within five minutes he was done.

Eventually, Kelly got up and complained about the early hours of the morning and wanting to get enough beauty sleep. Kunle apologized and said that plans had changed, he had a surprise for her in the city, but they could come back soon. Half an hour later, she still wasn't done.

"Why on Earth did you bring so many things? I told you we were going to spend two days." He picked up a light brown tube and squeezed it. "What the heck is this?"

Kelly snatched it out of his hand. "That's my concealer. Don't press it." She pat her hand on her face in a quick demonstration of how it was used.

"What are you concealing? Your skin is fine." He put it in her luggage and she took it out and put it in a pink bag that looked like a portable cushion instead.

Seeing that cosmetics were off limits, Kunle folded her multiple summer dresses to speed up the packing process. He dusted her sandals before asking which one she intended to wear. It took all his reserves of self control not to snap when Kelly looked like it were a life changing decision to choose between the two. His slight annoyance faded when she threw her warm arms around him and asked if she could wear his T shirt.

A smile tugged his lips. "You've already taken all my shirts," he replied.

"I haven't taken all of them."

"Yes, you have."

"You took five, Kelly."

Her brow furrowed and Kunle chuckled. It was obvious that she was trying to calculate if that were true. "I only have three," she concluded.

Kunle scoffed. "That was before you took my Nike T shirt and my Briggs T shirt. Come to think of it, you have my grey hoodie too."

After packing what seemed like the millionth item, Kelly finally finished packing her things. She swept the room while Kunle carried their bags to the main door downstairs. All the hairs on his apprehensive body stood on end when he passed the shrine room. He was convinced that he didn't have an ordinary nightmare, and felt the full weight of his troubles on his shoulders.

By the time Kunle returned to his room, Kelly was already in the shower. The faint smell of her mixed fruit body wash drifted in the air. "Take your time, sweetie. We have all day," he sang.

Her melodious soprano response came without missing a beat. "Alright, darling. I'm just getting started."

Kunle shook his head and checked around the room. It looked like everything had been taken care of. He didn't want to hear stories about how they had to go back because this or that was forgotten. Kelly would leave her eyes behind if they weren't fixed into their sockets. On some occasions, it was hilarious. At times it was downright embarrassing. Remembering how Kelly forgot her satin panties in his suit pocket made him cringe. During a meeting, he took out what he thought was a pocket hankie...but it wasn't. Ouick as a flash, he put it back when the person beside him stifled a giggle. Kelly claimed it was accident when he let her know, but it could have been a back off my man message sent to his admirers at work.

"Done!" Kelly said with a flourish as she stepped out of the bathroom. Her skin glistened with drops of water and she looked much better than before. She chuckled when she noticed that Kunle had already laid her outfit on a chair.

He pecked her cheek as he passed her by to take a shower. When Kunle settled under the prickly drops of cold water, his tense muscles relaxed just a little bit. He spent longer than usual lathering the soap on his body in a subconscious effort to calm down. Kunle tilted his head back and wished his worries went down the drain just like the water.

He did not want Kelly to worry or his unborn child to be in any kind of danger. Finding someone to help him out needed to be done as soon as possible, but before then he wanted to take Kelly away from this environment. His parents would be upset that he popped in and didn't wait to spend a little time with them. That being said, he thought it would be better for them to met Kelly face to face under different circumstances.

"Hey! Mr Universe," Kelly shouted as she knocked the door, "You've been there for ages. All our friends are grandparents now."

"I just got here, Kelly."

"Dude, you've been there for over thirty minutes."

Kunle rushed to finish up and dried his body with a towel before stepping out of the bathroom. A quick look at his bedside clock confirmed that he did spend as long as she said. "Sorry, but at least I won't spend an hour getting dressed," he retorted.

True to his words, he was done in minutes and they walked out together. He promised that they would buy the fresh bread and akara fried bean cake she liked so much. A food vendor near the motor park prepared it as early as six in the morning for travellers.

The matter at hand was far from resolved. For now, Kunle wanted to forget.