Tomiwa dug his hands into the warmth of his trouser pockets as he watched the mallam wrap five hundred naira worth of suya.

Behind him, two ladies were speaking in hushed tones and giggling. He turned and their eyes widened, obvious that they had been talking about him.

Tomiwa smiled politely at them and returned his gaze to his intended dinner. They were pretty but they weren’t his type. His type was ….Ileri.

Tomiwa shook away the thought instantly, remembering that she had a Boyfriend. But supposing they break up by any chance, maybe he could….

“No.” He voiced out, earning a look of confusion from the suya seller.

“Make i no add onions?” he asked.

Tomiwa blinked back into reality as he stared at the suya seller. “Add.”

The suya seller nodded and returned to his task at hand as Tomiwa drowned in his thoughts once more.

He didn’t know why he was attracted to Ileri, because if he were being completely honest, he found her quite annoying and too outspoken the first time they had conversed in the gazebo weeks back.

Perhaps it was the night of Dahlia’s party when he saw her in that blue dress. He was speechless because blue had always been his favourite color and she had looked so beautiful that he found it difficult to look anywhere else.

When she had approached him, his heart was beating faster than usual. When she made that comment about them resembling a couple in their identical colors, his heart nearly exploded.

Her boyfriend was one lucky man, and he had to try to let her go because he knew the pain he had felt when another man had snatched his previous girlfriend from him. He couldn’t do that to Ileri.

Tomiwa gave the suya seller his money and headed to his car. He dropped his dinner package on the back seat before he entered and sat at the driver’s seat.

He started the ignition of his vehicle, veered into the road and drove straight ahead. Tomiwa had enough going on in his life. TJH, his undercover job working as Dahlia’s financial assistant, his unfading attraction for Leri, home and his other….responsibility.

His phone rang out, instinctively causing him to glance at the caller ID. It was his mother. After a small sigh, he accepted the call and put it on loud speaker.

“Hello mum.” He greeted. “Good evening.”

“Tomiwa ba wo ni?” His mother’s voice drifted through the phone.

“I’m fine.” He automatically replied, “how are you?”

“Fine o, are you back from work? Have you eaten?” His mum rushed him with her usual questions.

Tomiwa sighed.”Yes Mum. How is she?”

His mum was silent for a minute. “She’s very fine. She’s eating dinner now.”

Tomiwa heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good, is there light?”

“There’s light jare.” His mother responded.

Tomiwa said nothing and his mother continued. “Dayo and his wife visited this afternoon.”

“Okay.”

His mother sighed. “Tomiwa, you’re not getting any younger. Don’t you think its time for you to settle down? Your younger brother is married and -”

“Mum,” Tomiwa interrupted her speaking, “I’ve told you severally to stop comparing me to Dayo. We’re two different people and if you keep pestering me about marriage, I may never get married.”

“Ma binu, ma binu.” His mother quickly pacified him, “I won’t talk about it again.”

It was a lie, obviously but Tomiwa only nodded. “Mum I’m driving, I’ll call you when I get home.”

“Tomiwa I know you, you won’t call me back.” His mum said which made Tomiwa crack a smile on his lips because it was the truth. “Good night mum.”

“O daro Tomiwa, I love you.”

“Love you too.” Tomiwa mouthed as his mother hung up.

The pressure for marriage from his mum was overwhelming that year especially because he was turning thirty. His younger brother had gotten married the previous year at twenty seven. Ever since then, his extended family members had been gossiping. How could the younger brother marry before the elder?

One of his aunties even suggested taking him to see a Christian spiritualist, which he had politely declined.

Tomiwa was never jealous about his brother, but he was sick of the constant pressure from everyone, magically expecting him to produce a wife and get married the next day. Once upon a time, he even considered relocating to South Africa and cutting everyone off, but that would be too risky for him and his work.

Financially, he could afford a marriage, but the problem was finding genuine love. It was as difficult as writing an ICAN exam. Most ladies he had encountered were only interested in his money and had nothing to offer him except their bodies. As he grew older, he realized that all he wanted was a woman who gave him peace of mind.

The driving was smooth, until Tomiwa approached a club by the street. Highway club. The name made Tomiwa cringe but what made everything worse was the fact that a vehicle had broken down in the middle of the road right before him.

“When I had to take this alternate route to get home faster”. Tomiwa muttered before honking repeatedly for the vehicle, just to show how pissed he was.

Tomiwa was patient for ten minutes until he finally decided to get down from the car and see if he could assist the broken vehicle in any way.

Music was booming from the club, and people hovered about. He caught a lady staggering as she came out of the club and looked elsewhere. He could never drink so much in public and embarrass himself.

“Bros what’s going on? Why you dey block road?” He asked the driver who was doing working on the hood of the vehicle assisted by another man.

“Oga abeg. Na small issue, we go soon finish.” He replied Tomiwa without looking at him.

Frustrated, Tomiwa began to return to his car.

Distant sounds and hushed tones made him stop as he traced the source. He found the drunk lady from earlier, surrounded by guys this time and from the way she behaved around them, it was clear that their motive towards her wasn’t good.

Tomiwa found himself heading towards that direction. If there was one thing he couldn’t tolerate, it was guys who took advantages of hopeless females.

“Hey!” He called on their attention. They were three in number.

One of them stepped forward. “Who are you?” He asked while eyeing Tomiwa in a futile attempt to intimidate him.

“Leave her alone.” Tomiwa calmly told him.

He and his counterparts laughed in mock as he raised an arm, an effort to hit Tomiwa.

Tomiwa caught it mid air and twisted it, earning an agonized yell from him. They all scurried away afterwards.

“Are you okay?” Tomiwa asked the lady whose head was downwards.

The lady began to giggle and when she threw her head upwards, Tomiwa’s blood ran cold.

“I-Ileri?” He found it difficult to believe who he saw and why there of all places.

“How do you know my name?” Leri said sluggishly as she staggered close to him, her breathe reeking of alcohol.

“What are you doing here? What happened?” There was concern in Tomiwa’s voice.

“I came to DRINK!” Leri threw her hands in the air as she giggled, “I should go back and drink some more.” She began to stagger and turn to the direction of the club until Tomiwa stopped her.

“You’re drunk Ileri.” Tomiwa told her sternly as he held her arm. What could have happened to her?

“Only a drunk person knows a drunk person,” Leri slurred, “so that means we’re both drunk.” She giggled, “now leave me alone, I want to drink again and forget everything.” She started puling herself away from his grasp but Tomiwa only tightened his arms around her.

“How about we go to my place?” Tomiwa suggested. He needed to get her out of that place urgently.

Leri paused momentarily. “Do you have alcohol at your place?”

“Yes.” Tomiwa nodded, “a lot of alcohol.” he lied.

Leri narrowed her eyes at him and pointed at him. “You’re a man.” She paused, “all you men do is lie and cheat.” she emphasized.

Tomiwa’s heart dropped. This had something to do with her relationship. Her boyfriend had done something to her.

“I won’t hurt you Ileri.” Tomiwa assured her, “come with me.”

“That’s what he said,” Leri giggled, “he said he loved me and he wasn’t going to break my heart and -” She hiccuped. Her words faded away.

“Come on,” Tomiwa wrapped an arm around her back, “don’t worry.”

Leri sniffled. “What’s your name? Have we met before?”

Tomiwa shut his eyes briefly. How much did she drink to make her forget about people she knew?

“Tomiwa.” He said, “my name is Tomiwa.”

Leri nodded slowly. “I like your smell? Is that oud perfume?”

Tomiwa nodded as he led her towards his car. Leri was the talkative type when she drunk, and he could bet that she wouldn’t remember any of these when she finally becomes sober.

“I bought his favourite watch,” Leri was murmuring, “I did everything to make him happy.”

Tomiwa pulled open the door to the front seat as he gently sat her down and pinned the seat belt across her. He joined her at the driver’s seat and started his vehicle. To hell with the broken vehicle on the road, he would take another route home. Ileri was more important that moment.

By the time Tomiwa arrived at his apartment, Leri had already fallen asleep and he had to carry her all the way up to his apartment.

For one thing he was grateful that she was light, which made his work much easier. He flipped on the switch as soon as he got to the visitor’s room. Afterwards he gently placed her on the bed and removed her sandals from her feet.

Tomiwa sighed as he stared at Leri’s peaceful figure. She was sure to wake up with a banging headache after so much drinking but what bothered him was the cause of her drinking.

If it was her relationship like she had hinted on earlier, he wanted to punch her boyfriend or beat him up rather for hurting her. He suddenly felt protective of Leri and seeing this other side of her was seriously bothering.

Tomiwa rose, strolled to the door and was just about to switch off the lights when Leri’s whimper stopped him. He focused his gaze on her and saw her murmuring and turning left and right on the bed as if she was struggling.

Is she having a nightmare? Tomiwa wondered as he rushed over to her side. “Ileri calm down please.”

“It’s tight.” She whined sleepily.

“What is tight?”

“Take it off.” She complained again while tugging at her jeans, “I don’t want-” She began to unzip her jeans and Tomiwa’s eyes widened.

“I want it off.” Leri was dragging down her jeans and Tomiwa was frozen on the spot, his head clouded with uncertainty. Was he supposed to help her?

Leri continued pulling her jeans, slowly but aggressively. Tomiwa caught sight of her black lace panties and blinked away. What sort of palaver was this one? He hated to see her struggling but didn’t know how to assist her. That was a sensitive area, what if she starts screaming if he attempted anything? Drunk people were unpredictable.

Leri’s eyes were still closed as she struggled with her jeans and occasionally, her hands brushed her panties. Maybe she had assumed that it was part of the jeans so she wanted to pull it off too.

“Stop, stop,” Tomiwa rushed his words as he held both her hands in panic. “I’ll help you take off your jeans.” He swallowed. He could handle it.

Leri became still on the bed as Tomiwa removed her jeans. It took a lot of self restraint and control but even though, as his fingers brushed through her fair skin, his imagination ran wild and it was hard to caution them.

When he had successfully gotten rid of the jeans, he folded it and placed it on one of the side tables. She would see it when she wakes up.

Tomiwa rose and stared at her on the bed. He sighed and briefly looked up to the ceiling. He wanted this woman to be happy, he wanted to make her happy but did she want him as much as he did or was it a one sided attraction?

Tomiwa stared at her face. She looked so peaceful, so innocent that made his heart ache. This woman wasn’t even seducing him, but he was already falling. Deep down there was that poking feeling of rejection and the fear of the unknown.

He removed strands of hair covering part of face. Was it a wig or was it fixed? Tomiwa couldn’t tell but he wanted to see her beautiful face properly. Next, he had no clue what propelled him but he didn’t regret it.

Tomiwa placed a delicate kiss on Leri’s forehead.

We finna got a Tomiwa chapter!!!
So sorry for the absence guys❤️ School stress and all.

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