La Premiere Part 2.

I have to say that writing this second part was not nearly as fun as the first, not with what happened yesterday. My thoughts go out to all the families of yesterday's bomb blast victims, please say a prayer for them, and our nation today. Thanks.

I drove straight to my parents to pick Lola up. Usually when it was this late I would just come the next day. But i needed her. Plus, i didnt know what time Lara would be coming and not seeing her there will raise questions.
After bathing and tucking her in, I went to my bathroom to do the same. I couldn't stop playing the past three hours in my head. With one hand brushing my teeth, I pulled back the band of my shorts and examined my package. No, it wasnt that. Then what?
I had just settled into bed and switched off the light when my door opened. Standing in the doorway, stomach still bloated from too much pizza, and dwarfed by her shadow was my daughter.
'Daddy, I want to sleep here'
'Why? Are you afraid?' I asked, wondering if she'd had a bad dream at my parents'.
'No, you are afraid' she replied the best way her vocabulary would allow.
My eyes went wet immediately. Without uttering a word, she had picked up on my mood. Just like her mother. I swooped her up and put on the TV. I'd thought wouldn't be able to sleep but somewhere around the hundredth question about Kimpossible I shut down.
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5:00 am
It was morning and the sun had risen on my foolishness. I didn't need to turn to know it was real. He was snoring loud enough. Yesterday was surreal. From my fairy tale proposal to the ghost of mistakes past showing up on my door. This was actually real? I was an educated, enlightened grown woman, not some pea-brained character on Telemundo. How did I let this happen? I felt sick. My prince was sleeping at home because I spent the night with a frog. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to have to say anything. How do you tell a man who is naked in your bed that you can't stand him? I felt revulsion rise from deep within my belly. I rushed into the bathroom to throw up. Afterwards, I brushed my teeth like I'd drank drainage water; then I got into the shower: scrubbing skin like it would take away the filth. The water rinsed the soap and tears down my body; not enough.
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No matter how bad the day before was, when you wake up, there’s a few precious moments of ignorant bliss, before your brain reminds you you’re in hell. I didn’t have those. I woke up depressed, and then I remembered why. It does something to you, your perception of yourself as a man. If affects your esteem in a certain way, to know your best was not enough. My late wife had been my first love. I had never felt anything like this. So at thirty five and widowered with a child, I was having my first heart break.
Lola was still sleeping beside me. She too had fallen asleep finally. Looking at her lying there, I felt the resolve to protect my daughter at all costs. That was my only clarity in this whole nightmare. Even if it meant Lara had to go.
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I got out of the bathroom, slipped into the first thing I could find, and left the house soundlessly. He was still snoring as I closed the door. I got into my car and turned the ignition. Was I running away from my problems? No, I was driving. And drive I did. From my house in Ikoyi down to Ajah, circling back twice, I focused my thoughts on horning at other people. Sometime later my phone rang: my best friend Wendy. The relief I felt that it wasn't Femi was chased by guilt as I parked at the edge of the road and picked.
"Aunty na wa o! U na never nack finish? Ordinary proposal you've forgotten me; talk less of when you kon marry."
I winced. Wendy had been my best friend since childhood. We knew the tiniest details about each other, yet I hadn’t spoken to her since my proposal yesterday.
“Calm down jor! Its not like that”
“I can’t hear you o. Was it so bad that you lost your voice?” She teased. “Sha come and buy me brunch abeg. Then you can give me the whole jist”
We met thirty minutes later at Southern Sun. After ordering, I told her about the proposal; step-by-step. She showed me all the memes and gifs of yesterday that people had already made. People were having fun on twitter. The food came and I was ravenous.
“Easy nau, don’t pack all the shrimp, am I the one that told you not to drink lucozade before you began? And how is my darling? Hope you people did not wake her up with all your noise?”
Hearing the reference to Lola the fork stopped half way to my mouth and words tumbled out instead.
“I saw Dede last night”. Wendy went still.
“What? Where? ” Her eyes lit up with mischief. “He saw the proposal? Kai...”
“I didn’t sleep at Femi’s.” I cut her off, staring resolutely at my big toe. The realization of what I was saying hit her.
“Mary MAGDALENE!” she exclaimed before she could stop herself.
The whole restaurant turned towards us, some laughing. Looking from the outside, it probably was funny.
“What are you saying?” She had lowered her voice to a whisper but tone was still shouting at me. I signaled for the bill; we couldn’t have this conversation here. We strategized at her house and I told her every detail, plus the one thing Femi I had been waiting to tell Femi before yesterday's events. She offered to go ensure Dede had left while I put our plan into action.
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 Wendy’s mother, Alhaja Bello was one of the biggest distributors of dry gin in Lagos. She had three shops in Balogun market and three others. Because of that, she had many boys who worked for her, whether distributing gin or beatings. Wendy took two of them to Lara's house just in case. She let herself in . Dede was still feeling the empty bed for Lara when the first slap woke him.  “Hi dear” she cooed as her face came into focus.
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The bell rang and I went to get it. I opened door to find my fiancée standing outside. I smiled and asked, “What happened to your key?”
“Oh, I ev-even forgot” she stammered, ending with embarrassed laughter.
 No, guilt has made you feel unworthy of the key I thought.
She came in and I hugged her, every fibre of my being wanting to be someplace else. She went into my room to drop her bag. When she came out, she had a grave look on her face. “We need to talk she said”. We went to the living room and sat down.
“I have something to say too but ladies first” I said, as calm as I could.
“I’m pregnant”