Oceans Apart (13) by Milli

Next Morning
Dozie looked at his phone for the umpteenth time. He was feeling all sorts of things. Anger, disgust, betrayal, hurt and so on. Pictures of Behi with some dude in different places. She looked really happy in the pictures. In fact the Bimbo guy had put the date and time each picture was taken. He had gone through each picture very carefully. He didn’t reply or send anything to Bimbo. Another message had come in this morning saying if he wanted to know more they could meet up. An address and phone number was there as well. He felt like he was in a movie. He could tell two of the pictures were recent because she had the same hairdo she was on when he had surprised her.  He didn’t know what to think. Another thing that really hurt him was the last line “P.s Eno knew about this.” How could Eno have known such and not said anything. Behi was coming around soon she definitely had a lot of explaining to do.
Behi looked at herself in the mirror one more time and said a silent prayer to God asking Him to forgive her and help her through the whole ordeal. She also prayed that Dozie would be able to understand the whole situation. After the prayer she took a deep breath and left for Dozie’s house. She wore a bright coloured top and a pair of jeans with very light makeup. On getting to the house she knocked and Emeka opened the door.
“Hey dear…Dozie is upstairs in his room.”
“Okay thanks Emeka… hope you are fine.”
“Yes I am… although I already miss mama’s cooking”
Behi laughed.
“I wish I had a girlfriend too o…I’m doing all my running around myself.”
“It’s you that is not ready …”
“Girls my age have plenty wahala…maybe when I’m Dozie’s age…let me not keep you waiting jare he’s waiting for you.”
“Okay dearie..cheers”
Emeka was such a nice cool guy Behi thought as she went upstairs to Dozie’s room. Maybe she could hook him up with one of her younger cousins. She decided she would tell Dozie and seek his opinion.
She knocked on the door and Dozie told her to come in.
“Hi booboo,” she said sounding all cheerful and moved towards him to give him a hug.
“Hi”, Dozie said rather coldly not making any move to hug her.
“Ah ah….why are you sounding like that, abi you are feeling homesick already?” Behi said teasing him.
“Care to explain the meaning of all this?”,Dozie said giving her his phone.
Behi looked puzzled and took the phone from him. Her eyes opened in surprise when she saw it. Bimbo had struck, he had sent the pictures they took together to Dozie.
“Dozie I can explain…I….”
“So while I was away you were having the time of your life with someone else….who is he? you better start talking now!!!”
Tears welled up in Behi’s eyes. She could see the big picture now. She had no clue that this silly revenge plan was going to mess up her relationship.
“I’m waitng…”
“It’s not what you think my love..it’s…it’s….”
“You can’t even talk….I feel so betrayed right now…”
“Dozie please”… She could not even find the words to speak
“Obehi if you are not ready to talk then you might as well get out of this house…I’m going to that address to meet up with the person so he can tell me more about your frolicking around. I thought you were different…I really thought you were.”
With that he snatched his phone from her took his keys and left.
Behi broke down and cried her eyes out.
Getting downstairs he dialed the number that was sent to him.
“Hello it’sDozie”
“Why I thought you will never call” The voice over the phone said cheerfully.
“Where did you get those pictures from and who is the guy in the picture
“The guy in the picture is me”
“What?”
“Yea…I am Bimbo…Bimbo Adekoya….you see you supposed girlfriend and I have a little history…just meet me at that address and I will tell you everything you need to know she is not the person you thought she was.”
“You know I rather you tell me now…over the phone”.
“Oh comeon…lets meet up and talk over a few drinks…that address I gave you is actually the address of a nice hang out spot…let’s talk about what was really going on while you were away”. You see a nice guy like you deserves to know..don’t you think?”
“Look…I will call you back later”.  Before Bimbo said anything else he hung up the phone.
Dozie sunk in one of the chairs beside him. Behi was still upstairs. He didn’t know what to do. Was he really going to meet up with some stranger to tell him what she had been doing or was he going to hear Behi’s side of the story first…he was so angry…he looked at the pictures one more time and the time each had been taken. They were mostly between the hours of 8 and 9pm and four of the pictures were taken the same period while he was having his exams. During that period she had decided to give him space to study and while he was doing that she was with this Bimbo dude. This meant she had lied every time she said she was home or when she said she was working late.
He was enraged. He had been so silly. He stormed upstairs and opened the door. She was sitting at a corner of the bed. She looked up at him and he noticed she had cried her eyes out. At the moment all the anger he felt somehow faded away and he felt the urge to hold her but he couldn’t bring himself to. She didn’t deserve to be comforted right now. In all of this he hated seeing her when she was sad. He walked towards her and sat down beside her. He held her hands in his. He knew there was some sort of explanation for this.
“Behi…I am giving you one last chance to explain what these pictures are all about if not I am going to leave you and go and hear it from Bimbo himself.”
“What did he tell you…please don’t believe anything he says…I beg you..he just wants to get back at me.” Behi pleaded.
“He has not told me anything…except for well…he said you are not the person I think you are.”
At the point her phone rang. It was Eno and Dozie could see the name clearly.
“Eno…hmmm…He knew all about this right?”  Dozie said raising his voice a little. He could feel the anger welling up in hum again
“Dozie …please understand…he was just trying to protect you.”
“Wait…how did he even get your number?” Dozie asked with anger and confusion in his voice.
“He got it from your phone…he really needed to talk to me”
“You know what I rather listen to a stranger’s side of the story…I am sick of all this. He knew you were with someone else and did not mention it.”
“Dozie he didn’t want you to be worried.”
Dozie took his phone and dialed Bimbo’s number.  When he picked up he said, “This evening by 7pm… no funny games”
“7pm it is”. Bimbo said.
“I’m going out to clear my head but honestly I really do not think I want to see you here when I get back…bye Behi.” With that he walked out of the room.
Bimbo could not be happier. Dozie really wanted to meet up with him. The next plan was simple: Tarnish Behi’s image by saying horrible things about her. He would simply just reverse the roles of what had happened between them in the past. Things were working out perfectly well.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Eno was distraught. Behi had told him everything that had happened. It was unfortunate Bimbo had gotten to Dozie before she did. She was crying over the phone as they spoke. He tried to calm her down and advised her to also go to the address Bimbo had sent to Dozie. He told her to go with Osas. Knowing Bimbo very well, he figured he would probably make up some silly story about her. Behi thanked him and proceeded to call Osas to keep her up to speed with things.
Same Day  6.35pm
Dozie sat down and waited patiently for Bimbo to arrive. He really felt like he was in a movie. Earlier when he left Behi he braced himself up to be able to take in what Bimbo had to tell him that evening. All sorts of things had run through his mind but he shoved them off. In all of this he knew Behi was sorry but he had to get to the bottom of things first.
“Dozie”
His thoughts were interrupted and he turned around to see the female voice that had called his name. It was the last person he expected to see.
It was Vivian.