[STORY] The SIXTEENTH (Episode 04)

Episode 04.

Besides the airtime I’d recharged my line with, I refused to touch the money Mandy sent, until I heard from her; until I verified that it was not a mistake; it was all mine.
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I’d already called Mandy more than I should. Two missed calls were more than enough to leave anyone. “Unless that person has your kidney, and you need it right back in that instant, you have no business calling more than twice, at a time.” I once heard someone counsel.
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I’d left Mandy with three missed calls already. I had to believe that she’ll call me when she was available to talk. I had to believe that she was either not close to her phone, or too busy to have even realized it was ringing.
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During that waiting period, my mind ran wild in thoughts. This was the very first time in my life that I’ll be having that huge sum of money in my bank account; to myself, without a long list already waiting to swallow it all up. This was the first time an unknown face would ever send me money, let alone, in a figure as staggering as this one.
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Everything about Mandy’s kind gesture (in the name of transportation fare) got my heart racing in expression to the mixed emotions I was engulfed by.
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I picked up my phone every minute; to check if I’d missed a call from Mandy, and every time I checked, it was the same as the last.

None!
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Mandy finally returned my call around 11:18 PM (that night). The last time we’d spoken was in the early hours of that morning. This was the longest we’d stayed without a word in the last five months we’ve been talking. The fact that it is, coinciding with just moments after she’d sent me money, got my mind running wild at possible reasons why.
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More like a girl that’d visited a guy for the very first time and eventually had sex on that first day. More like the emotions; the assumptions and the uncertainty that comes with wondering what that singular act means for their relationship in the long haul, I was as restless.
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I scrambled for my phone the second it began to ring. I was excited to see that Mandy was the caller. I made to pick up the call but on a second thought, I chose to let it ring out.
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I didn’t want to seem too anxious to talk to her.

I picked up the call as Mandy’s second dial was almost about to ring out.

“Hey, you!” I called out, with a voice that seemed to depict that Mandy’s call had just woken me up from sleep.

“Hey baby! I’m sorry. I woke you up from sleep, yeah?” Mandy asked, in a manner, the most soothing I’ve ever heard her speak.
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“Yeah, you did, but it’s fine. What’s up with you? Why are you just returning my calls?” I asked, with a tone that was on the fence of either being pissed or concerned.

Mandy giggled, as though she knew what her long silence had done to my psyche. “Did someone miss me?” Mandy asked.

“WHY ARE YOU JUST RETURNING MY CALL, BABE?” I asked again, this time, with a tone Mandy understood very well was devoid of jokes.

“I’m sorry, baby. Shortly after we spoke earlier, I decided to go out to see someone. I realized I needed groceries afterwards, so I stopped over at a mall in town to get some. It was as I wanted to call you and ask if you’ll want me to pick up something for you that I discovered; I’d left my phone at home. I touched a couple of other important places afterwards, and we… I am just getting back home now. I am sorry, love. It was not intended”.

I heaved a deep sigh. I was careful enough to have concealed it from Mandy’s hearing.

“So, how was my baby’s day?” Mandy asked.

Before I could even think to mumble “lies” in response to Mandy’s question, she hit me with the next…

“Baby, have you gone shopping? You know I am expecting you tomorrow, right?”

To be continued…

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