TO HOLD A ROSE

EPISODE I — FIRST DATE

The speakers in Abel’s room played loud music while he showered in the bathroom. He had ‘Soundman by Wizkid’ playing at the time. He hummed along, underneath the mix of running water in the distant background. Some minutes later, he emerged from the bathroom and stepped right in front of the mirror to face himself.

“Mirror mirror on the wall,” he ran his hand down his chin. “Nah, no need to ask. We both know the answer anyway,” he smirked. Abel was bullish about his looks. — whispers of him being self-absorbed and vain spread amongst onlookers and silent admirers –. But he cared nothing about any of it. He was a level above handsome. He had striking brown eyes with curled lashes. And the smoothness of a baby’s skin despite being thirty-two years old. He stood tall and dark-skinned. With a chiselled build, soothing deep voice and beautiful eloquence. He was worth the whispers and he knew it.

He continued brushing his short hair, until the waves became sharp. And now he sang with a low voice along with the speakers. Abel could listen to music all day, and he often did. -in his room, in the car and even while taking random night walks- He never stopped.

He set his collar straight, and then he caressed the little scar on the right of his chin in one last haughty stare. “I’ll never be caught unfresh,” he said to himself. Then he picked the cufflinks box from the dresser beside his mirror, and he inserted them in his shirt cuffs.

“Abel!” Noelle called with frustration as she opened the door into his room. “I had been calling for ages for Christ’s sake.”

He turned down the volume of the music. “Eh, Sorry mom,” Abel smiled.

“All the time you do this.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he hugged his mother and pecked her, and then he asked her what she wanted.

“I came to ask if you needed anything before leaving,” she said.

Abel picked up his watch and wallet. Then he said, “Nothing for now moms. I’ll meet you downstairs, before I leave. I need to put on my shoes and I’ll be set.”

“Okay sweetheart, I’ll be in the living room waiting.” She shut the door behind her.

He stood in front of his shoe locker. “Hmm how about you go with me today?” he said as he stretched his hand to a pair of brown Chelsea boots in the locker. Then he paused, and looked from the first line of shoes, down to the fourth. He turned back to the boots, and said, “Yup, you’re going with me.” He picked his phone up from the dresser and left for the living room.

“Mom!” he called as he walked down the stairs. Noelle answered from inside the living room and Abel went to her. He sat on the arm of the couch across her and she complimented his outfit. She said he looked sweet in his black shirt and the grey pants. She said it fit his personality. She had always thought he was a gentleman, and Abel always gave her insurmountable pride. She loved the man her son had grown to be and she never ceased to let him know. Abel checked his watch and looked a little impatient on the edge of the couch. He could not wait to leave.

“I hope this one is worth the stress,” she smiled.

“Pfft, I can only hope so mom,” he said. “Or else, it might be the last time I try.” He looked fed up. “I mean, a sixth date, in two months? To be honest, I’m starting to get tired of setting up dates, driving around and looking for perfect spots. Dressing up, and only for disappointments. I am tired of meeting new people.”

Noelle listened to him rant. The exhaustion and increasing loss of interest looked evident on his face as he sat on the sorry arm of the couch. She saw him mask his frustration with vague jokes. And she felt like putting him in her arms and telling him that he was fine on his own, and that he did not need anyone else. But she knew that was far from the truth, he needed someone. It was clear in the way he always reached for her love. She knew how he starved for intimacy and she knew how he wanted a woman he could call his home. She felt he deserved true love.

“Remember that one time mom?” he continued. “When I met women at random places. Parties, functions, meetings, and that particular babe I met at the burial ceremony,” he chortled. “Though that one ended in tears.”

Noelle could not hold her laughter. She looked worried but he had made her laugh. He continued talking about how he gave up on intimacy because the women were never up to his taste. Although they had one thing in common, they all could not resist him. Most of his dates ended with sex, and often on the first night. He enjoyed that part though; they were the only consolation he got from his failed hook-ups.

“Abel,” Noelle said. “I know. I understand. But age is not on your side. You need to let yourself experience love. You need to fight hard for true love if that’s what you want.”

“I know mom. I am trying.” Abel understood his mother. Her point was vivid to him, beyond her words. She sometimes said to him that he could never love himself enough. She used the same statement all the times she needed to get her point across and clear. But Abel felt like he could. He had mastered the art of self-love afterall. Enough to survive being without a serious relationship, and it had held him for five years. He began celebrating being single since 2018, with lone dates to beautiful restaurants. He sought to enjoy being without someone in his life. Except there was that reoccurring feeling that crept in. Sometimes on cold nights. With the moon peeking through the curtains and throwing a restful gleam on the empty side of his bed. He could not escape the feeling of loneliness on those days.

“I don clean the car finish oga,” Paul said. He stood at the entrance to the living room holding Abel’s car keys.

“Oh yeah, thanks Paul,” Abel walked over to the door and took the keys. “I’m off now mom. I don’t want to be late. Enjoy your evening,” he said, and he walked out of the house.

He squinted as he walked to his black Camaro parked under the carport. It was his favourite car; he had neglected the Benz and the Dodge Viper since he got the Camaro last year. He sat in the car for a minute and reminisced over his mother’s words. She had once told him that love is a trade and you have to pay the bargain. He was driving one more time to another fancy restaurant. To meet someone new, and he had no idea if he was willing to let himself go yet. He turned the engine on and allowed the car run for another minute.

Paul opened the gate and Abel drove out. His phone rang as he left the house, it was his mother and he stopped by the side of the estate road to pick her call. She called to remind him to compliment the woman. Noelle loved compliments. And she had always rang it in his ears to compliment people, especially to get off on a good note.

Abel sighed with a smile and he continued driving. He thought she was a bit dramatic. But he loved how much interest she showed and her dedication into moulding his character. His mother had been hardworking since his father died when he was four years old. And he had never thought anything was better out there for him besides how his mother raised him. She was his queen and he was content to be her handsome little prince.

Noelle enjoyed spending time over at Abel’s. She would stay over at her son’s house for weeks before returning to her own place. She cooked and attended to minimal duties in his house. It had been her routine since he returned from Canada. Abel got back from Canada in 2018, three years after he graduated from University of Calgary. He had spent his first five years studying electrical engineering in McGill University. And the next two getting his Master’s degree in the same field. He was an excellent student. And he earned a full time job recommendation from the university of Calgary. He worked there before his return to Nigeria. And he only returned because of his ambition to be a household name in his birth country. Also, he wanted to be near his mother as he was all that she had since her husband’s death.

The skies dimmed as the sun set and the streetlights had come on as he drove down the lonely roads of Wuse Zone 6. One thing he loved about Abuja was the serenity he enjoyed while driving. The seldom fading sounds of the few cars that drove by late in the evenings. And the trees that stood still on the sidewalks casting dark silhouettes on the roads. It was always a soothing drive for Abel and it never felt old to him.

About twenty minutes from the restaurant, he got to a police checkpoint and an officer parked him. “Oga good evening,” he said. Abel turned down the volume of his music and he put on the interior light. “You no wan stop before?” the officer asked.

“Well done inspector,” Abel responded. He looked straight into the man’s eyes and then at his badge. It read ‘Kolawole Hassan’. He apologized for not stopping immediately, even though he had stopped as soon as he could. The inspector asked him for his car documents. And after checking through them, he asked Abel to identify himself. He brought out his ID and handed it to the officer.

“Ah oga! You be boss o,” the officer said. He raised his hand in the air in subtle jubilation and then a mimicked salute. Then he said, “Well done boss. Anything for the boys?”

Abel looked irritated. There was no doubt about his love for the scenery in Abuja. And the relative peace but this was the only taint on an otherwise perfect landscape. He kissed his teeth as he took back his ID and he drove away from the prospecting officer. The police had wasted his time and he was now running late.

After driving another short distance, he arrived into the parking lot of Delish Haven in front of the restaurant. It was a petit black square building with the inner of its exterior walls lined with blue led lights. It looked to have good ambience, as Abel preferred. The security helped him navigate into the parking lot and greeted him with the gesture of getting a tip. But Abel rushed out of the car and ignored him, it was 8:14. He was fourteen minutes late.

He walked into the restaurant. “Good evening sir, you’re welcome to Delish Haven,” the door attendant said.

“Evening, thank you,” Abel replied. He immediately spotted her sitting at the table on the far left corner. He knew it had to be her because he had reserved that table. She did not notice he had come in, as she sat with her back to the entrance.

She sat there, alone, and only staring at her phone screen. He had not seen her face besides the profile picture on the dating website where he met her. And he did not feel so anxious to see it now. He was late and all he thought about as he walked slowly to the table was to get this date started and get it over with; like the other ones.

Abel walked past her and he sat in the chair opposite her. “Your hair is lovely,” he said. He dropped his phone on the table.

“Thank you,” she said without raising her face to him. Then she placed her phone gently on the table. “You are late,” she raised her eyelids and then her head.

“Yeah about that, I had a delay on my way here.” Abel said with a mild smirk. “It wasn’t exactly my fault.”

“And?” she stretched the word with plain surprise on her face. All he did was make an excuse. She wanted and expected an apology right there, and he had failed to do that.

“And that was why I came late,” he wondered why she asked. He paused as she stared at him. Then he said, “So, what would you like to have?”

She said nothing to him and she looked disgusted by his question. She picked up her phone, and put it in her purse. Abel leaned back into the chair with a sigh. She picked her purse up and squeezed out between the table and the chair. Then she walked towards the exit.

Abel was completely numbed, and he looked confused. He watched her as she stood up and her gait had him awestruck. But he felt as if she was rude for deciding to leave him there without saying anything. “Rose,” he called faintly, but she kept walking. She was out the door before he could call her a second time.

He realized she might be angry because he did not apologize for being late. But he couldn’t see it as enough reason to leave him there at the table with few awkward stares to deal with. It felt unacceptable. He called her phone in a last attempt to convince her to come back.

“Please can you come back,” he said after she picked.

He saw her through the large glass walls on the sides of the restaurant. She had entered her car, a blue Chevrolet, and she put on her shades as she held the phone to her ear.

“I’m sorry okay; I can make it up to you if you would only come back.”

He sounded like he was more bothered about her walking out on him in the restaurant than his offense to her. She hung up the phone and drove out the parking lot. Her face was furious and Abel thought he could not be the only reason she was that upset. Perhaps something else angered earlier. Although he felt a tiny bit of guilt for her anger, he was not going to let it bother him anyway. It was going to be only another ruined date afterall. He felt like driving back to that police checkpoint to cuss at Inspector Hassan. He would have made it to his date on time if it were not for him.

In a bid to ensure Rose leaving wouldn’t ruin his chances of having a good time. He ordered for a plate of lobster sauce and little fists of bread with a bottle of red wine. It wasn’t new to him to have lone dates after all and this will not be different. Except now, it feels like it could be better if Rose had not left. His sense of guilt increased as he finished his meal and even more as he drove away from the restaurant.

He remembered how dramatic it looked when she stood up and picked her bag. The little cringe in her eyes as she swatted her face away from him. And the dimples that were waiting to get deeper if only she had smiled. How her majestic gait rhymed with her perfect hips and her long lovely hair. It looked natural and she had them made into neat big cornrows that extended below her neck. Abel struggled to get Rose out of his head. He remembered at once her smile on her profile picture. And now he wouldn’t have cared to sacrifice an apology to see it.

It was now past 10:00pm and the police had not left that same road. Abel saw Inspector Hassan stopping cars on the other side of the road. While another officer stopped his car. But this one only greeted him and set him back on his way. He got even more furious. The drive home was quiet, but the thoughts of how this date could have panned out roamed loud in his head. He got home at 10:51pm and he did not bother checking on his mother, she would be asleep by then. He sat for a while on the couch in his room, stomach full and too tired to have his usual night baths. He pulled off his shoes and shirt, turned on the music, and then laid on his bed.

He kept thinking about Rose; she was the first woman to have turned him down. She had not even given him a trial. She must have hated him at first sight, he thought. Abel wished for a second chance then, he wanted to clear the impression he was sure she had. If not for anything, only to make sure he convinced himself he could get her as he always did. Minutes later, he was asleep and his wishes transitioned to dreams.

Dreams of getting this one woman to accept him; of convincing her that he deserved another chance. Dreams of holding Rose by her petals and telling her how beautiful she had looked earlier that night.

Thank you for reading. New episodes of the novella will drop every three days. I hope you enjoy it.