Page 17 of Cursed Daughters
“What? No. I asked the security man if he had seen a tall girl with big hair.”
“Okay…”
“So, should I tell him where you are?”
“Who?”
“Your boyfriend. He is threatening to leave.”
“No. I’ll be up in a sec.”
“Right.”
She suddenly regretted bringing Ebun along. The girl was determined to make her feel shame where she had none. Ebun walked away and Mo took a breath. When she turned back to Golden Boy, he gave her a small shake of his head.
“So you have a boyfriend.”
She shrugged. “Not really.”
“Not really?”
“Yes. He is my soon-to-be ex.”
“Why?”
“I’ve met you.”
VIII
Was he crying? He turned his face away from her and she felt a wave of guilt. But it was better to rip off the Band-Aid.
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No. No, you’ve been really cool.” And he had been, for the whole five months they had been together. He had done his duty on Valentine’s Day, he showed her off and spent his father’s money on her. But she had known there was a time limit to their relationship. As each week passed, she became more and more bored by him. They had long silences, lapses in conversation; not the comfortable kind, the kind that came about because you could not think of anything to say.
“Then why?”
“Why?” She could have planned this better. She could hardly say that she had found someone else. “I…I just need to focus on myself for a bit.” It wasn’t a complete lie—before him was Ade, before Ade was Biyi, before Biyi, Michael. On and on. But none of them satisfied her. She needed to find the one. She suspected it was the only way she would be free of the curse.
“You could find yourself with me.”
She snorted, but he wasn’t joking, so she started coughing to cover up her laughter. The conversation was dragging and becoming awkward. But eventually he would be on his way, and she could go and rummage for biscuits in the pantry.
“I’m sorry. I think it’s best I do this on my own.”
“Oh.”
“Can we be friends?”
He grimaced, baring sharp white teeth. He probably wanted to insult her, or at least throw her offer of friendship back in her face; but in the end, he just shrugged.
—
Ebun found her later, sweeping up a cockroach she had spotted lurking in the pantry and crushed with her slipper.
“He’s gone?”
“He’s gone.”
