ZestVille …Episode 3 by @Tomilola_coco

Malika knew she couldn’t turn Kofo away but at the same time she didn’t want the woman in her house. What was she to say to her? What if she came over because she heard about the slap she dished out to her husband on their wedding anniversary night? Bade was right, that slap was a very bad move.
“Let your guest in Malika” Kofo said to her, interrupting her thoughts. And she opened the door wider, stepped aside and let her in.

“My bad. I’m sorry.” Malika hurriedly apologised to Kofo who only nodded in response as she strolled in. Does she know? Was the question that kept ringing in her head. If she knew what would she do? Would she be mad? Would she yell? A woman like Kofo would handle it with class and probably give her a stern warning.
“I’m sorry for just appearing on your doorstep, my party went so bad yesterday I feel terrible being such a bad hostess” Kofo said and Malika did the sign of the cross in her mind. *whew* the woman didn’t know what went down after she stormed out of the venue. “I got your house address from your manager. I wasn’t aware you moved into Zest Ville already” she added as she made herself comfortable on the couch.
“Er…yes…I moved in last week. I didn’t finish packing in until sunday though.” Malika responded, hoping and praying that it would be a very short visit – something shorter than Kim Kardashian’s marriage or her visit to Nigeria or better still, something shorter than Amber Rose’s hair. Malika decided to buy time.
“What do I offer you? Coffee? It is too early for wine I…” Her voice trailed off because really she was nervous around this woman. Nervous because she slept with her husband and she had this feeling she would find out and nervous because of the day before.
“Coffee please” Kofo answered and Malika escaped into the kitchen. Maybe if she took her time in the kitchen Kofo would get tired and leave without even drinking the coffee.
She returned some five minutes later with a cup of coffee and placed it on the dining table. Kofo joined her there. For a few minutes, the room was enveloped in silence and if a pin dropped, it would be clearly heard. Malika started to pray for Kofo to leave but it looked like it wasn’t happening soon, as the latter took her time to stir her coffee with the teaspoon, “nollywood style” while she stared into it like it was the eighth wonder of the world.
“Why did you slap my husband Malika?”
Dang! The question finally came.
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Akin Bucknor stared at his only child with deep concern clearly written all over his face. He had fallen head over heels in love with her from the very first moment he set his eyes on her at the hospital, her smile had warmed his heart and her beauty had touched him in ways he couldn’t explain. He had vowed to protect her, to be by her and to go to the ends of the world to be there for her.
That was sixteen years ago. And for him nothing had changed.
But now Kofo was making everything difficult. She was acting like a spoilt child and ruining everything they ever built with her bare hands. How could she have gone to Mariam’s school for something as ridiculous as that? The extent the woman went to sometimes was ludicrous and he had told her severally to always think of the consequences of her actions but she wouldn’t listen.
“Are you really divorcing mom?” His daughter asked him. He could hear the fear in her voice; the fear of losing either one of them. The fear of losing the family they had built together for years.
“We would be fine” was all he could manage to say as he gathered her in his arms. But even him wasn’t sure of the truth in that statement.
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Malika tried to speak but found herself gaping instead. After a short while of considering many lies in her head, she finally settled for one.
“I’m a woman who believes that women should be treated equally. I couldn’t stand your husband treating you like dirt in front of your family and friends yesterday. And as much as I know slapping him was out rightly wrong, I needed him to get on the right path!” She said and watched as Kofo watched her with what seemed like deep curiosity.
Malika’s heart began to beat faster. Why in the world was she expecting the woman to believe a story as sick as that?
“I knew we had some sort of connection. Now I’ve found it. You are like my sister. Thank you!” Kofo said as she threw her arms around a dazed Malika.
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“You what?” Bade asked as soon as the skype session continued.
“Come on Bade, what would you suggest I do? Tell her I screwed her husband a night to their wedding anniversary? She’d refuse to believe I’m not the one who broke up their marriage” Malika responded. She had been known for making irrational decisions ever since she was a kid and now as an adult, things had not changed, she still said and did the first things that came to her mind i.e. the slap and telling Mrs Bucknor she was watching her back.
“I know it is a tight situation but what if she finds out?” Bade inquires with a frown and Malika could tell her friend was concerned about her.
“Let’s hope she doesn’t”
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She was not expecting the heavy downpour that morning; neither was she expecting Kofo to turn up at her house, asking for a favour.
She made tea for them both and sat opposite the older woman, waiting for her to say the reason she appeared at her house when the heavens were pouring so violently.
“Malika, I have been thinking about this and I am convinced it is the right thing to do. I need us to be partners and haunt the woman who is destroying my home. I need you to follow me and drive around the town.”
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Malika wasn’t sure why she decided to follow her but she knew it was the guilt of staying alone in the house after sleeping and slapping her husband that overwhelmed her.
They stayed in the car while it rained, watching Akin Bucknor get into a restaurant and into his car. No woman.
They did that for the next three weeks and Malika swore to tell the woman when she saw her next that she was wasting her precious time monitoring her husband when Akin Bucknor walked up to her in a bookstore one Saturday evening.
“We need to talk” he told her firmly as if he didn’t expect her to say no.
“What about?” She asked him with a frown.
“Us” he responded and without giving her a room to talk dragged her into Zest Ville cafe which was two blocks away.
What did he mean by “Us” she wondered as they sat opposite each other in the cafe.
“I’m sorry about the other night”
What night was he sorry for? She wondered. The night when they had sex and he lied or his wedding anniversary when the truth came out?
“And I’ve been wanting to do this for weeks…” He said and tasted her lips with his tongue, when she didn’t push him away he explored further as he kissed her with so much passion, so much hunger.
She finally pushed him away, in time to see a message from Kofo on her phone.
If the kiss had left her dazed, the message on the phone left her horrified. It read:
Where are you? My sources tell me he is with a woman at the Zest Ville cafe. Headed there, meet me there now. I’m going to kill that bitch!