Twelve Hours Till Sunrise

Wuraola I

Wuraola gave out a sigh of relief as the conductor was able to successfully put her bags into the congested boot of the bus. The school semester had finally come to an end after a very long and tiring semester of strikes, studies and exams. Sure there were parties being held at her lodge outside the school on some occasions, but that did not mean she was not quite eager to be back home with her family to await the next session.

“Yes mother, I have just paid for my ticket and I am about to enter the bus.” she said as she entered the bus to take her seat with her boyfriend. “I am in the bus now mother.” She said with a sigh of frustration. “It will be a six hour journey so don’t worry I will be home in time for dinner.” she said as she relaxed into the seat. “I am taking the bus because I want to experience how long distance journey on the road really is.”

"You want to experience it or you just want to make that friend of yours feel less insecure with himself and his family’s financial background?"

“Mom, I’m not fighting with you about this. A six hour journey isn’t going to bring the heavens down or make someone feel good about themselves. My best friend is confident in himself enough.” She insisted as she looked at her best friend who walked into the bus with a scowl on his face as he could probably tell what the conversation on the phone was about.

"Just remember to be safe and come home immediately, don’t you dare branch by his house first to cover for his transportation!" Her mother said through the phone which had her let out a frustrated sigh.

“Mom, I’ll be home soon, thank you.” she said, and cut the call in anger before putting on a smile for the benefit of those around her.

“She’s just very worried about you, you know?” Ahmed said to her as he leaned into his chair in the luxurious bus they were taking to their home from the transport company lot in school.

“Trust me I know that, but sometimes I wish she could be a little nonchalant about me once in a while, the doting can be a little tiring after a while you know?” She asked as she leaned into his shoulder while hiding the fact that her mother didn’t like her best friend because of how much of a drain her mother thought his poor background would be on her.

Sure she had footed half of the transportation fee, not because he didn’t have his transport money home but because they were taking a more luxurious bus which was out of his financial reach. Just because she’d done all that didn’t mean he was a leech to her like her mother always presumed.

“Why don’t you ever give your best friend that speech love? He is always all up in your business and I don’t like how he is around you.” Ahmed commented as he looked out the window.

Another person who always challenged her relationship with her best friend was her boyfriend and sometimes, she just didn’t want to hear this. Especially after avoiding, well more like postponing, a huge fight with her mother; because regardless of what her mother said, she would still do what she wanted to do.

“You do realize that I am right behind you dickhead?” Chibuike asked as he sat on the very comfortable seat that would make the six hour journey easy on the body regardless of the bad road.

“See a prime example here? I don’t even know why you are not putting an end to his nonsense especially when we try to have a good time together.” Ahmed pointed out as Chibuike used his legs to rock the seat.

“Now now Ahmed, do not make me out to be some weirdo who doesn’t allow his female best friend since he was six, have a good time with someone she decided on her own was perfect for her.” He replied as he leaned towards them, placing his face between them while spreading his hands around their shoulders. “I am all for you two bonding and being so intimate with each other, I just don’t want the both of you to forget all about me while you’re all in your little happy bubble.”

“You know what I think this is, I think you are so jealous that the girl you have spent about two decades with, decided that you were not man enough to be her lover.” Ahmed replied as he removed her best friend’s hands from his shoulders and turned to look at him dead in the eyes. “I will gladly love to forget all about you if you don’t mind please.”

“Hey my Golden Flower, I don’t like your boyfriend very much. He is being mean to me.” He said as he turned to look at her with a fake scowl.

“Hey love, would you be a darling and tell your best friend to take the seat a couple of rows back?” Ahmed asked her while giving Chibuike a glare. “Or the one right next to the driver.”

“Come on babe you and I both know I can’t do that.” she said with a defeated sigh as she turned to look at Chibuike who met the gaze of Ahmed with a cheerful smile. “Ikem, would you be kind enough to give my boyfriend and I six hours of quiet? After all this will be the last time we see each other face to face for at least a month, while you on the other hand will have me all to yourself for over a month.”

“Promise?” He asked in a low voice.

With a flirtatious smile that caught him off-guard she replied. “Promise.”

He looked at her for a couple more moments before clearing his throat and leaning into his seat. “Whatever.” He said, clearly uncomfortable as he looked everywhere but her.

“I don’t like the nickname you have for him.” Ahmed said to her as she turned back to face the front of the bus.

“Come on babe, what do you want from me, I can’t just sever all ties with my best friend, he and I go way back.” She replied as she took out her air pods.

“Keep your ties all you want, but I don’t want you calling him something that intimate, he’s got a name, use it.” Ahmed bit out with repressed aggression that had her release another sigh but this time it was not of relief but frustration.

This was not the first time they had had this kind of argument really, it was by now almost like an every other day occurrence. Of course she knew that her and Chibuike were too close and almost dependent on each other for their emotional needs despite the fact that they both had had a lover at one point or the other. But as she had told her boyfriend, she and Chibuike went way back to when they were six and silly children who had become friends on first sight; she couldn’t afford to hurt him for the sake of a boyfriend who would one day break up with her no matter how much she loved and respected him.

Lovers as they both had agreed, were like seasons, they would always come and they would always go, never staying together forever. Sure they could spout some nonsense like true love, but even she knew that one day that true love would cease to exist and all that would be left would be true hatred or complete indifference. She had seen it happen with many couples, one moment they were each other’s everything until life knocked on their doors and brought in earthly problems that changed the tune of their relationships. One moment you have a couple three years dating and ten years married and the next they are suddenly hating each other’s guts to the extent of trying to commit homicide but have to settle for divorce and never seeing each other gain.

If it was that or having a friend that loved her unconditionally, put her first in all things even above himself, the decision would not take too long to make because the fact was, another two decades later, they both would still be friends.

“Could we have six hours of no fighting amongst ourselves?” She asked as she picked up her phone in order to play her music and relax for the duration of the journey.

Closing her eyes, she began to hum along to the music playing in her ears while thinking about what she and Chibuike would get up to during the holidays before they returned to school the following year.

Her relaxing moment, however, was broken as she heard the sound of a baby crying. With an angry sigh, she snapped her eyes open and looked straight at the mother who was trying to calm the baby that just kept increasing the volume of her crying.

She didn’t know how, but the crying of the baby was somehow louder than the music in her ears and it was anything but soothing. This made her wonder how other passengers were bearing the shrilling noise if she couldn’t endure it over the music. Holding in a groan, she looked at Ahmed who was chuckling at her scowl before she closed her eyes and got herself ready for a very long journey of discomfort.

Moments after she rested on the seat of the bus, the driver got in and started the engine to begin the journey to Lagos.

About forty five minutes into the journey, she felt Ahmed turn around to face Chibuike which made her let out another sigh. She could bet her entire wealth that whatever her best friend had said to her boyfriend in retaliation to the passive aggressive insults he had been hauling at Chibuike all this while was not going to be easy on the ears.

She was right as whatever was said immediately had her boyfriend erupt in rage and smack her best friend right across the face.

Her best friend retaliated immediately with a punch of his own which caused shouts to break out in the bus as she was pushed off the seat by Ahmed who was out for blood.

On the ground, she had to hurriedly pick the air pods from the ground and save her phone from being smashed before she looked up at the two men in her life and gave them both heated glares.

“What the hell are you both doing?” She asked in anger as she got between the two men who were about to throw blows at each other. “We are on a bus, now is not the time nor place to compare each other’s dicks.” She said in anger as she looked them both in the eyes until they calmed down.

Getting between them had been risky and could have gotten her hurt badly, but with Chibuike there she had been hundred percent certain that she was going to be fine. He was not only a well trained boxer, which she had paid for during the wait for admission, but he was also very good at controlling his temper and actions. This meant that she wouldn’t have accidentally gotten hit by him and even by Ahmed because he would have gotten between her and the blow.

When it came to Ahmed however, that was a different story altogether. If she hadn’t gotten between them, he could have beaten Ahmed to a pulp, Ahmed whose father was the fifth richest man in the country. Chibuike might’ve won the fight, but Ahmed would’ve won the war. Chibuike would have lost all restraint and gotten himself into a problem he might not get out of, knowing how vengeful Ahmed could be sometimes.

Basically she was protecting Chibuike from himself.

“Listen to me both of you, I am really trying to spend the next six hours of this journey in peace, this means that you two cannot be in such close proximity to one another.” She began. “Ahmed will sit with me while Chibuike will have to go to the back of the bus and switch with someone else.” She insisted as she looked at Chibuike who looked betrayed, an emotion she ignored so that she could stand her ground for his sake.

It was not her intention to hurt him, he would understand that after calming down from the frayed nerves. He had to, she couldn’t lose him over a misunderstanding, she just couldn’t.

Once they reached Lagos and separated from Ahmed who would head towards Kano, she would talk to him and explain to him why she had done this.

As for her relationship with Ahmed, if it survived the month long holiday then it will continue, if it didn’t, she would remain single until she got another boyfriend.

Being in a romantic relationship wasn’t everything, friendship was.

“Fine.” Chibuike said bitterly before he did as she had told him.

“Glad you took my side babe.” Ahmed said as she sat back down.

“Sorry about my friend, he can be very emotional sometimes.” She said to the bus audience that had watched the scene in all colours of emotions.

Closing her eyes, she rested her head on Ahmed’s shoulder to relax for the remainder of the journey.