Spread the love

E sinam rolled onto her left side and fluttered her lashes. She laid quietly with her eyes open, staring blankly at the lower part of the wall, coated in bright orange oil paint.

The upper part of the wall was covered in white. Her louvers were open and the curtains were fully drawn, so sunshine was already flooring her space, like an uninvited guest. But she loved daylight, so it wasn’t a problem.

Saturdays always found her like this; ten o’clock and still in bed, because hers was a busy week, and also nobody could tell her what to do…, thank you very much…, that is, since she moved out of her parents’ house, six months ago and got her own place, inside Sakumonor Estates.

A one-bedroom self-contained apartment she regarded her little piece of heaven on earth— where her privacy was secure, and on weekends, she gave herself unsullied permission to enjoy the luxury of being a young lady living on her own.

The small round clock on her bedside table said ten-thirty-five. Time to get up, she told herself and sluggishly pulled her slender figure out of bed. Her night gown rounded at her knees, revealing the rest of her dark-skinned long legs.

She could easily pass for a model, but Esinam had never nurtured that desire. She loved books, she loved words; she loved reading and making time to write her own creative stories. When she is caught sitting at her computer, weaving her imaginary world and characters, human presence mostly eludes her.

****

Now standing in front of her full-length mirror, she smoothed her disheveled black hair with her hands as she staring back at herself— it was about time she published her first novel, the thought run down her mind. And started making money off of her literary blog. And found herself a boyfriend— not in that exact order, but of course, the universe knew exactly what she wanted. They were her top three requests.

A boyfriend would be nice to have. A great boyfriend. Not the kind she could easily do away with like a bad purse. In fact, the boyfriend should be the first request granted, she settled on with herself and cranked her neck to the right gently. She wouldn’t have any qualms about it. She was twenty-seven— and according to her calendar, if she was going to be married by twenty-nine and have her adorable twins (girls)— Rose and Rosy— by thirty, then she needed to be in a healthy loving romantic relationship by now. Thank you very much!

Like every female, she was living by the clock. The invisible one in the sky dictating every when and how for the girlchild, she thought as she stepped away from the mirror, towards her writing table to pick her phone. She wasn’t that special. And she certainly wasn’t getting any younger, and her boxes had to be ticked if she was going to proudly be the young lady her family and society had envisioned – married, stable, happy.

She has no time to waste, she thought when she picked her phone and saw she had no missed calls. But she had a notification from ‘Love Finder,’ the dating app she had recently downloaded and created a profile on. A full smile cracked on her lips. Yes, she was actively looking for love on a dating app. Yes, he was probably doing same. Yes, they may find each other midway. And no, it wasn’t desperate at all.

Bye Felicia! To every person who thought no good came off searching for love on the internet, or only truly desperate people went on TV to hunt for a soulmate. Esinam rolled her eyes in brief annoyance, but immediately returned her giddy smile as she clicked on the icon of the app went straight into her chats. And there he was…

To be continued