On Monday of the following week.
Ayo had gone to Ifesinachi's place of work to see her off to her dormitory. Before traveling with Mandy for the Thanksgiving break, she had resigned from her job at the college library and quickly took up another job as a waitress in one of the college restaurants as soon as she got back from the vacation.
Three jobs in two years, Oh, goodness! Was this showing her lack of consistency? If not for the situations that prompted it, would she still remain with her former employers?
Ifes watched as Ayo walked in through the swinging doors of the new deck tavern. She grinned up at him as he came closer to her.
"You're welcome to the new deck tavern, sir. What do you care for?" Ifes asked jokingly, pretending as though she was handing him the menu.
Ayo beemed. "You drama queen! This is Philadelphia, not Hollywood."
"Oh, really! Do you think I'm a drama queen? So tell me, do you also think I can measure up to a Hollywood star? A girl has to know all her viable options, you know?"
"You better go get yourself out of that uniform. Let's leave here."
Ifes winked at him before spinning around to the ladies restroom. "You are just jealous. Nothing more, nothing less. Jelousy jellof," she said over her shoulders as she walked off.
"Na those your small small legs I go dey jealous abi?" Ayo said in Nigerian pidgin English and couldn't stop himself from laughing at his friend's remark.
Ifes returned and the duo exited the restaurant. As they walked along the pedestrian route, Ayo struck a pathless conversation with Ifes. She enjoyed the conversation until Ayo asked a question that threw her off-balance.
"So, Mandy loves me?"
"H–how did you know? Why do you ask?"
"You're stuttering, and it just cleared any twinge of doubt I had."
"Alright, I will admit she's in love with you, but how did you know this? Did she speak to you about it?"
"No!" He paused for a while and continued. "I heard your conversation on Friday."
Ifes gave him a weird look. "So you were eavesdropping on us?"
"No, let me explain, please."
"Okay, I'm all ears."
"You remember the picnic we went out for without you on Friday?"
"Yes."
"Mandy wasn't in a good mood and no one was happy about it, so the picnic was abruptly postponed. E
We tried asking her about it but she didn't speak, so I decided I was going to come and speak to you about it if she would open up to you. As I approached your dorm room, the door was half ajar. I was about to walk in when I heard something that kept me transfixed in my tracks."
"So, how much did you hear that day?" Ifes asked.
"I heard everything."
They both stood in silence before Ayo spoke up again.
"I was quite perplexed about the whole thing so I curiously listened to your response." He exhaled sharply.
"Hem-hem!"
"I was perplexed at the whole thing so decided to keep listening to hear your response," he reiterated. But Ayo did not tell her that his heart had been thumping loudly at the same time.
"Umm! Well, your answers were amazing but I wouldn't say if I felt relieved or..." The rest of his words hung in the air.
"Guilty, you meant to say," Ifes said.
"No, no! It's not that, it's just that... Well, just forget about it."
Ifes saw the confused expression on Ayo's face and held one of his hands. "I can understand how this must have felt for you. You're interested in someone, and it is being reciprocated by her own best friend."
"But you never told me, Ifes, even the day I asked you out."
"I'm sorry! It's just that I thought, well, I thought..." Ifes waved her hand. "Nevermind."
Ayo gazed into space. "I think I am beginning to fix the puzzle now."
"What puzzle is that?"
"All those times, all those times you left Mandy and I in the middle of a hangout, when you seemed less interested in our conversations, the sudden distancing. All of it, I mean, all of it."
At this point, Ifes wished Ayo would stop talking as though he was trying to recount all her sins as the Bible said it would be on the judgement day.
"Tell me, Ifes." Ayo's voice drifted her back from her own world. "You did all these because you were aware of her feelings for me, right?"
"Ayo, let's not dwell over matters that are inconsequential. The question is what do you plan on doing with the knowledge you gained?"
"Hmm!" Ayo inhaled and exhaled.
"I must be honest with you Ayo, she loves you. Mandy loves you so much and I'm hoping that the answer you are about to give me would be encouraging."
After hearing Mandy's and Ifes' conversation on Friday, Ayo had gone back to his dorm room and pondered over what he heard. Determining not to go through the same heartbreak again, he went to God in prayers.
"I spoke with the Holy Spirit about this, so he helped me sort it out," Ayo said.
"Ha! But it was just a relationship matter na!"
"A relationship that might have a bleak or a promising future. I don't know about you, Ifes, but I involve the Holy Spirit even in the smallest matters that concern me."
"Oh, okay! I see." Ifes had never seen how important it was for a man to pray for what she regarded as the smallest things as an ordinary relationship, but Ayo was beginning to make her see the importance.
"If I had asked the Holy Spirit first before asking you out, I wouldn't have... Umm! Nevermind."
Beginning to feel uncomfortable with the conversation, Ifes was eager to end it as fast as she could. What excuse was she going to give to him now to walk out of this conversation? It looked like her leg was beginning to ache her? Or the night breeze was prickling her skin so much and she could stand it no more? Ayo looked eager to continue talking.
"I prayed about it and I got a positive response from God."
Ifes heaved a sigh of relief. Then, her face broke into a wide grin.
"I had to come talk to you about it," Ayo said.
Ifes looked at him and grinned mischievously. "Las las, I hope you're not trying to tell me that the Holy Spirit is teaching you how to chase girls sha?"
Ayo laughed aloud. "See you!"
"Hmm! I know what I'm saying oooo!" Ifes placed her right hand on her right ear like an African mother who was warning her child.
Ayo blushed. I don't have your time sef."
"Na so na, for your mind abi?"
"See this girl oooo!" Ayo gave her a playful slap on her back, but she successfully got away.
"So, what do you want to do now?" Ifes asked after the joke.
"Mmm! I kinda like her, but I'm not going to ask her out just yet."
Kinda! Ifes did not like the use of that word. They were talking of love here and not like, but maybe they could start from scratch.
"But why won't you? " Ifes asked.
"There was something I observed about Mandy from your conversation on Friday."
"Which was?"
"You see, Mandy is still a baby Christian and not yet rooted in the word of God, going into a relationship where Christ is not the foundation would lead to a shipwreck."
Ifes nodded affirmatively. "I agree with you." She understood that entering a relationship now could make Mandy have the wrong priority and Christ who was meant to be the centre of her whole being could finally lose his place in her life. No! That could not happen.
"Ifes, I want you to please help out with this."
"What role do I have to play?
"Okay, I must admit that I am beginning to love her, but I am not in the right position to always share the word of God with her."
Ifes understood alright. If he tried playing that role, Mandy might not see past what she felt for him. "Is that all you want me to do, just sharing the word of God with her?"
"Yes, and you're already doing a good job at it, but please do more."
"We'll trust the Holy Spirit to help us out."
Ayo stared at Ifes in admiration. "You are really a good laborer in God's vineyard, Ifes. I just pray that your labour over those souls that have been won in this college will not be wasted."
"Oh, Ayo! Thank you, but if only you could just look around, you'll see that there is still a lot to be done."
"I can understAnd and I'm trusting the Holy Spirit on this one."
They finished conversing and bade each other goodbye before moving their separate ways.