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Part 15 – You Like Denise? (Finale)

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Read Part 14 here.

“Mr. Salisu. Good afternoon sir.”

I am here. There is no point coming inside. I will wait beside the car.

George came out and adjusted his shades. Faye smiled at him.

“What did you tell them at work this time?”

“I took part of my annual leave.”

“I see.”

He came to stand by her right.

“It is really Faye, George.”

“Well, identical twins are known to play pranks every now and then.”

“Except for us. Denise never liked it. She would always correct people who were addressing us wrongly. But we are really different.”

“Yes. I agree.” He looked at her. “I thought Denise would come.”

“She couldn’t. She has a wedding today – she is doing the make up.”

“Oh. I thought she said she has a laundry business.”

“She does that during the week, and make up/hair on Saturday morning. She has choir rehearsals in the afternoon/evening. “

He stays quiet for a bit. “So she sent you here or what?”

“No, I came myself.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to see you off.”

“But..”

She interrupts him. “You have some misgivings because you met Denise first?”

He shook his head.

“You like Denise?”

He sighed. “Of course, what is there not to like?”

“Okay”. She leaned back and replayed her conversation with Denise.

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Part 14 – Why Did You Not Click Send?

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Read Part 13 here.

“Faye, I have been waking you up for the past 30 minutes. It is 5.45am.”

Faye mumbled in her sleep. “I didn’t sleep early.”

“How is that possible?”

Faye did not respond. Denise tapped her again. “Are you not supposed to be at work?”

“Denise, now, please let me sleep.”

Denise tapped her again.

Faye put her face in the pillow to muffle her screams. She got up and pointed at Denise. “I will kill you.”

Denise laughed. “Get up. We are late already.”

Faye shook her head. “I think we can leave around 7am. I sent our HR guy an email yesterday. I will call him again this morning.”

“Okay. Did you know I didn’t send the message to George, asking him about his Dad? I slept off before clicking send.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you not click send?”

“Because I was afraid that he would want to talk and he would come and would meet me and not you.”

“Oh. If that happened, you could have explained to him now. So, at least we would know how is father is doing.”

Faye leaned back and supported herself with the pillows. “Sit down. I need to bring you up to speed.”

Faye told Denise all that happened the night before.

“Wow.”

“Yeah. It was exactly what I was avoiding. I tried to find out if he still wanted you to pray for his dad, but there was no way to bring it up without coming across as insensitive.”

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Part 13 – I am Going to Ask Him Directly

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Read Part 12 here.

The maid showed Denise and Faye to the bedroom they were to sleep in.

George had sent her a text.

Denise, I am not great company at the moment. I will see you tomorrow morning before you leave.

She responded.

We are leaving quite early tomorrow. Faye has to resume work by 8am.

He did not respond.

“Faye, I don’t understand.”

“Maybe, he is still angry at the whole thing. I can understand.”

“Something else is wrong.”

“Yes. I asked Mr. Salisu and the maid about his Dad, they both acted mute.”

She sank into the bed. It was bouncy. “I like this.”

“Yeah. A good thing money can buy it.”

They both laughed. That something could be bought with money meant it was not unattainable. All they had to do was make more money.

“I am going to ask him directly”.

“Go for it.”

How is your dad doing?

Faye looked over to her sister whom had now fallen asleep. She had typed the message but she had fallen asleep before she should send it. She pondered if she should tap the “send” icon or just ignore it. She should not interfere.

“Holy Spirit, what do I do?”

If she did, it would mean she assumed her sister’s identity for a bit. What if the guy assumed she was awake and came to talk? Would she carry out the deception till the end or what? How would she explain why she was sending the message?

She would let things be – she would stay out of it. She got up gently from the bed and tiptoed to the switch to put off the light. Another thing that differentiated her from Denise. Denise could fall asleep anytime and anywhere. She had to prepare herself for bed. Her hand hovered on the switch. She should send her HR an email that she would not be in tomorrow because of a family emergency. She would call again in the morning. She brought out her phone and sent a message from her work e-mail.

She heard a gentle knock on the door. She was not expecting anyone. She opened the door and saw George. Her breath caught in her throat. He had been crying. She moved out of the room and turned to shut the door gently. As she turned to him, held onto her and began to weep. He didn’t notice that she had initially stiffened. He clung to her so tightly that his sobs were also causing her to shake. They were there for like ten minutes when he let go of her.

Her shirt was soaked with his tears. She decided to remain silent until he spoke – she was considering how she was going to break the news that she was not Denise to him.

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Part 12 – They Won’t Let Us In, Faye

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Read Part 11 here.

“Oh dear. They won’t let us in, Faye”.

“Yes. I just chatted with one of my colleagues at work. You need a code or so from the person inviting you.”

“Oh dear. I have not been able to reach him at all.”

Faye sighed. It was almost nine o clock. She was not even sure staying outside the estate with a long face served any purpose.

She joined Denise who was squatting beside her. The security men at the gate eyed them warily. She sighed again. Suddenly Denise hopped to her feet and started running.

“Mr Salisu!” The man was a bit far from them so she could not hear. Faye joined Denise and shouted at the top of her voice.

“Mr. Salisu!”

“Mr. Salisu”

A passerby beckoned to the man and pointed in their direction. He turned back and saw Faye and Denise and frowned.

Denise held on to him. “Mr. Salisu, do you…” She fought to catch her breath. “… remember me…”

He shook his head and still had a puzzled look.

“Mr. Salisu” her breath had returned to normal, Denise continued, “at the airport, you picked myself and George and dropped me off…”

“Ah. Why you behave like that?”

(Ah! Why did you behave in that manner.)

“How sir?”

“We came to you church today. You acted like you didn’t know him.”

“Me? I have not seen him today! I have been calling him all day!”

Beside her, Faye froze with dismay written over my face. She remembered what happened at the church’s entrance that morning. So that was George! That would explain his anger. He must have thought she was Denise.

Denise looked at Faye. Faye held her hand. “I am sorry, Denise. I didn’t know he was the one.”

Denise turned to Mr. Salisu. “I need to see him, sir.”

Mr. Salisu shook his head. “I no sure say that will be possible o.” (I don’t think that it will be possible o.)

Faye raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

Mr. Salisu shrugged. “Ask Mr. George now. You have his number.”

Denise held on to Mr. Salisu. “Mr. Salisu. You don’t understand. I have called him and sent him messages since morning. He has not responded at all.”

Faye held on to his other hand. “Mr. Salisu, please help us. You can call him and tell us we are here. If he does not want to see us, then we will no longer disturb you.”

Denise looked at her. “Call? Can he not take us inside?”

Mr. Salisu looked alarmed. Denise shook her head. “Okay. Please call him for us.”

Mr. Salisu brought out his phone.

Faye and Denise chorused together, “Thank you very much”.

The perfect synchronisation made him smile. He dialled Mr. George’s number.

“No response?”, Faye asked. Mr. Salisu nodded.

He tried again.

This time Denise asked, “He didn’t pick?”

Mr. Salisu opened his mouth to speak, then kept quiet. It was not in his place to say. He wondered how the girl knew where Mr. George lived. He thought he was only dropping her off that day. He prayed Mr. George picked because there was no way he would take these girls to the house unless Mr. George specifically asked him to do so.

Faye looked at him expectantly. He looked away and said, “I will try one more time. I need to go home. It has been a long day for me.”

George picked on the first ring.

“Mr Salisu?”

“Sir?” He handed over the phone to Denise.

“George?”

“Who is this? Is the owner of this phone alright? Was he in an accident?”

“George?”

“How do you know my name? Please give the phone back to the owner immediately.”

If only he would let her speak. Denise was close to tears. Faye took the phone from her and was going to speak but decided against it.”

“Hello?! Are you there?! Can you respond to my questions?!”

“It is me, Denise. George I…”

The line went off.

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Part 11 – What do I do?

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Read Part 10 here.

Faye waited until the end of service before she went out to meet Denise. 

“How far? Is his father okay?”

“Oh Faye. I am so worried. I have not been able to reach him. My messages are not delivering. My calls are not connecting. I cannot even reach him on Whatsapp.”

Denise began to cry. “What do I do?”

Faye rolled her eyes. “You are the one worried over nothing. Maybe he is taking care of his dad? Or maybe he was up all night looking after his dad, and he has fallen asleep this morning.”

“You think so?”

“Or maybe he changed his mind and does not want to come to church.”

“Yes. After all, he said he is an agnostic. But it is not like him to not call or text.”

Denise stayed silent for a bit. “Holy Spirit, what do I do?”

Her phone rang out. She picked without looking at the screen.

“George!”

“Who is George?”

She took the phone away from her ear and looked at the caller ID. It was their father.

“Papa. Good evening. Faye dey my side. I go put you for speaker.”  (Father. Good evening. I am with Faye. I will put the call on speaker.)

“My girls. How una dey? Who be the George wen you mention?” (My girls. How are you? Who is George, whose name you mentioned?)

Faye responded. “Our friend wen we invite come church. We never see am and service don finish. Im no dey pick our call sef.” (A friend we invited to church. We haven’t seen him and service has ended. He is not picking his calls.)

Their father laughed. “Leave am.  E dey do guy man. Una young people nor dey too like go church. You know where im dey live? If you know, may una go find am. E fit be like say e dey find person wey go ginger am. Anoda time, may una go pick am from im place, so im no go fit hide.” (Leave him. He is being difficult. You young people do not like going to church. Do you know where he lives? If you know, you should go and pay him a visit. It may be that he needs somebody to encourage him. Next time, you should go and pick him up so he will be unable to hide.)

Denise looked at Faye and smiled. She had totally forgotten that he gave her his address back at the airport. She was definitely going to see him.