19 The Affair

The next evening he drove his Benz to Maitama, pulling into the parking lot of The Hilton. Exhausted from work he laid his head on the steering wheel and knew the sight of a double bed with goose feather pillows would overcome him. He looked forward to napping in the air conditioned room and ordering room service. Jamal bypassed the front desk with a nod at the concierge; Adamu had grown accustomed to his presence over the past four weeks and merely bowed in greeting before resuming discussions with the customer he was attending to. Stepping out of the elevator on the 14th floor he walked towards the same room number as previous visits before. The door had been left slightly ajar and he leaned into it. Jamal surveyed the art deco style room and the windows that opened out into a beautiful view of the city. Rabi was standing in front of the original artwork on the wall; her brow knitted together as she deciphered the abstract blocks of paint on canvas. She wore dark blue straight jeans and a crisp white shirt. Her hair held back with an Alice band. Her feet were bare. The sound alerted her and she turned to smile at him. Rabi always smiled. She ran to him and threw her arms around his neck keeping them there not uttering a single word. Jamal was grateful, this allowed him time to decompress and get his bearings. Instead her palms rubbed his shoulders in circular motions for minutes. Finally she pulled away and cupped his face in her palms "Hi" she smiled. "Hey" Jamal responded. She cast her dark eyed stare directly at him

"Beckenbauer?" she asked knowingly

"Uhum" Jamal responded 

"It will all work itself out because you are brilliant at what you do" she kissed his brow bone. Jamal sighed

"Screw the Architect" Rabi continued "I hope the prostitute gave him gonorrhoea"

"Prostitutes" Jamal corrected "there were five"

Rabi's eyes widened "Maybe he isn't so bad after all" Jamal tickled her and she giggled so infectiously, soon they both fell on the bed and not long after, their laughter gave way to lust.

When Jamal awoke, Rabi sat cross-legged on the bed with a huge edition of Gray's Anatomy open in her lap. Her Mac computer was to her left along with jottings on scrap paper and research on the effects of estrogens contained in yam on twin births in Yoruba land. In her right hand was a light green marker which she used to highlight paragraphs and in her left was a cigarette. The whole thing was made even more absurd by Rabi's stark nakedness. Jamal shuffled to her and laid his head on her lap using the textbook as a pillow. She looked down on him and a smile spread across her face. Jamal realised he was completely happy. 

"That is not even lit" he pointed to her cigarette

"I just like to hold it" shaking her head at her own addiction. "It's helping me to concentrate." Jamal read the first line of her journal "Igbo-Ora, a sleepy farming community in southwest Nigeria, The town's high incidence of twins have baffled fertility experts -- underscoring a more regional twin trend..." he was bored already. Jamal yawned widely and Rabi shook her head laughing, she stopped when she noticed Jamal was looking up at her intently. 

"I remember the first time I met you" Jamal explained. Rabi knew it was the lunch at Bella Italia where her sister introduced her new boyfriend but she listened anyway. Jamal reached up to play with her hair before he continued "You were wearing a red sweater and a jeans skirt with black boots. Your hair was in untamed curls and you laughed the entire meal. You blushed when you spoke about your white boyfriend. James?"

"Marc" Rabi corrected. Knowing that if Jamal could remember what she was wearing he definitely knew the right name

"Yes him." Jamal shrugged his shoulders "Did you love him?"

"At the time. Yes" Rabi stroked his sideburns.

"And now? Do you still think about him?"

"Marc is a delicious part of my past" Jamal sulked "but my past is where he belongs" 

"Good" Jamal mumbled as he raised his head to her breasts, nuzzling her bosom, his lips closed on her nipple.