EPISODE FIVE

Khalid walked behind Ekaette at a polite distance, a bit confused about how to approach her next. He also had no idea what to say to her but knew he couldn’t stay away from her.

Where was she going? She didn’t even look back, but kept going. Was she not afraid of getting lost or getting hurt? In most countries, no matter how safe it was, night time was a perfect opportunity for evil people to do their deeds, and in his weakened state, he wouldn’t be able to save her.

Thankfully, Dubai and most places in the United Arab Emirates were one of the safest places to live in the world. However, beyond the fear of walking into dangerous territories, Khalid was also exhausted after walking briskly for thirty minutes.

Damn! In the past, he could do this for two hours and not break a sweat. If he wasn’t going to embarrass himself, he had to find a way to catch up with her and stop this.

He was breathing very hard by the time he caught up with her and held her hand.

“Khalid?” Ekaette said, seeing him, almost breathless. She had been a bit scared before she realised he was the one. She had felt his cold hands on her.

The sound of his name on her lips was everything, but he couldn’t bring himself to respond without sounding out of breath, he didn’t want to scare her with his breathing pattern. Maybe it was because she was a nurse; she already knew something was wrong.  Ekaette drew closer to him, and was soon touching his head, rubbing his cold hands. Her anger had dissipated.

Luckily, there was a diner just across the street. Khalid pulled her with him, they crossed the street and walked into the diner. He had said a quick prayer that she wouldn’t refuse to come with him.

They picked a seat by the window, so they could see cars coming and going, and experience the energy of the city. Across the table, Khalid found Ekaette’s hands and held it. She looked up at him from the streets then looked away again.

“Why did you follow me?” she said coldly, although she didn’t feel cold at all. Warmth coursed through her body from his hold on her hands. 

“You have to know how sorry I am.” Khalid confessed.

“Nothing to be sorry about, you don’t know me like that. There is no reason I should be all up in your business. Besides, a man is entitled to his secrets.”

“I want to tell you.”

The waiter came to their table just as he said that. “You don’t have to tell me, and you don’t have to buy me food.”

Khalid took the menu from the waiter, opened it, and without looking up at her for fear that his confidence would wane, he said. “I want to do both, and I will. What do you want to eat, E-kathy? Please, don’t say french fries.”

She didn’t know why, but the matter-of-fact-you-don’t-have-a-choice manner he was approaching, made her smile.

“I actually like chips.”

Khalid smiled with a corner of his face still focused on the menu, and Ekaette knew that she didn’t want to ever see this man again. Something about him called her to him, as though she could fix him and make him whole again.

“Balsamic steak pasta for two,” Khalid said, and the waiter left.

“You don’t even know if I would like it.” Ekaette said.

Khalid put his hands in hers again.

“We have all night, and after all that walk, I can eat for two. We will simply order something else for you.”

Ekaette looked away from him, and tried to pull her hands again, but in the regular Khalid fashion, he held on. It was as though holding her was an addiction.

“I said I am sorry, and I mean it. Let’s start over.”

“Start what over, Khalid? I am leaving for the airport at 5 am in the morning. My trip is over.”

Khalid felt like a bullet just pierced his heart, but he shook it off. He wasted two days. He couldn’t waste any more moments, so he pulled out his phone from his pocket.

“E-kathy, I don’t know what this thing between us is. It’s too soon to come to any conclusions, but I like you a lot. I want a chance to know you better, to be your friend. Please put all your numbers here, your social media handle, email address, office address, and home address.”

Ekaette couldn’t help it. She laughed.

“Is this a job application?”

Her laughter was so beautiful to hear, a sign that he was making progress, but with only a very short amount of time left. Khalid was so focused on maximising the time, he couldn’t bring himself to laugh, at least, not yet. The hunger he had boasted about a while back flew off.

The food arrived as soon as Ekaette finished putting her details on his phone, and she put a forkful  of it into her mouth. Khalid wished he was the fork, just as her mouth closed over it.

He was losing it, and he knew it.

“This food is marvellous. Oh my God!” Ekaette exclaimed, and Khalid waited for her to eat every single morsel of the meal, while struggling through his own, because he knew that if they were going to build any lasting connection, the foundation of truth had to be laid.

“I am a soldier,” he said as soon as she dropped the fork and the waiter came to carry her plate away.

“What? U.S military?” Ekaette dropped her fork.

“I was.”

“Nonsense, once a soldier, always a soldier.” Ekaette said and drank some water.

“That’s a quote someone came up with to keep us happy, but the real truth is that we get lost. I am lost. I trained for years to be an Engineer in the U.S military. It happened, and for six years, I was in active duty until three months ago when I had gone to fix some vehicles for the soldiers in Iraq. There was a bomb blast and its impact threw me several miles away, killing six of my colleagues. I was the only one who survived. My lungs have not recovered, and from what you saw on my thighs, my legs are also healing. I have recurring panic attacks, and I feel like a shadow of myself.”

“I am so sorry,” Ekaette said, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You cry very easily.” Khalid said.

“Is your career over?” Ekaette wanted to know.

“I am on a six-month medical leave, I have three months left. In October, I will resume desk duty. I still have a job, but I will never be able to do what I love best.”

“Which is?”

“Flying into battle to fix what my brothers need to win a fight.”

“I am sorry.”

Khalid wiped the tears flowing from her face with his palm. He may be twisted, but he actually loved that she was crying for him, that she cared deeply enough to feel the pain of his story. No one else had done it.

His parents had been almost grateful that the tragedy happened, because it meant that he wouldn’t go back to war and die there.

“God has been telling me for a while that my job was over on the field, but I was fighting it. I can’t help wondering if those my teammates wouldn’t have died if I had obeyed earlier.”

“You can’t do that to yourself. Soldiers die everyday, it is the cost of the service. You can’t blame yourself for their decision to enlist and die in battle.”

Even though she had stopped crying, Khalid’s hand was still on Ekaette’s face. He caressed her lips.

“I want to kiss you, E-kathy!”

Ekaette wondered if she heard him right or imagined it. How did they jump into this, maybe his hands on her face were sending wrong signals.

She removed his hands from her face and left it on the table.

“Can I kiss you?”

Ekaette was so shy at his bold question, she looked around to see if no one heard.

“Here?”

Khalid laughed.

“So you don’t mind a kiss, the location is the problem.”

Ekaette blushed shyly.

“I don’t know what you are saying.” To change the topic, she took his phone and gave it to him to unlock.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” Ekaette asked.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Khalid said, his thumb caressing the middle of her palm.

Ekaette looked away shyly.

“Do you want to be my girlfriend?” Khalid asked boldly, his eyes fixed on hers, even though she tried to avoid him.

“We met a week ago. It takes more than that to…” Khalid didn’t let her finish.

“I did not say, ’be my girlfriend’. I know we just met and there is so much baggage to unpack, what I said was, ‘do you want to be my girlfriend?’”

“I don’t know!” Ekaette said, looking at her wristwatch. “It’s midnight already, Khalid. I need to go and pack my bags. We leave at 5am.”

She sent a Whatsapp message to herself from his phone.

“Just in case you still want to be friends, we can keep chatting.” Ekaette said and gave him back his phone and rose.

Khalid joined her as she stood, but first walked to the bar to pay.

As soon as he paid, he joined her outside, and they held hands, walking back to the hotel very slowly and not saying anything.

“Come with me to my room” Khalid said as soon as they got to the hotel. Ekaette gave him a confused look.

“I need to give you a parting gift, and I am not sure I will have the strength to leave my room once I’m in the room. I have exerted myself beyond my limit today, and there is no nurse to fix me back up if I fall apart tomorrow.”

Ekaette smiled sadly at his surmise, but allowed him to pull her in the direction of his room.

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As soon as they got into the room, Khalid went to his wardrobe and brought out his wristwatch, and perfume.

“What are you doing?” Ekaette asked.

“It’s my parting gift. I have used this brand of perfume since I became a soldier and could afford to pay for something expensive. I bought this wristwatch at the beginning of the year. I want you to have both.”

Khalid was already wearing the watch on her wrist.

“If we are meant to be, it is only a matter of time. We will find our way back to each other. To make it easy for you to remember me, you will go with my scent, just a spray into the air on days that you miss me, and you would feel close to me.” Khalid said.

The wristwatch was bigger than her wrist, but Ekaette was not going to take it off.

“Who says I am going to miss you?” Ekaette asked, already missing him.

“I am hoping that you will, but I don’t leave things to chance, so I am giving you one final thing.” Khalid said, then held her waist and pulled her close. He raised her chin up and closed the distance between them to take her lips in his.

It was more than a kiss. It felt like a joining. They had both suspected that it would be good, but nothing prepared them for the electric reaction.

Khalid pulled her closer to him, and her arms went round his neck as he deepened the kiss like he was trying to memorise her. He kept going deeper, till he had to breath in some air. His lungs betrayed him.

“Now, I have a better incentive for surgery.” Khalid said smiling, but Ekaette couldn’t bring herself to smile.

“Surgery?”

“It’s scheduled for two months’ time, to get me breathing properly again, and hopefully, kissing you for longer at a stretch.”

Khalid pulled her close again, and kissed her, removing the silver necklace round her neck.

“What do you need with that?” Ekaette asked, but Khalid was already putting it round his own neck.

“I need a piece of you to remain with me.”

Ekaette sighed. Worried, she frowned.

Khalid knew why.

He pulled her into his arms again, her head resting on his chest, and she could hear his heartbeat.

“We don’t know if this means anything, but it is too powerful to throw away too. You heal me by just being around, and I am obsessed with your body. I can’t deny myself the physical treat, when my mind also feels like you are all things right and true. So, please, allow me to lay this foundation, E-kathy.”

“In the months to come, we will know if it was worth anything at all. If we don’t do this, deepen our connection before you leave, we will never know.”

Ekaette smiled into his eyes, and without breaking contact with her, Khalid pulled out his wallet, took out three hundred dollars, and slipped it into her palms.

“I can’t take your money.”

Khalid pulled her close.

“It’s all the cash I have on me right now. If I don’t give you, I will lose my mind in worry. Please take it.”

“Thank you, Khalid” Ekaette said, even as he took her lips again for a brief kiss, then led her to the door.

“You are no longer safe being alone with me here.” Khalid said with humour as Ekaette walked out of the room.

The man was fast becoming the man of her dreams. 

Dubai was a hit, because she met him. Travelling here foolishly was not a bad idea after all.

Lagos, Nigeria

Three months later

Missing Khalid was an understatement!

When Ekaette got back from Dubai, they had kept in touch. She constantly lost sleep just because she was trying to match his time zone and stay available to respond to his chats.

What was growing between them, this friendship that they had sealed with a kiss was becoming special. Even though she didn’t know how it could ever become anything more, a girl had still hoped.

Until a month ago, when he stopped all communications!

Khalid had been scheduled for surgery, they had done video calls right down to him preparing to take a taxi to the hospital. He had called her a minute before the nurses took his phone and all his personal effects. She had prayed for him and he had told her he would reach out in the maximum of forty-eight hours. Ekaette didn’t know if she could survive those days, but she had. However, from there till now, nothing!

Khalid was either ghosting her, or something terrible had happened to him. She couldn’t allow herself to think about the second option. Nothing evil must happen to her Khalid. It won’t make sense for him to have survived the bomb blast, only to die during surgery. 

It won’t make sense, but it was possible. As a nurse, she knew and had seen enough tragedy in this hospital to know anything was possible. However, she simply couldn’t resign to that fate. It was too brutal, too final!

Would Khalid simply walk away, without making contact?

After a week of waiting, Ekaette worked up the courage to call the hospital in America to check up on him, but they were not helpful. Information about patients was only given to family and individuals filled out in the admission and emergency contact form.

“Is he alive? Please tell me that, at least.” Ekaette had begged, but no one was willing to tell her anything.

Khalid’s lack of contact was ruining everything, taking away the motivation to do her job properly. Her boss had noticed this, and even requested to see her.

“What is wrong with you Ekaette? Is there anything you want to discuss with me?” Dr Jude asked, his expression unreadable.

Hot flush of embarrassment came over Ekaette. She had no idea what to say. It was impossible to say the truth, which was the fact that she was losing her head over a man; a white man she met on a trip who had now disappeared.

“I am fine sir. Nothing is wrong with me.” Ekaette lied.

Doctor Jude shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Ekaette was one of his best nurses, and had worked here the longest. Her heart was no longer here and he feared she was considering resigning and leaving for other opportunities. Her supervisors were complaining, she was mixing up requests, blanking out, and not providing good cheer to the patients.

“You keep forgetting that I know you very well. This is not you. Is it the pay? Are you tired of working here?”

The last question got to her. Ekaette had never considered working anywhere else; she was loyal to a fault. This place made her, gave her opportunities, and leaving was not on her mind. Khalid was.

“I love my job here, sir. I am just going through a phase, but I will be fine.”

Doctor Jude heaved a sigh of relief. He wasn’t ready to lose her yet, and if the job wasn’t the reason for her attitude, there was only one other thing he could think of.

“Is it a man? Are you having a man problem?”

Ekaette looked away, refusing to prove him right or wrong. Her silence confirmed his suspicion.

“Any man who is foolish enough to lose you is an idiot. Don’t lose sleep over such a fellow. Someone else will come.”

Ekaette nodded in gratitude, but still said nothing.

“I think I know what’s good for you. You need some time off work. Take a trip, go and visit your people in Cross River.”

“No sir!”, Ekaette nodded her head vigorously. She missed her people too, but travelling to see them will be too draining, physically and financially.

“The break will be good for you.” Dr Jude insisted.

‘“It will be several hours on the road. It will drain me.”, Ekaette protested.

“Then the hospital will pay for your flight.” Dr Jude announced.

Ekaette shook her head, “I can’t let that happen.”

Dr Jude smiled.

“You will go on a research trip. We are considering setting up a branch in Cross River. Go and find out the best location for this, and if your state capital needs one more private hospital.”

Ekaette smiled, the first genuine one in a month. Even if all else failed, she knew she was blessed to work in an organisation like this.

“Thank you sir. It will be an honour to run an errand for you.” Ekaette said.

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The story doesn’t end here. The final episode of “Love on Toast” will be available tomorrow, but wait, what do you think about Khalid going radio silent again? 

Don’t forget to leave us a comment below.