The Triangle

The Triangle
Six

Falling in love is never an option in your life. You were born for love, with love and in love. You have no option  but to fall in love at a point in your life… – Anonymous…

Lola looked up and smiled. It was time to meet this guy who is really sparing no cost to make her have a great day.
“No Ade, in fact I am not an inch bored.”

“Rather you have made my day and I am really grateful for that,” she said.
Adeolu was excited with Lola’s response. He was not at any point doubting himself but he had asked the question to be very sure he was working correctly. With a woman, you can never be 100 per cent sure, experience had taught him. One minute they are all over you smiling and showing signs and the next they are all shut up and giving you attitudes. He was happy this was going well.
“Hmmm! Hmmmm!!,” he cleared his throat. He needed to test the waters to be sure she was ready to receive the next phase of the conversation.
“I had to ask that because I have kept you here for more than thirty minutes and I was hoping it won’t be boring to be in the company of a stranger for that such a long time,” he said.
Lola got the message but she remained unruffled by it. She rather took it as a joke from the guy sitting opposite her.
“Ade! You are full of surprises. So you are trying to use my own lines on me? Okay o, you aren’t no stranger to me again brother.”
“Good!” Adeolu exclaimed in his head.
“It wasn’t meant to be a sarcasm but you know you ladies can really make or mar a man’s day. With all we’ve been saying here since the past thirty minutes plus, you may still end up saying you aren’t interested in being friends with me,” he said to Lola, who smiled after he finished talking.

That was his indirect way of seeking to know if he was accepted or would be rejected. Many a lady had told him point blank that they weren’t friends rather they just whiled away their times with him over meals and drinks tables. He was expecting nothing but a positive response but he was still prepared for the worst.

Adeolu believed that the first step in asking a lady or woman out was to first be friends with her. He needed to earn her confidence and make her know that he has good intentions. Although, love was out of the equation, Adeolu never failed to receive such statements from his past girlfriends. Never also, I  his life has he ever told a lady that he loved them. He just showered affections and time on them and when he is fed up with them, he moves on leaving the lady to wonder what she did wrong or where she went bad. Lola’s case won’t be too different from the past ones.
“Seriously Ade, I wasn’t even thinking you were being sarcastic with that statement. I thought you were just being jovial with it as I have noticed in your nature. As for being friends with you, we are already friends and that is the reason I have been so relaxed with you here. You aren’t anymore the stranger who walked up to me in the Hall a few hours ago, seeking my attention. I rather feel as if we have known each other for ages. Talking of which, I want to know my friend more, if you will oblige me.”
“Omolola baby, thanks for making my troubled heart rest knowing I have won the complement of a ravishing beauty as a friend today. If you haven't known, you are the biggest achievement I have made today. Yes! You are. Getting to be your friend doesn’t come easy as I have learnt, so it is a big pleasure that I have been found worthy of being called your friend.”
“That is what you men are good at – flattery. E ma maa tan obinrin pelu awon oro didun to wa l’enu yin. To ba ya e tun wa so pe Ade o gun mo (You men have really sugar-coated mouths and you deceive women with it, then you later say you are no more interested.) My ears have become full with your flattery – though strangely, I like them – I won’t be surprised by whatever you say next because you are full of surprises.”
“Shakespeare says ‘Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.’ That wise great writer also said ‘Appetite, an universal wolf… must make perforce a universal prey and last eat up himself.’ Lola, sure men abound but men abound too. Really I won’t negate what you have said, but the words of that famous write I quoted above should have enlightened you in a way or the other. I won’t tell you I am different but the journey of our friendship will really tell you a lot as we go on it.”
“So you have even gone poetic on me. That is another good one. I am getting to know you more and more and so far, I am impressed. Time, they say, reveals that which the heart hides. Oju lo pe si. (Time will tell.)”
“When I said I am dealing with a genius, you said it was flattery. For you to have know those lines you used, that means you read a lot. ‘All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth.’ Said Shakespeare in another place. You combine both beauty and brains. How blessed am I to have you as a friend!”
“Ade, not only you read Shakespeare, I can bet I read him more than you do. ‘My beauty, though but mean, needs not the painted flourish of your praise.’ That is from Love’s Labour’s Lost. Please keep some more of those oratory for another time dearest friend.”
Lola was really living up to Adeolu’s impression of her. She was well-read and well-versed – probably the brainiest of the ladies Adeolu had met till then. Not that the previous ones weren’t intelligent, but Lola’s was a notch higher than theirs. He was only impressed and he admired her for that, he never felt an iota of love, he was still himself – prep, hit, turn and run.
“So to my Shakespearean lady, in sooth, I know not why I am so excited to have met you, but let’s keep that aside. My name is Adeoluwa, the first son and child of Mr. and Mrs. Adelaja. I am a man as you would have seen. I love watching movies – both in my house and in cinemas – and love Idris Elba to  fault – though not the gay-ish kind of love, I believe gays are guys who haven't been shown the sweetness of a woman – I also like good movies and historical ones too. Action movies get me any day. Nigerian movies too are a good watch when I see them – the good ones I mean. I have a weakness for good books too, Shakespeare, John Grisham and Sydney Sheldon, not forgetting James Hadley Chase, are my major weak points. Offend me, just get me a good book from any of these – God catch you sha, I have read all their works till date – and viola! You are forgiven. I have loads of female friends and companions – a major thing I should tell you from the start. I am single to stupor and hope to settle down soon. I am above 25 in age but less than 35. I am easily turned off people by lying- As to my means of livelihood, I think you will get to know that as we proceed on our friendship,” Adeolu finally did the major introduction.

Lola was more than impressed.
“Hmmm! What an intimidating profile packed by you alone!,” she said.
“I can see you are a man and I can see already that we share some qualities.  I hate lies and I cherished that you had been open and honest enough in your introduction. My name is Omolola. My parents are called Mr. and Mrs. Olawale. I am a woman and from one of the Yoruba states in South-West Nigeria. I love movies to a fault just like you and I prefer Nigerian ones to foreign ones because Ile l’ati n k’eso r’ode (Charity begins at home). My mum said that is why I am proficient in the Yoruba language but I believe it was because of the upbringing we have. Pardon me, I am the only daughter, the first also, of the family. I am above 20 and less than 26. For foreign movies, I love Angelina Jolie and I can marry her if she agrees – that is an overstatement though, because I think lesbians will change when they meet the correct guy with the right skills to please a woman. I have loads of female friends but one best friend, you will get to meet her as days go by. I don’t have much male friends because I am very choosy but I think I have found one I can stay with for a long time. Though I expect anything anytime from him. I read Shakespeare and anything literary – for the records, I hope to write a book or a memoir someday. I am a graduate – need I say that? But you will get to know my work and other things as time goes on. Lastly, I live alone, though with friends coming off and on a few times.”
“Pa pa pa pa,” Adeolu clapped. “Excellent description of a gargantuan and enigmatic woman. Welcome to my world Lola as I am happy I am welcome to yours.”

Adeolu knew he had met his match but really he was unflinching and was more than convinced that this journey with Lola would be one smooth ride. Love was still out of it for him.