Red Velvet and Black Rejection.



I met my soulmate on a hot Saturday morning as the sun beat down with a vengeance upon my sticky back and I stood at the bus stop waiting for a cab.

I was however unable to raise a hand to shield my face, or reach into my bag for a mini towelette I could blot my face with because both hands were loaded down with an incredibly fragile red velvet cake that was due for delivery to a cranky client who had called me approximately 5 times in the past 20 minutes. No big deal though. I was used to demanding clients. 

So i stood in the sun and felt my makeup curdle and run down my face in a manner that was bound to leave me looking like a failed chocolate ice cream experiment but i wasn't bothered by that. The problem was, the valley between my breasts was beginning to itch with all the sweat, and if I didn't get a cab soon, cake be damned. I would dump it facedown on the hot tar and race for an air conditioned shelter.




I was still pondering the logic of balancing the cake on one palm and crook of an elbow in a bid to free up the other hand to attend to more intimate matters, when a cab pulled up.

I strode briskly towards him and bent down to face level. Before he had a chance to speak, i blurted that i was going to 1004 apartments in Victoria Island and I would pay him 1,500 naira for the ride. No more, no less.

I straightened up and stood there staring at him like a fishwife but he stared back, unusually amused. "Well, are you going or not? I don't intend to sleep here." I shrilled.

"Okay, hop in then, these streets don't exactly make for the softest beds" he replied with wry amusement.

I frowned at him like a shrew but decided to let his pathetic joke slide as i got into the car and placed the poor, abused cake gently beside me.

The automatic locks clicked into place as the car eased smoothly into the traffic but we were halfway to our destination before he looked at me in the rear view mirror and said "You know I'm not a cab driver sha. I just wanted to give you a lift because you looked so harassed"

I looked back at him aghast and my embarrassment grew as he told me his name and where he actually worked. I finally stammered "I'm so sorry Patrick. I'm so sorry. That's all i can say. In my defense, I'm actually rushed and frustrated and I wasn't thinking straight"

He nodded gamely, and as the journey progressed, he got to know my name, how my sweet tooth had motivated me to be a baker and how my partner had bailed because my profession as a struggling baker didn't match his as a glamorous accountant.

I looked gravely out the window and bit at my cuticles as he gave me a few seconds to get myself together before proceeding with the nicest words of encouragement a stranger could offer another.

I smiled sweetly at him in appreciation, and as he pulled up to the gates of 1004 with a flourish, I fancied myself half in love with him and i knew it wasn't coincidence that we had met like this. It wasn't the end. We would get to know each other, fall in love, get married and have beautiful babies. 

And I would I bake the best cakes for every special occasion of course.

I thanked him again for the ride and he brushed it off with a bashful smile on his attractive face.

I smiled back at him and got out of the car but just as I turned back to give him the phone number he deserved, he zoomed off and was gone.

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