We parked our car at the third building to where they stopped theirs. The younger version of Cynthia got out of the car and opened the gate and I wondered if she was the girl Lilly was talking about. We got out of the car five minutes later and walked toward the house. It was a decent bungalow which looked upgraded compared to the neighboring buildings.
I wanted to go near the gate and knocked it, I wanted to see her one more time tonight and gloriously told her we won, that I found her but I was betrayed by my courage and concluded knowing where she laid her head was enough for me for a day.
We rented an hotel at a neighbouring area and I gave her a call later that night, which she picked up on the fourth ring. I told her about myself and she told me few things - which I'd known years ago - about herself.
"Will you be free tomorrow?" I asked her without thinking and covered my mouth as soon as the sentence came out if it what if she says no
"Of course. Why did you ask?"
"Uhm I'm just thinking if we can meet up"
"OK no p, and mind you I don't usually go out with a stranger but I will surely make an exception for you"
Did she just call me a stranger? Didn't she truly knows or is she trying to play some games that I'm not seeing.
"OK. What time tomorrow?"
"What about five?"
"It's okay by me. Where should we meet?"
"Where did you want us to meet?"
"In front of U.I" I replied saying the first thing on my mind. "Till tomorrow then Cynthia"
"Wait" she said almost shouting
"I'm all ears"
"I still can't believe that you heard someone called me that in the hall"
"Called you what?" I asked innocently
"Cynthia. It's not a name that people knows me with, it's just my second name and nothing else"
"I seriously heard someone called you that" I lied again
"Okay. If you say so. Till tomorrow then" she said weakly
"Okay. Bye Cynthia" I said rolling the name the way I liked it.
Micheal left the next morning with the promise that he would come back for me when I was ready to go back. I went shopping in the afternoon and bought few things I needed which included clothing
I got to the U.I gate at 4:30pm, so as not to be the one to keep her waiting and she joined me forty minutes later
"I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting" she said
"It's nothing. Good evening"
"Good evening"
"Where should we go to?" I asked
"I don't know. Maybe we should just go on a walk"
"If that is okay with you"
"Of course, It's one of the things I love" the walk was one of the sweetest thing that ever happened to me and I still couldn't believed that it was real, that Cynthia was walking by my side in real life, that I was sharing the same air with her. After chatting for almost fifteen minutes, I stylishly asked her about the main thing that was worrying me
"Who was that tall guy?"
"Who?"
"The tall, fair guy that sat with you at the party"
"James" she said before staring at me as if reasoning why I asked
"You don't have to tell me anything. It's okay. I was just curious" I said defending myself
"James" she repeated, pretending not to have heard me "He is my..." at that moment her phone rang and she diverted her attention to it. I cursed the caller under my breadth not caring who the hell the person was why couldn't he/she had called twenty seconds later. She hung up few seconds later and continued "He is my cousin but we grew up together. Let me just say he is my elder brother. The best brother ever" I released the air I was unconsciously holding at her word. Thank goodness.
"He's my mother's late younger sister only child" she'd shown me the picture of her mother, who was the woman I noticed at the ceremony.
"Tao seo" it was still unbelievable that she was the one calling my name
"Yes"
"Can I ask you a question"
"Go ahead"
"Have you seen me before? I don't know. I can't place it, but you seems familiar. You look like someone I know but don't know" she was looking me straight in the eye and I knew what she was trying to do. She was trying to read me and I don't want to lie to her. I don't want our life to be based on lies, but I also don't know how to break it to her.
God help me. I don't want to loss her again
"If you truly want to hear the truth, I'm going to tell you but I don't think it's possible on the road side"
"Are you trying to tell me that you have seen me before?"
"Yes. Several times" I replied keeping my gaze on the moving cars.
"Where?"
"I'll tell you if we find a quiet place"
She took me to a restaurant and the cool music that was blowing from the speaker couldn't be called a noise. I ordered snacks for myself while she ordered one of their food.
"I can't get it. I'm sure I've seen you before but I can't just remember. It seems like my brain is blocking it. Have you been to this country before?"
"No. This is my first time here"
"Don't mind me then. It's just confusing. Maybe I haven't seen you before. Maybe I imagined it" she said
"You might have seen me before"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how you're going to take this but check this out first" I said given her my phone.
I could see the shock in her eyes the moment she started going through her pictures and I wished to know what she was thinking
"Where did you get all these from?" she asked in an accusing manner.
"Do you want to listen to the truth?
"Yes of course because it seems like some people are stalking me"
"I never stalked you. If anyone is stalking anyone then It's you that was stalking me"
"I've never been in Korea"
"I'm not going to argue with you on that, but just here me out"
"Okay. I'm listening"
"This picture" I said showing her my first drawing. I was on the stairs while she was in the sitting room with her back to me. It was my first dream of her or at least the first one I remembered. I was not visible in the picture but anyone who saw it would knew the angle of the viewer "I was seven when I had this dream and this was the girl I saw...." I strolled to the next picture "I had this one two years later..." I strolled to the one following that picture and the one after and the one after...and explained everything I remembered about it "This was the first time I saw her face...this was when she told me about her birthday... This was when she came to my room...this was when she told me her second name was Cynthia...this was when..." I explained until we moved to the last drawing. The saddest picture "This was when she told me she was no longer coming, that she was weak...." I intentionally cut out the part where I was crying and the part where she exploded because I thought she was not going to appreciate them.
"I don't know what to say or what to believe. This girl in this drawings looks like me but I can't say it's me. This is lita..." which she pronounced as lighter "...my pet. It was James who gave it to me" she said pointing to the drawing of a black and white cat I once saw with her in my dream "And this is Lilly when she was small. Even if I try to deny my drawings, what of that of Lilly and lita" she said looking up from my phone " you said she told you her date of birth, right?"
"Yes"
"What is her date of birth?"
"She never told me the precise date. I worked that out myself. June 29"
"This is not making sense" she said getting out of her chair which I calmly urged her to take back "So it was because of you I used to fall sick?"
"I never knew until our last time together"
"It was the worst period of my life. It was a time I never pray to experience again. It was the time I was praying for death. I was in so much pain to the extent that death would have been a very great gift. I will lay helplessly on the sick bed for more than a year, even though the test conducted on me confirmed that I was okay, that nothing was wrong with me and one day I will just wake up and feel like my healthy self again. My mom called that time, the testing time. She said it was God that was testing our fate. It was what affected my education even Chimamanda is through with her degree"
"I'm really really sorry to hear that you suffered that much" "Yes I remember" she shouted triumphantly.
"What is that? What did you remember?"
"I told you I've seen you before. I've seen you before"
"Like seriously. When? Where? How?"
"It was the day I woke up finally. That was three years ago, I guess. It was before I woke up to my healthy self. I saw you crying, you were holding me but I was smiling. I told you something but you were crying really hard and you didn't heard me. I wanted to repeat myself but then I woke up"
"And what exactly did you say? I asked smiling at her. So she had dreamt about me too. So we had shared that dream together.
"I remember saying 'I think the fate is on our side'" I knew she was mine the moment she completed that statement and I don't care what people inside the restaurant thought of this black, most beautiful girl and the white, Korea boy. I got out of my chair and walked toward her. She was also out of her chair before I reached her. I used my hands to cupped her face and looked at her before moving closer to give her our first ever real kiss. She tasted like sweet and happiness and I knew with Cynthia in my life, my life was never going to remain the same.