~~Makena~~
One of the things I like about Thursday nights at Club Risqué is that they play old school music. I have worked here for two months now. I look forward to coming to work because Fay is a good boss, she pays us well, and my colleagues are friendly.
Right now, the DJ is playing E-Sir’s Boomba. I tap my foot on the stool at the counter as I wait for Brian to make the order.
“Queen…take the VIP table too…some customers have arrived. I have so many orders today,” Sussy begs.
“Okay.” I smile. Today is just a great day. Everything is going smooth, and the music has put me in a good mood. I walk to the VIP table and immediately wish I hadn’t.
Andre, a couple of guys in the rugby team and their girlfriends. Daniel is sitting beside him, looking handsome as ever. He stares at me, and I feel underdressed in my short black bandage dress. We lock eyes for a moment before I turn to Andre.
“What can I get you?” I have my pen and notebook ready.
“Johnnie Walker for the guys,” Andre orders. The girls request a couple of Mojitos, and some had Guaranas. They demand more whisky as their friends keep arriving.
I look around for Sussy. I need to switch this table with her. I’ll serve a thousand other tables if she wants but not this one.
“Happy birthday, man,” One of the recent arrivals hugs Andre.
“Thank you.” Andre smiles.
“I didn’t know it’s your birthday,” I say as I set his drink before him. He has been nice to me before. I have no quarrel with him.
“If you didn’t avoid me so much, you would know.” He smiles.
I return with a bottle of Tusker beer and give it to him. “In that case, happy birthday. This one is on me.”
“Thanks.” He takes it.
“Why don’t you celebrate with us then?” He asks.
“I’m working,” I say.
He pats the space beside him and asks me to sit with him and his friends. “Come on, one drink with the birthday boy.”
Daniel is shooting daggers at me with his eyes. He does not want me there.
“I can’t...but Happy Birthday. Have fun.” I excuse myself.
I go back and sit by the counter. I feel eyes boring into me and swivel to find Daniel standing behind me. My heart beats fast. I steady myself and stand tall to face him.
“Stay away from my friends,” he warns me.
“Excuse me?”
“Stay away from my friends,” he repeats.
“You know what, Daniel? You are so full of yourself. It’s not always about you. The world does not spin around you. And I will talk to whoever I want to talk to.”
Who does he think he was to walk up here and start making demands on me?
He wound his hands around my waist and pulled me to him. I look into his eyes and barely recognise him. He looks sad and lost. We stand, staring at each other. Then he buried his head at my neck and inhaled my scent, his beard teasing my sensitive skin.
My knees grow weak as we rock from side to side. My body remembers his touch, and I feel alive again.
“Daniel.”
I put my arms around him and hug him back. He is mumbling something, but I don’t hear him because of the music. He hugs me tighter and doesn’t let go.
Oh Daniel, I still love him, and so very much. I want time to stop now, and we’ll remain like this in this embrace forever. A tear falls down my cheek.
“Daniel!” Someone calls.
I look behind us and see Lynn. I let go of Daniel’s hug.
He unwinds his arms from me.
“I have been looking for you.” She is wearing a black dress and a sparkly black choker around her neck.
She takes his hand, and they walk back to their table.
He will never be mine. I don’t belong in his world.
I go to the restroom and cry my eyes out. I call Fay and tell her that I’m not feeling well. She gives me permission to go home early. I walk to the backroom, change from my work clothes, take my bag pack, and leave the club.
I keep my head down as I walk down the streets. My tears don’t stop falling.
I wish Daniel had not come after me in the club. I can still feel his hands around my waist. I was beginning to heal but tonight opens all the wounds in my heart. Now I had to start from scratch. I don’t know if I’ll ever get him out of my head and my heart.
The next day as I come from class, and walk to the bus station, a black escalade follows me.
The windows roll down. Mrs Ogana is in the back seat. She takes off her glasses and asks me to get inside. I tremble as I get in.
“How are you, Makena?” She kisses me on the cheek.
“I’m fine, Mrs Ogana.”
“How is school?”
“Fine.”
“Good…I’m here to talk to you about my son,” She says.
I shift in my seat.
“You know I never really care much about social status like some people do,” She begins. “In fact, I vowed to myself that I would approve of whichever women my sons chose as long as they were happy.”
I keep quiet. I have a feeling this is meant to be a monologue. I already know what she is going to say, ‘stay away from Daniel.’
“My Danny thinks he loves you,” She continues. “It’s becoming his undoing.”
“It’s over between Daniel and me. You have nothing to worry about, Mrs Ogana,” I assured her.
Last night I cried myself to sleep over Daniel. It hurt me to see him again and hear him tell me to stay away and see for myself that he has moved on with Lynn. It was too much Ayara had to come to my room and cuddle with me until I fell asleep. My head hurt, and my eyes still felt puffy as I sat in Mrs Ogana’s car. I don’t want to hear her warnings too. I tried to deal with my heartbreak in peace.
“It’s not that which worries me…he thinks he loves you, you think you love him. It’s cute, really, and sweet. I had never seen him like this before.”
She pauses, probably for effect.
“What worries me is this.” She hands me a certificate, some forms, newspaper cut-outs and a couple of pictures.
“I don’t understand.” I flip through the black and white photos. I don’t recognize the face of the man in them.
“I don’t blame your mother for not telling you. If I were in her shoes I never would have told you either,” She says.
I look up at her. Why is she bringing my mother into this?
“I don’t want to confuse you any further, Makena. Your father is the man who killed my husband, the man who murdered Daniel’s father,” She said.
My mind begins to spin round and round like a globe.
“It hurt Daniel a lot when he was young, and it took lots of therapy for him to function again. Then you came along, you charm him and then he finds out you are that man’s daughter. He is going through a lot of pain. He has been so depressed lately, and I’m worried for him.”
I don’t hear the rest of what she said. My hands go lax. It feels like my heart is pulled out of my chest.
“Mrs Ogana.” I hand the pictures and the documents back to her. Then I opened the door and stepped out. My legs were jelly.
I am the cause of all the pain I saw in Daniel’s eyes last night, and my father was a murderer? No, no, it can’t be. I put one foot on the road. I want to cross the road to the other side where the pavement is empty and keep walking.
I don’t hear Mrs Ogana call out to me and tell me to watch out. I don’t see the car approaching at full speed. The next thing I feel is my face hitting the hard tarmac.