AURA

Tito sprawled on the sofa of his lavishly furnished living room. He didn’t plan to be this fatigued. It was the reason he resigned from his banking job to settle for something less boring, not so financially comparable though but hey! After almost two decades in the corporate world and having to lose all elements of fun to work, work and more hard work, it felt fulfilling being on one’s own, having to sleep till whatever time and choosing not to go work on other days. Especially after his wife’s death. He has started up a publishing outfit which wasn’t looking too good until the beginning of the previous year. A young, writer had queried him with an incredible synopsis of what eventually turned out to be a fantastic well-read fiction that attracted a lot of awards, home and internationally. It had done a lot of improvement to both his bank account and to his name. Everyone wanted to associate his name with Tito Salvador Publications. Alongside fame came its challenges. They had even more work to be done. First, the office became a harem for aspiring writers and then notable editors from different journals wanted a chance to work with him.He should have taken the offer of spending summer in the UK to, at least, check on his kids. Since he lost his wife to cancer two years ago, he hadn’t stopped feeling he wasn’t doing enough. However tempting it had been to take the time out, there was work to be done. He needed to increase the staff strength of his company and then read or at least try to read every single query letter that touched his table. His driver had called in sick so he was driving home, listening to radio when the soft voice infiltrated his car. She introduced herself to the host of the show as ‘Aura’. It was one of those radio shows where the callers needed to hook up with friends, families or even strangers and the host appeared to be having the time of her life from her hysterical screams. Radio worked for Tito in the car. It took his thoughts off the decongested roads and other reckless drivers. He was about changing stations when Aura came on air through the phone lines. In addition to her voice which was like melted honey, was the rather clever way she sounded. All she asked for was a no-strings-attached friend. A genuinely, humorous man fit enough to be a chat mate. Tito typed in her number just as she spoke them out to the public. He considered calling her when he got home. ******** “Hello.” She sounded like she didn’t appreciate being interrupted from sleep. “Hi Aura.” He had waited to call her the following day. “One of them.” she whispered. “You asked for it, didn’t you?” Tito flopped into his reading chair, inspecting the oranges that had been laid out for him as dessert. “I also remember using the words ‘intelligent, genuinely humorous man’. You can’t imagine the drunken callers that have been calling me since yesterday.” They both shared a laugh while they dug into conversation after conversation- on his bill. There was something about Aura. Even though he had dated a few after his wife’s death, he hadn’t met anyone as hitch-free as she. She intrigued him. The text messages she sent to his phone impressed him and made him hot and swell in inappropriate places. The messages were not deliberately erotic but a romantic woman could be told from the slightest of her moves. Another thing was the way she sounded when he called her. He always tried to make sure she’d have been in bed because it was only then she sounded like she was drunk on love making. It was crazy what a woman’s voice and her harmless message was doing to a man like him. He had inquired everything about her and her background. He was a simple, yet respected man who needed no drama of any sort. She wasn’t rude or forward but he made sure he gave a wide berth when they were getting too close. Sometimes it felt like he was taking advantage of her.  But he really liked her, spoilt her from time to time, sending outrageous amount of call cards or sometimes organized packages for her to pick up with his driver. Tito’s phone rang weeks after at straight up midnight and he was surprised to see her name on the LCD. She never called. He waited till her ring ceased before dialling her. Her voice was distant and after a few words exchanged, he knew what was wrong with her. He settled into his bed, squeezed his legs together, clutched his phone to his ears and listened while she made love to him over the phone. She didn’t say much. She didn’t have to. Her slight whining and the incomprehensible words she muttered did it for her and well, maybe him too for he had problems staying still. He had frowned afterwards when she uttered a brief ‘thank you’ and got off the phone. For days, they stayed out of contact until the restlessness began. He had to see her. He had to put a face to the person. She refused seeing him after arousing all kinds of sensations in him. Each time they talked, she added spice to her act until he couldn’t bear it any longer. Whenever he asks to see her, she’ll come up with an excuse and hang up so he began planning on a meeting. Aura had called him to say she was low on cash and so Tito arranged for her to meet with his driver only he drove himself to the Palms instead. He had parked his car and was walking towards the mall when he caught sight of her amidst the tons of people trouping in and out of the mall. Her back was to him, she was punching on her phone and he just knew she was the one. When she turned, her hair took a brilliant toss, giving him a perfect view of her face. He was dumbstruck. She had the loveliest breast he had ever seen in a long time.  He gave her a once over. Make that long, long time. Breast slightly bigger than you’d think she was capable of bearing. But when she walked Tito lost it completely. He glanced at his ringing phone, drawing it to his ears. “Just keep walking forward.” He whispered He did an exaggerated shopping for her. She hadn’t recovered from seeing him in person and she was so shy to even utter one word without stammering. After shopping round for her and buying things he saw amazed her from the corner of his eye, he moved over to the boutique beside the mall to spoil her some more before taking her home. He remembered her saying she lived alone somewhere close to the University campus so he offered to drive her home. It was strange. They were still not talking. Twice he had tried to make conversation and though she had laughed, the entire spark from her wasn’t there. When he made to touch her seat-belt, she had flinched and he had felt really embarrassed. He kept his eye on the road and kept driving until she said. “Please turn left.” That voice! She indicated that he stopped in front of a brown story building. There were two men, probably the guards sitting on a long wooden bench outside. There was a very irritating pause before she sighed. “Thanks for everything.” She said and dashed in. She couldn’t have run faster if he suddenly turned into a monster. Tito was in shock. What the hell was that? He kept asking himself. She hadn’t even taken the shopping bags.  He walked out, towards the mallams at the gate. He didn’t know what apartment was hers. He didn’t even know her name. “Oga, well done o.” They had seen Aura run off from his car and were looking at him warily. He was still speechless. “Erm… the lady who…?” he indicated “Aunty Oyinkan? I sabi am.” “Please come help me get these things for her.” He dropped the bags for the guy and tipped him accordingly driving off asking himself, ‘What in heaven’s name happened to Aura?’ Oyster! Photo by mashable.com