INTRAPERSONAL-3

INTRAPERSONAL

Rony Brown

Episode three

Well, it has almost been a week into her visit and not a word has been exchanged between Victoria and Eric.

She was a still raw about her sister’s stunt.
She still disliked her sister’s husband.

That was until she found her sister slaving in the kitchen and sweating into …erhhmmm… something she was cooking.

“Hey, Bertha. What are you doing?” Victoria asked.

“What does it look like I’m doing?”

“Why, is Sam sick?”

“No, this is not soup.” Bertha was as red in the face as any fair coloured African girl could be.

“Yea, I know that. Is it some sort of medicine?” Victoria asked with her most innocent smile.

After all, it did smell like one of the bitter brew of herbs our mother forced us to drink. However we survived those years of poisoning, only God knows!

Bertha hurled the ladle at Victoria with all her might and drew her hands to her mouth to still the trembling of such an exertion.

Surely, I couldn’t have such an effect on my sister!

“What is wrong?” Victoria was surprised at her sister’s reaction. She approached Bertha cautiously. Bertha looked like she could still pour the soup in Vic’s face if Vic dared take one wrong move.

Then in one swift yet gracious move- you can trust Bertha to pull this off- she dump herself on the floor and let herself go then started to heave with desperate sobs; the kind Victoria had never heard come out of her sister’s mouth.

“Bertha!” Victoria quickly rushed to her side and threw her arms around her sister. Victoria thought she was only bone and sinew; no softness. In that instance, she knew better. Before long, she was also sobbing with her sister.

The pain of losing her patient suddenly hit Victoria like a hammer. Something that had never happened to her before. It didn’t take long for her to be crying louder than her sister. In the end, she was the one in need of consoling.

They finally settled on the sofa in the hall; Victoria’s head on Bertha’s lap and Bertha soothing Victoria’s hair.

“Why were you crying?” Bertha asked.

“You started first. So let’s hear it.” Vic said.

It seems it had been on Bertha’s chest for a long while now because immediately Vic finished talking, Bertha’s lips started trembling again.

“He has been sleeping with the cook.”

Victoria sat up slowly.

“What?”

The calm in her voice betrayed the turmoil in her body.

“And the maid. And our neighbour’s daughter and God knows who else he has been doi…” Bertha could not hold it in any longer. Her tears began to flow with even more abandon.

“Fuck it and get a divorce.”

Bertha looked at Victoria with something of a mix of dread and shock on her face.

“Why are you giving me that look? He is probably fucking his secretary right about now. What would you do? Huh? Become his secretary?”

“Damn it, Vic!”

Pttsss Bertha never cusses.

She stopped herself before she said more. Bertha would rather walk off than to face the truth. But she could not go any further because Victoria grabbed her arm.

“Let go of me. You stand on your pedestal of singleness and shout divorce!” Bertha’s voice was cool. “But you know the society we live in. You don’t walk out on your marriage no matter how bad it gets. So I am staying in this dysfunctional façade called marriage and I’m going to make it work.”

She snatched her arms out of Vic’s hand and walked off into the kitchen.

Three slow claps came from behind her. Victoria whirled back so suddenly that she almost bumped into him.

This better not be the him-him.

Vic looked up slowly. She was not surprised when the face of trouble met her. She stepped back and scoffed.

“That was a beautiful exchange.” He smirked.

“Fuck you.”

“Is that the best you can come up with?”

“Go fuck yourself!”

“You know that isn’t any better.”

Victoria could not stand him anymore. She started out.

“I own you dearieeeeee…” She heard Eric snarl as she walked off.

Supper was awkward. Everyone was quieter than usual. The tension crackled louder than usual. And the food, well…

“This food is awful!” Sam finally said.

Still not a single sound, although Bertha’s eyes instantly filled up.

“Something interesting happened today.” Eric said.

Cutlery scuttled onto their ceramic plates, all eyes were fixed on Eric’s face. Victoria’s eyes dared him to speak. Suddenly, Bertha burst out in tears and practically fled from the dining room. Sam followed her;

Leaving Victoria and Eric in the same room.

“This is my first time.” Victoria cooed.

“Sorry, did it scare you much?” Eric said in an even smother tone.

Victoria stood. Her hips swayed seductively as she approached Eric. Her hands caressed her full lips abruptly. Then she leaned slightly on the dining table, close to Eric’s side.

“Huh… this is my first time meeting a mitch; you know, a male bitch? A male gossip? A male fo…”

“Don’t you dare!” Eric stood and towered over her; their faces so close, they could feel each other’s breath.

For a second or two, time stood still. Very still.

Then everything shattered. Eric lifted Victoria unto the dining table with their eyes still testing each other. Then lips met lips in one crushing moment. Tongues explored tongues; teeth clashed against teeth. They sucked and bit…and touched.

Ceramic broke and cutlery clattered on the floor. And yet, they were oblivious. All they wanted was to memorise the taste of each other; know it better than anyone ever has. Until they also wanted to memorise the very curves and contours on each other’s bodies.

That was when the spell broke for Victoria. That would have been the point of no return. So she pushed him back with all her might although she wanted him more than anything else.

The raw look on his face almost shattered her resolve. She gathered her wits and whispered softly.

“I guess we are even now.”

And even as she walked away, she knew she was going to have long and sleepless nights over this kiss.

Very long nights indeed!