Inside out, p.14
Inside Out, page 14
In her entire confession, Nkoyo didn’t mention breaking off the engagement. Onen assumes it still stood, despite her feelings for him. So, is he supposed to be a fling? The notion infuriates him despite the heightened arousal he experiences kissing her for the first time.
Additionally, Onen can’t help but put himself in the shoes of the other prince. He would go stark raving mad if he knew his wife to be had cheated on him.
Even though the prince is faceless, Onen accords him respect as a fellow royal.
Nkoyo sucks the lobe of his ear into her hot mouth, and he groans. Pressing his painful erection into her hand one last time, he withdraws from her.
Nkoyo’s legs almost give way beneath her when Onen shifts away. Her eyes widen while she tries to control her breathing.
“What…why?” she protests, her luscious bosom heaving.
“We can’t do this…it’s wrong. Please, return to your room,” he says officiously, like the prince he is. Despite the bulge straining the front of his slacks, he manages to sound as though giving a royal decree.
“But Onen,” she whispers, pleading.
“What we are doing is inappropriate,” his voice hardens to shards that slice into Nkoyo’s heart. His face seems closed off from whatever she might say.
With a sad smile, just so she doesn’t cry in front of him for her shame, she straightens to her full height and walks out of his room with all the dignity she can muster.
***
Why did the queen send her on this errand? There were many maids and workers at the palace who she could direct to show the prince to his room, but she had chosen Wofai.
Wofai fumes as she speeds up the stairs, ignoring the equally racing male trailing behind her. Of course, a part of her mind reasons that the queen has no idea that anything had occurred between them. Yet, the question remains, why is he suddenly here and wanting to spend not just the night but the whole weekend?
Ekong waits until they are on the second floor, far away from others and from listening ears.
“Princess Wofai,” he calls out, and the svelte woman pretends she hadn’t heard him and increases her pace towards, Ekong assumes, his room for the weekend.
She was pleasant at the meal, but Ekong noticed she looked everywhere but at him. He assumes she found out he was engaged to the princess of the house. He prefers to tell her himself, but what difference does it make, barring another screaming episode?
However, it doesn’t stop him from talking to her. He thinks about her frequently. Sick of it, he wants to prove to himself that their electricity together was a myth, a one-time thing.
“Princess Wofai!” he calls louder and jogs after her. He won’t have done this with Nkoyo, who isn’t a sulky female anyway. She meets issues head-on and solves them. She is as practical as he is.
He can’t imagine a situation where he has to run after Nkoyo to get her attention because she is angry. It’d be a waste of time for them because he won’t pursue her, and she won’t solve anything.
It surprises him, though, when he finds himself enjoying this chase, knowing deep down he will catch up and have this conversation with her, whether Wofai likes it or not. Despite the threat of another scream, Ekong is looking forward to the fight…weird but shockingly exhilarating.
They reach his room, and she points at it with a glare at him and turns to leave. Ekong fights a wide grin at her fiery attitude, catches her arm as she sails past him and drags her spewing grunts and bodily harm into his room. Then for good measure, he locks the door.
“You’ve ignored me the whole evening. That ends now,” he orders in an authoritative voice.
Wofai’s eyes narrow furiously. The man had no idea she wasn’t a fan of male arrogance in any of its forms.
“Or what?” she challenges with a sneer. Her legs parting in a battle-ready stance, Wofai wishes she has her tennis balls. He would have felt the brunt of her fury.
“I’m Prince Ekong Effiong Offiong of Ibibio kingdom—”
“Are your name and title supposed to have some sort of subservient effect on me?” she interrupts sardonically.
Ekong reels back and wonders what will intimidate this slight woman. She is maybe, 5’5 and he towers over her at 6ft, but she is challenging him quite fearlessly. On second thoughts, he wonders why he wants to intimidate her when he simply wants to know what there is to know about her, including why she screamed that day.
So, he changes tactics.
“Why did you scream the other day?” he asks after a sigh.
Wofai appears apprehensive at his question.
Her heart thumps as she wonders why he looks down at her with concern and emotion she cannot discern. So far, she has only been comfortable enough with the queen to share her issues. And she is succeeding and working through them. She is conscious now that there is no perfect woman. However, her low self-esteem reminds her that princess Nkoyo is not perfect, but she has this man she wants.
Mentally shaking her head, Wofai reminds herself she can have a man too because she is beautiful, intelligent, and a good woman.
She takes a deep breath, just like the queen had counselled and drops her defensive stance. She must learn to stop assuming every man was out to demean her.
“I’m sorry if I scared you, but I get that way when I’m threatened and furious,” she replies in a less challenging tone.
“Why not now?” he asks curiously, moving surreptitiously towards her.
She sighs again, “I’m working at stopping it.”
He moves again, his heart hammering because he can feel the electric connection between them. It hums heavily, waiting to spark.
This time though, Wofai catches his movement and gives him a suspicious frown.
“You are engaged to Princess Nkoyo,” she blurts, a bit of her anger spilling into her words.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” he says, still moving closer.
Wofai steps back, beginning to feel threatened. “Sorry for what? The unsolicited kiss?”
She has no idea why she is breathing heavily. She does feel the tension in her chest but not the kind that made her want to empty her lungs.
“No, I’m sorry for being engaged,” he murmurs in a voice gone soft.
“But…but that kiss was inappropriate, you should apologize,” she says and takes several steps backwards. He is stalking her like a predator chasing its prey. The thought is oddly exciting that she would be prey to this handsome, majestic man. Still inappropriate but exciting.
No man has chased her before. She doesn’t even know what he wants to do to her. But then his being sorry about the engagement makes her heart leap with hope and then fall again because she will disappoint the queen, and she doesn’t want to do that. The woman was kind and patient in bringing back her confidence and erasing her inferiority complex.
“I’m not going to do that, Wofai. I can see your heartbeat at the base of your neck, and your breathing is getting erratic. Are you threatened and furious, Wofai?” he sounds like he is taunting her.
Taking a deep breath, she shakes her head while her chest rises and falls heavily. Deep down, she wonders if I scream, will he kiss me again?
“I kind of want you to scream, Wofai,” he says and stalks her until she has her back against the wall.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Wofai says, making a snap decision. She wants to taste him once again, engaged or not. Excitement spiking her blood, she narrows her eyes, takes a deep breath, and prepares to scream.
Ekong grins in victory, his heart hammering in his chest as he swiftly closes the space between them. He doesn’t allow her scream to spill. Instead, he swallows it all as he fuses his lips to hers and revels in the fire they create.
After bending over her for a while, he picks her up, her back still leaning on the wall. He directs her legs around his hips without their lips ever unlocking. Her arms go round his neck, and she enjoys the new position of bending slightly to continue kissing him.
Ekong feels the fire in his belly. How could he forfeit this for just friendship? They gasp as they withdraw for breath, their eyes locking into each other, profoundly understanding the extraordinariness of these feelings between them.
Words weren’t necessary. The hard thumps of their hearts said it all. The shivers travelling all over their bodies, the unseen sparks and the undeniable chemistry made a summation.
Ekong swallows hard, and her gaze follows his lips, tracking the bobbing of his Adam’s apple in his throat. Her tongue swipes over her lower lip greedily, and Ekong growls in answering hunger.
They move as one and meet in the middle, his lips devouring hers completely. Wofai slips down a bit from the wall and wedges perfectly against him. Her jeans-clad warmth and softness pressed against his hot hard length.
Ekong can’t control the instant rocking of his hips. He squeezes her body against him and groans at the tiny sounds of pleasure she makes.
When next they separate for breath, Wofai looks at him in dismay.
“What are we going to do?” she asks because she realizes, same as he has, that the feelings are unavoidably powerful between them.
Ekong swallows with some difficulty, he has no answer for her, but he knows she feels right in his arms.
15
If you’ve noticed, I’ve been a bit quiet. I left in the face of so much lovey-dovey happening in every corner. Ha, these people can make a girl jealous. They make me begin to contemplate confronting Trouble with my feelings, but, well, let this tale end first.
Nkoyo would have laughed in anybody’s face who dared, a month ago, to tell her that she’d be in this much pain because of a man. It isn’t physical pain, but it affects her as such. The morning after Onen rejects her in his room, she goes to breakfast with a migraine. Yet, she can’t stop thinking and wondering why he sent her away despite the passion between them.
Onen returns to avoiding her like he used to, but this time, it hurts her so much she cries herself to sleep a couple of nights. It should have been more, but she is a practical person. Sobbing won’t solve anything. However, it doesn’t stop the urge whenever his gaze goes over her as though she is invisible.
Continuously, Nkoyo wonders how he can switch off his feelings towards her. She tries to reason it, but it is impossible, and it’s something she does not want to dwell on. Except, her feelings for Onen are new. These feelings are a miracle, a fantasy made real.
All she needs is a chance to speak with him. she needs to find out the problem and solve it. She hates this limbo of waiting uncertainly. Why is he being so difficult? She explained she has no feelings for Ekong. Doesn’t he understand that means the engagement is over?
One thing Nkoyo loves about her parents is their liberal attitude where it concerns marriage. If she didn’t agree to the engagement with Ekong, it wouldn’t have happened.
Now she understands the great need to spend the rest of one’s life with someone special, and she will not settle for less.
In fact, even though Onen refuses for whatever misguided reason to have anything to do with her, she still won’t settle for less.
Now that she’s experienced the hot taste of passion, she never wants to erase the pleasure with something less. This isn’t a surprise as she always has high expectations. For her, it is the best or nothing.
She accepted Ekong as her future husband because his kingdom has a higher status than the other two princes that had also been vying for her hand. Now that she had experienced Onen and the intense emotion she’d suspected was love, nothing less than love would tarnish it for her.
So, on the fifth day of Onen’s silence and avoidance, she dresses up and goes down for another painful breakfast session and drive to the mill.
Liman and Jesam, after much finger biting, decide to step in and stop a potentially complicated and quite dangerous situation. Obviously, the kids are in love, and knowing their son, they understand he is fighting his emotions. But, as a man of integrity, he will never pursue another man’s woman.
Jesam bleeds for his pain. She wishes the princess would leave, but from her sessions with Nkoyo, Jesam knows that the young woman can be tenacious. She obviously reciprocates her son’s feelings. Her longing stares during meals are a testament to her confusion about his reticence. But Jesam knows it is a matter of time before Nkoyo confronts Onen.
Jesam wants to avoid that confrontation and to ease her son’s discomfort.
Onen arrives at breakfast and takes his seat. Nobody knows that before he walks into the dining room, he stops at the door and takes deep, calming breaths that hopefully will take him through the meal. And he will need more to take him through the drive with Nkoyo to the mill.
An ordinary woman would stop going to work and try several times to avoid him, but no. Nkoyo isn’t that way, and even though it annoys him, he also admires her strength. He misses those times when he would escape from breakfast into his car and off to the mill. Not anymore, not when she is everywhere. Her scent is everywhere and, therefore, no ease to his longing for her.
It is worse since he now knows the taste of her succulent lips and the feel of her sumptuous body. And even if blindfolded, he can find her in the crowd by her scent. The woman is driving him mad, especially when he catches her staring with questions and longings that mirrors his in her eyes.
He is glad when he gets to the mill. He is happy to flee her presence and join the manual labour downstairs. Sometimes he wonders how he swallows his food despite the mighty lump that has taken permanent residence in his throat.
The king clears his throat after a telling gaze from his wife. They have come to love the princess, especially after she began changing into a decent human being. However, their son’s sanity comes first, and they don’t want to seem rude by telling the girl she has to go. Also, they don’t want to let the kids know they are aware of how they felt for each other.
“I need you in the meeting with the chiefs today, Onen,” Liman says after taking a sip of water.
Onen looks up with a curious frown, wondering why his father needs him in a minor meeting with his chiefs? His gaze drifts and meets Nkoyo’s. The effect is still the same. His heart leaps, and his whole body stiffens. He looks away swiftly.
“Is everything okay?” he murmurs.
“I just need your opinion about something. It means though that you’ll get to the mill late,” Liman points out.
Nkoyo frowns. She has work to do and isn’t sure one day will be enough, so going to the mill late is a problem.
Jesam is glad to catch the frown of worry on Nkoyo’s face. In fact, she was watching out for the expression.
“The driver could take you, dear, not to worry,” Jesam assures, and Nkoyo smiles her thanks at the queen.
Onen is secretly relieved that he will not have to drive with her to the mill today. It is a temporary reprieve, but it offers some relief all the same. He enters the meeting chamber with his father while Nkoyo leaves the palace in the car with a driver.
Twenty-five minutes into the meeting, Onen still has no idea when his opinion will be needed. The chiefs welcome him warmly, teasing that it had been a while since the last time he joined their meeting. Afterwards, they ignore him. Nevertheless, he listens, even though he fights to concentrate while struggling with the thoughts of Nkoyo.
Thirty minutes later, a commotion interrupts the meeting when a dishevelled driver, the same one assigned to Nkoyo that morning, narrates a ridiculous story of bandits kidnapping the princess.
Onen is sure his heart stopped beating for a whole minute, not that he is counting. But the fear that suffuses him for Nkoyo is instant, and the guilt that he was relieved earlier about not driving her to work competes with the anxiety.
Atam is one of the safest kingdoms in the south. There has never been a kidnapping incident, so Onen can’t explain this one. He listens for the location with a thumping heart, and before he knows what he is doing, he leaves his dad and enters the king’s study to retrieve his hunting rifle.
He can’t stand around doing nothing. He won’t live with himself if anything happens to Nkoyo. Maybe he can’t claim her as his own, but he doesn’t want her harmed either. So, while his parents and the chiefs stand around deciding their subsequent actions, he is in his car with his father’s gun on the passenger’s seat.
Onen drove like a mad man and prayed fervently that he wasn’t too late.
***
It feels like a dream. One minute, she has the pressing urge to shed tears for Onen’s attitude, the next minute, the car is faced with two masked and armed bandits, demanding that she step out of the vehicle.
She obeys on shaky legs, her heart races in terror while she wonders why this is happening to her. Is she paying for her sins? Onen does not want her, and now, she is being robbed, she thought, her fear increasing.
“Take everything, and leave us alone,” Nkoyo offers with blustering courage that she isn’t really feeling.
“We don’t want those things. We want you, Princess,” one of the bandits says, causing her heart to go into overdrive.
Her brain melts in the rush of terror that attacks her chest. She can’t understand what they mean. And before she can bolster another scoop of courage to ask, the driver bolts, leaving her there alone with the dangerous men.
They shoot at him, and the report of the gun sends Nkoyo to her knees while she screams at the top of her lungs. Her screams are not in a bid to attract attention but out of debilitating fear for her life. They drag her into the forest when her legs can’t support her.
When her legs bruise and begin hurting from the short drag, she struggles to her feet and follows the men who don’t seem to be in a hurry to flee the scene of their crime.
“Please, I’m the daughter of the king of Efik kingdom, my father will pay handsomely for me, and I’m a guest of the king of Atam kingdom. Please just let me go,” she pleads.
