Dorothy was now in a real panic. She tried his cell phone again. The mobile phone subscriber could still not be reached.
She decided to send him a message so that when he finally switched on his phone, he may just be able to get it.
PLEASE CALL ME BACK VERY, VERY, URGENTLY-DOROTHY.
Then the real agony began. She was sure that Rai was dead by now. Kib came late in the evening as usual. Naturally he could not understand her mood and got even more confused when she gave herself to him. But it was all mechanical. The way you would go to the toilet for a long call. Her heart was with Rai, if he was alive that is.
She kept her mobile phone on the whole night. She got up to go to work in the morning more exhausted than she had been going to bed the previous night. She was now sure that Rai was dead. He had probably committed suicide. She blamed herself and quietly mourned for him.
What was wrong with her anyway. When women everywhere would have given anything to be with such a sensitive man as Rai, she had rejected him. Look where it had landed her, she chided herself repeatedly.
The call came in at 9:45 when she was in a meeting. She had forgotten to switch off her phone and everybody looked at her angrily. She quickly reached into her purse and was just about to switch off the phone when her eyes caught the caller ID. It couldn’t be. She must be seeing things.
“I’m sorry, I have to take this one, it is a matter of life and death,” she said getting up hurriedly from the table and breaking every company rule and risking everything to take this one call. “It’s an emergency. A matter of life and death,” she repeated before slamming the door to the board room and hurriedly walking towards the reception and the lifts.
“Rai?” was all she could call out into the phone. Not knowing quite what to say
“Dorothy. Is There a problem?” his voice sounded anxious.
“Why did you switch off your phone?”
That one caught Rai off balance. What was wrong with this woman?
“Why were you looking for me?” Rai asked directly.
That caught Dorothy off balance too. She panicked.
“I’m really sorry to bother you.” She hang up.
He called back immediately. She did not take his call. By this time she was in the ladies. She walked into an empty cubicle placed the cover down and sat. Her mobil;e phone was still ringing. She disconnected the call and Rai called again. When she had disconnected the call for the fourth time she started crying again, feeling very confused.
SO NOW YOU HAVE DECIDED TO PLAY WITH MY HEART? Was the SMS she suddenly received from Rai.
I’M NOT PLAYING WITH U, I WAS SO WORRIED 4 U. she replied finding messaging a much easier way to communicate.
THEN CAN U TELL ME WHAT’S GOING ON?
CAN WE MEET?
I AM IN MALINDI
She got the idea suddenly and it grabbed her so that she could not let go.
PLS TELL ME EXACTLY WHERE U ARE?
She went back into the office and locked her desk. She told one of her colleagues that there was an emergency situation she had to deal with, ignoring all the company rules and procedures. She felt good as the morning sun bathed her the minute she stepped out into the streets. She felt happy fopr the first time in a long, long time.
* * *
There was a young attractive woman with Rai in the hotel room in the Malindi hotel where Dorothy had gone to surprise him. Rai was so shocked to see her there that he was lost for words when he opened the door. He just opened and shut his mouth like a fish that was out of air.
He finally recovered and leaving the woman in the room gently guided Dorothy to the Hotel restaurant. Three stiff drinks later she felt a little giddy and started telling him off.
* * *
To date Kib doesn’t know what hit him. How his bride of two months moved in with that struggling accountant called Rai. A man whom Kib would have easily employed in his company. What really got to him was the loss of face. A woman leaving you was not good for any man’s CV.
Once he met them at a restaurant somewhere in the Kilimani area, behaving like some high school kids in love. He was totally disgusted. What he did not know and would never know is the fact that he was the one who had pushed his wife to Rai and in just two months flat of marriage had caused Dorothy to fall passionately in love with Rai.
He would never know that had he not come along Dorothy would never have loved Rai the way she did now. Let alone taken a bus all the way from Nairobi to a Malindi hotel to be with him.
...Ends
