"Admit what? There's nothing to admit, I was just..." She was saying trying to save face after making a fool of herself before he interrupted
"You were just what? Didn't I just saw the joy of seeing me stamped all over your face right now?" He said with a smirk, not letting her finish her statement before cutting her off.
Abby was annoyed by his condescending attitude and also annoyed with herself for giving him the opportunity to mock her.
'How could he be this arrogant and so full of himself?' she wondered. She wanted to badly wipe that smug look off his handsome face. The smile she had on her face when she saw him slowly disappeared.
"I'm afraid you are mistaken. I don't know what made you think I care that much about you when we don't even know each other that well."
They truly do not know each other that well since they've only sat down together once for like five minutes after the day they met.
"Ouch, that hurt! To think I've been counting the days till I see you again...only to now hear you say this to me hurt my feelings." He said with an exaggerated pained look on his face.
Abby was pissed at him because it was very clear to her that he was just winding her up. 'How can he say he counted the days when he could have easily called me'.
But the thought that he counted the days secretly gladdens Abby's heart but she carefully concealed her facial expression this time around.
Abby was never been short of men's attention. It has been like that since when she was old enough to attract the opposite sex, even shameless men that were old enough to be her father...she attracted them all like bees to nectar.
She had even master the act of ignoring their advances, she never let all the attention gets into her head because she knew all they ever wanted was sex and nothing more, she had learned that lesson four years ago the very hard way.
The problem now is that; she even found it very difficult to be attracted to men she was sure were serious about having a future with her... a man like Mike, that Abby still couldn't get herself to kiss even after going on three dates with him.
Abby had met Mike a year ago when he was writing his final exam for his master's degree at the University of Lagos where she also schooled.
Mike that was every woman's dream, every woman of marriageable age's prayer points. Good looking, comes from a good Christian home, a good personality, a very good job in a reputable communication firm, plus his own small but lucrative business on the side.
She thought Mike was different since she could bear his presence long enough to talk and go on a date with him. But she was wrong.
Abby knew she and Mike can never be together after he tried to kiss her in his car when dropping her off at home on their third date.
Their lips had not even touched when Abby panicked. Her heart started racing and pounding hard, she felt nauseous and felt like she wanted to faint. It was so bad she had to quickly get out of the car to throw up inside the trash can left in front of the house for the garbage truck.
Her therapist called it panic attack which was one of the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Ever since then, she told him they can't be romantically involved, they can never go any further than friendship and he agreed. They've been friends ever since.
Chima was the first man apart from her brothers, she could stand near. He was a model and also enjoyed dancing like Abby. They met at group therapy for people who had been sexually abused.
Chima was abused for five years by his aunt whom he and his sister Chika stayed with after they lost their mom, till he ran away. He hated women and couldn't get close to one, likewise Abby who couldn't bear a man's touch.
He never asks her to be in a romantic relationship with him, they just found a common ground through dance and became each other's first healing. They've been modeling and dancing together ever since.
She felt nothing for men, no matter how rich, handsome, or how good their personality was. This somehow got Abby and her mom worried, for her to still be having abhorrence for the opposite sex after being attended to by different therapists?...
'I hope I've not been damaged for life?' That has always been the question that comes to mind each time she felt revulsion after she was approached by a man for a relationship...until she met Olatunde Paul Beckley.
Even though her hearts palpitate each time they came close to each other, she could tell it was as a result of excitement and not PTSD.
"How did you know where I live anyway... I can't remember giving you my address" she asked, quickly changing the topic.
"I have my ways"
"What way is that, if I may ask?"
"You don't need to worry your pretty head about that," he said, tapping her on her temple. "What you should be happy about is the fact that I'm here... Your days of missing me are finally over," he said self righteously, grinning from ear to ear.
"You are something else, aren't you?...acting like you are some kind of God's gift to the women's world"
"Well...I'm not acting so don't get it twisted" he smiled with a smug look on his face. "I am indeed some kind of God's gift to the women folks"