Settling for comfortable...

Bassey watched Ekem laugh. He liked her laughter. It was uncoordinated or how his mother would have said it 'unladylike'. He liked it. It didn't pretend. It was free and loud when it needed to be. It was her exactly who she was.

Bassey had met Ekem about a year ago. She had caught his attention with that laughter in a gathering stifled to its neck with social constraints. He came to adore the way her clothes announced itself in this part of the world. It gave the illusion that she didn't care much for her appearance or anyone's opinion but a closer look at her face and one could see her eyelids smudged with a light mascara and her lips shinning with lip gloss.

He had come to understand that that was her style. She had spent most of her earlier years studying in Europe and had adopted their careless disregard for clothes.

Bassey knew 6 weeks into getting to know Ekem that she wasn't it. His heart never skipped beats whenever she walked into the room like it did for Baaba but he couldn't help but remain comfortable with her and at this point that's all he needed. Mary, his little sister, found his love for romance infuriating. She said he treated every relationship like Woody Allen had his signature all over it. It made him laugh when she said that but he had to admit he was a sucker for love and romantic movies. He enjoyed the exaggerated lines and extravagant gestures. He often pictured himself at Times Square even though he had never been. The place flooded with people and then... her. Her, whose hair is nothing like Ekem's. Her back drifting away slowly through the busy crowd and somehow she turns and she catches his eye. He gives the most elaborate speech ever. He didn't know what it will be. He hadn't thought that far ahead but then she smiles, runs into his arms and kisses him. That was it. The aftermath was still unknown to him. No movie had gone beyond this point.