Tangled With A Priest

 What a good way to start her morning. "If you're very observant, Father, you'd see I'm not chewing gum today."

 "How easy it is to tame you."

 "I believe it's only animals that can be tamed," she replied. 

 He rose a brow and tutted. "Are you trying to call yourself an animal then?"

 "You misunderstand me, maybe you did not have a good night rest and your head feels heavy."

 "How blessed I am for you to worry about my night." 

 She offered him a tight smile. "If you don't mind, we were on our way to the canteen."

 "We shall go together then, as that is where we are headed."

 "Staff breakfast ended an hour ago," she reminded, wanting to be as far as possible away from him. 

 "Didn't say we were going there to eat," the other priest said. "Ivie, was it? You're Ivie?"

 What did he mean she was Ivie? She looked from Father Chibuike to him before answering, "Yes, Father."

 "The real one?" He pressed. 

 "Real one?"

 "Father Chibuike told me some Ivie was supposed to come to the detention, yesterday or the day before, but when Ivie came she didn't have the same description as what I was expecting, so I suspect this is the real one while the other one was fake."

 Gaga laughed awkwardly. "Oh, don't take that to heart. She was sick that day, so I sent somebody."

 "A delegate, I see," Father Chibuike said. "Makes me wonder who would voluntarily agree to go on behalf of another person to serve detention."

 "You're not in any way bullies, are you?" Father Ekene cocked a brow, looking from one to another. 

 "If you have any doubts you can ask the girl," Ivie said dryly, trying not to roll her eyes. 

 "That I will very much do, and maybe she can also confirm that you were seriously ill to not serve your detention, but not seriously ill to visit the infirmary. Shall we?"

 It's been just three days since the priest came, and yet she felt like he's been tormenting her life for two years. She led the walk, her steps ahead of the rest. 

 "Why did you decide to be a priest, Father Chibuike?" Gaga suddenly asked and Ivie slowed her steps, curious as to what his answer would be. 

 Father Chibuike smiled. "I fell in love with God."

 Fell in love with God? That was an expression that was rarely used. "How do one fall in love with God? Like you fall in love with other people?" Ivie asked. 

 "Have you ever fallen in love with other people?" Father Chibuike asked. 

 "Does it matter? Do you fall in love with other people?" She asked back. 

 "He can't fall in love with other people, when you became a priest of God, you loose your ability to love," the priestess, Sister Agatha, explained, talking for the first time. "It's like you have a husband, you're supposed to love him alone, if you don't, then it's cheating. Do you want to cheat on God?"

 "Your example suffers credibility," Father Ekene interrupted. "How can he have a husband when he's a man."

 "I was talking to the girl who asked."

 "Can I disagree?" Father Chibuike rose his hand, as if asking for permission. "In Igbo language, the word for love is Ifunanya, but Ifunanya does not literally means love, its literal meaning is to see with the eyes, and when we want to say 'I love you', we say a furu m gi n'anya which literally means I've seen you through with my eyes. How can I love God who I cannot see when I've unlearnt how to love Father Ekene who I can seen?" He asked.

 "So you're a priest but you can love me?" Itohan asked, looking for clarification. 

 "I love you," Father Chibuike replied in a matter of factly tone. "That's the only way I can truly love God."

 Ivie stared at him, reasoning with his logic. "How then did you fall in love with God?" They had reached the canteen and Ivie stretch her hand to open the door. At the same time, Father Ekene did same and their hands met at the door. Immediately, the world around her disappeared and she saw herself standing in an office. She stood there, confused. Where was she?

 She spun on her heel when she heard soft moans and shocked her eyes when she saw the priest kissing someone. He wore mufti and appeared smaller in size than he actually was, but she knew it was him, it was him she touched. His hand rested on the person's waist, keeping a distance between them. His head was tilted to the side and she watched as he slowly kissed his lover. She stood there, shocked to her bone. Wh…hat was happening? She took a dreadful step further and when the priest parted his lips from that of his lover, she saw the face of Sister Agatha heated, her lips swollen. 

 Their contact was severed and Ivie stumbled back. JohnMary quickly held her from falling. "Are you okay?" Concern laced his voice. 

 Her eyes locked with Father Ekene, and then it travelled slowly to the priestess who both looked at her in concern, maybe worry. She blinked. She had just seen them kissing. 

 "Are you okay?" Father Ekene touched her arm lightly. 

 Intinctively, she swung it away and distanced herself from him, causing a furrow to form between his brows. Her reaction was alarming. Father Chibuike was staring at her intently, as if trying to understand what changed within the last minutes. 

 "Ivie?" JohnMary shook her shoulders and it jerked her from her haze. 

 "Y…yes?" She shook her head, willing normalcy to return to her. "I think I'm having a fever, it's making me dizzy."

 "You were fine a while ago," Itohan said, touching her head. "Your temperature is okay."

 She shrugged JohnMary's hand off her shoulder. "I felt dizzy all of a sudden."

 "Sister Agatha works in the infirmary, you should go with her and receive medical check up," Father Chibuike proposed. 

 "I'm fine, Father." She waved her hand in dismissal. 

 "I insist," he deadpanned. 

 "I'll pass."

 "As the one in charge of your form, I insist."

 Ivie groaned. She had just wanted to get breakfast! "I'm really okay, I've not had breakfast so I'm probably hungry."

 "For somebody who lies a lot you want me to believe that?"