Gloria had been working for almost two hours when the phone on her desk rang. She picked the receiver and quite reluctantly began to speak.
"This is Gloria Auma speaking, the port operations manager." Her voice was quite shrill.
"Gloria? How wonderful! This is Esau." A chuckle could be heard over the other end. "We were together at the party last night, remember, eh? Did you reach safely?"
Gloria's face froze. The stranger was back! The same voice that she had mistaken for Esau's except for its deepness. It was the same man who bedded her at the Whispering Palms, where she had mistaken him for Esau.
Gloria almost replaced the receiver when she realized the man was still putting on the act. But on second thoughts, she realized she had to seek the truth about the stranger.
After all, he resembled Esau in everything. She had to learn more about the stranger she had loved the previous night.
"Gloria? Are you still there?" Jacob's voice came back when he realized there was a long pause.
Then Gloria made up her mind. The stranger had to know he could no longer fool her. "Look here, stranger, you're not Esau! You can't fool me anymore. Just who are you?"
A long pause followed.
"Is that so Gloria? What's happening to you?" Jacob was speaking at the other end.
"Come on, stop the act. You know I mistook you for my fiancé last evening and even made…" She spoke harshly and paused. "Who are you? I want to know why…"
The voice at the other end came back. "You said you wanted to know me. Well, I'm Jacob Karahani!"
Gloria was thunderstruck. That was Esau's surname! The man had admitted he was not Esau, but Jacob.
Were they twin brothers? Gloria started wondering. Then the biblical story of Jacob and Esau clicked in her mind; the two sons of Isaac.
She recalled the story of the twins who had struggled against each other in their mother's womb. Then Jacob was reported to have fought against God and won. But he had wept and asked for God's blessing when he realized he had wrestled against a superior power. Was it now a replay of the story of Jacob and Esau?
"Gloria, are you still there?" The voice which she thought resembled Esau's came back. "Look, I don't care whom you mistook me for last night, but I love you. I also want to see you again, if not very soon."
"The same demanding voice," thought Gloria, as she tried to find words to say.
"Wait!" She sounded excited now. "Are you related to the Karahanis? I mean Alfredo Karahani and his son Esau?"
At the other end of the line, Jacob froze at the mention of his father's name. Then he spoke, "Alfredo Karahani is my father whom I've been eagerly looking for since I came to Mombasa. But I don't know the other man you're talking about; the man you call Esau Karahani."
"But that's Alfredo Karahani's son. How can you fail to know your own brother?"
"I don't care who the hell he is. I'm only eager to find my father. You see; I've never met him since my childhood. Can you lead me to him?"
"But you must know Esau." She was persistent. "You look so much like him. Are you his twin brother? No wonder that's why I mistook you for him and let you fool around with me."
She was now giggling over the phone. The stranger she feared could shatter a blow to her romantic life was indeed Alfredo Karahani's son. They must be twins also, she told herself, and one was as good as the other.
"Gloria," Jacob was saying, "I like you. You're also my only lead to my father, whom I almost gave up looking for. I know I have no brother called Esau. I don't know anyone by that name; so he must be a phoney."
"He isn't!" Her voice was sharp. "Didn't I tell you I mistook you for him?"
"Well, I may meet him in good time. But first I want to see you immediately." He was actually demanding.
That was when she noticed the difference between the presumed twin brothers. Jacob, it appeared to her, was more assertive than Esau.
This was a new problem; she did not know how to handle a persistent man or suitor. Jacob was perhaps even more aggressive as he made his demands. But men were always like that.
She liked such men because it made her feel she was only a woman who had to meet those demands in return for protection from a man.
Esau, on the other hand, was quite polite and less aggressive. Still, she loved him since he had been good to her. It was good, she thought, to have a polite man for a husband.
"Where do you want to meet me?" She suddenly asked when it clicked to her that she was excited and thrilled about meeting him again.
"Let's meet at La Fontenella. Be there this evening at five because I'll be waiting."
"Okay, I'll come." She said and added, "But please be understanding and realize that I can't love you anymore. I'm Esau's fiancée."
"Tell me, why not? I also still love you."
"It was only once Jacob. And remember it was because I mistook you for Esau. I'll never make that mistake again."
"And remember that I also love you! You loved me last night, and so we'll continue. Whether or not you mistook me for Esau is nothing to me. The only sure thing is that we've met and fallen in love. Isn't that so?" Jacob asked and paused. Then he went on: "I don't give a damn that he is running after you, but the fact is I also need and love you," he hung up as soon as he finished talking.
She stared blankly at the wall. The man was just too aggressive, pushy, and egoistic. And stubborn, too! Yet somewhere at the back of her mind, she knew she loved such men who were attracted by her beauty.
And Jacob Karahani was just one such man.
* * *
Esau was a disturbed and disappointed man. He was disturbed over the fact that his fiancée had hidden something from him. She was not telling the truth when she came home late last night.
And this was quite heartbreaking since he had put all his hopes on her. Why was Gloria lying? He began to wonder. He had seen her frozen look as she entered the lounge and almost immediately realized something was wrong.
And a car had driven off that night—a man had dropped her at her house! Should he call it quits and break the engagement? He was furious.
But no, he decided, the pain was just too sharp to bear. At the moment, he did not have sufficient proof of her infidelity. Perhaps time would tell everything he imagined.
As he sat in his office, Esau knew he would be the greatest loser if he broke up the engagement. So far, Gloria had behaved quite well until recently. He could not focus on a single mistake and destroy whatever they had built over the years.
He had to get enough proof, he decided, before he finally called it quits. When he thought about her, he could not get down to work properly. The only thing to do, he decided, was to go and check on the Momack Wave, which had just docked at the port.
He would spend the whole day there talking to the captain of the ship and the crew. Then he would go home, change, and try to see Gloria at her apartment.
Then he walked quickly out of his office, closing the door behind him, and stepped into the street below.