Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty two

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Here I was, staring up at the massive building that I hadn't been to for several months. Felt like just yesterday when I succumbed to working here without a clue as to the massive secrets that held me bound at the time. I wasn't totally free but I was finally in the know for the most part, no longer left in the dark, blind to all those happenings.

I heaved a breath as I made my way inside, the sudden change in temperature taunting my nostrils and leaving me with goosebumps, it was freezing in here. I hadn't turned my air conditioner on while I was driving, I wanted to enjoy the wind, maybe if I did I wouldn't have been so affected by the office's temperature.

"Miss Lola?" I heard a familiar voice which I turned to immediately.

"Hi Stella." I waved with a small smile. She squealed and rushed over to give me a hug. That caught the attention of the rest people in the room probably awaiting various appointments.

"I'm so happy to see you!" She grinned.

No kidding.

I chuckled and went on to ask about her well being, we talked about some random stuff for a few minutes before she let me off with the words 'Stop by before you leave o'.  That indirectly meant I had to grease her palms before exiting the premises.

Typical Stella.

I found my way up to the top floor, it wasn't as busy as I expected it to be, I slowly made my way to the CEO's office, sashaying towards it but the secretary just had to impede my movement at that point.

"Excuse me ma." She said just before I could reach the door.

"Yes?"

"You can't go in there ma. Do you have an appointment?" She asked still munching on whatever was in my her mouth. I almost shook my head in disbelief when she took another piece and continued chewing on it, noisily, might I add.

Jesus!

"I'm a friend of Mr Oluwole." I stated simply, trying my best to ignore her unprofessionalism.

"Friend?" She eyed me somewhat mockingly. "Or play thing..." She muttered under her breath, but I heard her.

Oh no she didn't!!!

Deep breaths Lola, deep breaths.

"Friend." I gritted, I didn't want to lose my cool and cause a scene in an office environment.

"Name?" She asked nonchalantly.

"Titilola Gregg, is he in a meeting?" I asked.

"No. But you don't have an appointment. I'll have to ask you to wait till I inquire from my boss." I let her ramble on.

At least waste some saliva for wasting my time.

I walked out on her without looking back. I knew she was probably trying to get up and run after me, too bad the chubby thing was trying-let me rephrase-struggling to get off the small sized swivel chair.

I rapped on the door and walked in without getting a response, I slammed the door in the obnoxious secretary's face without a second thought.

I spun around only to lock eyes with him, we stayed locked in that heated stare down, we didn't even hear the secretary come in until she cleared her throat awkwardly. From the look of things, she had been standing there for a while watching the scene unfold and much to her dissatisfaction, no shit had gone down, yet.  I could already imagine her being the office gossip, giving the staff the low down of the goings-on in the CEO's cabin.

"Tseju, excuse us. Cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day." Tunji ordered, his eyes never left me as he did so.

"Sir?"Tseju answered rather dumbly.

"You heard me, now leave."His tone was icy cold. She still stood there looking blank. "Now!!!"He barked and she scrambled out of the room before I could blink.

I made my way to the seat opposite him.

"Lola I-"

Oh no, not another half hearted apology. I groaned.

"Tunji wouldn't you offer me anything? You're not a good host. You didn't even offer me a seat." I feigned a hurt expression. I didn't mean to be all dramatic but I wasn't here to act like everything was going to be all dandy and fine after what went down only a few days back. He cleared his throat, rather nervously.

"Uhh what would you like to have? I'll order it right away."

"I think I'm craving..." I feigned a thoughtful pose.

"The truth". Yup, that's it. He visibly gulped, adjusted his collar and cufflinks.

Nervous, are we?

"Lola listen." He reached for my hands which I let him take. I sat back watching this scene unfold.

"I don't even know what to say to you. I, I messed up and I'm truly sorry. I didn't mean for it to be this way, my hands were and are still tied."

"Tunji I need the whole truth. How did this all start? What's going to happen now? I need answers." I replied softly. I thought, maybe coaxing him would help me get my answers.

"I don't think, I can give the answers you're looking for." He looked away guiltily.

I withdrew my hands from his, like they burnt me. I stood up abruptly. I guess plan A didn't work, time for plan B.

The violent taketh it by force!!!

"You sir, are going to tell me everything I need to know from your side." I gritted fiercely, poking his chest much to his astonishment. The look on his face was priceless, I tell you.

"You wanna see crazy? Efe ri weyrey?!!" I exclaimed, taking off my shoes. Tunji had never seen this side of me so my empty threats did mean serious business to him. I was laughing so much inwardly, I'm still surprised how I didn't crack a smile on the outside.

"Lola please calm down, it hasn't gotten to this, you'll cause a scene. Let's go over to my place and discuss this." The terrified man kept pleading with me. Cold sweat marred his forehead, his panic stricken stance almost had me giving in to his plea but I couldn't risk it, neither was I that patient.

"Ehn???! You are going to give me answers right here, right now! Or everyone in this building would gather on this floor today, I swear! Olatunji Maxwell Oluwole! Try me!!!" I yelled on top of my voice. I had his collar fisted in one palm.

Yes, I called him by his full name!!!

Next thing I knew, this guy was on his knees begging me. My brothers and sisters, I was shook!!!

"Please calm down, I'll tell you, please don't create any mayhem here. Please Titilola, I'm begging you!"

I toned it down a notch, him going on his knees melted a small part of my heart.

What?You can't blame me! I'm a softie.

"Get me some cold water please!"

All that yelling had me parched.

He rushed over to his mini fridge and got me a chilled bottle of water which I gulped down without a second thought. I finished it up, discarded the empty bottle and faced him squarely. He was clearly shaken by antics. I just hoped he wasn't too traumatised to tell me the whole truth.

"Start talking."

"Lola it's a long story." His eyes were still pleading with me.

"Trust me, I have all the time."

*****

It's story time, people.  He took off his jacket and we crouched on the sofa right there in his office. I listened with rapt attention as he went on to tell me how it all started.

"You know how I told you from the very first time we met, how I didn't find running the family business interesting and I wanted to follow my dreams to make a name in the world of tech?" He asked, I nodded.

"That has always been the leverage my father has over me." He said with a forlorn look on his face.

"Go on." I urged.

"Everything was planned Lola. Every tiny detail about our meetings and friendship was planned by our parents, our fathers precisely."

"It all started when I insisted on building my own tech company in Nigeria, my dad was strongly against it. He claimed he let me study the course of my choice for me to contribute more to his company not run off and start up my own business, as his first son, I have to uphold the family name. I obliged, but only on the condition that my passion would be my side hustle. He agreed, surprisingly so. I got on it, building up my place from scratch, and soon it was time for me to ascend his throne, I willingly wanted to, as long as I did what I loved." He heaved a breath, loosening his tie before continuing.

"Then one day, he came to me, saying he had a task for me. I had to figure out a way to get back three hundred million naira from one of his debtors who was finding it difficult to pay back, when I asked how he wanted me to go about it, he said I had to marry his debtor's daughter cause his source of payment was via his daughter's trust fund and she could  access it  only when she was of age and married. I was totally against the idea, I told him to his face to sort out his own problems. I stopped talking to him for days. Soon after that, I heard a part of my building had collapsed. For a structure so solid? I knew there had to be some foul play. My father admitted to doing it without batting an eyelid."

I gasped in horror. Tunji chuckled deeply at my reaction. He went on...

"I knew there was trouble, I had spent a lot and as a businessman, losses like these could not be taken lightly. It hurt me bad but I had to concede, but I made him give his word to not force me into marrying you , I wanted to get to know you, date you and eventually make you walk down the aisle with me. I mean, the first time I met you, you looked really attractive, something I could work with. I thought I could learn to love you."

"But again, fate wasn't on my side, I met Tana and I really liked her. I didn't want my father to go through with his threats, so I stuck to trying to get close to you, impatient as my father is, he said I was delaying the process and he needed his money back. That was when they decided to bring us together in your living room as you remember. I still tried to love you, but thoughts of Tana kept getting in the way."

Awwwww.

"Not now Lola." He groaned. Oops I said that aloud.

"Sorry." I squeaked. He rolled his eyes.

Sassy huh?

"As I was saying, I had confessed my feelings to Tana few weeks prior, she felt the same way but I dashed her hopes when I told her, I couldn't date her because of you, she could not comprehend at the time until she found out about the arrangement between you and I. She confronted me about it but I still refused to spill the beans, I went on with the plan disregarding any sentiments. Moving to Tana's neighbourhood was a part of my own plan to get closer to her since we couldn't be together in front of everyone else, I know that question has crossed your mind."

He was right, the thought had just crossed my mind few minutes prior and I was about asking. I nodded, gesturing for him to continue.

"We had our moments and spent quality time together, that was until you resigned and your father kicked you out of the house. That was when things began to get heated between us, she felt insecure because of you. My father was still putting me under a lot of pressure because of his money, as you already know there wasn't immense progress because I was pretty much busy with running his company. I kept telling him to give me time, that he did. The day I took you over to the site, my dad planned it, he wanted you to think I was letting you in on my weaknesses, passion and goals so that you could fall for me even more."

That elicited a sarcastic chuckle from him and my nose flared a bit. The thought of his father controlling every bit of his life stirred anger inside of me especially because I was affected. I was a pawn in their hands, those esoteric meetings they had, where details of my life were discussed like I did not matter,those thoughts made my skin crawl.

"Calm down tigress." I looked up to see a trace of panic on his face but he tried to cover it up with a teasing smile. I gave a tight lipped smile and urged him to go on.

"Tana knew about this and we had a fall out because of it. She was pissed, I hadn't let her see the site and I was taking you there before her. That set our relationship off to a rocky path. We weren't officially dating, mind you, but we knew what we had. Then we had that gathering put together by my friends, we hadn't talked throughout that week, she was apparently refusing my calls and ignoring my texts. I knew I had to let her in sooner or later, so that I wouldn't have to lose her, I needed liquid courage that's why I drank so much that day, weak move, I know."

"Tell me about it." I muttered.

"That's not making me feel better."

"It wasn't intended to." I retorted. He glared at me, I shrugged and he continued.

"As you can surely recall, I was too intoxicated to get behind the steering wheel so she offered to drive me home. That was where I spilled the beans, I told her everything from start to finish and we ended up having make up sex." He bit on his lower lip, obviously reminiscing the moment.

I cleared my throat and he looked away coyly.

"Yeah, sorry. I woke up the next morning with an unbelievable hangover, I just wanted to stay in her arms, knowing we had made up after such a long period of fighting. Little did I know, it was far from over. She insisted on me choosing her over you and leaving all this drama behind. That ticked me off because she already knew the situation of things and she was still acting the same way. We had a major fall out and I asked her to leave, since she didn't want to understand me. We broke things off that morning and I stopped speaking to her."

"Weeks went by and one fateful afternoon you called and asked if you could move in with me for a while along with Laila. Unfortunately, my father was in the office that day, he overheard my conversation with you and he didn't let me decline, he said I should use it as an opportunity to get closer to you, setting the plan in motion again and with Tana out of the way, I was all out to get you. When I picked you up from Tana's office, I knew you saw the difference because I was a lot more touchy than I used to be with you."

I nodded.

"We started living together and my dad was very much aware although your parents weren't, he was waiting for the right time to strike, his words not mine. I was slowly beginning to feel something for you, but my hopes were dashed when you informed me of your date with some dude, whatever his name is."He scowled.

"David." I said.

"I don't care." His scowl deepened. I gulped and looked away, this wasn't what I was expecting.

"I called my dad and filled him in and he said he was going to handle it, he simply told me to go get a ring and that was when Tana walked into my room only to tell me she had to speak to me about something. I didn't want to be in such a small space with her so I moved the discussing to the living room. Laila walked in and I decided to take the conversation outside, I had a ring to get anyways."

"We were at the jewellery shop when she dropped the bombshell about her pregnancy and she showed me the results. I could tell she thought the baby would be her trump card and she would have me all to herself but I had other plans. I dashed her hopes once more when I told her I was still gunning for you but I was willing to take care of her and the baby. She swore she would never let it happen and that she was going to tell you everything herself. I ignored her rants until I got home and met a full house, it all went downhill from there. I realised I didn't think things through, seeing you hurt like that really affected me and I was torn between doing what was right or what was right for me alone. I'm truly sorry for everything Lola."

I just stared at him, I didn't know what else to say. Should I just slap this guy? I asked myself.

"I can't believe you Tunji. You played with my best friend's emotions and mine too. I don't even know what to say to you" I said soberly.

"Titi, I'm so-"

"How does it help?"

"What?" He asked, perplexed.

"What does sorry help?"

He stayed silent, I took that as my cue to go on.

"How does an apology fix the mess you've created for yourself? This doesn't just affect me. So what if I do get married to you? How would I be happy, knowing that my best friend carries a piece of you? How would I live with myself, knowing that I practically took away the man she has learnt to love after so many heartaches? How would I even love you as a husband thinking about the unruly circumstances that has me bound to you. Its unfathomable."

"Olatunji, you have to fix this. There's no way this is going to work for any of us." I stated.

"But Lola-"

"No buts please. You..." I poked his chest with my index finger.

"You're going to fix this mess, you're going to love and respect my friend and take care of her like she deserves and you see that ring you purchased? It's going to come in handy because we have a wedding to plan." I said in finality. I adjusted his collar and wiped the creases off his shirt. Without another word, I found my way out of his office leaving him stupefied.

He had to think things through and I left him alone to do just that.

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