Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty three

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I got home late in the afternoon, drained. After such an exhausting day, I wanted nothing more than heading into my bathroom for a nice long bath and cuddling up in bed. And as usual, my plans were thrown out the window the moment I stepped out of the lobby into the living room.

My mood changed as soon as my eyes fell on the people present there. My gaze slowly directed itself to my mum who looked like a shadow of herself in the midst of the numerous visitors offering their condolences for her husband's ailment. News sure did spread like wildfire, our phones had been buzzing with phone calls and text messages ever since the tragic event from the previous night.

"Oh Lola darling, you're back?" I turned to the sweet voice that called me out. It was aunt Aisha,Tana's mum.

I quickly plastered a smile on my face and went in for a hug.

"Oh sweetie, you look pale. Don't worry daddy would be fine." She assured, holding on to my face like the little girl she had always known me to be. If only she knew...

I nodded so as to not to give away my thoughts. His health wasn't even top three on my list of problems, no offense.

I exchanged pleasantries with some of the supposed emphatic guests who i knew were pretty much checking to know if the person in question, was dead or not.

My eyes trailed over to Mr and Mrs Adetokunbo who were seated next to my mum with Yemi's mum placing a comforting hand on my mum's shoulder and whispering soothing words which the latter occasionally nodded at. I said hello with a tight lipped smile which they casually responded to just as my eyes glazed over them and landed on Yemi who was just about mounting the stairs.

"Mummy, where's Tolani?" I questioned, my eyes never leaving Yemi's towering figure that kept ascending the stairs suavely. How can such a fine man be so...? Ugh! Never mind.

"She just left for her room, why?"

"I'm just asking, I'll just go and freshen up, I'll be back." I excused myself as she nodded.

I took the stairs, two at a time.

In haste, I found myself bumping into my brother in law. Note the distaste in my tone.

We locked eyes at that point and one of the many intense stare downs, I've had to engage in, ensued. That lasted for a few seconds as I broke the eye contact only to take in his appearance, looking suave as always, I hummed in mock approval. He did look good, I have to admit.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned with my arms folded across my chest. He raised his chin, a posture that portrayed the sort of arrogant brute he was.

"I'm here to see my wife." He said slowly as if talking to a child, with emphasis on the last two words.

The nerve!!

I scoffed. This dude sure had some nerve coming here with his parents and I voiced that out.

"Well it's no fault of mine that your family lives in medieval times and decided to sell off their daughter like some piece of meat." He had the audacity to say.

His eyes held mirth, he was mocking me, mocking us. My palms itched to leave a lasting mark on his smooth face and I was so close to doing that when Laila came in.

"Titilola!" She yelled. That halted my movements, my hand hung in the air at that point. The impact of that slap could have given his mushed up brain a factory reset but my sister just had to come in and ruin the execution of this kind gesture.

"What the hell are you doing?" She asked bewildered, barely sparing Yemi a glance.

"Doing him a favour." I retorted, still glaring daggers at him.

"Lola,you can do better. This is so disappointing, I never expected this from you. Trying to slap my husband? That's so wrong, so wrong." She went on and on about how disrespectful it was and bla bla bla, I zoned out owing to the triumphant smirk the idiot had on his face.

I walked out on both of them when I couldn't take it anymore, I slammed my door close as I took in deep breaths. I've never been this angry in my whole life, the events of the past few days had me bringing out fierce sides of me I never knew existed, maybe I was the bipolar one.

I sat on my bed, with my back against the door. The door came open soon after, as expected.

"Lola, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm supposed to be asking you that question." I turned to face her, looking her straight in the eye.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She scowled.

"What makes you go so weak, when that psychopath comes around you?!" I asked angrily and she rushed over and hushed me by placing her palm over my mouth, with her index finger on her lips. She released my mouth and went over to the door, perhaps to check if anyone was outside the room and could possibly hear us. She did all that and I still stared at her, confounded.

"What is it?" I asked. She replied in hushed tones.

"You don't say stuff like that, especially when he's around. Hell would break loose if he heard you call him that." She looked really scared.

"My point exactly." I muttered sourly.

"Well, what would you have me do? Run away from my husband, or keep giving him attitude, so the whole world knows things aren't well between us?!"

"Just stop acting like he owns you!" I exclaimed.

"He does, Lola." She gritted.

"No,he doesn't."

"Yes he does, one wrong move from me and I'll lose everything,we'll lose everything."

"Then why did you run away from him in the first place, didn't you think you were risking it all?" I asked, on a more reasonable note.

She heaved a sigh as she plopped on my bed.

"I needed a break. Being someone's punchbag on a daily is no joke."

"Why haven't you gone back then?" She had been with us for weeks, I had to ask.

"I haven't left because of you, you moron." She shoved my head.

"Ehn?" Okay, I did not understand that line.

"I'm trying to protect you. That's why I went digging deep, I don't want you going through the same dilemma as I." She explained sadly.

"Oh." Her glumness was infectious. It touched my heart to know she was looking out for me even with everything she had to face. But, I still did not want her going back to Yemi, she was risking her life.

"But..." I tried pitching the idea of a separation.

"Don't even think about it." She said sternly. She knew me too well.

"Fine then, do whatever you want." I muttered gruffly.

With one last glance in my direction, she marched out of my bedroom.

****

More and more condolence visits ensued and I was sick and tired of it all. More suspicious glances and the funniest of questions from 'emphatic' business associates. One man even had the audacity to ask who would take over the business in event of his death, some people truly lacked decorum.

Although with great difficulty, we were finally able to get rid of the guests as it was almost visiting time at the hospital. My mum did well to not disclose much details about his whereabout, though, I did suspect some people already knew this but decided to keep it to themselves.

Once again, we found ourselves walking down the familiar path to the hospital's VIP waiting room.

"You may go in now." The nurse announced to us, we followed in silence.

I barely remember whatever transpired after that. My mind had been busy, too busy.

But the summary of what we heard from the doctor was, he was gradually responding to treatment and that was all we needed to hear.

****

Ring, ring, ring...

The shrill sound of my smartphone jolted me out of my sleep. I groggily searched for it and slid the answer button without checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" I mumbled, still sleepy.

"Hey, you."

The familiar deep baritone, had me sitting up straight instantly. I quickly checked the ID, just to be sure I wasn't hallucinating or anything.

"Lola, are you there?" I heard him say. Silly me, I cleared my throat nervously.

"Uhm, hi." I said, awkwardly, might I add.

"How are you?"

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Great..." He replied and I hummed, a moment of awkward silence ensued but I did well to break it before it got worse.

"Dave, listen I'm so sorry I didn't respond to your calls and texts, a lot has been going on and I just didn't have the chance to..." I rambled until he butted in.

"It's fine, I totally understand. I heard your dad was hospitalised, I'm sorry about that. It's understandable that you got caught up in all of that and could not reply to my messages." I couldn't place his tone, his speech had me tongue tied.

"I..."

"I just called to know how you're doing. Have a good night, Lola." I cringed at his monotonous reply.

"Wait!" I called out before he could hang up.

"Can I see you tomorrow?" I suggested. "Please?" I added.

"I'd be at work, I'd let you know, if I'm less busy."

"Please." I said again, he was pissed, I could tell. I heard him sigh, perhaps ceding to my pleas.

"Fine, I'd text you my office address, be there on time." He said.

"Thank you." I heaved a sigh of relief.

"Good night." I bade.

"Night." He said and hung up.

I felt awful about the way I acted. We were supposed to be oiling the wheels of our new relationship and there I was, ignoring his calls. How silly of me, I had to rectify it, I didn't want our relationship crashing before it even set off.

I stayed up pondering on a few things before the hands of sleep drew me in once again.

****

Next day...

"Good morning mum." I greeted as I sat at the breakfast table. She hummed a reply, as she surfed through her phone. I exchanged greetings with the rest people present.

"How's your business coming along?" Grey asked out of nowhere. I was puzzled.

"Uhmm, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?" I pointed at myself.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." He said, pushing his arms forward.

"Well its just alright, we're pushing."

"Hmm." He hummed. "Any ideas on how to give your business the much needed push, as per funding?"

"Well I did, until I saw the clause concerning my trust fund." I said dryly, busy buttering up my slice of bread and chewing on it without a care in the world.

The bewildered stares I got from everyone else almost had me laughing like a maniac.

"Asides that?"

"A certain someone did freeze my accounts, making my savings inaccessible." Yes, I was throwing shade, too bad he was in the hospital.

Oh you thought that matter had been resolved, shocker, it wasn't. I had to open a new savings account, with great difficulty though, I worked for every penny in that bank account.

"Wait, Benson did that?" Mum asked furiously.

"You weren't in on it?" A now confused me, questioned.

"Of course not, I had no idea." She revealed, shocking me.

"And here I was thinking you were his cohort in all of these schemes." Laila spoke up.

"Well I'm not his co' anything." Mum spat.

"Hold up, how come none of us knew about any of these happenings? My wife and I were completely left in the dark until Tolani reached out to us and still did not give us full details."

Apparently, that was Travis, Ima concurred to his speech with a nod.

"Well, big brother" I said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'm pretty sure you would have been in the know, if you were pretty much receptive to your younger siblings, in stead of acting all stuck up and nonchalant."

Uh oh.

"And, what is that supposed to mean?!" His nose flared.

"Exactly what I said. Now that the jig is up, you all want to start feigning love, care and togetherness?! You, Femi, when's the last time you called me? Ever since Tolani's wedding, I haven't heard from either of you. Why? Because you all think that this family is too much of a burden for you to handle and you don't want anyone invading your space, well that's perfectly fine by me. Just stop pretending to care now cause right from my childhood, neither of you have been there for me especially when I needed you to be!!!"

The room fell silent after my tirade. I was panting for air after that much yelling.

"Now if you'd excuse me, I have somewhere to be." I fled the dining room, heading straight for my bedroom. It was past ten in the morning , I had to be somewhere by eleven, so I quickly picked out a cyan coloured fit and flare dress that went a little past my knees and paired them with black ankle strap heels, some light make up, a glossy black hand bag and I was good to go.

I drove out of the premises without a word to anyone, I was in no mood to speak after my outburst. Outbursts, which by the way, had become a frequent part of my routine within the last few days.

His office address wasn't hard to locate, being one of the famous companies in Lagos.

Avid Oil and Gas.

I held my breath in as I walked into the massive lobby. The place was absolutely magnificent, almost ethereal in fact. The spotless space almost had me pulling my shoes and feeling all that neatness. It was amazing.

I walked over to the receptionist's desk. She gave me a professional smile which I gladly returned.

"Good morning miss, how may I help you?"

"I'm here to see Mr David Nnadi, please."

She froze, taking my appearance in. I almost felt self conscious but for the fact that I actually had the right to be there.

"I'm sorry, do you have an appointment?"

"Well, he did ask me to meet him in his office at about eleven O'clock today." I replied.

"How?" Her tone wasn't professional anymore.

"Via SMS." I answered, getting uncomfortable with her interrogation.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you in. Please leave now." She turned to her computer and kept typing without sparing me another glance. What was this woman's problem?

I decided to do the needful. I pulled out my phone and without delay, dialed his number.

"Hey. Are you here already?" He asked the moment he picked up.

"I am, but your receptionist won't let me see you." I said facing the culprit who looked up at me.

"Hand her the phone." He ordered. I did as he told but she insisted on not accepting calls from unknown people, for all she knows, we could be trying to scam her. It's a good thing he heard all of that and decided to call the landline directly.

In only a matter of seconds it rang, she sat upright as soon as she picked up.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Those were the words I heard afterwards, I nearly grinned in satisfaction.

"I apologise ma'am, you may go in now." She apologised over and over again, after giving me the needed directions. I waved her off and made my way to the elevators.

I hated crowded elevators but that was what I had to bear with, the numerous stops made it all the more annoying. Just how many floors did this gigantic building have?

I made it to the top floor in one piece, thankfully. Wait, top floor? Just what was I missing? I walked over to the secretary's cabin and was greeted without another professional smile.

"Hello, I'm here for Mr David Nnadi." I said.

"Just a second please." She gestured with her index finger.

"Hello sir, there's someone here for you." She paused for a second and looked at me.

"Name please?"

"Lola Gregg." I answered, tucking my lips in, rocking on my heels a little bit.

She soon dropped the call and ushered me to his office. I still looked around in awe. The interiors of this place was breathtaking.

With a knock and an appropriate response, I walked in, only to discover the secretary had turned back already.

His head was still buried in whatever file he was perusing. I didn't mind because I was awestruck by the massive office and finely done interior designs. The scent of his cologne made it all the more welcoming. My eyes glazed over the place before settling on him. Our eyes met immediately, startling me. I moved my gaze, staring down at my shoes, his gaze was too intense for me to handle.

"Hi." I mumbled, shy all of a sudden.

"Have a seat." He said and I did as I was told. I sat on one of the chairs, opposite him.

He propped his arms up on the finely sculpted table, staring at me. As usual, I couldn't hold his gaze, I stared at my fingers, placed on the table.

I heard him stand up but I still couldn't bring myself to look at him or whatever he was up to.

Next thing I knew he was seated right next to me, pulling my chair towards him.

"Look at me." He whispered. I slowly looked up, when he raised my chin.

He leaned in slowly and I swear I could hear my heart beat in my ears. He stared into my eyes, as if asking for permission, I gave a small nod.

Then, he captured my lips, I don't know if he felt it, but sparks flew as soon as our lips touched.

****

Author's note

Don't worry, we're not done here. The kiss would continue in the next `chapter`` but you'll have to wait till whenever.