Chapter 19: Chapter 19

~Akeyla’s POV~

Oh well, I was still jobless. My company did not bother to call me back and so I considered myself to be officially jobless. I had gone to countless companies for interviews but it hadn’t been easy, I did not manage to find myself employment but trust me, I wasn’t going to stop. I was sure I would find a job sooner or later.

Well, for now, I was working as a waitress at a restaurant quite far from the house. It wasn’t that bad, at least the manager was not like my strict and mean manager at the company. I still hadn’t told my mom that I had no job anymore; she still thought I was employed. I dressed up every morning in my corporate wears as if I am headed for work but instead, I was going to the restaurant to work as a waitress. I felt bad for lying to her but it was for the better. I did not want her to worry.

I had not heard from that guy ever since so don’t blame me for using from the money he threw to me to pay our house rent. If he liked, let him come and arrest me with the police, I have used the money I have used it, nothing could be done. I didn't ask him to throw it at me. I doubted someone like him would even recall give out a thousand dollars, even if it meant a lot to people like us.

It was 7:00 AM and I was already dressed in my corporate suit while my mom was in the kitchen preparing something. That was my mom for you; she would never let me leave the house without food as long as she was awake and knew I was getting ready for work.

“Akeyla baby!"

I heard my mom called my name from the kitchen. “Yeah, mom?”

“I made breakfast.”

I smiled and shook my head. I’m almost 24 and she still treated me like a baby. I took my bag from the bed and walked out of the room before I headed for the dining room to meet her. She had already set the dishes on the table and was seated waiting for me. I took my seat beside her.

“Oh, this looks good mom.” I smiled as I scanned the delicious looking eggs and fried yam on the table.

“I made you your favorite.” My mom said with a smile before she started serving the eggs into a plate before sliding it to me. Yeah, I loved my scrambled eggs fried with tomatoes with either hot tea or yam, nothing more or less.

“Thanks mom.” I smiled at her. “Don’t worry I can serve the rest for myself.”

She nodded before she served herself a portion.

“How are things going at your working place?” My mom asked as she took a bite from her food.

“Its fine, all is good.” I replied her as I chewed.

After I finished eating, I quickly rushed off the house. “I will see you later, mom!”

I took a bike and arrived at my present working place after a few minutes. When I reached the restaurant, I saw that it was closed. The restaurant usually opened by 7:30 and this was already 7:20, so why was it still locked? I took out her phone and dialed my boss’s number but it was not reachable.

“Akeyla!” A voice called out and I turned around to the direction of the voice. My eyes fell on the fair skinned woman that usually sold boli opposite the restaurant.

“They have taken the owner of the restaurant away. They have taken your boss away.”

I furrowed my brows in confusion. “Taken him away? To where?”

“Some men came not too long ago to come and carry him.” The woman said and I couldn’t help but give her a puzzled look. What was she talking about?

“Which men and why, ma?” I asked the woman and walked closer to her.

“I don’t really know but I think he owes them money. They looked like thugs and even broke things inside the restaurant. They forced him into the car and they all left.”

Wait, what?

“Did they hurt him?”

She shook her head, “Not really.”

“Oh my God. Where could they have taken him to? What if they hurt him? I need to call the police.” Just as I was about to dial my phone, it started ringing and my boss’s name popped up on the screen.

“Hello boss. What happened and where are you?” I asked quickly.

“Um… Akeyla, you don’t have to come to work for now. I have to settle some things and then I will call you back. I have to lock the restaurant for now.” My boss said from the other end of the call and I sighed. It was a relief that he was okay but what was I going to do?

“Alright, don’t forget to get back to me. Take care of yourself.” I said to him.

“Thank you, you too.” And the line went dead. I heaved a sigh and leaned against the wall with my eyes glued to the ground. What was I going to do? Why are things becoming more difficult for me? How was I supposed to… Oh God.

I managed to pick myself up and started to walk away. I walked until I was out of the street and stood by the road side thinking of what next to do. Couldn’t life at least be a little fair to me? Things just never went my way and just kept getting harder. Just as I was about to cross to the other side of the road, two police officers blocked my path.

“Excuse me, miss. You are under arrest for theft of three million naira from Mr. Martins Bolaji. Please kindly come with us to the station.”

I listened to one of the police officers pour out strange words from his mouth. What was he talking about? Theft keh. How would I steal money from Mr. Martins that I have never seen before? Could it be that they were mistaking me for someone else again?

“Um… I think you have the wrong person, it’s not me.” I said in my defense.

“Are you not Akeyla Adams?” The police officer asked showing my ID which contained my information to me. Ahh, they even have my info? What was going on?

“Yes I am but I have not stolen from anyone.”

“Please kindly come with us to the station. Refrain from saying anything until we get to the station.” The officer said and immediately, his partners walked over to where I stood and handcuffed me. Ahh! What on earth was going on? Why were they arresting me for something I had no idea of? Or wait… Were they sent by that guy who threw money at me? But it was not up to 3million!

“Mr. Police officer…” I tried to talk but they ignored me and led me over to the car. Wait, was I actually getting arrested??

******

AT THE POLICE STATION>

~Third person’s POV~

Akeyla sat down on the chair opposite the police officer trying to explain to the officer that was busy ignoring her. The officer just focused on the countless of files on his table and did not even spare her a look.

“Officer I said that I have no idea who this Mr. Bolaji is and I had not stolen anything from anyone.” She kept trying to explain.

The officer finally looked from what he was doing and faced her. “We got a report that you stole a huge sum of money from Mr. Bolaji so please kindly wait for him to come and you can begin your statement.”

Akeyla stared at the officer in disbelief. They had been keeping her here for the past two hours now and it was already starting to piss her off.

“So you are going to keep me here? Can you even prove that I stole the money?” She asked with a deep frown on her face.

The officer sighed, “Just wait for a moment Miss.”

Akeyla folded her arms across her chest. She was so shocked when they suddenly came to arrest her on the street. Why on earth would she steal such an amount of money and still hadn’t ran away. The police men were not even giving her a chance to explain. She would wait for the so called Mr. Bolaji who had laid such false claim on her to come and explain how she stole money from him.

Few minutes later, the entrance door opened slowly and Martins walked into the station. The officer quickly stood up to his feet and hurriedly walked over to him.

“You are welcome sir.” He greeted him with a smile on his face. “There she is.” He pointed to where Akeyla sat. Martins nodded and walked over to her. He was desperate to find her and so he was only left with one choice and that was to report her for theft. He paid the police men heavily so they would find her fast. All he did was to provide them with her name and picture so it would be easy for them to find her. Who knew that they would find her this quickly, there was actually nothing money could not do anyway.

Akeyla stood up with her arms still folded across her chest. “You reported that I stole from you? When was that? Have we even met before for me to steal your money?”

Martins stared at her without a word. As he kept looking at her, it was as if he was seeing Ella. He knew this was not going to be easy and things could go wrong but he had to do it. He didn’t tell his mother because he knew she would not agree to it. All he hoped for was that she would accept his offer and agree to impersonate Ella.

Akeyla stared at him closely and that was when she realized she had met him before. “I… I think we have met before.”

Martins sighed and nodded before he turned to the officer. “Its fine, I would like to drop the claim. We would settle ourselves later.” He said to the officer. The officer stared at him for a moment as he was confused as to why he suddenly wanted to drop the charge.

“We should let her go?” He asked in disbelief.

Martins nodded, “Yes please.”

The officer turned to Akeyla and shrugged. “If you say so sir but you have to sign here first.” He stretched out a paper to him. Martins took a pen and signed on the paper before he turned to Akeyla.

“Let’s talk outside please.” He said to her as she kept staring at him in confusion. She wondered why he would suddenly drop the charge. Did he finally realize that she had not stolen from him?

Akeyla took her bag from the table and slowly walked out of the station in annoyance while Martins followed her from behind. When they reached outside the station, he led her to where he parked his car.

“I demand an apology for all that. I did not steal from you.” She said as she stood in front of him.

“I’m sorry about this. I had to lie to the police so they could help me find you.” He said to her in an apologetic voice.

“You wanted to find me? And why?” She questioned as she couldn’t help but wonder why he wanted to find her. Was he still mistaking her for that person?

“I um… I need your help with something.”

She furrowed her brows, “My help, for what?”

Martins rubbed his palms together. “If you um… if you recall, I mistook you to be my daughter one time…”

Akeyla nodded, “Yes, you almost dragged me into your car.”

Martins nodded, “Yes. Well um… that wasn’t a coincidence; you and my daughter actually look exactly alike. One could mistake you two for… for um...twins.”

Akeyla arched her brows, “Seriously?”

Martins nodded. “Yes.”

“Oh, that’s um… that’s rare.”

“Yeah, I guess things tend to happen like that sometimes.”

“Okay, so am I supposed to help you?”

Martins swallowed hard, “Well um… This might sound crazy but my daughter is sick…” He explained everything to her; how he needed her to impersonate Ella to save his family and she stared at him in shock and disbelief.

She scoffed, “I find this very strange you know. How am I even supposed to believe you really have a daughter who looks like me? What if you're lying?” She found it absurd. Why would she act as someone that she was not?

Martins took out his phone and showed her pictures and even videos of Ella making Akeyla’s jaw drop.

“Oh my… is that your daughter?”

Martins nodded, “Yes, she is.”

Akeyla was stunned. Why on earth was that person exactly like her? There was no way they could be related because her mother had even birth to her and this girl had her own family. Then what was this?

“Is this even possible?”

Martins nodded, “I um… I am as shocked as you are. I know I may be out of line but I really need your help. I will pay you whatever amount you want. It’s only going to be for a year.”

Act as someone else for a year? No way! That would require she leave her mother and move in with strangers. There was no way she would do it. The fact that she was poor and needed money did not mean she would jump into anything stupid.

“I can’t do it…” She started to say. “I have a mother and there is no way I’m going to abandon her and act as someone else.” She shook her head abruptly.

Martins sighed. It was a relief that she had a mother and it could mean her mother was Maria. He would do a background check on her later to confirm though.

“She does not have to know. It would not hinder you from seeing your mother. I know this was too sudden and hard to take but I need you to at least think about it. If you do not trust me, I could give you more prove if you want.”

Akeyla shook her head at him. “I… I cannot do it. How can you expect me to do something like that when I don't even know you before?"

“Please…” Martins pleaded with desperation in his eyes as he moved closer to her. “You have nothing to lose and would even benefit from it. Just name you price and it’s done.”

Akeyla stepped backwards as she stared at him in disbelief. Was this man actually serious? She could not understand why he was so desperate to find a substitute for his daughter when he should be glad his daughter didn't die. It was already strange enough that she had someone who looked exactly like her and he wanted her to act as a substitute?

“I can’t. I don't even know you." She shook her head abruptly.

Martins sighed. He seemed a little unsettled by he response. Although, he had not expected her to readily agree but he did not expect her to be so adamant in disagreeing without giving it a second thought. He pressed his lips into a tight line and sighed.

"I will pay you 2million naira every month." He offered.

Akeyla's eyes grew wide at the mention of such an amount. 1million naira every month?! That would be more than 10million naira a year!! That was more than she could make in five years! She stared at him in shock. How rich was he to just propose such an amount of money? Her eyes travelled over to his car and she understood clearly that this man was not joking. Someone who drove such expensive BMW would not see 1million to be anything but it was everything to her.

"What did you say?" She asked him as if she hadn't heard him.

"It's too small? 2million then? Please?"

Her eyes widened. Was this man actually serious?

"2... 2million?"

Martins nodded, "Yes. You don't have to do much. The marriage and everything is fake anyway. You just have to attend a few events with him, snap some photos and you know, act the part? There is no sexual entitlement attached so you don't have to be scared of anything. I..."

"Wait..." She cut him off and sighed. The whole thing was just too rapid for her to process and it took her all to pull herself together when he offered such an amount of money. The money was huge for her and could do a lot for her but there was still a lot of things for her to consider.

"I um... I have to think about it." She finally said.

Martins nodded his head. He had thought that since she didn't have money, she would agree after a few bickering but he didn't expect she would ask for time to think. He liked the fact that she was not immediately drawn because of money.

He brought out a card from his back pocket and gave it to her. “Here, this is my card. Think about it and please get back to me when you're ready.”

Akeyla stared at the small card in her hand and sighed. She kindly nodded and started to walk away leaving Martins to stand there and watch her disappear slowly.

XOXO