Chapter 21: Chapter 21

FOUR DAYS LATER

~Akeyla’s POV~

I was left with no choice but to reach out to the man. I guessed I would have to impersonate his daughter after all. I took out my phone and heaved a long sigh before I reluctantly dialed the number from the card. He picked up after the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Um… good evening. This is Akeyla.” I said in a low voice.

“Oh, Akeyla! Thank you for calling. Does this mean you have made up your mind?” He asked quickly.

Had he been waiting or what? He sounded like he had been waiting for my call; seemed I was the only one that could do the job. It was still weird that his daughter looked so identical with me but I guessed that could happen.

“Um… yes, I have. I will impersonate your daughter.”

“Okay, that’s really great. Shall we meet then to discuss about how everything is going to be done?” He asked.

I nodded my head, “Yes, we can. Where do we meet?”

“I will send you a location, let’s meet there. What time would be good for you?”

“Tomorrow by um… by 5pm in the evening?”

“Alright then, we will meet tomorrow then.”

I nodded my head and hung up the call. I heaved a long sigh and dropped the phone back on the table but just as I was about walking away, it started ringing. I turned back to the table and reached for it. I stared at the screen and saw Brenda’s name displaying before I answered the call.

“Hey girlfriend.”

“Akeyla baby!” She screamed from the other of the call and I winced. “I finally got a break, so I want to see you. I have missed you, you fine baby, we haven’t seen for almost a week now.”

I smiled, “Yes, that’s true and I have missed you too, you know. Are you at your house?”

“No I’m not, I’m actually on your way to your house as I’m talking to you now.”

My eyes grew wide in surprise. This girl will never give me any heads up whenever she was coming to see me.

“What if I’m not at home Brenda?”

“And so what? I will just stay with your mom then.”

I chuckled, “I’m starting to wonder if you’re my best friend or my mom’s.”

She chuckled as well, “So, you are at home right?” She asked me.

“Yes, I am. I even needed to see you, I have a lot of things on my mind and I want to take a break.”

“What is bothering you?”

“Nothing much, we will talk when you come.”

“We would have to go to a bar then, so we can have a drink. That would help clear your mind too. I’m also going through a lot as well.”

“Fine, we can go to a bar if you want.” I nodded my head in agreement. She paused for a moment and didn’t see anything.

“Wait, this one that you readily agreed, something must be really bothering you then.” She said.

I smiled and shook my head, “Whatever you say, I will be waiting for you. Are you coming alone?”

“Coming alone keh(I’m not coming alone.)” She said with sarcasm before she added. “My manager made sure a guard and my assistant followed me.” She said and I could tell she would be pouting her lips in annoyance already.

I couldn’t help but laugh lightly. “It doesn’t matter; we will still have our fun, alright?”

***

After a while, Brenda arrived at my area and the both of us went over to the nearest bar while her guard and assistant followed us as well. The bartender served us a round and I stared at the glass of wine without taking it. Yeah, I had never had alcohol before and despite what I had going on, I still didn’t think I could take a sip from this bitter liquid in front of me.

Brenda shook her head at me, “As expected.” She chuckled before she drank from her glass.

“So what did you say you have going on?” I asked her. “You told me you were going through stuffs too.” I added.

She tilted her head with a confused expression on her face as if she never said anything like that and after a few moments, she made an expression that showed she finally recalled.

She made a sad face. “Well, here is what happened. There is this girl who is a co-model at one of my commercials. She’s quite popular here and I can’t argue that she has more fans than me here, because she does but whatever. What’s her name again? Um… Ara? Yes, Ara Alade.” She nodded her head. I couldn’t actually figure out who the Ara girl was since I didn’t really always followed up with entertainment things. I only checked out things that were related to Brenda and nothing more. Brenda continued. “So, my manager told me that a popular actor, Daniel Dike, was going to do a commercial with the same company I’m doing for…”

“Does that mean you will do a collaboration with this Daniel guy?” I cut in as I asked her.

She stared at me with widened eyes, “You… You don’t know Daniel Dike?” She asked me with a shocked expression. What? Who was he? Was he really that popular?

“Oh come on Brenda, you know I don’t know this things and I don’t even care abeg(please).” I rolled my eyes.

She shook her head at me and gave me a disappointing look. “Okay, let’s assume you don’t know him as an actor, you haven’t heard of him elsewhere? His father is Andrew dike, the owner of the number one richest group in the country. Haven’t heard of him? They even own so many hotels and resorts and even…”

“I…do…not…care Brenda!” I emphasized the words as I gave her a bored look. Why would I care about people that were already successful in life when I had my own life to live?

She sighed and shook her head before she drank from her wine again. “Well, as I was saying. Daniel was supposed to do a collaboration with that stupid Ara but then…” Her face dropped. “They said I should do it instead.”

I stared at my friend with a confused expression. If such a popular actor was going to shoot a commercial with her, shouldn’t she be happy?

“Then why is your face like this? Isn’t it supposed to be good news?” I asked her.

She shook her head, “No, it’s not good news Akeyla.”

“Why?”

She sighed, “Well, this Daniel happened to be my classmate from high school and…” She emphasized on the ‘and’. “I had a crush on him Akeyla! And he knows!” She whined.

I blinked rapidly at her before I burst into laughter. “Wait… You… That’s the problem?”

She frowned at me, “Of course Akeyla and it’s not funny.”

“Of course it is Brenda. Did you confess your feelings to him and then he rejected you?”

She frowned harder, “Stop asking the obvious Akeyla, of course that’s what happened.”

“Wow. So there is actually someone who can reject you? I’m shocked!” I made a shocked expression.

“Are you helping me or making things worse, Akeyla?”

“But that was in secondary school right? It’s already past now and besides, you guys are grownups now. Why, what’s the problem?”

She sighed, “I can’t face him Akeyla; how am I going to work with him?”

“Did he reject you in front of a crowd or what?” I asked as I still couldn’t find any reason why she would be bothered about a crush. They could even just laugh about it or was it more than a crush for her?

“No he didn’t. I just…” She trailed off and sighed again.

“It wasn’t just a crush, was it? You still like him?”

She stared at me and didn’t say anything but with her expression, I could tell I was right.

“Aw, my friend is in love! Why didn’t you tell me about this since? Why are just telling me?” I feigned a frown at her.

“Stop it, Akeyla. That stupid Ara girl knows about it too and she wouldn’t stop being childish about the whole thing. She keeps teasing me.”

“Ignore her, she shouldn’t bother you…” I placed my hand on hers and smiled at her. “You should happy you were given such an opportunity to star with a big star like him. It means you are better than that Ara girl and I’m really proud of you. The two of you didn’t date and though it might be a one sided feeling but you shouldn’t let that distract you. He’s the one to miss for rejecting a beauty like you. You don’t even have to pretend like you don’t know him, you shouldn’t let him see that you still fancy or like him. Don’t worry; you will be over it soon."

She sighed before she smiled widely at me and reached for me. She pulled me into a tight hug. “Thank you, Akeyla. It feels so nice to hear that."

I patted her back and smiled at her, “Don’t worry, I got you okay?”

After a moment, we pulled away and she gulped her remaining wine. “So, you were you wanted to clear your head, clear your head from what? What’s the matter?” She asked me.

I smiled and shook my head, “No its’ nothing, I just need a break.”

“Is it about your job?” She sighed. “I thought you said you already got a job? Do you want me to ask my dad, he might have a few connections in…”

“No it’s fine Brenda, you don’t need to do that.” I said to her. She had already asked her father a few times to assist me with my work and I couldn’t keep doing that. The last job that I had before the one where I got suspended was given to me by her father with his connections and all that but I couldn’t work there for long anyway. The employees there all treated me like trash before I got employed due to connections and not legally as if I was the first in the country to do that. I couldn’t stay any longer and that was why I went to look for another job only to get suspended from it and now abandoned.

“It’s not about my job” I told her.

“Then what is it?”

I sighed, “Actually, I got offered a job but a weird one.”

She narrowed her eyes in confusion, “Please don’t tell me its prostitution.”

I placed my hand over my forehead and shook my head, “Of course not.”

She sighed, “Okay then, what’s the weird job?” She asked with a serious expression.

I swallowed hard and fidgeted with my fingers. I just had to tell her about it even though I was already determined to do it. I knew she might convince me not to do it and even promise to get me money but I couldn’t keep doing that anymore.

XOXO