Chapter 14: Chapter 14

"It's strictly by invitation, Jimi will come with your invite tomorrow," Soil told her and Lisha nodded in return even though she was on a call.

"Okay then, extend my greetings to everyone," Lisha concluded as she smiled at Nikki who had since been impatient since Soil called her sister, she'd tried containing her jealousy as she listened to their conversation.

"Sure, I will," Soil hung up before Lisha dropped her phone by her side and turned to Nikki, they were both in Lisha's room watching a film Nikki hadn't been interested in but Lisha had dragged her from her room insisting she must watch the film with her so far others had gone to bed.

It was 10:00 pm already, even while everyone had gone to bed, Lisha had decided to rewatch one of those films she'd watched for the umpteenth time, knowing there was no one to watch it with her, she'd decided to call her sister who had been sleeping when she got to her room.

Lisha had smiled crookedly as she walked over to the mini fridge in Nikki's room, picking out a chilled and cold bottled water, she splashed it on Nikki's face. Nikki grumbled as she got up from the bed with a frown on her face while her sister only smiled sheepishly at her and gave her a puppy eyes, and in a blink of an eye, Lisha dragged Nikki to her room and bolted the door.

Then, she slid in the disc into the DVD player, it was a Korean movie titled 'Strong woman', Nikki wasn't a fan of Korean movies so, she just hissed and wondered how Lisha could finish the film that night. But then, Lisha had been jumping up, screaming and doing all manners of things while watching the movie and Nikki could only shake her head.

"I can see the smile on your face, what were you talking about?" Nikki questioned with a smile after swallowing her jealousy.

"It's just a welcome party," Lisha answered as she shifted her gaze to the TV.

Nikki wasn't satisfied with the response, so, she pressed on, "Welcome party for who?"

"For the youngest child, Jimi and Kemi's younger brother, Mama said he'll be returning from Luxembourg by weekend," Lisha elaborated without unlocking her gaze from the TV.

Nikki's face brightened, "Wow, that's nice, it's at their place, right?"

This time, Lisha turned to her sister, "Yeah, but it's strictly by invitation, they don't want crowd so, it's only family and close family friends."

The brightness on her face vanished instantly, "So, I can't go?"

"I'm not sure." Lisha turned back to the TV in ecstasy, she was always excited about the film whenever she watched it.

"But, you aren't family neither are you a close family friend to any of them?" Nikki pressed on as envy, anger and hatred settled inside her.

"Soil considers me as family," Lisha concluded.

Nikki sighed, "Well, I'll just tell Kemi to give me one," she mumbled but it was audible enough for Lisha to hear so, Lisha only nodded in return as she concentrated on the film.

****************

The day that followed, immediately Nikki stepped into MAPLE, she headed towards Kemi's office, Kemi who was just settling in was surprised to see Nikki that early in her office.

"For you to come early, certainly, there's something going on, so spill it!"

Nikki crossed her legs, she was seated on the couch opposite the sofa Kemi had shifted to.

"Well, it's nothing much, I just want you to give me an invitation card for your brother's welcome party," she said with a wide smile.

Kemi's brow scrunched before responding, "Actually, it's not a big party, it's only for family and close family friends."

"But I'm your friend, a very close one at that." Nikki insisted as her voice instantly changed to a sad one.

"Yeah, but, you aren't a family friend?" It came out more like a question than a statement.

Nikki's face drained as fake hurt washed over her face, "It's not like I plan to disrupt the party, you can just put in a good word for me to your parents, your mum knows me, so…"

Kemi cut in, "Okay then, I'll talk to my parents then I'll bring you the invite."

Happiness crept up her face, Nikki got up immediately to hug Kemi, "You're such a sweetheart."

Kemi smiled, then Nikki withdrew from the hug, "Thanks dear."

"You're welcome."

"See you later," Nikki waved before proceeding to walk out of the office. Happiness settled inside her as her mind wandered off to how the party would be.

***********

"So, if I didn't come to your office, you won't know you're meant to bring me the invite abi?" Lisha shouted as she barged into Jimi's office, she knew he didn't have any important visitor considering that his secretary hadn't stopped her.

Jimi looked up from his laptop, he looked stressed but decided to cover it with a small smile as he stood up to join her on the couch.

"What's going on? You didn't even come for lunch, anyway I brought you lunch." Lisha placed the pack that contained Fried and Jollof rice with roasted chicken and 'Hollandia Yoghurt' on the center table.

"Wow, that's so sweet of you," Jimi complimented as he opened the pack, it wasn't until then he realised he was famished. He had been working all day long without any break.

"It's nice and not sweet of me," she corrected and Jimi chuckled before picking up the spoon, as he proceeded to dig it into the food, Lisha snatched the spoon from him.

"What's it?" Jimi queried while looking up at her.

"Before you can eat that food, tell me, why you didn't come down for lunch?"

"I was preoccupied," he told her as he stretched out his hand for the spoon.

"Preoccupied with what?"she inquired.

Jimi was getting impatient, "Just with work nau," he replied as he inched towards her planning to snatch the spoon from her but Lisha understood his intentions, so, she got up quickly.

"Which work?" She pressed on while moving back gingerly.

"Office work," he responded as he moved closer to her while she stepped back.

"What type of office work?" She pressed on while smiling crookedly, Jimi moved closer and before he could blink his eye, she disappeared to the other end of the office.

Jimi groaned before responding, "Okay, I think there's an alteration in the cash book and now some money is missing and the Accountant called in sick since Monday," he explained with pleading eyes.

"Definitely, the Accountant is responsible for it, maybe he ran away with the money, today is Thursday and the accountant is still sick, has anyone visited him?"

Jimi sighed, "Just give me the spoon, I'll soon faint."

"Answer my question first!"

He rubbed his hand across his face, the member of staff at the Account & Admin. visited him that same Monday but his gatekeeper said he'd gone to another state for his treatment," he explained as he walked over to her.

"Why would you leave the whole of Lagos to another state for treatment, there's something fishy," she told him and Jimi stretched out his hand for the spoon. Lisha didn't hesitate to give him the spoon this time and they both walked back to the couch.

Immediately Jimi took a spoonful of the food, he moaned in satisfaction before Lisha continued, "So, with what you said, I'm certain it's the accountant that stole the money and made the alteration in the cash book."

"I guess," Jimi nodded as he chewed on the food.

Lisha brought out another spoon from the pack and Jimi squinted his eyes.

"So, there was another spoon and you kept on disturbing me," he accused and Lisha rolled her eyes, before he could talk, her spoon went into his food and instantly into her mouth.

"But, I thought you had your lunch earlier at the restaurant?"

"Yeah."

"Then, why are you eating mine again?"

"You can't expect me to just watch while you eat nau," she told him as she dug in deeper into the food.

Jimi only shook his head before joining as they both ate the food not entirely in silence as Lisha kept on talking.

"So, where is my invite?" Lisha inquired immediately they were done with the food.

"At least, you'll allow the food to digest first."

"I've got work to do, answer me jare!"

Jimi rose and walked to his table, minutes later, he came back with the card.

"Thanks," Lisha picked up the empty pack and walked out of the office with Jimi's eyes trailing her, he smiled as she banged the door.