Saved by Love
By Olufunlola Adeola
Episode 13
Within the period of two months after extensive discussions with his brothers, Akinlolu bec@m£ a p@rtner to Pacesetter and he and Akinola joined the Board of Directors which consisted of Mr. Cole, one of his sons and two investors. The do¢v-mentations were done and the papers were signed.
About two months later, Akinola called Akinlolu and pleaded with him to get him a comfortable ap@rtment around Starling Bank as he had been transferred to oversee the Starling Bank Headquarters in Nigeria which was in the city of brown roofs, Ibadan, there seem to be a misappropriation of funds going on there and Akinlolu agreed.
He got him an ap@rtment at Beacon Estate which was about forty-five minutes drive to the bank and s£nt him pictures and rent price which Akinola replied with a ‘The place is looking homey, thank you.’ and the rent price plus a nice ti-p for Akinola’s stress.
Two days before Akinola was due in Ibadan, he s£nt money to Akinlolu to get his ap@rtment stocked and to make things easy, he s£nt him a list. Akinlolu was waiting fifteen minutes before Akinola landed and with a placard when Akinola saw him, his mouth broke into that rakish smile of his as he went to hvg his brother . After arranging their luggage, they went out leaving Akinlolu’s car in the compound, they took a cab and went to those car rental services where Akinola rented a Toyota Yaris and they went back to the house
. He has three neighbors, two ladies and one guy, and the house has a section by the front that is used as a gym.
Two days after, Akinola threw himself to work, one of those ladies in his house alre-ady c@m£ to introduce herself to him, he could bet she was a runs girl. The other lady seemed like she was a busy girl but over the days he caught sight of her walking out with a guy who sl@pped her backside ma-king her skrie-k with laughter, so taken and the guy, he had met in the gym, he was nice and he got to know he is a teller in a bank and that’s how they kicked off.
A month later, Akinola was bored of his routine and decided to chill out for the weekend but he didn’t know where to go plus he nee-ded a company. So, as he searched nice places to visit in Ibadan, he called his brother,
“Hello ‘Lolu.”
“Bro, how are you doing?”
“I guess I am good, I am bored to death here, same routine every day, I nee-d someone to take me out this weekend.”
“Ooooh. I am really ti-ght this weekend, might even be travelling. What about that your neighbor?”
“Gosh! No! That girl is too crazy and raw.
. I would rather stick to my routine or cruise town alone.”
Akinlolu laughed, “I just thought of something, how about you and Adara hit up this weekend, you know Adara right? The designer lady, she knows nice place and she is not crazy or raw.”
“Well, if you say she is not, I agree, will you call her or what?”
“Yeah, I will call her and s£nd you her home address and you can pick her up, cool?”
“Cool. Talk to you later then.”
“Yeah. “Akinlolu ended the call and dialed Adara’s number immediately so it won’t skip his mind. She picked on the fourth ring,
“Hello Akinlolu, what’s up?”
“Nothing much is up ‘cept I would like you to accompany my brother to dinner.”
“No plea-se? And why can’t you do it?”
“I am really ti-ght this weekend and pretty plea-se.”
“Oh, it’s a weekend thingy?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Okay, I am game, this week is going crazy for me.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I am ma-king a dress for a celebrity and she is really getting on my nerves.”
“Just be calm, you know how celebrities can be, you are one yourself so just chill, okay? If possible, damn her and her dress.”
“As if I can, she is paying lots of paper notes for that dress and she will also sell my creation by wearing it so I will just stick it out.”
“All right, Akinola will pick you up Friday.”
“That will do. Enjoy the rest of your day I have to go.”
“Thanks.” He ended the call and then texted Adara’s address to Akinola and then huffed a relief before turning to his computer.
……..
At about 06:45pm, Adara heard her doorbell ring, who could be here by this hour, it had better not to be her celebrity client who finally agreed that her dress is beautiful today, looking at the time, she should be at her p@rty.
She went to open the door only to see Akinola standing, her mind went blank as she stared into his face which held his rakish smile and neatly trimmed beard. She allowed her gaze to roam down his b©dy and noticed how the jeans he wore molded his legs, ma-king those lean legs more prominent His round n£¢k t-shi-t was definitely ti-ght and it made it obvious what to expect un-der the fabric and of course the blazer just made him look yummier.
“Did I pas-s?”
“Excuse me?” She asked as she c@m£ back to her s-en-ses, her eyes holding his.
“Did I pas-s your fashion test?”
“Oh, sorry, I was just, I was just going to…uhm”
“That’s okay, can I come in? You are obviously not re-ady.”
“Yes plea-se, I am sorry about that.” She said and they stepped back so he could enter then she closed the door and showed him to a seat.
“I will be right back.” She said and turned to go into a room down a short corridor.
“Take all the time you want.” He replied and decided to look around, she would probably take a lot of time being a fashionista.
He was surprised to see her twenty-five minutes later and she asked,
“Shall we?” She asked cutting into his thoughts. He had been thinking about what to do to the staff at the bank he was posted to.
“Yeah, sure, after you. That was fast though.” He commented as he perused her dressing, she had opted for a black dress that flowed from her tummy down. Her hair was swept up with a white rose holding it at a side. She looked beautiful.
“There is no point delaying you when I was the one who was not re-ady in the first place.” She said as she turned off the lights and they stepped outside.
As he drove out, he commented,
“I wonder why you were not named Beauty; you are lovingly beautiful. Did you make this dress?”
Adara smiled “Flattering is not allowed, sir and yes, I made it.”
“It is really nice.”
“Thank you.”
“I wish I was a lady; I would be wearing those long dresses most times.”
“What a ridiculous thing to say!” Adara said laughing,
“Come on, I was kidding, so where are we headed?”
Saved by Love
Episode 14 and 15
Some minutes later, they were at Chubby Cheeks Restaurant, a section of Lantern h0tel. They were ushered to a table at a far end beside a window. The other customers in the restaurant were not up to ten and so the atmosphere was conducive and quiet.
They ordered after studying the menu card and within minutes they were served and as they picked up their cutleries, Akinola asked,
“Can I say a short prayer before we eat?”
“Of course.” Adara agreed. He did and she responded,
“Amen.” Then they started eating, and Akinola said,
“So, ma’am…”
She cut in “ Adara is okay plea-se.”
“That is if you will call me Akinola.”
“That’s mouthful though, but I want to imagine I was your mother, she must have had a ha-rd time calling you because she can’t just say ‘Akin’, I bet you would all run forward.”
He laughed “You are so right . She used to make the mistake most times and as growing boys, we used it to tease her such that when she calls, we will all run to her. She would then fake frustrated sigh and say ‘My next child had better bear another name or we will have a house full of ‘Akins’
. I miss her.” He ended with a wistful tone that made Adara want to reach out to him and comfort him and she did, her hand covering his, instantly there was this electrifying feeling that made her aware of his hand, of her actions, of him and she pu-ll-ed away.
. There was an uncomfortable silence then Adara cleared her throat and asked,
“How did you get saved?”
The question made him relax and he smiled, remembering the experience,
“Interesting story that is. I got saved two years ago, before that I was a Casanova. I loved flir-ting with ladies like a lady loves shopping and I don’t like long-term d@t!ngso it all ends as soon as I get tired of the S-x or see a h0tter girl.
So, while I was serving as a manager at a br@nch of Starling, we got a new receptionist for the bank and she was just the thing to turn me on then, before you could say Jack Robinson, I dropped the girl I was slee-ping with and decided to pursue her but there was a problem.”
“What was the problem?” Adara asked, enjoying the story, the waiter had come to serve them dessert and she was devouring it alre-ady,
“She was a Christian, still is though. Not just a church goer or bench warmer but an active Christian and I wanted her, I didn’t care if she was a Christian or not and so I kept pestering her, she decided to invite me to her Church and so as to get to her heart, I agreed. That was where had my first encounter with Christ.
“Wow!”
“Yeah, I was sobered but just a little bit, I still wanted to get into a relationsh!pwith the lady, she looked responsible and I could even marry her, I told myself back then, but when she kept inviting me for another program, I went and that was the day I said goodbye to the world, August 19, I st©pped smoking, st©pped drinking and womanizing c@m£ to a dead end.”
“Glory!” Adara exclaimed
“You could say that again, dear. About two weeks later, she introduced me to her fiancé now her husband and that was how I started growing spiritually, Dre, that’s her husband has really helped me and he is my best friend now.”
“Wow, that’s quite a story.”
“It is, so what about yours?” Akinola asked and she narrated her experience. As she finished her narration, there was a flash by the window, they turned to look and the c@m£ra man captured their faces,
“Paparazzi?”
“Yeah, I am sorry, those people are so determined.”
“It’s okay.” He said and signaled to the waiter to give them the bill and he paid then they left, as they were going towards his car, he asked,
“Why do I feel like the night is still young?”
She laughed “Because you’ve been enjoying yourself all night, but we could go to the game house on the other side of the h0tel if you want.”
“Would you like that?”
“Yes.” She replied and they went to the game house. They looked around for some minutes before deciding which game to pla-y.
Some thirty minutes later, they left the h0tel and he drove them to her ap@rtment and as he walked her to her door,
“I really enjoyed myself tonight, thanks to you, Adara.”
“You are welcome.” She replied, loving the way her name enrolled off his ton-gue with his American accent.
“So where are we going tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow will sort itself out. Just come anytime from 10 am.”
“Okay then, uhmm, can I have your number?”
“That’s not a problem.” She dictated it to him as he typed it on his phone and saved it. Then he left after biding her good night.
Later that night, while Adara was checking her WhatsApp messages and replying unre-ad chats, she checked her contacts status upd@t£s and there she was on Akinola’s upd@t£, two pictures, one was a selfie and the other was the full picture a stranger took with his phone, both was at the game house.
She smiled as she re-ad the caption, ‘What better way to start the weekend than to have a beautiful d@t£ night with a beautiful woman’.
This guy was definitely getting to her and she felt she was getting to him. Over one d@t£! Adara, you have more s-en-se than that but a girl can dream right and that was what she told Bolade over video call because she had threatened to castrate her if she did not give her every details of her d@t£ with Akinlolu’s brother.
Episode 15
The next day, Akinola arrived at Adara’s ap@rtment around 11:00am, Adara’s opened the door, as they exchanged greetings, she took in his dressing, he was wearing a snug dark r!pp£djeans and an ashes-colored round n£¢k t-shi-t with a black blazer, different from the previous day, he must have this blazers lined up in his wardrobe.
He not only looked nice but smelled nice. She on the other hand was wearing a denim short with a black t-shi-t which she was using to clean the house . She served him jui-ce and a packet of digestive biscuits and excused herself. Akinola made himself comfortable and trained his eyes on the television as they were showing American entertainment news and it was Nigerian’s turn, after talking about two events, the next thing was their picture at Chubby Cheeks, Akinola shouted,
“Adara, you nee-d to see this.”
“What?” She asked coming out of the kitchen in time to see their pictures displa-yed on the screen before the news anchor said,
“It seems the face behind Ombré Fashion House and Incognito label might have finally met the lucky guy who was still missing as at her interview with Nana of Dazzle TV. We wonder who this impeccably handsome man but we intend to find out soon and till then, we say, keep it up girl!”
“I am so sorry for that
. I knew they were after me.”
“That’s okay, at least they recognized the fact that I am handsome.”
They both laughed and she went back to the kitchen. He followed her after removing his blazer and looked around,
“Nice kitchen.”
“Thanks.” She turned briefly then replied and he asked,
“So, what are we doing today?”
“Can we stay at home, cook a nice meal and watch some movies? I don’t think I have the energy to go out plus those nons-en-se media people might show up again.”
“That’s all right. Here, let me help you finish up?” He said, collecting the sponge from her as he washed the remaining dishes. They were not used; she was probably washing the dust away or something. He washed them anyway and asked,
“What were you planning to cook?”
“Chinese spaghetti.”
“Hmm, how did you know that’s one of my favorites?”
“I did not know that; I have not eaten it in a while now hence the suggestion.”
“Can I cook it then? You deserve a rest.”
“You cook?”
“Not all the time but I try to keep in t©uçh so as not to lose my talent.”
“I see, let’s see what Mr. Cook will make up for us but if it turns bad then I can always ring up the Pizzeria.”
“Let’s do it this way, if I cook the meal well, you get to call up an ice cream sto-re for delivery, my favorite being vanilla.
. If I don’t, I will get the Pizza.”
“Deal p@rtner.” She said, grinning and high-fived his palm.
After he was throu-gh with the dishes, she showed him where all he would nee-d is and went to take what she named it, ‘a beauty bath’. He set to work immediately.
The food turned out delicious and Adara had to get the ice-cream which served as dessert while they watched their movies.
……..
After the weekend meeting, they got to know each other better over chats and frequent calls. For the next two months, they went out three to four times but they were careful to go where they could mingle with the crowd because of the media.
Adara didn’t know the feelings until one day during lunch, Bolade made a comment about her falling in love with Akinola and that was when she started thinking about their clos£ness. He made her happy. She beamed when she received his calls and he is the best conversationalist when it comes to chatting. Moreover, he is a Christian and he has a b©dy Models only had. Handsome face, nice smile and the k!sses that he dropped on her cheeks and forehead on their last two d@t£s made her toes curl in plea-sure.
Akinola on the other hand knew what was going on. He was falling head over heels in love with this Babe. But he was scared, he had never been in a serious relationsh!pbefore and Adara seems like the serious, straight to marriage woman. Marriage? That even scared him more yet he found himself visualizing them married. What can he do?
Tbc