#THE_MIRACLE_I_nee-d
EPISODE 88
Kimberly had to admit she felt kind of nervous as she drove into the parking lot of the restaurant where she was to meet with ‘Tunde Obasan’. She pu-ll-ed down the car’s sun visor mirror and checked her face. She took out her powder and applied a little on her face which was beginning to look oily, and then applied her zaron l!pgloss on herl-ips, before stepping out of her car carrying her handbag, a file containing her business proposal.
Immediately Chuka sighted Kimberly walking into the restaurant, he stood up from his seat with a wi-de welcoming smile plastered on his face as he waved her over. She was dressed in white shi-t which was tucked into her navy blue suit p@n-t, and was wearing a red shoe which matched her handbag.
Kimberly’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the handsome guy who was waving at her. He looked really handsome and was light skinned the way she liked. She f0rç£d a smile as she walked over to where he was standing “Hello! I’m Kimberly Abamba!” Kimberly said, extending a hand for a handshake. She noticed the suit he was wearing was from the same designer as the one Eric had worn on the day they did their court wedding.
“And I’m Tunde Obasan.” Chuka said with a grin as he took the hand she extended in his, “It’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.” Chuka said as he let go of her hand and pu-ll-ed out a chair for her to sit down.
“You have? From who?” Kimberly asked, wondering if it was Eric or Mimi.
“Well, from my sister and your husband of course. What will you like to have?” Chuka asked as he signalled to the waiter.
“Can we talk about business first?” Kimberly asked anxiously.
“Business can wait. I’d like to get to know you first.” Chuka said before turning to the waiter, “Get this beautiful lady whatever she wants. And get me a glas-s of your best wine.” Chuka said politely before returning his attention to Kimberly. Kimberly requested for a glas-s of wine as well before facing Chuka who was looking at her with a smile.
“I have to admit that you look even more beautiful in person than in pictures.” Chuka said with a flir-ty smile, ma-king Kimberly give him an awkward smile since she didn’t know what to expect. Was he flir-ting with her or was this just the way he was? She wondered.
“Thank you. I can’t say the same for you since there are no pictures of you to view. Why is that so, if I may ask?” Kimberly asked, directing the conversation to safer t©pics that centered on him.
“Well, maybe it’s because I’m not very ph0togenic.” Chuka said with a dismissive shrug, and raised the glas-s of wine the waiter just brou-ght to hisl-ips.
“I doubt that is the reason. And then you also seem more… More approachable than I would have thought for someone like you.” She said, ma-king Chuka chuckle.
“You don’t think that is probably because Eric and my sister put in good words for you?” Chuka asked as he leaned back in his seat in a relaxed pose.
Kimberly said nothing as she sipped from her glas-s of wine. She was feeling quite self conscious because of the way he kept looking at her with a pla-yful smile on his face. The last thing she wanted was messing up by doing anything with him. She knew she was s¢v-m, but she didn’t want to be the sort of s¢v-m who would sleep with her fake husband’s friend, who happened to be Prisca’s crush, and her new friend’s brother… Not to forget he was also her step mother’s ex b©yfri£nd.
She cleared her throat, “I learnt you used to d@t£ my father’s wife.” She said, watching him closely.
Chuka’s facial expression remained the same, not giving away anything he was thinking as he considered her question. He had spent quite some time with Eric the previous day trying to get all the stories straight.
“Yeah… Does that bother you?”
“Of course not. I was just curious, that’s all.” Kimberly rushed to as-sure him since she didn’t want to seem like she was prying.
“We d@t£d back when we were in school. She was my first love and I was hers.” Chuka explained after a while.
“Oh! I’m sorry it didn’t end well…”
“No nee-d to be sorry. It’s for the best.” He said as flashed her a charming smile again, “Don’t you want to eat something?”
“No. I alre-ady had something to eat. We can just talk about the proposal.” Kimberly suggested.
“Tell me about yourself Kim… I can call you that, right?” Chuka asked with a disarming smile which made Kimberly wonder why he smiled so much. Was it just his nature to smile or was there something about her that was ma-king him smile this way?
“Well, I’m Kimberly Abamba as you know…”
“What about your tribal name? Where are you from?” Chuka interrupted.
“Oh! It’s Ogechi. I’m from Delta State.” Kimberly said ma-king Chuka’s eyes wi-den in surprise.
“Delta State? Where?” He asked sitting up excitedly.
“My father is from Umunede while my mother…”
“It’s a lie!” Chuka exclaimed incredulously, before recalling that he was acting as Tunde Obasan and wasn’t even supposed to know where that place was in the first place.
Kimberly looked at the excitement on his face with confusion, “Why would I lie about that. Why? Have you been there before?”
Chuka quic-kly composed himself and relaxed on his seat again, “Don’t mind me. You’re just the second person I’ve recently met who is from around that area hence the excitement. What do you think? Maybe this is a sign from God that I would marry from there, huh?” Chuka asked with a chuckle ma-king Kimberly giggle quietly.
He was quite funny and friendly. Not as boring as she had as-sumed he would be. His personality seemed to match Mimi’s own even though they both didn’t really look alike. Mimi had a chocolate complexion like Eric while Chuka was light skinned.
“So I’d like to call you Oge if you don’t mind. I’m not really a fan of English names.” Chuka said ma-king Kimberly smile.
“Okay. You’re so different from what I imagined.” Kimberly confessed.
“I hope it’s in a good way though.” Chuka said with a wi-nk.
Kimberly decided she was going to have Prisca meet with him for their next meeting. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be around this guy that seemed to be flir-ting with her. Or perhaps that was just the way he was?
__________
By the time Kathleen got home she had gone from slightly pissed to full b!own mad. Pete was really getting on her nerves with the attitude. One minute he was doing like he cared so much about her and the next he was treating her like she didn’t matter to him at all. What was wrong with him anyway? Why hadn’t he called her all day? He couldn’t say he had been in a meeting since he arrived at his destination, so what else could be keeping him from calling her? She wondered as she went about all she was doing with a scowl on her face.
“This one you’re frowning and hissing up and down like this, did someone offend you at the office?” Her mother asked curiously.
“I’m okay.” Kathleen muttered as she walked out of the house to check on Amanda. Ever since Isioma and her mother arrived she had not really been spending much time with the kid, and that nee-ded to change if she was really going to have anything to do with Pete.
“Hello Aunty Kat!” Amanda greeted with a smile before returning her attention to her as-signments which Chidi was helping her with.
“How are you honey? How was school today?” Kathleen asked with a soft smile as she sat down on the couch close to Amanda.
“School was okay. Uncle Chidi drove me to school and picked me up.” Amanda informed her.
“That’s nice. What have you both eaten? I’m going to fix dinner now, is there something you would both like to eat?” Kathleen asked as she stood up. She wanted to do something to distract her from sitting beside her phone and waiting for his call. She had left her phone in her be-droom before coming over to the main ap@rtment.
“There is still soup in the freezer. I brou-ght it out alre-ady. I’m just going to make semo, so no nee-d to bother yourself.” Chidi as-sured her.
“Okay, you can just watch television, I will help her finish her as-signment.” Kathleen offered and signalled for Amanda to come closer to her so they could work on it together. Soon they were both seated on the ground solving Amanda’s quantitative reasoning questions.
After they were done Kathleen stood up to stretch as Amanda packed her books. “It’s about time you have your bath.” Kathleen said as she looked down at Amanda, “Come on, I will bathe you and prepare you for be-d, and then you can tell me all about school before dinner.” She suggested ma-king Amanda smile happily as she allowed Kathleen lead her to the be-droom.
Kathleen listened as Amanda told her everything that had happened in school from the moment she said Chidi dropped her off. She told Kathleen about her favorite teacher, and one of the instructors she liked a lot.
“… So daddy called and said…”
“Your father called you?” Kathleen asked, interrupting Amanda.
“Yes.”
“When?” Kathleen asked in disbelief.
“He called when I was on my way back from school, and then he called just before you c@m£ in. He asked after you.” Amanda said with a smile, not realizing that Kathleen was very upset now.
So he had called his daughter twice and he hadn’t even bothered to leave her a mere text? That meant he wasn’t busy. He was deliberately not trying to reach her. That was fine then. If that was the way he wanted it, then FINE!!!
“Ouch! Aunty Kat you’re hurting me.” Amanda cried when Kathleen kept combing and dragging her hair r0ûghly.
“Oh! I’m sorry baby.” Kathleen said apologetically as she looked down at Amanda’s face which looked like she was about to cry.
After dressing her up Kathleen returned to her ap@rtment leaving her mother and Isioma with Chidi and Amanda, since they had all made it an habit of spending the evening together now. She nee-ded to be alone anyway. She was glad that Sharon had returned to her ap@rtment, so now she could be alone without having anyone ask her many unnecessary questions about why she was upset.
***********
Pete l@yon his be-d in the h0tel room looking at the ceiling. He was trying so ha-rd not to pick up his phone and call Kathleen. He didn’t want to see too forward. She had asked for some time to think about his proposal, and he didn’t want to start bugging her with his phone calls, even though he really missed her. After sometime he picked up his phone and scrolled throu-gh his gallery to check out the ph0tos Chidi had s£nt him on Saturday after taking pictures of them together.
He smiled as he looked at Kathleen’s pictures. He missed her voice and her weird s-en-se of humor alre-ady. He had wanted to go to her ap@rtment early that morning to wake her up and inform her he was leaving, but more to see her face, but it had been too early. Doing that would mean not just waking her up, but also waking up her mother and Isioma as well. And he hadn’t wanted to do that.
He knew he could have called, but he had chos£n not to at the last minute, because Chidi his special adviser on women affairs had suggested that it was best he left without talking to her or seeing. That way she would miss him more and would be very eager to accept his proposal by the time he returns.
He went to her Instagram page to check out her pictures there and found himself laughing at her captions. They were all verses of the Bible. He went to her Facebook page and kept going throu-gh her ph0tos and posts since that was the closest way he could at least see her and enjoy her weird s-en-se of humor without talking to her.
He was there for over an hour until he heard a knock on his door and raised his head, “Yes? Who is there?” He asked as he stood up, thinking it was probably room service.
“It’s me Clara, sir.” His secretary called from behind the door ma-king him raise a brow as he walked over to open the door.
“Yes? Is there a problem?” He asked immediately he opened the door, and then paused when he noticed she was dressed in a short see throu-gh go-wn, and she seemed not to be wearing anything un-der.
Clara gave him a coy smile as she raised the flash drive she was holding alongside some other do¢v-ments, “Your father asked me to prepare this so you can un-derstand better all that we will be doing for the next couple of days.” She explained as she took a good look at him. It was the first time she was seeing him out of his corporate wears. He was wearing just a three quarter short and singlet which revealed not only his muscular hairy che-st but also his bulging biceps.
Pete didn’t bother to budge from the door as his eyes moved from her to what she was showing him, “Thanks. You can just leave it with me then, I will go throu-gh it later.” Pete said, extending his hand for her to hand it over.
“Unfortunately because I was in a hurry to prepare it I typed most of them in shorthand. Can you un-derstand shorthand?” She asked with an innocent.
“I’m sure you don’t have anything else to do for the rest of the evening. So why not take it back to your room and summarize it before bringing it?” Pete asked impatiently.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not with my l@pt©p.” Clara said with apologetic smile, “It broke down and I couldn’t get a new one on such a short notice.” She said with a false embarras-sed smile as she tucked some tendrils of her weavon behind her ear, and fluttered her lashes at him.
Without doubt Clara knew this was the time to make her moves and get Pete. It was now or never. If she didn’t succeed now that they were on this trip alone, then she could just as well quit her job. The last thing she wanted was for Pete to reject her, and then end up marrying that two-faced bit-ch. That would be a major sl@p on her face, and she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
Pete looked at her for a moment before holding out the door for her to get in. He was going to give her the benefit of doubt and allow her prove him wrong, “Alright, you can use my l@pt©p and summarize it.”
“Thank you.” She flashed him a smile before walking inside the room as s£dûçt!velyas she could manage.
“My l@pt©p is over there charging. You can sit on the chair.” Pete offered before returning to his be-d to pu-ll on his polo shi-t over the singlet he was wearing. He returned to his position on the be-d and continued with re-ading throu-gh Kathleen’s Facebook posts, with his back to Clara.
Clara looked at him wondering what he was doing that was more important than the pres£nce of a S-xy lady like her in his room. She cleared her throat to get his attention before standing up, “Can I get a pen?” She asked walking towards the be-d to meet Pete.
Pete raised a brow as he watched her move around. Because she was backing the major source of white light in the room, her see throu-gh dress was made even more transparent, “There is one by the stool where the l@pt©p is.” He said c0cking his head in the direction of where she just stood up from.
“Oh! There is?” She asked as she turned around and returned to the stool. She bent down as she pretended to look around the stool, ma-king sure her well shaped as-s was within his view.
“Here it is!” She said as she picked it up and wiggled her as-s a little before straightening up.
“Clara?” Pete called in a gentle tone, ma-king her turn around to look at him.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you sit down and tell me about yourself? You could get a drink from the refrigerator.” Pete suggested ma-king her smile. Pete was a man after all, and had blood running throu-gh his veins.
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 89