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It was not that she had totally abandoned the dream of working for the television, but as it was, she enjoyed what she was doing, though the money was not fantastic.

She thanked God for the pecks she was making, nonetheless. Besides, Captain Henry Damanchi, her lover and fiancée, had been proving to be a very worthy source of indulgences. He had always showered her with gifts especially after his return flights from overseas.

Henry was very generous so to speak. Nike had been living with him in his Ikoyi flat for the last one year. She wore a ring on her third finger to indicate that she was already engaged to him.

Left to her, she would have become his missus long time ago. All her friends and mates had married; she had told him.

Henry would laugh over that. It was a matter of time, he would tell her with a reassuring smile and a pat. Things had not been exactly easy. Her Client Services Manager was recently becoming a thorn in the flesh.

He had been making advances towards her and she had rebuffed him. He had remained undaunted and that had worsened the matters.

He claimed he saw her in his dream as his wife.
Nike wasn’t impressed. She had told him he must be hallucinating. The manager laughed off her rebuff and promised to persevere.

Next weekend would be her thirtieth birthday. God, she wasn’t getting any younger. Henry had promised that it would be a swell party.

Presently, he was out of the country but had promised that he would be back by Wednesday evening. That was tomorrow. Unconsciously, Nike checked her watch for the time as if that would guarantee that all was well.

She dropped the artworks she was looking at. Time was a few minutes after 1.00 p.m., and it was time she took a break. She left her office and went to the staff canteen. As she ate her lunch in the highly subsidized canteen, she thought of her present and her future.

The prospects were bright, she decided. She had every cause to glorify God that she was hale and hearty.

She remembered her room-mate in her final year on the campus. Mary had been quite close to her and they had developed a kind of sibling relationship. Then, suddenly, Mary had fallen sick. Typhoid fever, they called it. She was admitted into the university teaching hospital. Nike had thought it was a minor ailment which Mary would soon get over.

Then, Nike was shocked when she heard that Mary had died. Could typhoid kill? Nike asked stupidly. She had been bereaved for quite some time. How could such a terrible fate befall an innocent and sweet one like Mary? Mary was just twenty. Was that what life was about – being cut off so young and so suddenly?

That was ten years ago. Nike had lived ten years after her dear Mary. She thanked God for her life.
Ajayi, an office assistant in her department, popped inside the canteen and, on sighting her, walked straight towards her. He was holding her phone. Gosh, she had left it on her table.

‘The phone keeps ringing on and on,’ Ajayi said, stretching out his right hand.

Nike grinned. ‘Oh, thanks.’ She got the phone from him. It had stopped ringing. She checked who had been calling and realized it was from a foreign number. She had no doubt that it must be Henry.

The phone started to ring again.

‘Hello, Henry.’

‘Hi. I’ve been calling you for some time, now.’
‘Sorry, I went to the canteen to take my lunch and I didn’t bring my phone along. Silly me.’

He laughed shortly across the line. ‘It’s okay. I hope I’m not disturbing your lunch?’

‘Oh, no. it’s always good to hear your voice. How’s life over there? Where’re you now?’

‘In London, of course.’ He said it as if he had lived in London all his life. Henry was always that assertive.

‘How’re you doing? How’s the queen city?’

‘Fine, fine. Everything is swell. How’re you there?’

‘I miss you.’ She had said that in countless number of times. What else would you tell a lover that left you all alone while he shuffled across the globe in the cockpit? To her, that expression would never become a cliché.

‘I miss you, too,’ he replied. Each of them usually expressed the other person’s absence this way.

‘I’ll soon be back home. Tomorrow evening, I should be back, just like I said.’

‘Yes, and I’ll be right there, waiting for you.’

‘Any problem?’

‘None other than missing you.’

The door of her office opened as Becky, one of her colleagues, came inside.

He laughed over the line. His laugh was pleasant. She loved to see or hear him laugh. It always sounded pleasantly melodious.

‘Don’t worry,’ he reassured, ‘I’ll soon be with you, my dear.’

‘And I’ll surely long to be with you, Henry.’

He talked briefly more about missing her, promised her a swell time together when he returned and bade her bye.

‘Your heartthrob?’ Becky asked.

Becky was nice but was given to too much of gossiping. It was quite good that Nike was in a mood for chit-chat this afternoon. Nike liked her but was often pissed off by Becky’s talkativeness. All the same, they managed to get along well.

Jide did not offer his hand for a handshake this time around as he done when the man first came in. He only nodded and watched him go out, his expensive crocodile skin briefcase an obvious tell-tale of ill-gotten display of affluence.

Jide even thought of calling in the security guy to interrogate and hand over the man to the police, but he decided not to do so. Leave the little devil alone, he decided.

The next visitor was an official from Obat Oil company. Everything discussed was strictly business and official. After that came in Alhaji Dan Bature who also worked in the legal department of an oil company. Dan was a young ebullient man who diffused pure aura of wealth, arrogance and authority.

He was a man born of the silver spoon, but it would be right to say that his family background had more of the silver lining. Dan and Jide had met about two years ago. The occasion could be described as ‘oily’ affair and the two had remained friends ever since then.

They were almost the same age, but Dan Bature already had two wives and five children.

‘Alhaji Alhaji,’ Jide hailed him as soon as he stepped inside his office. The latter was all smiles. He was dressed – not surprisingly – in babanriga of white guinea brocade. The satellite phone he always went around with was in his left hand, as usual. It had become part of his dressing accessories.

‘Jide, the law,’ Dan replied. The two always exchanged greetings like this. Jide rose to his feet to give a warm handshake.

‘How are the worigidas?’

‘Oh, they’re fine. They’re doing very well.’

His visit was private, so they chatted briefly on private matters.

‘What can I offer you, Alhaji?’ Jide asked.

The latter shook his head. “Thanks. I’m okay as I am.’

After about seven minutes, Dan stood up to go.

‘Are you coming to the polo club this Saturday?’ Dan asked. ‘We’ve not seen you at that place for some time, now.’

‘Ah, I will try to make it.’

He accompanied Dan to the elevator, waved good bye to him before he returned to his office. His work resumed in earnest.

* * *

Nike was in her office, going through some artwork that would be used for advertisement. She worked as the Assistant Client Service Manager at MedNet Advertising Company. As an undergraduate, she had thought she would end of as a newscaster or a broadcast person, but here she was, working for and advertising company.

She had studied Mass Communication in the university out of the love she had for the media world. At that time, she had figured herself becoming a prominent newscaster or a presenter in the glamorous and famous world of the tube.

As far as she was concerned, in this modern global village, telecommunication industry remained one of the most viable. Then, she would watch CNN and MTV for hours, marveling on the power of intercontinental communication.

At the end of her degree and the national youth service, she found herself in the advertising sub sector of the industry, after some job search. She had tried as much as she could to be employed by one of the private television stations, but it appeared she had to wait for a while in this regard. She had taken her present as a tentative measure, but had come to like it.

It was not that she had totally abandoned the dream of working for the television, but as it was, she enjoyed what she was doing, though the money was not fantastic. She thanked God for the pecks she was making, nonetheless.

Besides, Captain Henry Damanchi, her lover and fiancée, had been proving to be a very worthy source of indulgences. He had always showered her with gifts especially after his return flights from overseas.


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divinelypruned:
Thanks for the update, happy Sunday

Many thanks.

He looked so candid whenever he spoke that way. Yeni was always taken in by that mien. Amanda was no exception. This time around, she mellowed down.

‘It’s just that I missed you so much,’ she said softly.

‘I missed you, and I’m sorry.’

He patted her shoulder. She wished she could really make him understand her feelings better. You’re just being sentimental, she told herself almost in a reproach.

Lover boy was already married, couldn’t you understand that? Why did you start this emotional adventure with him in the first place? Sentiments. Raw sentiments. She wished she could brush aside emotions.

The traffic was light so it didn’t take them long to get to her place at Maryland. Now, she wasn’t so much looking displeased with him anymore.

‘I want to cook for you,’ she offered. ‘What will you like?’

He smiled at her. ‘That’s good of you.’

‘Be my guest.’ She went to the kitchen to prepare the meal. She was going to satisfy him tonight and have the best of him, she thought delightedly.


* * *


On Tuesday, Amanda breezed into the office looking very dazzling. For some yet inexplicable reasons, she was in a very good mood today. Her mood was certainly reflected in her behavior. She was dressed in a skirt suit that looked so cool and cute on her.

The black dress was made by Donna Karan and she had chosen it in a way of dressing to kill. The skirt was barely knee-length. It was ‘hot.’ That was very good, she felt, for it complimented her attractive legs.

When Jide got to the office, he was quick to notice her splendid aura. ‘You look so nice today.

That’s a cute dress you are putting on.’

She was delighted at his compliments. ‘Thanks, dear boss.’

‘And you look so happy. What’s the secret?’

‘I don’t know. I guess the mood just comes.’

‘Ah, good for you. Yesterday, the mood was so different. You look much better today.’

He realized that she even looked prettier than he thought. Her mood certainly added to her looks. Things went on smoothly that day in the office.

There was a total lull from Biyi as neither Jide nor Yeni had heard anything from him since the last time that he sent a courier-delivered message to him. Indeed, Jide had started forgetting about him. He had other things to contend with, and the bitter ex-lover wasn’t one of them.

At ten o’clock, he started attending to some visitors who had come to see him for various reasons. One of them was a gorgeously dressed man who introduced himself as Akin Matthew.

He was a debonair man with an air of affluence and authority about him.

After the introduction, Akin Matthew said he represented an oil prospecting company in Dallas, Texas, and had come to Nigeria to do business in oil distribution and marketing. His company, he claimed had gone into partnership business with some oil companies in Qatar, United Arab Emirate, Angola and Gabon.

He had come to see Jide because he felt the two of them could do some discreet business together and make cool money. Jide listened attentively. Events in recent times in Nigeria had shown that fraudsters usually operated in this suave way.

Many people had fallen victims of these fraudsters. They were so smooth and they looked so convincing that one would have thought they were indeed out to do genuine business. Jide had heard and learnt more than enough about them.

They were the same kind of people that would send bogus e-mails, operate spurious websites, and make illicit claims to having business of repute. The greedy and unwary ones, Jide believed, were the ones that fell for such fraudulent baits and scams. No, not him. He wouldn’t fall for it.

‘Why must the business become personal?’ he asked the man. ‘Why can’t it be done at the very official level between the company you work for and mine?’

Mr. Matthew was a little bit thrown off by that question. With the background information he had, he had thought this young and ambitious looking legal adviser and secretary would fall for his bait. Jide had not even waited to hear the explicit details of the very business he was proposing to him.

Neither had he waited to be told the aspect of expenses and the projected profits to be made and the sharing formula.

‘I was thinking that as an upward-moving guy, you would take the advantage,’ Matthew said.

‘If the business is viable, one doesn’t have to be young to accept it. Why not meet with my M.D?’

The man knew that was the end of the road. He stood up. ‘Thank you so much, Mr. Jide Akindele. We’ll see again.’

Jide did not offer his hand for a handshake this time around as he done when the man first came in. He only nodded and watched him go out, his expensive crocodile skin briefcase an obvious tell-tale of ill-gotten display of affluence.

Nice update.

divinelypruned:
Thanks for the update, hope I will see more, cheers

Thanks for your interest.

Nice one.

Today, they worked for about two hours on the book. Since morning, they had rarely spoken to each other. He had bought her a surprise package, a Nokia phone, to make up as he had promised. He then wondered why she was still acting as she was.

Actually, she was feeling the heat of her taciturnity. There was no way she would put up with such controlled conversations the next day. She decided to call it a day.

‘Thanks for all the help you’ve been rendering,’ he told her, smiling in a boyish way.

‘It’s a pleasure. Are you going now?’

‘Yes.’

‘I’m not quite ready.’

‘Well, in that case, I’ll find an alternative means of transport.’

He shook his head. ‘There’ll be no need for that.’ He shut his laptop down and stood up to close for the day too. They rode the elevator down.

‘I’ll be going home straight,’ he announced.

She stared briefly at him. ‘In that case, there’s no need I go with you.’

He looked puzzled. ‘Why that? I don’t understand you.’

‘If you’ll be going home straight, then there’s no need we go together.’

‘Why?’

‘Because there’s no need.’

‘What d’you mean, there’s no need? Have we not been going together before?’

They were at the car park. She dropped his briefcase in the backseat. He studied her for a couple of seconds, then decided how to play along with her.

‘Alright, alright. Get inside the car and let’s go.’

She remained adamant. ‘Well?’

He sighed. ‘Of course, we’ll go to your place first. I won’t be going to my home first, after all. Get inside the car and let’s go.’

It was then that she was mollified. They sat at the back seats while the driver backed the car out of the parking lot and joined the main road.

Something told him he must tread softly in his relationship with Amanda, else he would soon find himself enmeshed in a tangle that would choke him up. She was getting too emotional and that certainly portended danger.

Ladies were always accusing him of not paying attention to them; of being so unfeeling. Jide had been having a running battle with one lover or the other at different times.

He remembered his first love in his school days. Dupe had a lithe and enticing figure he found himself enamored to. One day, she had come to rave about his infidelity – as if they were already married! Jide could not understand what the fuss was all about. Dupe, heartbroken, had called it quit and no amount of entreaty would make her change her mind. Gosh!

‘I thought you care for me,’ Amanda was saying. Biyi’s mind was already far off and he had to jerk himself back to the reality.

‘Huh?’

Amanda reiterated what she had said.

He blinked rapidly. ‘Of course, I care,’ he replied shortly. ‘What makes you think otherwise?’

They always wanted to be assured and reassured, he thought gloomily. Can’t they just take and accept things as they are?

‘If you care, how come you always forget about me the moment I’m out of your sight it’s like my case is out of sight, out of mind.’

‘That’s not true,’ he corrected. ‘I’ve already told you the reason why I couldn’t make it to your place over the weekend.’

She shook her head but didn’t say anything. Whatever that meant. Jide held her hand, trying to look as serious as he could.

‘Amanda, you shouldn’t let a small matter like this make you become so uptight. Try to be understanding. I thought I’ve even made up for the inadequacy.’

He looked so candid whenever he spoke that way. Yeni was always taken in by that mien. Amanda was no exception. This time around, she mellowed down.


‘It’s just that I missed you so much,’ she said softly.

‘I missed you, and I’m sorry.’

He patted her shoulder. She wished she could really make him understand her feelings better.

You’re just being sentimental, she told herself almost in a reproach. Lover boy was already married, couldn’t you understand that?

Why did you start this emotional adventure with him in the first place? Sentiments. Raw sentiments. She wished she could brush aside emotions.



https://publish.okadabooks.com/book/about/above_the_shadows/29529

Oluwatimi2000:
this was running before it stopped

.....

Oluwatimi2000:
this was running before it stopped

....

She clouded her face. ‘Sick?’

‘Yes, kind of. I went to my uncle’s place, and there I developed a serious running stomach. It must have been something I ate. I even had to sleep over there that night.’

The lies came so glibly, now. Biyi was a master in the art of falsehood and deceit, no doubt.

Rose decided to believe him. ‘I’m sorry for that. When I waited for some minutes and I didn’t see you, I left. I tried your number but could not get through. I couldn’t help wondering why you couldn’t keep your appointment.’

He smiled apologetically again. ‘Oh, it’s that damned stomach upset. Sorry, I couldn’t make it.’

They were still standing on the terrace. She curiously looked at the main building.

‘And, I’m sorry for another thing: today, I won’t be able to attend to you well. My uncle and a cousin are around and we’re having a kind of family meeting. I’ll have to see you another time.’

This time, there was the look of unbelief and incredulity about her. Not to talk of the disappointment.

‘Let me get your address. Tell me when and where I can see you, and I’ll surely make it a thing to remember. I’ll pay you a surprise visit.’

Her countenance softened, but not completely.

‘Come on. This time around, I’ll surely keep the date.’ He grinned.

She dipped her hand inside her bag and brought out a small card. ‘I perform at this club every Friday night from 9.00 p.m. if you can make it to the club, you will surely see me.’

He stared at the card. ‘What kind of performance?’

‘Singing.’

He whistled softly. ‘Alright. That’s good.’ He brought out five hundred naira notes and peeled out some. ‘Use this to transport yourself back.’

‘Thanks.’ She tucked the money inside the side wallet of her bag. ‘I’ll be expecting you.’

‘Okay. See you.’

He waved at her and locked the gate back. She walked jauntily to the bus stop not far away. Not a bad day, she decided as she walked up to where she could hail a cab to Ikeja. There was business to do.

Tonight, she had a late-night date with Khaleed, her Turkish boyfriend. She looked forward to seeing him. That would very likely turn out to be another successful venture, she thought wistfully.

* * *

At five o ‘clock, Jide put all official matters aside and started writing on his fiction. He was already on the twelfth chapter, but still had a long way to go. The minimum page he had planned for it was 400 pages with twenty-five chapters.

If he continued at this pace, he should be finishing the writing in a couple of weeks’ time. Amanda had been helping him to have them typed on the computer, and to correct whatever correction he made.

He had no doubt that he would mention her in his acknowledgement. She was still quite feeling sore with him and had not been able to aptly express her feelings to him.

Today, they worked for about two hours on the book. Since morning, they had rarely spoken to each other. He had bought her a surprise package, a Nokia phone, to make up as he had promised. He then wondered why she was still acting as she was.



https://publish.okadabooks.com/book/about/above_the_shadows/29529

Lyydia:
Op, pls be consistent, nice story

Thanks for your interest.

divinelypruned:
Interesting story, but the updates makes it so boring, imagine posting two months apart.

Sorry about that. There will be consistency from now on.

She dropped out only a year ago. So far, all attempts she made doing something decent had not paid off – something like being a back-up singer or even modelling.

If schooling could not be again, she decided, a career in the music or entertainment industry would be worthwhile. She had played at some gigs and night clubs. One music producer who promised to help her make a demo and establish her as a star was more interested I her body than her talent.

The fact was her beautiful body had been the source of her livelihood in the past couple of years. She was always fortunate in picking up, or rather, being picked up, by the rich ones who didn’t appear to mind splashing money and gifts on her.

She had traversed in commercial sex trade a lot and had had men ranging from a randy heart attack-prone man in his fifties, to a dandy, drinking Lebanese.

Biyi, whom she called Eddy, wasn’t the first person that would be proposing the idea of going abroad to her. Indeed, there had been many promises.

The producer who had promised to help her in music had also promised to help her sign a contract in England. She didn’t believe him, though.

One Indian textile dealer promised to introduce her to the world of business in which she would be shuffling between Nigeria, Europe and Asia all on business. One Italian engineer promised to take her to Naples. Sometimes, she wished they would just do it rather than making promises.

Eddy was the one making the latest offer. The peculiar thing about it was that he was the one – the first one- to make the promise of taking her to Canada, a place that was her dreamland.

She had always loved music and she had imagined herself being such a superstar that was winning laurels and trophies, including Grammies.

It was not that she completely believed Eddy, but she told herself to give it a trial. A trial would not hurt, would it? Eddy looked crazy, (ah, plus his kinky taste), but crazy or not, if he could make his promise come true, who cares? Those were her thoughts.

After waiting for him for more than ten minutes on Saturday, she had decided to leave and come another day. Maybe something unforeseen had kept him off, she argued in her mind as she left the place. To her, he looked like a man who could keep his words.

This Monday evening, she had decided to visit him again. The real fact was Biyi, also known as Eddy, had totally forgotten that he had asked her to check him up on Saturday.

Even if he had remembered, he wouldn’t have given it much thought. Biyi had been partying with some friends that very hour she was waiting for him. It was one binge he had had till the early hours of Sunday morning.

She was glad at her venture this Monday evening. He was at home when she got there. He was the one that personally came down to the gate to open the pedestrian side of it.

‘Hello, angel. How’re you doing?’ he couldn’t remember her name. as he watched her enter the compound, he was at a loss on what to do. He was with another lady upstairs, so he just had to be smart.

While they were inside the compound, he did not move more than three meters away from the gate. The girl in his room upstairs was also very interesting. Biyi didn’t want the show to end just like that.

‘You said I should come on Saturday but you were not around.’ The tone was accusing.

He tried to smile genially and to look apologetic.

‘You won’t believe that I was very sick that day.’
She clouded her face. ‘Sick?’

‘Yes, kind of. I went to my uncle’s place, and there I developed a serious running stomach. It must have been something I ate. I even had to sleep over there that night.’ The lies came so glibly, now. Biyi was a master in the art of falsehood and deceit, no doubt.

Rose decided to believe him. ‘I’m sorry for that. When I waited for some minutes and I didn’t see you, I left. I tried your number but could not get through. I couldn’t help wondering why you couldn’t keep your appointment.’



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