“Oh wow!” Ada exclaimed, rushing up from her chair to give Sophie a hug. “Congratulations!”
Eddie got up and hugged Sophie too. “This is a big deal.” He said. “We should celebrate!”
“We will.” Sophie nodded in agreement, her eyes shining with pleasure. “We can all go out for a celebratory dinner, I think.” She paused, thinking. “I’ll arrange it”
“And when we win.” Eddie continued with a smile. “We’ll have a bigger party.”
“You bet.” Sophie said, grinning happily.
“This will be great for sales and advertising.” Eddie said to Sophie, the businessman in him seeing the opportunity.
“I know.” Sophie agreed. “We may have to increase the number of features as well as the number of pages to accommodate all the new the advertising we’ll be getting from now on.”
Ada sighed inwardly. This was her cue to leave. When these two started discussing business, there was nothing for the creative in her to do but to leave them alone to it. She stood up.
“Hey! Where are you going?” Sophie asked.
“I have to finish editing the fashion spread for next week.” Ada replied. It was true, anyway.
Sophie chuckled. “Ada is allergic to discussions about money and business.” She told Eddie. She turned back to Ada. “How far about the apartment you were looking for?” She asked. “Have you paid for that one you liked?”
“Yes, I have.” Ada could barely keep the exasperation out of her voice. Couldn’t Sophie tell that the last thing she wanted was to discuss her personal issues in Eddie’s presence?
“You were looking for an apartment?” Eddie asked. He was back in his seat, but now he swiveled towards Ada. “Why wasn’t I told?” He asked. “I could have gotten you something nice.”
“Like your spare bedroom?” Sophie quipped playfully.
He looked hurt, “No, no! I know many agents, the best actually, not these dubious ones all over the place. The ones I know can get you anything from a one-bedroom flat to a duplex in Victoria Island.”
It was true. Ada knew that for a while, after his graduation, Eddie had a sort of career as a facilitator of housing deals. According to Sophie, he had made a lot of money connecting people to the properties they wanted to own. It was intimidating in a way, how easily he seemed to find and take advantage of opportunities to make money, even though he already had more than he could ever spend.
“I would never ask you to move into my spare bedroom.” He said earnestly. “Except if you really wanted to.” He gave her that dimpled smile again.
Sophie was trying not to laugh. “Eddie! Stop flirting with Ada, she’s not interested.”
One of his eyebrows went up, in what, to Ada, looked like cocksure disbelief. His eyes did not leave her face.
Ada met his stare. He probably believed there was no girl in the world who wasn’t interested in him, well she wasn’t. “I don’t believe your spare bedroom is big enough for me.” She said dismissively, even though the look on his face was doing things to her equilibrium.
“You haven’t seen it.” He informed her.
“I don’t need to.” Ada replied with a small smile.
He shrugged, apparently deciding to let it rest. “So where’s your new apartment?” He asked.
Why did he want to know? Reluctantly, she told him.
“Really!” His face lit up. “That’s very close to my house,” he said. “We’re neighbors!”
“You don’t live on the island?” Ada blurted before she could stop herself.
He gave her a slight frown. “No, must I?”
She kept quiet, feeling slightly taken aback. She had assumed that someone with his money and connections would surely live on the Island, free from the relentless Lagos traffic, bridges, and all the other headaches that came with living on the mainland.”
“He took a house on the mainland to escape all those girls who don’t do bridges.” Sophie said, laughing.
Eddie nodded seriously. “I had to find a way to trim the numbers.”
Ada rolled her eyes.
“Anyway now that we’re neighbors,” He continued, turning his one million megawatt smile on her again, “maybe we should hang out more, I could show you all the local joints.”
Ada gave him her sweet smile again “Maybe.” She said noncommittally before turning back to Sophie. “I’m going to finish that photo spread now. Bye Eddie.” She said without looking at him.
“Did I say something?” She heard Eddie say as she closed the door behind her.
“I don’t know what you mean.” She heard Sophie’s response through the partition as she went back to her seat. She tried to concentrate on her photo spread, but it wasn’t until about fifteen minutes later, when Eddie finally left that she was able to breathe easier.
Chapter Two
“I still don’t know why you couldn’t come to live with us.”
Ada looked up from the kitchen counters she was busy cleaning at her brother, Zubi. He was her only sibling, if you didn’t include her father’s children with his second wife, whom she didn’t know at all. He was sitting on the tiny kitchen counter, swinging his legs like a small boy, with a slight frown on his face. Ada shook her head.
“Seriously?” She asked, getting up and moving to the gas cooker, to wipe the oven clean with a rag. She had moved in two days before, and since it was Saturday, Zubi had finally been able to come over to see what the place looked like. “You think the best thing is for me to move in with you and crowd your three bedroom apartment that already contains a wife, two children and a maid?”
“Why not?” He challenged with a frown that was so like hers. They looked so alike that it would have been safe to call him the taller, more masculine, version of her. “Some families of seven in this same city of Lagos live in just one room.” He continued. “Go to Ajegunle if you don’t believe me.”
Ada snorted in disbelief. “You’re just talking.” She said. “Have you ever been to Ajegunle?”
He ignored her. “I still don’t see why not though. Ify loves you, and the children adore you.”
“I am twenty four years old!” Ada told him. “I’m not too young to live alone. Anyway it’s too late because I’ve already paid for this place.” She was glad she had. She loved her new apartment. For a Lagos mini–flat, it was surprisingly large and spacious, the ceilings were high, the bedroom was large, and the fittings in the kitchen and the bathroom were still new and shiny. Even the fenced compound was great, there were just four flats, two large ones and two mini-flats including hers. There was a lot of space, enough for her to park a car if she finally bought one. She could see herself living here for years.
“Waste of money,” Zubi said, his eyes travelling over the white kitchen tiles, “Especially when you’re not even making that much.” He shook his head. “I’ve just decided to ignore your stubbornness because I don’t want to quarrel. I still don’t understand how I would go out of my way to get my younger sister a job in one of the best real estate firms in Lagos and have her reject it because of a hobby like photography.” He frowned almost petulantly. “You studied real estate management for Christ’s sake!”
“Photography is not just a hobby.” Ada protested tiredly, they had already had this argument a million times, just because he found fulfillment in his nine to five job he assumed that she would be also be happy in a job like that, and richer. He never stopped emphasizing the fact that she could get a good salary working in real estate.
He shrugged and jumped off the counter. “Stop all this cleaning I beg you. This place is spick and span already.” He laughed. “You’re just like mummy, aren’t you? You can’t rest until you’ve chased every speck of dust into oblivion.”
Ada smiled, and for a moment, they grinned at each other, remembering their mum, who had always seemed to be dusting, wiping or cooking something. Then they sobered, thoughts of their mum always sobered them up, she had been dead for more than ten years, but the se
nse of loss never went away.
“Your father called me last week.” Zubi said. He always said, ‘Your father’ when he talked to her about their Dad. His voice was tinged with the slightly bitter tone it always had whenever their father came into the conversation, “He was asking if you had found a job yet.”
“Tell your father that I have a job!” Ada replied wryly.
“Try telling him that yourself.” Zubi said. “He made it sound as if you were unemployed and hopeless.”
“I’m not unemployed and hopeless,” Ada said. “I have a good job, and I make extra money from extra projects, I paid for this house myself, for God’s sake!”
“I know.” Zubi’s voice was quiet.
Ada went quiet too. She understood how Zubi felt, ever since their father had left, and their mother had died, he had been determined to prove, to himself and most especially to their father that he could be the kind of man that people would look up to. He had done it, but even after he graduated with a 4.4 GPA in Mechanical Engineering, got a scholarship to the Institute of Petroleum Studies, and got a job in one of the biggest oil companies in the country, their father still acted as if he were ashamed of them. Now he had nothing negative to say about Zubi, he used Ada’s reluctance (or as he saw it, inability) to get a ‘real’ job as a weapon to make Zubi feel bad. He didn’t even bother with Ada. Since when he left them, he had treated her as if she didn’t even exist.
She patted Zubi’s arm. “It doesn’t matter what he says.”
“I know.” He frowned. “I have to go home. Ify is planning to get her hair fixed today, one of those expensive Brazilian things, and she won’t let me rest if I don’t get home on time to stay with the kids before she leaves.”
Ada chuckled. “Please go o! Don’t let her punish you because of me.”
He surveyed the kitchen for a moment. “You need to buy stuff to stock your fridge and these empty cupboards.” He paused. “Let me take you to Shoprite on my way, hmm. So you can buy provisions.”
Ada started to protest, but he silenced her with the stern look he had cultivated when she had been a stubborn preteen and he her big teenage brother. “Don’t worry.” He said. “I’m paying.”
Ada rolled her eyes as he walked out of the kitchen and towards the front door, then she shrugged and followed him.
There is something infinitely uplifting about shopping with someone else’s money, Ada thought as she pushed a massive trolley through the aisles of the supermarket, rapidly filling it up with provisions and whatnot. Zubi had apologized that he couldn’t stay to drive her back home with her shopping and then handed her a huge wad of cash, with instructions to take a taxi when she was done. Ada smiled. He was probably feeling guilty that he hadn’t helped to pay for the flat, but then she hadn’t asked him to, She sighed, happy to have an older brother.
She dumped fresh fruits, packs of cereal, fresh milk and some coffee into the trolley. Then she went hunting for fruit juice, and stopped with annoyance as she saw that, as usual, the queue for the fresh baked bread was so long that there was no way to get to the fruit juice stands. She paused, hesitating to leave her trolley unattended so she could squeeze in between the people on the queue and get what she wanted. She wondered, exasperated, what it was about the bread that people couldn’t get enough of it.
“Hey.”
Ada jumped in surprise. The voice had only been slightly higher than a whisper, but he had leant so close to her ear from behind her that she had felt his warm breath on her ear and neck. She turned around, but she already knew who it was, so the sight of Eddie’s dimpled smile and laughing eyes didn’t surprise her at all, just annoyed her a whole lot.
However, in spite of her annoyance, her heart had already started to beat faster. She felt her skin flush. She almost stamped her feet with vexation when she noticed that her hands were trembling, and her neck and ears were beginning to feel hot. “Hi Eddie.” She said, giving him a look that would have made a wiser man issue an apology immediately. It didn’t even lessen his smile.
Out of every single person she could have run into, she thought with irritation, why did it have to be him? And why was she suddenly feeling so self-conscious that she was trying to remember if she had brushed her hair before leaving the apartment, or if she had looked in a mirror, and if her jeans and T-shirt looked okay? She looked away from his smiling face and found her eyes level with his broad and well-muscled chest, clad in a white T-shirt. Trying to escape that view she looked further down and found herself staring at his long legs, the upper part of which were encased in a pair of knee length camo shorts, she looked back up into his smiling face.
“What’s up?” He asked, still smiling. He looked into her trolley and laughed. “Are you shopping for the end of the world?”
For a few moments, Ada wondered what to say? She couldn’t think of a smart reply. He always did that to her, he always somehow screwed up her mental wiring and made her slightly stupid.
“No,” She replied finally, “Just stocking up on provisions for a new apartment.” She noticed that he was holding only a set of screwdrivers, and she rolled her eyes mentally. When he had driven all the way here just to buy screwdrivers, why wouldn’t he make fun of her shopping? He probably didn’t have to shop for himself. He probably had girlfriends who were falling over themselves eager to help with his shopping.
He leaned towards her until he was so close, that his face was only inches from hers. Her eyes widened as she waited, wondering what he was about to do. Her heart was now beating so loud she was sure he could hear it. He smiled, and then reached behind her and took a packet of chocolate digestives from the shelf at her back. “My weakness.” He explained as he moved away seemingly unaware that he had almost given her a heart attack.
“What are you doing just standing here?” He asked with a curious frown, then his eyes went to the line of bread seekers, and he grinned with realization... “Ah yes don’t tell me, they’re blocking the juice.” He gave her a speculative look. “Why not mow them down with your trolley?” He suggested, chuckling as she recovered herself enough to glare at him. “I’m just kidding.” He said. “Okay tell me what you want,” He offered, “and I’ll get it for you.”
He crossed over the queue of people and picked out the items she wanted, constantly looking back to her for confirmation, she watched as people made way and strangers smiled at him. What was it, about him, that drew people like bees to honey? She waited until his arms were loaded with a variety of packs before she signaled that she was done.
He walked back towards her looking slightly comical with his arms full. Comical but still attractive, Ada noted as she saw a couple of women giving him admiring glances. He waited as she unloaded the packs from his arms one by one. “You’re really shopping for the end of the world.” He said, sighing with relief when his arms were finally free. “Are you done?”
“No, I still have to...” She started saying, then watched in horror as he took hold of the handles of the trolley and started to wheel it. “Just tell me where to go.” He told her.
Away! Ada thought desperately, wishing that he would leave her be, with a combination of aggravation, annoyance and embarrassment she allowed him to wheel the trolley while she picked items from the shelves, daring him with her best frown to show even the slightest change in expression as she threw in some feminine items. Thankfully, he kept a straight face, even though she was sure that she could see a glint of amusement in his eyes.
As they moved toward the counter, she wondered if he would attempt to pay for her things, it wasn’t part of her plan for the day to accept his generosity. He was her boss, not her benefactor. She wasn’t like all the other girls he probably took shopping all the time, and she didn’t want to be. However, for a moment, she allowed herself to wonder what it would feel like, to be the girl on Eddie Bakare’s arm. It wouldn’t be a place like Shoprite, of course. He would take her shopping through the exclusive boutiques of Lagos, buying her anything her heart
desired. Well she didn’t want that, she said to herself, snapping out of her thoughts. As they reached the counter, she took hold of the handles of the trolley, “I can manage from here.” She told him, her eyes challenging him to object.
He gave her a thoughtful look, and a half-smile that seemed to say ‘I know exactly what you’re doing’. Then went ahead to pay for his screwdrivers and biscuits, smiling charmingly at the sales clerk as he did so.
Ada watched as the girl simpered and smiled back at him, ‘Don’t waste your time,’ She thought, almost pitying the girl, he already has women lined up from here to Timbuktu.
After getting his change, he helped her load her things on the counter, and waited while she paid, watching idly as a uniformed sales boys bagged the items and loaded them back on the trolley.
She could only follow him reluctantly as he wheeled the trolley out of the supermarket, whistling tunelessly. She tried not to admire the way he walked, or to look at the breadth of his shoulders, or the light dusting of black hairs on his legs. He had nice feet too, smaller than you’d expect, slim and remarkably neat. Her eyes skipped to his toes, and she looked away quickly, embarrassed, remembering what people said about mens toes. Why am I even looking at Eddie Bakare’s feet? She chided herself, groaning inwardly.
“Where are you going?” She asked, lost in her semi-lustful thoughts, she had only just noticed that he was wheeling the trolley towards the car park.
“To my car?” He stopped and turned to her. “Sorry, did you bring a car?”
“No.” She replied. “I haven’t got one.”
“Yet.” He corrected. “You haven’t got one yet.” He nodded towards the trolley. “I don’t think you can fit all this stuff on a bike.” He said teasingly. “Do you?”
“I was going to take a cab!” Ada corrected.
Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) Page 2
