Abeke

Chapter 5

"Hello everyone and this is your girl beks. it's really good to be back. How have you all been?, and I hope you all missed me? Today on our show, we'd be doing something different as our guest speaker is no other than our very own Mr. Brian Ike."
I turned to Brian
"Hello Mr. Brian, we're glad to have you on the show." I said smiling at him.
"Thank you, ma'am. And Please call me Brian." he added and winked at me. That brought chills to my body. I cleared my throat as I proceeded to the next question
"So Brian, tell us why you retired and decided to come back to Nigeria."
"I retired because it was time to,- ain't getting any younger you know-, and for the second question, Well, as we all know, I'm Nigerian by birth. I've stayed in the United States for a very long time and I guess it's time for exposure." he concluded smiling
"Hmm, exposure."
I asked him questions concerning his job and career. I was surprised he was so cool about it and answered them well. It was time for the listeners to ask questions.

"Hello, good morning,welcome to VIN FM. What's your name and where are you calling from?"
"My name is Francisca, and I'm calling from Apata."
"Okay Francisca, what's your question?"
"My Brian, I'd like to know if you're single or in a relationship."
I noticed he was caught off guard by the question. He hesitated for a while before starting at me straight in the eyes.
"Actually, I like someone, but she doesn't know that. I hope to tell her pretty soon." He smiled as he completed his statement
I swallowed hard, as I  was so shocked that I didn't know what to say.
Beks, be professional, he wasn't referring to you, I said to myself.
I took all other calls without looking at him. I'm sure he noticed. At the end of the interview he came to meet me while I was having a conversation with the men in charge of lightning.
"Hi. Could I see you for a second.
"Sure." I said before excusing myself from them. We moved a little far away from them. I had no choice since he was the one leading me. We stared at each other for what seemed like ages. I decided to break the silence.
"Thanks for doing the interview, it really means a lot to me."
"It's fine." he replied. "I wanted to ask you if we could go out for lunch."
I was stunned by his request. He noticed my reaction.
"It's fine if you don't want to, it's just a friendly lunch."
"Most friendly lunches always end up turning to date lunches." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Say yes already." I heard Rhoda say behind me.
I turned to her direction and she scurried away.
I looked at him and he had this cute pleading eyes. He muttered please and I nodded my head.
"Fine. Okay. You'd have to wait, I need to finish up with some work."
"As your lordship pleases." he replied, giving a mock bow before leaving.



The restaurant looked like heaven, the place was large and lovely. I was surprised to see just the two of us there.
"Why are we the only ones here?"
"I don't know, " he shrugged his shoulders lazily. "They didn't send us out, so I guess we're safe."
I wanted to push on but was interrupted by the waiter.
"Hello good morning madam, good morning sir, what can I get you?."
We took our order. Before he left. I asked him the same question I asked Brian. He looked at Brian first, before looking at me, cleared his throat and scurried off.
"What was that about?"
"What do you mean?"
"You clearly know what I mean." I said a bit louder than my usual voice. I knew it wasn't polite but I felt he was taking me for granted. He didn't reply, so I stood up to leave.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me a bit close.
"I'm sorry. I didn't want any disturbance. I didn't know you'd get upset." He said, before letting go of my hand.
"It's fine." I replied, now taking my seat. "I'm not upset. It's just that,you'd have told me before hand."

We ate in silence, which was not unusual and when we finished, he offered to give me a ride, which I rejected.
"Are you still upset?"
"No, I'm not. I just need to go see a friend."
"Ooh. I thought Rhoda was your only friend."
I laughed and shook my head. He gave me a confused expression.
"I have a guy friend. His name is Kunle. Thanks for the food." I said, now standing up to leave.
"Look, " he said now holding my hand. "Let me make it up to you. I'll drive you to his place."
I sighed. I couldn't say no.
"Fine. Let's go"

We were both silent throughout the drive. You'd almost hear a pin drop if not because of the Radio that was on.
My favourite Radio broadcaster was speaking about politics on the Radio.
I decided to start a conversation.
"Do you like politics?"
"Of course I do, I love politics."
"Ahh,I see. I said, nodding my head."
We talked further about the topic and it felt pretty good. Most guys don't think discussing politics with a lady is something that should be done, they feel it's a taboo. But with Brian, it was a very different thing.
We got to Kunle's place and we were warmly greeted by him, more like Brian got the warm reception.
"Hello, you must be Brian, I've heard so much about you."
"How did you know?" I asked raising my brows.
He ignored me and told brian to sit.
"Wow, so I'm not invincible." I mutter to myself.
"What would you like."
"We just finished eating thank you."
Kunle gave me a surprising look
I just raised my shoulder. Oh now you can see me.
"We went to a restaurant." Brian said, aware of the situation.
"Ooh. I see"
"So Brian, why did you decide to do the interview."
"She told you." It was more like a statement than a question.
"She tells me everything -well, mostly everything- I'm happy you did though.
She is really a nice person, you know She has a home for abused children."
"Too much information Kunle" I mumbled. And as usual, he ignored me, not even looking towards my side for a minute.
I wasn't aware. Brian said now looking at me.
"We are not close enough to share secrets now, are we?"
"I'm not surprised actually, she doesn't let people know she has emotions. "
"Okay that's enough for the night." I said now standing up. "It's late already. Brian, come drop me off. Goodnight Kunle and happy married life in advance."
"You're getting married?"
"Yes I am. I see she didn't tell you that too. You should invite him for the wedding." Kunle said now facing me for the first time since I got to his house.
I just nodded.
"Goodnight Kunle"
"Goodnight Brian."

"What was that?" I asked Brian when we got to his car.
"What was what?"
"Why were you being so friendly and all?"
"That's because he was being friendly too, so I decided to reciprocate."
"Okay. Just take me home."