Ebere had been requested by her boss to welcome some visitors and direct them to his office. Ebere never knew it would be Muhammad, a young man and a lady.

The lady looked really beautiful like a model who had stepped out from the front pages of a magazine, her makeup was top notch, her light skin so flawless like she bathed in milk every day.

"Ebere, how are you doing?" Muhammad asked. He looked good in a suit, Ebere sighed internally, he looked good in anything. A smile was plastered on his face and Ebere tried hard not to smile back too much.

"I'm good" She replied.

"Your health?"

So he remembered?

"Also good"

" Kassim remember the lady. I told you about that saved me from those guys, she's the one"Muhammad told the young man he came with.

" Oh, nice meeting you"Kassim had a consending look, like he was judging if her shoes were the latest or why a girl who worked in a bank was talking with his brother. He was handsome, really handsome but his looks were more of boyish cuteness and his eyes dark like ember. Ebere was used to such annoying looks. The lady suddenly held Muhammad's arm.

"Hadiza meet Ebere Monalisa Kalu"

"Hi, please can you lead us to the office now"Hadiza requested, her accent was not hard to decipher, she sounded like an hausa-fulani.

As Ebere led them to the office, she could barely make out their hushed conversations, of course she was not affected by it one bit. She ushered them into the office and even though she could feel his gaze on her, she didn't share him a glance before walking out of the office.

****

"Going somewhere?"

Ebere turned to the direction of the voice and saw the blue eyed human leaning casually against his black Audi, he had a smile plastered on his face as he twirled the car keys on his fourth finger. Ebere's breath hitched, why wasn't he a model yet?

"Yeah, am going home and what are you doing here? "She asked him

The bank was closed for the day since it was already 4:30pm

" Would you mind having ice cream with me, like going on the date we were supposed to go?" He didn't look nervous one bit though his eyes seemed to be pleading for a positive response.

Ebere scanned through her dress and Muhammad noticed it at once.

"You look just beautiful"He told her.

Ebere stared into his eyes, was he just joking or saying all those things, but she read his face and noticed that he was quite sincere.

"Okay, but what about my car?" She asked him and pointed at her car which was not parked far away from them.

"I promise I'll not take much of your time and I'll bring you back"

Ebere nodded in agreement and followed him into his car, the car smelt like a certain male colonge and the interior was black and classy.

Muhammad played See you again by Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa while navigating along the way.

"This song is emotional but Memories by maroon 5 kinda beats it"

" I know but I love the rap part in this song endears it to me"

The song switched to High way by DJ Kaywise and Phyno and Ebere was surprised to see him bobbling his head to the song trying hard to say some words in igbo

"You listen to Phyno?"Ebere asked when she could no longer hold the surprise

"Who doesn't listen to Phyno, the guy is good" He smiled

Maka Chukwu onwegi na uncompi🎵🎵🎶

"I love that line" He said with excitement

"But you don't hear igbo, do you?"

"Does it matter? Music has gone beyond language, you fell in love with Despacito without understanding a word, you fell in love with Jerusalama even though you are a Nigerian, music is a universal language right now"He said with sparkles in his eyes.

Soon it was Holy ground by Davido and they made small talks about it, it seemed they bonded well over music. Soon they got to the ice cream joint, the biggest in town.

The duo found a corner and sat close to the window after ordering two big tubs of ice cream, vanilla for him and strawberry for her.

Ebere took a quick swipe around the ice cream joint,the whole place was  dark themed or maybe brown themed,from brown walls to marble floors that shone. Private booths with brown leather seats,the chandelier bathed everywhere with a hue,lazy orange glow and then Ebere noticed the pretty looking cupcakes,they looked inviting but she wasn't there for the cupcakes...or not.  Light music was playing softly at the background from hidden speakers. Just perfect.

Their ice cream was before them soon enough. Muhammad took two scoops and watched Ebere.

"What?" She asked him.

"You look like an ice cream fan"

"Oh well,maybe" she replied.

"So why did you become a banker?"He asked,his attention was no longer on the ice cream but the last opposite him. Ebere paused for a while, dropped the spoon and stared blankly.

"I seriously don't know,I guess I just like feeling money"She picked up her spoon and continued. Muhammad chuckled,was she really serious?

"Ebere am serious here" He told her

"I'm also serious. When I was a child,I loved sewing,I told my dad I wanted to be a fashion designer and you had to see the looks he gave me,that was enough to kill that dream,next thing I developed interest in writing,I told my dad I wanted to be a journalist and he was like, journalists are pests,they don't have money,the job is too stressful, become a lawyer instead,I hated that career so I refused and became a banker instead"She explained.

He stared at her in disbelief,due to the family business and his father,he had to study to run a company.

"Sometimes educated parents force their children to study what they studied or what suits them and it's so annoying"Ebere added.

" It really is"He nodded in agreement.

" Your ice cream is melting" Ebere reminded him and he went back to scooping generous amounts for himself.

"So you and Hadiza?" Ebere teased, Muhammad got the message and chuckled

"It's not what you are thinking, she's just a childhood friend"

Was that relief?

" So what are you going to do about your childhood dreams?"He asked her,she dropped her spoon and stared at nothing in particular.

"Am pursuing all of them, writing, running a blog, dressing people up,am an adult already"

The spark in her eyes interested him,it carried passion.

"Stop talking about me and let's talk about you, Muhammad seems like an interesting name,tell me about it"

" Well, Muhammad is the name of the prophet of Allah,his the one who advocated Islam and it's quite a popular name among Muslims just like Emmanuel"

" You seem to know a bit about christans"

" Yeah,I have Christian friends"

" So you don't wear contacts that means your eyes are natural, mind telling me about them?"

Ebere fixed her gaze on him and noticed the hesitation on his part,his lips were tugged together as if he was in deep thoughts.

"I'm sorry,if you aren't so comfortable talking about it, please don't answer, don't mind ....."

He placed his index finger across her lips and that act alone made the hairs on her neck stand,she could swear her breath hitched,he was smirking like he knew what was happening in her head.

"You talk too much when you are nervous" His eyes held her gaze for a while. Ebere shock her head as if she had just recovered from a trance.

"My mum is an Arabian,I got it from her" He told her and continued with his ice cream.

" Should I feed you?" He suddenly asked out of the blues and the surprise on Ebere's face made him laugh

"I have hands"

"I know but I want to feed you" He insisted.

"You aren't serious" Ebere waved him off. Her cheeks were getting heated,Ayo her ex boyfriend always acted serious on dates, thoughts about him made her a bit angry

"Are you okay?" He asked when he noticed the slight change in her mood.

With a little smile,Ebere nodded.

They had little more talks before they decided to get her car.

"Thank you so much Muhammad,I had fun" She told him once she got to her car.

" Nah,I should be the one thanking you" His hands were now inside his pockets and they both stared at each other before Ebere cleared her throat while looking away.

"So,I'll be on my way now. See ya" Ebere said softly and went ahead to open her door but his hand stopped her.

"No goodbye hug?" He had puppy eyes and it was so hard to resist. Ebere hugged him briefly. His body was solid,it emanated warmth and deep down,she knew she could cling forever to his body.

"Goodbye" She told him and hopped into her car,he was still there even as she drove away.

****
Don't we just love them?🤭🤭🙈
This chapter had be shouting "God when ooo" ...lol😂😂

Wahala for who no get boo o,na oppression...E be tings 😂

And who noticed Ebere is one of those people that can't easily hide their emotions, like when she thinks of something sad,you'll know, happiness you'll know,the only feeling I  don't know yet is if she has 'feelings'....sho get?😂

I actually typed 7,8,9 in one day.omo I be spec💓😌,no long capping, I deserve some alert😂,shey make I drop "akant number" 🤔😜

Anyways Biko,I dey beg, tell people about this book,when people read I'm usually motivated,na beg I dey beg. Thank you😘