“Don’t sail out farther than you can row back.” – Danish Proverb.

•••

The blanket of chilly, fresh air swathed Anjola as she stepped through the glass paneled doors and into the reception of the company. It had been a hectic, cutthroat Thursday and after closing up shop at Sigma, she had made a quite, exhilarating, spontaneous decision to head down to KC—Keye Conglomerate—instead of going home.

It was all in a bid to surprise Lekan, and return the favor of an impromptu visit, like he had done the previous week also. Although she had no reason to fear, since she knew she wasn’t crossing any line or snooping round personal boundaries—she couldn’t help but feel a little lightheaded and panic-stricken. After all, she was indeed showing up unannounced. But she had arrived anyway, and had no choice other than to follow through with it.

The reception’s interior was similar to that of a posh, aristocratic bar. Contemporary, classy scenery—oak furniture that matched the ceilings, where lighting was encased in coated timber lamp-holders. Huge mahogany desk erected up front as counter, where employees in uniform sharp, corporate attires attended to visitors.

The walls had a watercolor wallpaper, with articulate, undulated waves of varying color tints that simulated splashes of a rainbow—and the granite tiles of voluble shades that padded the floor, appeared stained by the walls. The only attribute that distinguished it from a bar, was absence of pop music and wine fountains by the counters.

Anjola ambled forward, towards the center of the counter—where one out of three receptionists, wasn’t occupied with answering enquiries. The receptionist in question, was a dark, pretty middle aged woman on a low cut, with a star-shaped parting, dressed in a white chiffon blouse and had quite glimmering accessories—golden hopped hearings, gold-tone bangles and a Quartz wristwatch. As if she wasn’t looking radiant enough, she flashed a smile at Anjola—baring a dainty set of teeth. Most counter attendants were infamous, for their usually infuriating attitudes, but Anjola knew this one before her was as pleasant as she looked.

“Good morning,” Anjola greeted, hooking her thumb around the strap of her handbag, draped on her right shoulder. “Um, I’m a friend of Lekan’s. Lekan Keye. Is there by any chance I could see him?”

“Lekan Keye?” The receptionist’s brows creased. “Mr. Keye is one of our directors here at KC. Do you have an appointment with him? I’m sorry, but you can’t see him unless you do. But I can call his office, and ask if he’d like to see you. What’s your name?”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. My name is Anjola Adeite. Just say Anjola, he’d definitely know.” She replied.

“Anjola Adeite?” The receptionist punched digits into the telephone on her desk, before lifting the receiver to her right ear. While the line dialed, she added. “Your name sounds familiar, though. Seems like I’ve heard it somewhere recently.”

“Really?” Anjola didn’t know how to respond. “Well, Anjola is sort of a common name so maybe.”

“I meant both your name and your surname,” The receptionist said, and slammed the receiver back into the cradle. “Sorry, no one from his office is picking up. I can’t direct you there, unless I’m sure it’s okay. Would you like to sit and wait for a couple of minutes, though and in the next…let’s say, ten to fifteen minutes, I’d try again?”

Anjola’s enthusiasm dipped, and she nodded anyway since she didn’t have a choice. Before she could turn around and leave however, the receptionist’s words made her freeze in her tracks.

“Yes, I knew I know you from somewhere! You were the chief bridesmaid on Tiolu’s wedding right? Lekan’s twin sister and the other child of the C.E.O.?”

Anjola was overwhelmed with relief, at the newly surfaced recognition, that all she could do was nod her head and smile in return. The receptionist was still grinning from ear to ear, as if she had accidentally stumbled into a much revered, adored role model of hers. Anjola also wondered how the receptionist knew that much. Surely, the entire staff of KC wasn’t invited to Tiolu’s wedding, so she had to have some sort of intimate relationship with the family, to be granted clearance to attend the wedding.

“You looked really beautiful that day, though and even now also.” The receptionist kept on rambling, and Anjola was afraid for her sake as she viewed her airiness and flippant attitude, as probably unprofessional and unsolicited for. “I’m Tinuade, by the way. Nice meeting you.”

“Thank you, Tinu.” Anjola said, in earnest. “Can I be directed to Lekan’s office now?”

“Sure, sure. If you were the close friend of his sister, then surely you do know him.” Tinuade said, before going on to giving her precise directions to her destination. Quickly, she boarded the elevator and commenced her ascent up to his office. Her anxiety returned, but she struggled to relinquish control to it by assuring herself repeatedly that there was nothing ethically wrong with showing up unannounced to her boyfriend’s office.

After the doors parted, she disembarked and began heading to the last room in the hall-way as ordered. When she reached out to twist the knob however, the door jerked open of its own accord—it would seem, as they were probably automated sensors system installed in the doorframe. But she was wrong. It was a person exiting the office that opened the door.

A woman.

A fair complexioned, gorgeous woman clad in a grey mink, faux fur collared coat, grey faded jeans and brown platform ankle boots. A woman with such a pristine appearance—skin void of any scar, bruise or blemish and clothes so unsullied and sharp, as if they were freshly dry-cleaned, that she could as well compete with a doll or mannequin in a beauty pageant, and come out on top.

A woman that was so visually stunning, that she appeared surreal and dream-like. Anjola met women like these seldomly, and even had one for a best friend and so it wasn’t her beauty that stupefied her, but the fact that she was coming out of Lekan’s office.

Her anxiety-ridden mind had started to conjure all sorts of thoughts and hypothesis, as to what the mission of this woman was. If she were in a relationship with any other man asides Lekan, she probably wouldn’t read too much meaning into a woman stepping out of his office, but she couldn’t shut down her hyperactive imagination because she knew the sort of man Lekan was, and she knew the sort of voracious thirst he had.

Her hopes pummeled and hit rock bottom. Was this the end? Had he been lying to her all these while, and hadn’t even bothered striving to be committed? No, she had to give him the benefit of the doubt. She had to investigate before concluding such portentous implication.

“Hello?” The vision halted, and closed the door behind her before scanning her appearance. “How can I help you? Why are you here?”

“Um, sorry. It seems I must be mistaken?” Anjola craned her neck around, wondering if she were in the wrong place or she hadn’t grasped the receptionist’s directions, correctly. “I am here to see Lekan Keye, and the receptionist directed me here. Perhaps, I’m not in the right place and I got it all wrong…” She trailed off, unsure of the correct manner to frame her words.

“No, at all. You’re in the right place.” The woman was smiling now, and extending a hand. “I’m Naade Adeleke, Lekan’s partner. We share the same office. I thought you were one of the employees in the building that wanted to see him or something, so I automatically assumed you were here for business…”

Partner? While that didn’t sound chary or distrustful of Lekan, she wondered why she didn’t know that much and why the detail had been omitted in all the conversations they had had, that was affiliated with his work. He had a lot of explaining to do, that had better be backed with cogent, rational reasons or else it would put their current stand under scrutiny.

Anjola accepted the courtesy and shook Naade’s hand, who in turn opened the door and led her into the office.

“Once again, I’m so sorry for questioning you in that manner. It’s just, these employees really cross their boundaries a lot, and do a lot of unethical things. And it doesn’t help that Lekan is new, so they just pile on his ignorance and get away with it. So I’m always at alert, to ensure they aren’t being disrespectful.”

Naade pleaded with her again, with a genuine look of helpless remorse on her face and Anjola gave her a hearty smile in return, to emphasize the fact that she took no offence. She seemed so pleasant and warm, like the receptionist earlier on and Anjola couldn’t help but like her, in spite of the malicious, jealous feelings steaming in her.

Naade gesticulated towards the wicker chairs in the receptive section, and she heeded, taking a seat on the chair backing the ceiling-to-floor windows. Lekan’s office was indeed a gem, with its immaculate interior and lush furniture. She expected no less, for the office of a director and heir, for that matter. On another day, she’d have been entranced by the ambience of the design, if she wasn’t worried sick out of her mind, wondering if Lekan was cheating on her.

“Lekan didn’t tell me he was expecting anyone, though.” Naade said, sinking into the seat across from Anjola. She almost lashed out, enquiring if they were so close that Naade was entitled to knowing his schedule, but she didn’t because she wasn’t such person.

More so, if they were partners like Naade had clarified, it made sense for them to be privy of each other’s respective schedules. “Your face looks incredibly familiar? Sorry, but it seems like I know you from somewhere. I’m guessing you’re not here for business. Are you a friend, perhaps? That might explain if I’ve seen you before.”

Anjola hesitated a bit, not wanting to come off as obtrusive but she decided to be true to herself. It was solicited after all, since Naade asked how she was related to Lekan. “I’m Anjola, Lekan’s girlfriend. And also Tiolu’s best friend and chief bridesmaid at her wedding. That’d probably explained why my face is familiar, if you were at the wedding.”

Naade’s eyes widened in comprehension, but she still looked flabbergasted. “Yeah, that makes sense. I definitely saw you on the cruise ferry, and at the wedding reception also. You’re really beautiful Anjola, I must say.”

“Thank you,” Anjola smiled. Compliments from two strangers in one day didn’t nullify her worries, but was still incredibly obsequious. “You’re also a very beautiful woman, Naade.”

“Yeah, well I try my best.” Naade shrugged, and Anjola could sense there was an enquiry lined up. The woman was apparently bowled over the fact that her and Lekan were in a relationship, which didn’t soothe her worries because it elucidated that Lekan had kept that fact away from Naade. Or maybe hid it. “So you’re Lekan’s girlfriend, right? I don’t mean to pry, but for how long though? The thing is that I spent quite a lot of time with Lekan, during the wedding and I didn’t see you at all. I’d have gotten onto it, if I had seen you by his side.”

“Oh,” Another needle of hurt prickled her skin again. So Lekan had known her for that long? As far back as the wedding, and she had been kept a secret? What other colossal thing was in his life, that she didn’t know about? “We didn’t get together, until very recently. So, no we weren’t dating as at the time you met him at the wedding. Was he the one who invited you?”

“No, at all. Matter of fact, I didn’t know Lekan until the wedding.” That gave her a measure of relief, but still didn’t quell her stream of questions. “My dad is a colleague and friend of Lekan’s dad, and so he was invited, alongside his family. So of course, his invitation extended to me. And although I don’t know Tiolu at all, we have a number of mutual friends like Amanda and Ife. So I know a good number of people there.”

“Oh, okay then.” Anjola nodded, as it hit her. Yesterday, Lekan told her his dad, was scheming to coerce him into a marriage of convenience, with the daughter of another mogul, in order to forge a beneficial relationship for the company. And now, Naade had clarified that her dad was a colleague of Lekan’s dad that was definitely close enough to the man, to be invited to his daughter’s wedding.

Was Naade perhaps the prospective marriage partner choice of Lekan’s dad? If that was the case, the matter had worsened because it meant Lekan had deliberately not divulged the fact that the person, his dad wanted him to marry was his partner that he saw and worked with every day.

As she started to hyperventilate, the door of the office gave way and a familiar voice announced the arrival of the person, she set out to see. “Naade, you would not believe what happened at the drink vending machine…”

Lekan trailed off, just as he came into sight and took cognizant of his surroundings. For a while he was petrified, absolutely stunned by Anjola’s presence that he didn’t move, utter a word or flinch.

Oh, so he indeed have a reason to fret as indicated by his perturbed demeanor. He was wearing a white and black striped shirt, over skin tight khakis and wingtip Italian leather shoes. In one hand, he was holding a can of Pepsi and in the other, a folded piece of garment that matched his trousers. She’d have guessed it was a blazer, but it had a low density which ruled that out.

“Hey, Anjola.” He said, finally in a hoarse monotone. “You didn’t tell me you were coming over—”

“You should complete whatever you wanted to say to Naade, before going on.” She glared at him in defiance, before motioning towards Naade to urge him on. “Go on, I can wait. We have a lot to talk about anyway, so complete whatever you were saying to her.”

Naade wasn’t oblivious to the rising tension, but she didn’t attempt to flee. She remained rooted to the spot, just like Lekan with his agonized, tortured look. Watching his unease, further broke her because it ever so enunciated of the fact, that he had something to be guilty of. Deep within her, she kept hope alive anyway and still refused to give in to her rage. She’d give him a chance to explain himself, before reacting.

“So, um the vending machine is of course faulty, because Nigerians never know how to handle and maintain it well.” Lekan’s voice had plunged into a low volume now, and he was dragging the words as if he was being forced to denounce his faith, and a gun was being held to his head. His gaze also was wavering, as he wasn’t sure who to look at. His addressee or his disciplinarian.

“So of course, I slot in my money and it didn’t produce the drink and I had to do the usual. Kick it really hard, to see if that would…you know, jostle it. I kicked it the first time, second time and when I was about to kick it the third time, it spat out the drink, and I of course stomped on it, in the process of kicking the machine. The can burst open and soda splashed all over my waistcoat. I had to take it off, before going to the base floor and outside the premises to buy a can drink from the mini-mart.”

Anjola’s gaze lowered to the piece of clothing in his right hand, and saw that its thickness was indeed appropriate for a waistcoat, which corroborated his words. Naade on the other hand, was already on her feet and making a beeline for the exit. She knew better than to be told to clear the room. Lekan watched her go, looking vulnerable and stranded, as if he knew that there was a raging storm head. After the padding of her feet, had drifted off—Lekan attempted speaking again, but she hushed him and motioned to the seat across her.

“Sit down here first.” She said, and he did as he was ordered. When he was well seated, she reclined into the couch and began. “So, who is she?”

He went into a fit, instantly. “Her name is Naade, she is my partner and we’ve been working together since I resumed work here. I can assure you nothing is going on between the both of us—”

Anjola shook her head, and cut him off. “Who is she?”

“I just said she’s my partner and friend. All we do is work together. Dad paired us, because she’s really smart and the daughter of one of his closest friends also and—”

“Lekan!” Anjola shot to her feet, and advanced towards him, pointing a warning finger at his face. “I’m going to ask you one final time, and you better answer my question well. I know you guys have known each other for a while now, so you can stop it with the office bullshit, okay? Now answer me, who is she?”

There was a pause that preceded his reply, accompanied by a wave of guilt that washed over his face. “I met her after the wedding, actually. Right after you left with Amanda and Ife and had stolen the keys of Tiolu’s house from my pocket. She came to meet me, while I was on my way out that she was searching for an apartment and would need my expertise on the matter, since I was still a real estate agent at the time. We’ve been in constant contact till then.”

Anjola nodded, slowly, deliberately as she circled the center table and came around to his side. “And you have been screwing her ever since then, haven’t you?”

“Anjola—”

“How many times? How many times, have you guys been together?”

Lekan attempted to rise to his feet, but she seized his shoulders and shoved him back on the chair. “Anjola, come on—”

“Lekan, how many times have you slept with her?” Her voice dropped to a deadly, serious one and he knew better than to not answer her.

“Twice. We’ve been together twice.” The bomb dropped, and had a catastrophic impact, hurtling boulders of pain in her direction that stabbed her all over, and shattered her world. It had imploded so early? “But I swear to God, Anjola. I haven’t slept with her, ever since we started dating. I didn’t even know, she was going to be my partner. Dad just worked it out. I’d have stopped it if I could—”

His words pacified her a bit, but there was still a lot of pain. “You still kept the fact that she existed away from me. You still kept the fact that I existed away from her—”

“The topic never came up—”

“Really?” She was doing her best, to keep her volume under control because she was that aggravated. Still, she didn’t want to constitute a ruckus in someone else’s workplace. “For her or for me? For me, your work has come up tons of times. Example is yesterday, when you could have added that the person in reference, that your dad wants you to get married to is also your work partner, that you see every single day. She’s the one, isn’t she?” She paused, and he nodded. “You intentionally omitted that.” She walked away from him, and put a reasonable amount of space between them.

Lekan finally rose to his feet. “C’mon, I couldn’t have just said it randomly on the phone. That wasn’t the best time to say it. And Anjola, we’ve had just one date. Just the one. I was going to tell you sooner or later. You can’t just assume I’m up to something suspicious, in so short a time—”

“Maybe, if I was in a relationship with someone that wasn’t popular for screwing the brains out of women, I’d be just that pragmatic.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t know, how I feel about this. You being partners with someone you’ve had a past with. And the past in question, being just two or three weeks ago. You can’t possibly tell me, that in the past two weeks y’all have been working, she hasn’t made any advance of any sort on you.”

Lekan advanced towards her, but with caution because he knew her rage was still intact. “No, she hasn’t made any advance on me, Anjola. Naade isn’t that type of person. We only got together in the first place, because she is recently divorced and was seeking a thrill to make her forget the pain of her disappointing marriage—”

“You expect me to believe that?” Anjola scoffed, folding her arms in unbelief. “You really expect me to believe that she hasn’t done one unprofessional thing with you, since the job started? Not even one thing?”

His throat bobbed, and he bit his lower lip. “Yesterday, she asked if I’d like to come over to her house to catch up. But I declined, okay? I swear to God, I told her no and that was the end of it. She hasn’t done anything to coerce me, and probably wouldn’t. Like I said, she isn’t that type of person.”

“And the topic never came up, huh?” There was a bitter smile on her face. “The topic to tell her that you have a girlfriend, never came up, right? She fucking asked you for sex, and it didn’t occur to you at that moment, to tell her you had a girlfriend?

“Fine, you declined but why didn’t you chip that in? She’d just assume you’re not in the mood at the moment, and ask another time and add something to motivate you. You should have ended it, right then and there by chipping in that fact. Only someone who is keeping their options open, wouldn’t say that they have a girlfriend—”

“Anjola, I swear to God that I haven’t cheated on you—”

“This isn’t about cheating or infidelity,” She snapped, and cut him off—closing the gap between them, and poking his chest with her right index finger. “This is about being sincere and honest and not keeping stuff away from me. If you indeed have no reason to hide this, then why did you hide it? Or you think I’d call this whole thing quits, just because you’ve slept with a woman before? Lekan, don’t push this.

“You have no idea how I’m second guessing this relationship we have, every single day and wondering if I’m being logical about it all. It’s hard enough, and now you have given me reason to fear now after discovering all these.

“You want to go on and say nothing has happened, but it is indeed suspicious and enough reason for my anxiety to go into override and calculate multiple realistic possibilities of how this whole thing could end really bad. My point? I am paranoid as fuck, about this whole thing already. It’s all in my head and its my problem, but please do not compound it by not being open with me. Please, I beg you. Now, is there anything else about anything I should know?”

Lekan shook his head instantly, and she glared hard at him—warning him to weigh his words well. “I swear to God, Anjola. There is nothing else that I think you should know, that’s of much significance.”

She was far from being convinced, but had no choice than to trust him. “You’re sure there is no one else? Your neighbor that lives across your street isn’t an old flame?”

“Of course not.” He laughed, and reached out for her hands. She wrestled with his grip, trying to break it before eventually giving in. “I’m so sorry, Anjola. I know this entire thing is very difficult for you, and now this has set you back for like two weeks in trusting me, but I assure you, everything that I’ve said so far is nothing but the truth. I’d also try my best to be more open, from henceforth.”

She gave him a prolonged look, as if searching for the honesty in his gaze to validate his words. “Fine then. All is forgiven, but you still have a strike. Matter of fact, two strikes. The first strike is automatic, because of the type of life you usually led. The second for this. One more strike, and this is all over.”

“Got it,” He laughed, before pulling her in for a hug and snaking his hands through her waist, tightly. Somewhere in her head, a voice was taunting her, telling her she was making a grave mistake to trust him, despite the recent revelation and that she should call the entire thing off, before she got in too deep. In another corner, another voice was saying he deserved to be trusted and not crucified for his first slipup. After all, this was his first relationship and he wasn’t adept with the knowledge of how best to handle things.

It was one heck of an intense internal debate, and she couldn’t of course stop the train of thoughts that implied she was doing the wrong thing and was deviating more and more, from her rational self. But of was use, was agreeing to the experiment if she wasn’t going to see it through and ascertain the nature of her feelings. It was anticlimactic, to pull the plug on the whole thing. She had no choice than to trust him, once again and hope that his professed love for her would be enough drive for him to abstain from his dark ways.

***

“Is the air, too cold for you to handle?” Lekan asked, as they both delved into their dinner. After the little fiasco moments ago at his office, he had managed to pacify her perturbed state, and then suggest afterwards that they have dinner together.

Currently, they were on the roof of the skyscraper, hundreds of feet in the air, and his motive—was for it all to have an exhilarating effect on Anjola, and make her worries fritter away. When they had first arrived, she had expressed feeling of giddiness and gaiety but he had assured her, no harm could possibly befall them since they couldn’t exactly crash through the building, or fall off it either, as they’d stay away from its edges. That’s why their table, was stationed right smack in the center.

Anjola looked up from her saucer of Shawarma, with a cynical stare as if he had accused of her of having a child out of wedlock. “You understand that like you, I work in a conglomerate, right? In my office alone, they’re about three air conditioners, and it gets so incredibly cold sometimes that I wonder if the administration planned to freeze us to death. So trust me, this air isn’t cold. It’s just a lot, and is like…getting in my face, which is making it a bit difficult to eat but that’s all there is to it.”

Lekan chuckled softly, and took a huge bite from his own Shawarma before reaching out for his glass of water. They had opted for something light, because although they were famished—it was just a couple of minutes past 6:00P.M. which wasn’t a time frame, anyone of them had dinner in proper. So they went with an option for a food that was filling, but not too heavy weight that it wouldn’t leave space for a proper dinner before bed.

“So, tell me about your day? How was it? Any drama happen?” Lekan screwed the cover of his bottled water back in place, and picked up his half eaten Shawarma. Anjola also, was taking a direct swig from the bottle, without caring much for acting refined, and emptying the water into a glass. It was little things like this, that disarmed him more, making him sink deeper into the quicksand of feelings he had for her.

“Why do you say, drama like it’s expected?” She frowned, and dropped her bottle before taking the small remaining chunk of Shawarma left on her saucer and dumping it into her mouth. She had finished, because she had ordered for just one—while he had two of them. He was almost done with his also. “Your office is pretty big also, and has a less complex structure in administration. I’d expect you guys to be closer with each other, which would in turn spur more drama and flair.”

Lekan’s nose scrunched, as he kept one hand trained on his food. “While that may be true, you have to remember that I’m in an executive position. A director for that matter, so yeah my office is well segregated from the rest. Plus, I’m new. Even if I happy to be the nicest director ever, that went about doubling everyone’s salary the moment I arrived, it’d still take time for my employees to warm up to me, before I could get any juicy gossip or anything.

“Plus if it was about timing and location, as in being in the right place before something dramatic happens—then I’m not usually very lucky in that department. I was that kid back in school, that when I fall sick and miss school, Tupac and Biggie would resurrect, visit the school to perform and every other great fun thing in the world would happen. But the moment I return, everything is boring and normal again.”

Anjola tittered, and then took another swig from her bottle of water. “Okay, fine. Something funny actually happened today at the restroom stalls. So I had just finished using the toilet at work, and was going to get tissue and all to clean my rinsed hands, when I realized I forgot to take my tissue.

“I always carry my own tissue about. I don’t know, I just have this paranoia that multiple hands have touched public ones in some way and it isn’t totally safe. So I had no choice than to use the one in the toilet. Unfortunately, the tissue roll has a motion sensor. As in, you wave your hands in front of it and it would spill tissue out. And you know how motion sensors could be different and tricky.”

“Trust me, I do know.” He confirmed, her claim and took his last bite of Shawarma also before reaching out to the serviette. “It’s like the guys making the tech, are just scheming new ways to make a fool out of people.”

“And they did make a fool out of me, today.” She continued. “The one I’m familiar with, you have to wave your hands in front of the sensor. This one, I had no idea that the way it worked was different and that you had to wave your hand, under the sensor. I was there for almost a minute, luckily no one was around to give me a weird look, as to why I was taking so long to retrieve tissue. Until, the C.O.O. of the company itself strode in. This woman, is perhaps one of the women I admire most in this world.

“She’s so full of grit and intellects, and she’s also the executive officer, every staff prefers. She is one of those bosses that has mastered the art of professionalism with workers, and is the perfect balance of sternness and jovialness. Everyone loves her, and every woman in the office loves her more because there aren’t a lot of women in executive positions at Sigma. So yeah, she walked in and a cold chill ran down my spine. She’s the last person in the world at the company, that I want to embarrass myself in front of because I really like her and would agree if she wanted to adopt me.” She paused to let her words sink in, and proceeded when she was sure he was following, as indicated by his laugh.

“So in a frantic effort, I just started to wave my hands all over the sensor thingy, so it could work and I would get the hell out of the place, before she came out of the toilet and returned to meet me there. Still, this thing didn’t work. When I had eventually given up hope, and was about to just leave, the machine just started disbursing an endless roll of tissue rolls. Fuck, it was so much that it was all over the place and I didn’t know what to do. I contemplated running and leaving the janitor to clean it, but I couldn’t bear the thought of someone else working extra for my ignorance.

“So I was trying to pack it and all, when the woman finally came out of the toilet and flashed me a weird look. To my dismay, she walked over to me and asked me what I needed so much tissue for, and because I couldn’t bear the thought of her thinking I’m one ancient, conservative person who doesn’t know how to operate modern tech, I just panicked and said I love keeping a lot of tissue on myself, in case of emergency.”

Lekan doubled over in laughter, placing his head into his hands propped on the table. “Wow, Anjola just wow. That was the best thing you could come up with?”

“What best excuse could I have come up with?” She frowned, with her lips pouted and he got hit with the strong urge to kiss her thoroughly, due to the bulging shape of her small, plump lips. But Anjola wasn’t a person that would appreciate such spontaneity. To get a kiss, he had to earn it. And even after earning it, he had to do an adequate build up that wouldn’t make his effort futile. “Anyway, she gave me a funny look and said she thought, I was trying to pack as much as I could, so I could go sell outside and make extra profit. She said it with a smug smile somewhat, that I know it was a friendly joke but I was still incredibly humiliated. Next time she sees me, she’s going to think, oh the tissue lady.”

Lekan grinned. “You should be happy, Anjola. There are tons of women like you in that office, that wants the woman to like them. She sees many of them daily, that you don’t expect her to remember ever meeting or speaking to them. You on the other hand managed to leave a lasting impression. For what it’s worth, she could consider you for an award when the executives are discussing outstanding staff personnel. You know, for incredible effort put into hygiene as indicated by your need to carry a lot of tissue around, for emergency sake.”

Anjola picked up her empty bottle, and hurled it hard at him, but he had anticipated her retaliation, and had timed his ducking, to coincide perfectly with the trajectory path. The bottle of course missed his head, landed on the floor and rollicked to the edge of the building before falling off.

“Ah,” Lekan said, with his neck craned around to face his back—as he watched the bottle fall off. “Just pray that bottle doesn’t land on some old man or woman—that has ancestry rooted in juju. Because if it falls on their head, they might just curse the person that threw the bottle and by the time, you realize that it’s a curse that’s destroying every facet of your life, the caster of the curse might be long gone or dead, that you wouldn’t be able to reverse the effect of whatever they’ve done to you.”

“You’re crazy, Lekan.” She hissed, reaching out for his saucer—and automatically making him leap to his feet in precaution. A scowl appeared on her face, as she stared him down for his abrupt action. “What’s wrong with you? Why did you jump up like that?” Then her gaze fell to the ceramic ware in her hand, and she broke into a raucous laugh. “You did not really think I was going to throw this at you? C’mon, that’s overboard. If I’m going to risk a precious, pretty ware like this breaking then I’m going to make sure it hits my target, by standing up and smashing it over your head.”

Lekan realized, she had meant to only stack their saucers in one pile so as to pack it off. After she had done so, and swept the crumbs of bread into it also—he beckoned to her with an outstretched hand. She looked wary of him—partly because of the stint that transpired back in his office, an hour back and partly because they were on the roof of a skyscraper. Nevertheless, she took his hand and let him lead her to the edge. He halted a couple of meters from it, and turned to face her.

“Here would do. I’m not crazy enough to stand too close.” He clarified, and realized that she looked horrified as expected. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to throw you off the building in revenge of your earlier attack, if that’s what you’re scared of. I just need you to do something. Close your eyes, and turn on your ears and just…take everything in.”

“Take everything in?” Doubt reverberated in her voice.

“Yes, take everything in.” He nodded. “The noise in particular. Just immerse yourself into it and listen intently to the story its telling.”

“Okay,” She still looked unsure, but did as she was ordered. He also closed his eyes, and repeated the hobby, he was getting quite addicted to. There was a chaos of noise as a result of sounds stemming from multiple origins—car horns, car engines, human chatter, distant music and other miscellaneous sounds—but when one listened closer, there was an harmony embedded deep under those layers, telling the story of respective individuals doing whatever they had to do, to contend with nature in a bid to survive. That hustle and bustle, told the struggle story of individuals that would eventually go on to overcome their barriers and achieve their goals. That struggle, no matter how foreign—invigorated him with hope, whenever he was overwhelmed that he had his wits to himself and would keep on pressing on no matter what.

“Wow, that is something.” Anjola said, as her eyes parted—in sync with his, which also opened at the moment. She looked dazed, as if she were a teetotaler that had taken her first glass of alcohol, and was being cheered on to go all the way and empty the bottle.

“So, what do you think? Can you hear it?”

“Yeah, I think.” Anjola nodded, and looked ahead. “I don’t know if I can hear any story, it’s telling but what I can get from it is that, in all the chaos and anarchy, there is indeed order and harmony that can be found. And maybe, in all the cutthroat and fazing aspects of life, there is perhaps—hope and joy that can be found?”

“Attagirl,” He snaked his arm through her shoulder, and reined her in. To his delight, she didn’t resist and simply rested into his side. “When I get overwhelmed, I come up here and just listen to it all. And it injects me with a measure of hope, sort off because when I come up here to listen figuratively, because I can’t exactly look down—it gives me this sense of control, that I’m actually coming up here to listen, and not like these people that are down, whose actions may or might not be totally influenced by their circumstances and shortcomings in life, to the point that they don’t even realize they’re not living and that life is just happening to them.”

“Wow,” Anjola said, and because he couldn’t see her facial expression—he didn’t know if her exclamation was inclined in awe or ridicule of his words. But when she shrugged his hand off her shoulder however and looked at him, he knew it was the former and that she grasped the essence in all the nonsense, he had sputtered since the last few minutes. “Who would have thought you could be this deep, though? No offence, but you just seemed so shallow and I kept wondering why I was attracted to you and beating myself up for it.”

“Ouch,” He cupped a side of his rib, and feigned pain as if she had given him another classic elbow to his side.

“But not anymore, because this is actually the first time that I’m happy with myself for being attracted to you, because you indeed have content and you aren’t as shallow as I thought, or as you let yourself come off.” She finished with a smile, that fried the systems of his restrain and before he knew it—his hands was on her face, cradling it and claiming her lips with his.

The kiss was slow, intense and loaded with sexual innuendo like a waltz to an old school jazz rhythm. He still exhibited restrain, and didn’t go all out to eat her face, like he wanted to, so as not to scare her off and it paid off, because she returned the intensity of his kiss and locked her hands at his back in return.

The current moment was the definition of bliss. Never had a kiss, meant something more than a prelude to sex or held a more significant meaning, than the quenching of his thirst. Rather, it was the opposite. He was reigniting the flames of his desire for her love, throwing more firewood into the escalating fire and raising the stakes higher, because the relationship now meant that much for him.

He finally pulled away, and gazed into her eyes—because he needed her to see him, see her and get reassured that when he came to her, no other woman was a close contender or was capable in making him feel, how she made him feel. Not Naade or any of his past old flames or even the most skilled seductress either. He was smitten by her and her alone, and it would remain that way as long as she didn’t break them apart, and trusted him enough to be the person she needed him to be.

“Lekan, I don’t know about you but I can speak for myself.” She started to say, with a sheepish smile, casting his mind back to their first date, when he had used the same very words to express his deep feelings for her. Was she about to do the same? His heart throbbed in anticipation. “My feelings for you are deep. Far deeper than the average, regular type but I’m very sure that I’m not in love with you yet. We still have a long way to go.”

They both went into a bout of laughter, at her well orchestrated trickery. Her words didn’t carry as much weight, as his did—a couple of days back, but it was still progress nevertheless. And progress of any kind, was worth celebrating.

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We’re more than halfway in. Thirteen chapters down, twelve to go. Quick poll. Who is your favorite in the lead duo, and why?

Also, who is your favorite character asides the lead duo and why? Drop those comments, and  tap that lonely star.