Jeremiah

Six months later...

"Welcome to Nigeria sir."

I smiled back at the lady in a uniform, quickly reaching for her hands just so I could take my passport back from her, not bothering to return her really weird smile.

Welcome to Nigeria!

It wasn't a dream, It was just as I had dreamed, just I had imagined, it was beautiful. It was beginning to feel so real. I was back, back to a country I hadn't been to in ten years. Even with my passport in my hands and my twenty-four kilogram worth of luggage being wheeled right behind me, I just couldn't believe it. I was back. I was home.

I took a deep breath, letting myself take in the beautiful weather. I was taking a quick scan at the crowd a few paces in front of me that looked like they were busy waiting for someone to walk out of the door but no one was there for me. No one was waiting for me. Not even him.

I could feel a tiny sigh escape my lips as I lowered my gaze back into my passport. It looked like nothing had really changed, not even the way they felt about me. My own family. Ten years and I still remained the son they forgot they ever knew. The son they were ashamed of. I took a deep breath.

You're finally here Jer, you made it home after ten years and there was nothing that was ever going to make me feel like I didn't deserve to be back. It was fine, I was fine, I had to be.

I raised my head just as I heard the screeching sound of car tires approach me. Did I say car? I meant cars. More like a small convoy that caused people to stay out of the way. I waited patiently like I didn't have an idea who the people behind those wheels were. I just had to wait till I had at least seen one of them until they all began to hurry out of the car. I could count about six of them in total from the three cars that had drove in together, all of them in black suits. I could almost recognize the first one talking into his surveillance earpiece with a pair of thick sunglasses over his thick dark brows.

Shit!

It was them, my family's bodyguards. I turned away quickly before any of them could recognize who I was, stepping away from the exit door so others could have a chance of reuniting with their loved ones. How could they have been right on time?

I wanted to have a quick look over my shoulder just to see if they had any clue where I was, even though I was almost sure my long dreadlocks were going to give me away the moment they looked in my direction and there it was, I could see one of them pointing his fingers towards me.

Come on!
I just needed a minute.

"It's Jeremiah Ozor!"
I heard a loud voice yell my name from the crowd just as I turned in the direction of the media that was already running towards me. Everyone else in the crowd were already focused on me, some had their phone cameras right in my direction.

The media was getting closer and guess who didn't want that to happen? Not me. They were the perfect distraction I needed, even though it was obvious my father's big body builded bodyguards would have begged to differ. I could see them hurriedly trying to approach me. I ran into the media, engaging myself in the crowd, ignoring all their questions as a black tinted SUV drove right in front of me and the door to the passenger's seat flew open.

I knew that was my cue. It was exactly as I had planned. I turned to the car as fast as I could and then hurried into it immediately, not even bothering to confirm who was behind the wheel. I just had to stay far away from the men in black. There was something I had to do, something I needed to do and that was the only chance I'd have had to do it.

The SUV drove off with full speed under my command while I looked out through the rear view mirror to see how far the body guards were. They were really far.

It worked.
A huge smile appeared on my face. It really worked.  I got the second chance I had hoped for. I got the extra hour to go see her. The only opportunity I had to see her.

I took a deep breath and then slouched into the passenger's seat and then shut my eyes for a second. The smile on my face getting only wider.

Man, It was so good to be home.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

I bowed my head low enough to pass through the front door of the really tiny restaurant, fixing my eyes on the couple that happened to be walking out of the restaurant. The only customers that appeared to be in it.

Thank God.

I turned back to my phone just to check if I was at the right address with my GPS. I was. Now I just had to find her. I looked back into the old picture in my wallet, drawing a deep breath. Hoping she had not really changed from the last time I had seen her, hoping my memories still had a perfect picture of her. I held on to every memory I had of her for over ten years. I hoped I would remember her if I saw her, even though I wasn't sure she was going to feel the same way about me. I wasn't sure she was going to recognize the same person she had thrown away all those years ago.

"Hello," I turned around just so I could see the woman in a black uniform, standing right in front of the red counter with about two other workers in red right behind it. "How can we help you?" She asked with a wide smile on her checks and smudged lipstick. She must have noticed I wasn't there for the food.

"I uh-" I took one last look around the place just to make sure she wasn't in sight first then I turned back to the woman. "I'm looking for someone." I told her.  Her smile became faint just a little bit.
"This woman." I pulled myself closer so she could have a good look at the young lady in the picture.  I kept my gaze focused on her, hoping to read all her facials. She slowly raised her head to me. "She should be a bit older now, if you could just-"

"Visitors are not allowed during working hours." She cut me off. So she did recognize her. "If you want to see any of our staff then you should wait till 6PM, that's when the first shift ends."

She turned to leave. She shouldn't. I couldn't have possibly come all the way for nothing. I stopped her, pulling her arm in a hurry. I knew I shouldn't have.

"No, please wait."

I felt a relief when I noticed she wasn't walking anymore.

"I'll pay you." I blurted out. I was sure I had her attention with the way she exhaled weakly and shook her head. She wasn't trying to leave anymore. "I'll pay you. " I repeated just to assure her in case she hadn't heard me the first time. She hesitated. It looked like she was waiting. I had a weird feeling she was waiting for me to live up to my end of the bargain.

"Uhh-" I said to myself, searching all over my thick jacket for my wallet as fast as I could so she didn't run out of patience. Where was it?

I took it out of my jacket in a hurry and then opened it quickly. I scanned my eyes through all the dollar notes in it. There was no way, I had actually forgotten the currency here was different. I took a deep breath and got out a hundred dollar note from all the other notes in there without hesistation. I had no idea what its worth was, compared to the Naira, but I had just hoped it was enough to get her to change her mind.

"Here." I stretched it towards her, causing her to turn slowly to me. I could also hear the background whispers from the counter and could tell the ladies there had their eyes fixed on me, talking about me. The lady who was in front of me had her eyes wide open and her jaw almost touching the ground.

Was that surprise?

Was it too much or too small? I looked at the paper in my hand, clearing my throat nervously. Maybe it wasn't enough. I turned back to my wallet right before she snatched it from my hand and raised it up in the direction of the sunlight. I had no idea why, but I could tell she was trying so hard not to be so obvious that she was a bit excited.

"I'm really sorry, I just got in. I've not really had the time to change currencies." I just had to make it clear. She turned to me quickly and then frowned again.

"Just for future reasons, we really don't allow things like this. But since you asked nicely and generously, I'm willing to make an exception." She told me, eying me a little bit. "Just wait here. Obianuju is at the back doing her job, washing the dishes." She told me. "Just hold on a second, I'd go get her for you." She turned to leave.

I couldn't even stop myself from smiling so hard. I was excited. I couldn't believe it. It was finally happening, I was finally getting a chance to meet her, to see her again.

I had so much to say. I had a lot of questions, many of them I already knew the answers to. Now I was nervous. I took deep breaths.

God, please let her like me.

I prayed in my head, over and over again right before I heard a creaking sound coming from behind the counter as the back door opened and the lady in black walked out. There she was, the woman I had been waiting for, walking right behind her, dusting her wet hands on her stained white apron with her eyes buried on it.

She was just the same. The same as how I remembered her. The same as the picture. How could she not have changed or aged after all those years? She was still so tall, so beautiful. One thing was different though, she looked like she had lost a lot of weight.

She raised her head cluelessly just as they walked away from the counter, her eyes finally meeting mine. I had no idea how my smile grew brighter. I couldn't even hide how excited I was anymore. Anyone that was ten radius close to me could see it. My smile widened still, even as I watched a huge frown cover her face immediately, the moment she got to a stop right in front of me.

Was that surprise?
I bet it was . Was she excited to see me? Did she know who I was? I hoped she did. The lady in black stood right in between us, causing my attention to shift back to her, she eyed me.

"Ten minutes." She told me. I nodded in agreement. I didn't care, I would have turned around and left that moment as long as I already got to see her, to know she was okay, that she was alive and well. I raised my head back to the older lady's. She was glaring at me. I could almost see it, I could read her eyes.

The feeling wasn't mutual. She wasn't happy to see me at all.