Sara was stepping out of her office complex on Monday when she saw the Ford Explorer parked outside. She would have thought nothing of it if the occupant didn't step out and wherewith draw attention to himself. Their eyes met and she raised a quizzical brow at him but he merely smiled. She knew he said he wanted to try again with her but she didn't expect him to start it off at her office, and so soon.

She paused to watch him make his way over to come stand in front of her. He assessed her fully before commenting.

"I know showing up here at your workplace doesn't look very convenient but I'm a man on a mission. A mission to woo a beautiful lady."

She smirked. "Really? Even though we really shouldn't be doing this."

"I know, and that's why I decided that instead of jumping into a moving van like I was foolishly going for, let's go slow. Let's start off as friends and then we can have dates, flowers, chocolates and hugs. We can even get kisses if it works out well," He said.

She nodded. That sounded simple enough. "So why are you here? A friendship meeting?"

He chuckled, quite amused by her words. "We are friends already, and no, I'm not here for that," He clarified, digging a hand inside his suit pocket to pull out two tickets. "I came to ask you out on a date. A movie date at the cinema. Black Panther is showing and I think you'll love it."

She accepted the tickets and revised his words carefully. He was making an effort to try again because he said he likes her and she wondered if she was willing to cross that bridge again. It was obvious she was attracted to him but taking this step was going to lead to major jumps no matter how tentative it looked right now.

"Don't say no. I bribed a friend to get me those tickets 'cause they are selling like crazy," He prodded.

She looked up at his charming smile and nodded. She was attracted to him and that was all that mattered at this point. Everything else would have to take the back seat.

"Alright, let's go. I can't let this ticket go to waste."

He grinned then guided her to his car. Once they were settled into the car, he drove off.

The Lekki mall was busy despite it being a weekday, but the most congested section of it was the cinema. Two new movies were being shown today and tickets sold like crazy. People trooped in to go get popcorn and smoothies before the movie started. Lucas led her to the popcorn stand to order what she wanted. She ordered a big bowl for the both of them and two smoothies, then they made their way inside to go find their seats. They were seated on the fourth row from the back because he claimed it had a better view but Sara could see the ace up his sleeves.

"Are you comfortable?" He asked just before the movie started.

She nodded, pushing the bowl of popcorn to the armrest for it to be balanced between them. He reached out his arm on her headrest and she reclined into it, munching on the popcorn as the movie began to play.

The thriller had half the audience at the edge of their seat, while the other half, mainly the males here paid more attention to their dates, Lucas inclusive. He watched her laugh and shout and curse all through the movie when things went bad, wondering why he felt this way about her. It was like five years had not gone by between them, as though they were still married but reality was the mocking reminder that it would take a lot of work to get her to love him again, to trust him again. But he would not give up, he decided, especially now he was certain she was the very thing he needed in his life.

During the intermission, he followed her out of the cinema room to go stretch their legs and use the convenience.

"I noticed you spent the whole time watching me instead of the movie you bought expensive tickets for," She pointed out once they were outside.

He shrugged, linking his fingers with her as they strolled out. "I found you more captivating to watch," Was the simple reply. "Was it unnerving to you?"

It made her shiver with delight that he found her eye catching and attention grabbing. "No, not at all." She then excused herself to go use the ladies and he waited for her in the lobby.

Sara stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror and sighed deeply. She knew in the back of her mind somewhere that she should be worried but she wasn't and it surprised her. She wasn't known for jumping head-on into things without thinking about them carefully first but the case had always been reverse with Lucas. She didn't think when it came to him, the attraction between them didn't let her think. She had a foreboding this wasn't going to end well for her later on but she wasn't in the least bit bothered. She had spent five years shutting herself out and letting the world pass by her but not anymore. She wanted to live life again, have fun, enjoy scintillating kisses and if the man who gave them to her the first time around was offering it, then she must be a fool to not grab it.

You must be a fool to grab it, her subconscious argued but she slammed it shut. Her heart was thumping at the thought of seeing him again, of being near him. Her heart hadn't done that in a long time, so she'd let it have what it wants. Just this once, she agreed.

She came back to the lobby to find Lucas waiting for her near the rails. He stood up straighter and smiled as she reached him. He took her palm in his, caressing it tenderly.

"I thought I might have to come find you sooner."

She exhaled, his hold distracting her somewhat. "I'm sorry. There was a queue."

He accepted her explanation and guided her back into the room with him. The rest of the movie continued and Lucas tried to focus his attention on it. The movie ending was epic and Sara awed at it, loving the cliché romantic kiss at the end.

As they strolled out with the teeming population, he couldn't help but nitpick on it. "So the main character getting a lovely girl and kissing her at the end defines a great movie for you?"

"Well, yes. I love happy endings, we all love happy endings. What great way to end a movie but let two people who are attracted to each other from the very beginning get their together after."

"Following your logic, we can have a together after too, right?" He winked suggestively at her and she giggled at his cheesiness.

"You're using this as an excuse to kiss me. Forget it, I'm not buying that."

"I had to try. I mean, don't I get a kiss for taking you to see a great movie?"

"Not really. Besides, you also said we can have kisses if it works out well. It has not worked yet."

He grinned mischievously. "Oh, but it will."

They made their way to his car to realize it was already dark. Traffic would be heavy at this time. Sara settled into his car and removed her pumps, nearly groaning as she cracked her foot muscles to get blood circulation flowing. He looked at her expression and chuckled.

"Why do women insist on this getup if you complain about it at the end of the day? You could show up at work in just sandals, you know."

She glared at him as if he were stupid. "Most corporate offices demand a corporate look. We have to deal with this because it's a necessity. Besides, my feet is killing me because of the extracurricular activity you took me to,"

"I don't remember you refusing to go."

"Well, it was an expensive ticket. I couldn't bring myself to waste money like that."

He nodded and continued driving.

"Next time you come up with a brilliant plan to pick me up from the office, let me know on time so I'll come with a sandal, or at least wear something more casual."

"Yes, ma'am. Although if you worked at my company, you can wear whatever you want to work and the CEO wouldn't mind."

She nodded, laughing at that. When she managed to calm down, she said. "Let me know once your employees get the memo. I'll definitely demand same from my boss too."

He mumbled something about implementing it soon and the conversation drifted off into her career and if she loved her job. She chose not to burden him with things that were irrelevant to him and went neutral to his questions. She got him to talk about his work and was surprised to know he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about coming back here initially. He didn't tell her why, but she could place an intelligent guess.

By the time he pulled up beside her apartment, they had gotten the conversation around to women's fashion and their crazy need to look beautiful always. He argued most women need not worry much about their looks just to impress men, saying they looked beautiful just the way they are. She countered with a topic about men staying fit and going to the gym everyday just to impress women.

He laughed his head off when she called him out about his reputation seven years ago just before they met.

"I'll have you know that staying fit had nothing to do with impressing women. It wouldn't look good on me if I had a pot belly before I turned 30," He defended.

"Maybe, but you'd admit you loved showing it off around them. You didn't mind modelling for that magazine when they named you 'most handsome bachelor' in the country."

"No, I didn't but that doesn't mean I wanted it. It brought me more fame and popularity than I would have liked and made women flock themselves around me."

"You didn't look or act offended that they did. In fact, you loved the attention they lavished on you."

He paused to stare at her, a knowing smirk on his lips. "Ahhh, I see where this is going. You're jealous."

She let out a snort. "As if. What you did with your life back then doesn't concern me. I told you that much before we got married, didn't I?"

He nodded slowly, watching her. She excused herself to leave, saying she needed to sleep in early for work tomorrow. She reached to open the door at the same time he reached over to stop her action. She turned to look at him in inquiry as he said.

"I really hope my past life has nothing to do with why you're reluctant to give me a second chance, Sara." Then he pulled her closer and dropped a brief kiss on her lips.

Sara mumbled her goodnight and practically ran out of the car, trying not to think about his kiss. She reached the front of the door leading up the stairs before she heard his car drive off. Tiredly, she made her way up the stairs to her apartment, pushing the whole day at the back of her mind.

++++++++++++++++

Karen was fuming, as she paced the length of her bedroom in pure anger. How could he? She asked, reviewing the events of the past month. First, he had returned without her knowledge, then there was that ridiculous house warming party that he had (oh so) purposely kept anonymous, not really, seeing that his stupid ex-wife had found out about it and decided to gate-crash. Then, he had shown up at the club on her uncles' insistence but her carefully laid out plans had been foiled by that little gold-digger, Tonya, and to think wisewords said birds of a feather flock together, she mused shaking her head in disgust. The Amadi's were all a bunch of greedy people and poor Lucas had been caught in their web. But Karen swore she was going to extricate him from their claws one way or another.

Which is exactly why she was her with Simi in her bedroom pacing. When she had called her friends over for a brainstorming session on how to get Lucas all to herself, Lola had turned self-righteous and self-conscious, saying she would no longer be party to screwing with Lucas's life. But screw her though, Karen thought, angry at her friend. Who cares about her opinion? So Simi, the ever loyal, ever supportive friend had come right over to offer her help.

However, the main reason why she was fuming was what Lucas had said when she walked up to him outside the club. He was in love with someone else. Heck, he had even sounded serious and sincere, and that had hurt Karen deeply. He's only been back in town for a month and he's already in love? She knew him well enough to understand that he was not lying. His countenance at that club showed he would rather be elsewhere than there, preferably in the arms of the woman he was in love with, and that alone infuriated Karen. At this rate, her plans of getting Lucas back would be a forgone alternative.

"Damn that idiot!" She raged, still constantly pacing up and down her bedroom. "I want to find out who that woman he's in love with is and just squeeze the life out of her. I really hope it's not his ex-wife," She stated, casting a glance at Simi who was busy with her phone.

Annoyed with her friend, Karen shrieked. "Are you even listening to me? My plans are going to ruins!"

Simi nodded, pausing in between scrolling down her phone. "I am. You've been talking nonstop for ages now about last Saturday night, and I'm tired of listening to your rants, so I figured I should find help before you run mad."

Karen eyed her, coming to plop herself down on the bed where Simi was sitting. "I'm just so angry. How is everything going so wrong so fast? I need a leverage, or some insight into his personal life. He's being very anonymous about it, unlike five years ago,"

Simi rolled her eyes at her as though the reason was that obvious. "What did you expect? This city was not very nice to him back then. He was too popular and that made the scandal a major news. No one in their right mind would acquire that much publicity in just over a month of being back. If you want to know more about his life, give him three months at least."

Karen scoffed, not soothed by the news. "I cannot wait for that long. Who knows? He might be married to her by that time. I need someone who can help me find out the relationship between him and his ex-wife. I really don't want to think she's the one he's in love with. Not after what happened,"

Turning to stare at Simi, she added. "Tell me you have something worthy that I can use."

Simi nodded. "I do. He's a guy I knew way before. He said he's been trying to get your attention but you had snubbed him a few times. He says he holds no grudge though, but he knew you'd be interested to know he was the one who helped connect Sara Amadi with her son. He also said he knew you'd be curious to know more and he's willing to partner up with you if you want. Here is his contact." Simi pulled out a business card from her purse and held it out.

Karen collected it, eyeing her suspiciously. "Yes, and he just so happens to know I need help with Lucas at this precise moment?"

Simi averted her eyes. "I may have been too friendly and spilled you were not too happy with the events that occurred in your uncle's club. Besides he was there, and also at the house warming party, and when he saw you again talking to Lucas last Saturday, he assumed you would need help with him.

"I'm not sure though, but he seems to want to help you get him back, because according to him, Sara Amadi obviously has no plans of getting back together with her ex-husband."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The enemy of my enemy is my ally." I knew this quote would come in handy some time 😉😏

This chapter is dedicated to Ifeyinwabeatrice, my lovely bae. This is because today the 17th is your birthday and you deserve a shout-out. Also to all Gemini born, Happy Birthday people 🎂🎁🎉

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