~~**11am**
Dayo walked back into the control room smiling. For
him, learning something new was good, but learning it
from a very beautiful and intelligent lady was
extraordinary. He stared more at her face than the
computer screen when she was explaining. Her gentle
and soft way of speaking made an impact in his heart, he
watched as her s.e.xy lips moved while she explained to
him and Sylvester.
"Kimberly E. Alexander," he murmured to himself as he
proceeded to the seat he previously occupied.
He was too lost in his thoughts to notice the gazes that
were on him. Henry and the other developer had fixed
their eyes on him as he entered noisily and began to
bounce to his seat like someone who has just won the
star prize of the Young C.c"s Readers" contest. It was until
he sat in front of the computer and looked up that he
met with Henry"s gaze.
Henry gave a chuckle. "What"s up with you?"
"Nothing sir," Dayo answered, surprised seeing the look
on his colleagues faces.
"How can you say nothing?" Henry"s friend, Frank
retorted. "You walked out over an hour ago and returned
smiling like someone who just finished riding a hot
chick."
Dayo smiled at the nastiness of Frank. "I was coming
from Mr Sylvester"s office"
"Mr Sylvester"s office?" They both asked in unison. Henry
faced front and continued with his work.
"Yes," he replied and tried to face the computer set.
"Hmm…" Frank cleared his throat and gave Henry a
mischievous look. "Hope it"s not what I"m thinking?" He
muttered to Henry. His voice was loud enough for Dayo
to hear.
"What"s that you"re thinking?" Dayo raised his head to ask.
"Nothing really," he said and burst into laughter. "It"s just
that I"ve not seen anyone come out of that place smiling
or laughing. You"re the first I"ve seen, so I"m wondering if
the man has become a comedian overnight."
"It wasn"t Mr Sylvester that got me smiling. I met his new
staff," Dayo began. "She"s intelligent and beautiful. She"s
the one behind his prolongation of the monitoring time"
"Oh! I see." Frank took a quick glance at Dayo as if to look
at his face for a confirmation of his words. He turned
back quietly to his work.
"Is she really that good?" Henry asked, turning back again
as he seemed to develop more interest.
"Yes, she is crazily good." Dayo widened his eyes to
emphasize his point.
"Did you see her work on the system?"
"Yes, she showed I and Mr Sylvester what she did on the
system yesterday. That"s why I was there for so long."
Dayo replied with an excited voice.
"Okay, maybe I"ll have to see her for myself." Henry said
and quickly punched some keys on the computer
keyboard. "Is she"s still in Mr Sylvester"s office?"
"I left her there."
Everyone"s attention suddenly turned to the door as it
opened. Sylvester popped in his head, his eyes searching
the place. His gaze met with Henry"s. He entered and
closed the door.
"Good morning Mr Henry and Mr Frank," he greeted with
a kind smile.
"Good morning sir," they both replied at the same time.
"Mr Henry," Sylvester called as he got to Henry"s front.
The smile on his face was replaced with a serious look.
"Agent Dakolo just called," he said almost in whispers, his
voice bearing a warning tone.
Henry frowned, "what did he say?"
"He"s coming here, to see you"
"When and about what?" Henry asked. Fear gripped his
heart at the thought of facing Agent Dakolo again. Maybe
the man was finally coming to arrest him for lying about
the Jubril"s job, but there was no way the Agent was
going to know if he was lying or not except if Sylvester
had told him. He shivered at the thought of Agent Dakolo
questioning him again, maybe inviting him for a lie
detection test this time around. Was he going to get
caught for defending Omotara, who was probably
somewhere trying to play another fraud on someone
else. The fear of being caught and labeled as dishonest
and a person who harbors criminals terrorized his heart.
He began to consider if it was really worth it to take the
risk hoping that Omotara had changed for a better
person or to give up and confess to the Agent with an
apology. He was sure that with an explanation, the Agent
who was also like a brother to him could help and cover
him up.
"I don"t have that detail, he"s coming to see you
personally and he"ll be here in fifteen minutes." Sylvester
replied.
"Okay, thank you sir."
+++++
Jefa returned from the market sweating heavily. Of
course that was expected due to the stress experienced
in the busy local markets on the market days that comes
up in an interval of five days.
A tricycle had brought him and his goods from the
market. He first stopped at his store to drop the goods
meant for business which was eighty percent of what he
bought. Now he had come home with foodstuffs and
other things he bought for home use.
He sank into the weak sofa tiredly and let out a deep
breath. Everywhere was silent, except for the sounds of
the fan blades which were just accelerating. Jefa closed
his eyes to rest a little but soon sank into a deep sleep.
~
The day was bright and sunny. The sidin singing heard
from every corner of the street was enough to announce
to an alien that it was Sunday and churches were having
their morning services.
Jefa was seated in the pa.s.sengers side of the white Range
Rover, Omotara was driving. They both looked happy,
dressed in matching white native attires. Jefa was moving
slowly to the sound of the worship song being played,
Omotara was miming along.
They got into the church compound and Omotara
followed the directions of the Traffic Marshals and
stopped where they instructed her to. She switched off
the AC and killed the car engine. In few seconds, both of
them stepped out of the car. It was Thanksgiving Sunday,
they could hear the Thanksgiving hymn being led by the
choir and sang by the large congregation. Omotara held
with her her tablet device which contained a Bible and
writing applications while Jefa preferred to go with a
paper Bible, a pen and a notepad.
The ushers welcomed them warmly and handed them
the Thanksgiving leaflet before directing them to the
available seats. They got comfortable seats close to the
centre of auditorium and dropped their Bibles and
gadgets on the chair while they joined the congregation
to complete the hymn being sang.
Few minutes later, they were seated and other segments
of the service began. Several Thanksgiving verses were
read from the Bible and different categories of people
are called out to dance round the church and give their
Thanksgiving offerings. Omotara and Jefa stood up and
joined the group when the coordinator called out those
who surrendered their lives to Christ in that year. They
had their Thanksgiving envelopes in their hands as they
danced to the front of the altar with the other people in
their category.
The dancing paused when they got to the front of the
pulpit and very few people with outstanding testimonies
were called out to share with the rest of the
congregation. They dropped their offerings and began to
dance back to their seats, Jefa noticed that Omotara was
distracted. She had seen something and slowed her
dance steps. She was flashing her teeth happily at
someone. Jefa glanced at the choir stand and saw Henry
seated in front of the keyboard, flashing his teeth back at
them happily. He took a hand off the keyboard and
waved at them. Omotara and Jefa waved back and faced
front.
Just before they pa.s.sed the front row, they saw another
familiar face seated on the second row. He was a
government official who had once done them evil, he
was shaking his legs to the beat of the song being played.
Omotara smiled on seeing him but Jefa was indifferent.
Reason being that Omotara had forgiven him and other
offenders since she repented but Jefa was still trying to
completely forgive them. He silently prayed and
confessed words of love under his breath.
The government official looked up and met with their
gazes. His smile diminished, in fact, he was visibly shaken.
Omotara and Jefa ignored him and kept dancing back to
their seats.
The church service ended two hours later and some
church members began to depart to their homes
immediately while most began to greet themselves and
break into groups. Omotara politely excused herself
from Jefa and made her way to the choir stand to meet
Henry. She met him about standing up from the
keyboard. There were three people arranging chairs in
front of him, they were those who wanted to learn how
to play the keyboard.
"Hi," Henry greeted with a smile on seeing her. He excused
himself from the learners and proceeded towards
Omotara.
"h.e.l.lo," Omotara replied his greetings, with a smile too.
"I was just planning to come and greet you and your
brother before you leave." Henry gestured for them to
walk to the back.
"No, don"t bother." She refused politely. "Don"t keep your
students waiting, I"ll extend your greetings to my brother"
"Hehe" Henry chuckled. He was staring at something
behind her. She glanced back to see.
Jefa was walking towards them, making funny faces. She
gave way as he moved closer and had a handshake with
Henry.
"Good morning sir," Henry bowed in respect.
"Good morning Henry," Jefa replied. He placed his hands
behind him and took glances at the faces of both of
them. The way he was looking at them made Henry bow
his head in shyness. "When are you guys getting married?"
He threw a surprising question.
Omotara stared at her brother with her mouth agape.
"Married? Who told you we are planning to get married?"
She asked.
"I don"t need an Angel to tell me that, I can perceive it in
my spirit." Jefa replied with a smile. He turned to Henry
whose face was still bowed. "You"re the man, talk to me."
He said and gave Henry a playful jab on his arm.
"Brother, come on leave him and let"s go." Omotara said
playfully and grabbed her brother"s arm. "You bring a
wife to the altar first, then you can now talk about me."
She held Jefa"s hand and turned to look at Henry"s face.
"We"ll be leaving now, I"ll call you when we get home"
"Let me see you…" Henry tried to offer.
"No need," Tarasha cut in. "Go back to your students." She
gestured with her eyebrows for him to look back. He
glanced back to meet the eyes of his waiting students all
fixed on him.
"Alright then, we"ll talk later." He said and waved them
bye. Jefa offered him another handshake before turning
back to leave.
Henry stood on the same spot and watched them walk
out of the auditorium holding hands together. The smile
on his face was that of a proud man. He was proud he
had being able to help the two of them become better
persons. Now they looked happier than they used to be.
In ten minutes time, Omotara was already driving out of
the church compound with her brother. The plan was to
visit the nearest Mr Biggs outlet and take a meal there
since they couldn"t wait to eat before coming to church
in the morning.
They spotted the closest one and stopped by to take the
meal. In another thirty five minutes, they were on their
way home. It was after fifteen minutes of driving that
Omotara began to notice a black Lexus 2031 model Jeep
following them from behind. She kept mute and said
nothing to her brother, wanting to verify first in order
not to make a false alarm to the unsuspecting man.
"Where"s this you"re going?" He asked when she took a
route which doesn"t lead to their home. She didn"t reply
him, but he could see that her eyes were fixed on the side
mirror. He looked back to check what it was. "Are they
following us?"
"Definitely, they are." She replied.
"What? Who could that be and why…" He paused while
counting the number of men in the Jeep, two men were
seated in front while one was at the back. "Three of them,
why are they following us?" He asked no one in particular,
he was sure that Omotara was quite as confused as he
was.
The roads was in that estate was not too busy with cars
that day as it was Sunday. So there was no car
obstructing the Jeep from them. Omotara increased the
speed of their car. The trailers increased theirs too.
Soon, they began to hear gunshots from behind.
Omotara did all she could to hasten their escape but it
was futile. The two tyres at the back of the car were
deflated wth bullets by the men. Omotara"s driving skills
helped her bring their car to a stop, else it would have
resulted to an accident, but maybe an accident would
have been better.
The Jeep caught up with them and two men came out.
One of them remained in the car, it was the same
government official they had seen in the church.
The two scary looking men came out with their guns in
their hands. They pulled Jefa and Omotara out of the car.
The government official soon came to join his boys.
Other motorists and pedestrians on the road has turned
back and fled on seeing what was happening.
"Kill the man and bring me the girl." He commanded in an
evil tone and turned back to the Jeep.
One of the men c.o.c.ked his gun and pointed it straight at
Jefa"s forehead. Jefa could hear Omotara screaming and
begging for pity as the bullet was released.