By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu
‘Chioma is
on the news again.’ Beatrice pushed a mug of coffee into Daniel’s hands and
passed another to Leonard who was on the phone.
It
was a cold but sunny morning. Chisom had just gone to work, but would be back
in the afternoon to send some money to Chioma to take care of herself before
she founds a new job.
Daniel sipped the coffee and said, ‘Do
not tell anyone that they left for Lagos.’
‘Even
your girlfriend? You know you shouldn’t hide anything from her to avoid what
happened previously,’ Beatrice advice.
‘Chioma
doesn’t want me to tell anyone where they are headed.’
‘But she told her neighbours,
right?’
Leonard
hung up the call and turned to them. ‘You can just tell her that Chioma went to
Lagos but you don’t know exactly where. Of course you don’t know which part of
Lagos they would be staying. Don’t lie to Audrey. She will feel hurt if you
do.’
‘I know that Chioma did all
these for the sake of her loved ones but I don’t still like the fact that she
didn’t tell Michael where she was going.’ Beatrice looked up at Daniel and said
softly. ‘Which is why you need to do something to help her get back to Michael,
just tell Audrey that Chioma went to Lagos with her family, I am sure that she
would tell Michael about it, and in return Michael would use his connections to
find her and they would reunite together.’
Leonard
sat down on the couch and sipped his coffee. ‘Michael’s very rich and powerful.
A man at that pinnacle of power would have effective subordinates that would
get things done quickly. Once he hears that Chioma is in Lagos, he will
immediately send orders, dispensing all of his resources, even if it meant
searching every nook and cranny of Lagos State… Chioma is a very good girl; we
need to help her regain her happiness.’
Daniel
nodded. Then, he turned, pulled on his jacket and left for work.
Daniel
was almost close to his shop when he checked the time on his mobile phone, and
noticed two missed calls. He glanced at the screen and smiled when it was
Audrey that had called him. Reaching his shop, he found a corner in the shop
and called her back. No
one picked up the call for a while. When Audrey finally did, Daniel couldn’t
help but smile happily.
‘Why
didn’t you answer when I called?’ Audrey’s voice was so beautiful, soft and
mesmerising.
‘Was having breakfast and my phone was on silent,’ replied Daniel.
‘Okay,’Audrey
smiled. She asked the question on her mind. ‘Is everything all right with
Chioma?’
‘Yes,’
Daniel said.
‘Good,’
Audrey continued after pausing for a second. ‘I’ve transferred some money to
Chisom’s account. She will transfer it to Chioma later. I’m going to hang up if
there’s nothing you would want to tell me.’ Audrey wanted Daniel to tell her where
Chioma was, but didn’t want to ask him. She wanted him to reveal it willingly.
‘Wait
a second, honey,’ Daniel said quickly.
‘What?
Did you miss me?’Audrey laughed.
‘Very
much,’ Daniel replied. He held the mobile phone for a while before he asked,
‘Don’t you want to know where Chioma is?’
‘I
badly wanted to know.’ It seemed that on the other side of the line, Audrey was
expecting the question, for she really wanted to know where Chioma was. She had
guessed Lagos, and still thought that Chioma could have travelled to any other
state or perhaps, she went back to Imo State with her mother and brother.
Therefore, when she was asked, she was really happy.
Through
the phone, Daniel heard Audrey communicating to others. Because she spoke in a
low voice, Daniel couldn’t hear what she was saying to them clearly. But from
the little he heard, he guessed that she was in the class and properly a
lecturer was in the class too.
About
two minutes, Audrey spoke to him clearly on the phone again, ‘We are in the
class answering a debated question in English Language. You know how tricky
English can be…most people claim to know English very well but they fail it
more than they fail mathematics. And this because of pronunciation problem,
sometimes, people pronounce words just as they see them and and like to
pronounce them.’
Hearing her words, Daniel
couldn’t help but smile. ‘Miss Genius…’
Audrey
laughed softly. Holding the phone, she asked him, ‘Where is she?’
‘Lagos
State,’ replied Daniel.
‘My guess
was right,’ she mumbled, then spoke to Daniel. ‘Please, you and Chisom should
send the money to her already. Chioma refused giving me her account number, so
I had to use Chisom’s to transfer the money.’ Audrey paused for a while and
continued, ‘Do take care.’
‘Same
here. Bye.’
After
hanging up, Daniel’s gaze was fixed on the phone in his hand. He felt a little
relaxed after telling Audrey the state Chioma and her family had moved to. He
knew that Chioma would come back to Michael again. Now what he should do was to
ask Chisom to transfer the money to Chioma, for they might need it already to
find accommodation.
He
dialed Chisom’s number, but ran out of airtime. So he decided to buy airtime
from a store a little bit far from his spare-part shop. Thinking about how
Andrew and his family will be glad with the money, he hadn’t paid attention to
the black Rolls-Royce pulled off the road some distance ahead.
Through
the car windows, Felix could see Daniel walking hastily towards a store. Felix
sat in the car waiting for when Daniel would head back. When he saw Daniel
returning, he quickly opened the car door and then stepped down. He walked up
to Daniel.
Daniel was stunned
to see him. ‘F…Felix,’ Daniel stammered, looking up at him.
Felix
nodded, giving him a faint smile. ‘Where is Chioma? Before Daniel could reply, Felix
phone began to ring, and he answered it, ‘Hello, I am still searching for her.
Okay, I’ll go to Moon Corporation and inform Michael about it.’ He looked at
Daniel and said, ‘Audrey said that you told her that Chioma moved to Lagos with
her family.’
‘Yes, I did.’
‘Thanks.
I should go and inform Michael about this. We will bring her back to Abuja,’ Felix
said and left.
Daniel
stood there, and suddenly a smile spread on his face as he watched Felix’s car
disappear from his sight.
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