The Moment I Met You (Chapter 571)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

Chioma wanted to tell her that she had fashionable dresses Michael bought her that were still untouched, but couldn't say anything even though she felt that it was still waste to spend so much.

Audrey didn't say another word as she swiped her card to make the payment. Chioma watched as Audrey made the payment and didn't know what to feel. She felt like she owed Audrey too much in this lifetime and wondered how she was going to repay Audrey for all her kindness towards her.

  Seeing Chioma deep in thought as regards to the huge money Audrey had spent on her, Catherine put her arm around Chioma's shoulders and gently comforted her, 'We know that it might not be easy for you to repay Audrey in the future even if you marry the richest man on earth, but you should know that Audrey means well, you should always accept her gifts.'

Catherine's words made Chioma to feel less burden in her heart. She will always be grateful to Audrey. Then, looked at Catherine and smiled gently at her.

'Girls, I feel hungry, my treat,' Catherine offered as they left the store, heading to one of the restaurants in the mall.

 Just as the five of them sat down, Jessica walked inside the restaurant, dressed in a beautiful fishtail short skirt paired with a white blouse with Korean style lotus sleeves. She wore nude high heels paired with her long curly hair. Her long, smooth, and beautiful glowing legs that were exposed, gave off the feeling of maturity and sexiness. She clung onto Nathan's arm, and they looked like a perfect couple.

Nathan was in a Navy blue slim fit, custom made suit. He was handsome and pleasing to behold.

'Chioma...' Jessica greeted when she saw Chioma and her friends. Then, she walked over and greeted the five of them. Then she returned back to their table.

Shortly afterward, the servers walked over one by one with a dozen of exquisite fruit platters, scrumptious dishes, red wine and juice, filling up the table.

 Chisom took her phone to take photos. Then she posted the picture on her Whatsapp status.  Not long after, Chioma stood up to go to the restroom. At her surprise, right as she was about approaching the restroom, she bumped into Sharon who was dressed in a white Oscar de la Ranta wrap blouse, black trousers and a black stiletto pumps and a Valentino Garavani white handbag. She styled her hair in loose bun. The two faced each other and Chioma smiled awkwardly.

 'Hi,' Chioma greeted her and smiled.

 'You look beautiful. I like your simple outfit,' Sharon sincerely said.

Chioma pouted and said jokingly, 'Well, I thought that I looked like a woman going to the grocery stall...'

To her surprise, Sharon really meant was she said. Perhaps, it was because she had lived her life in luxury brands. Therefore, she sincerely admired this cheap but fitting getup Chioma was wearing. Chioma didn't know that Sharon loved her casual style and was really serious about liking Chioma's casual outfit.

'Then are the clothes good enough for a party?'

Just as Sharon was about to reply, she heard Johnson walk up from behind her and grabbed her waist. Then she smiled faintly at Chioma.

 'Sweetie, is she your friend?'

Sharon nodded. 'Um, she is Chioma Chima, Michael's fiancée. She and Jessica's were once love rival...everything seems fine now,' Sharon explained.

'Hi, I am Johnson...Sharon's my girlfriend,' Johnson said politely to Chioma who nodded in acknowledgement. 'We'll go ahead.' After speaking, Johnson strode out with Sharon in his arms while Chioma headed for the restroom.Half an hour later after Chioma and her group finished eating, they returned home with all their purchases.

When Chioma reached home, Louisa was in the kitchen cooking dinner while Andrew was eating strawberry in the living room as he watched news. Chioma greeted him, and headed straight to the bedroom to drop the shopping bags.  Chioma entered the room, a surprisingly luxury shopping bags where on the bed. She walked up to the bed, and curiously opened one of the bags and she was immediately stunned by all the clothes in the bags.

  There were dozens of outfits, all brand new with their price tags still on them. They were all luxury-brand outfits, from Versace, Dior, Valentino, Prada, LV, Aramni, Gucci, Chanel, Hermes, Louis Vuitton...  Each of them worth more than four figures, the clothes included; evening gowns, jeans, scarves, lingeries, t-shirts, jackets, skirts, shawls, hats, shoes, handbags...in fact, everything that Chioma would need was all in the bags.

Chioma was speechless. She wondered who could have moved the stores into her house. Picking up a tag, she noticed that everything was her size. After the shock, she placed her shopping bags on the desk and went to the kitchen to meet Louisa, who was preparing dinner that smelled richly in the entire house.

'Mum, who bought those...? Was it Michael?'

Louisa turned to Chioma and said, 'Jessica brought them over. She says that you should accept them because she bought them with love.'

'How did she locate our house?' Chioma asked even surprised she had asked such a silly question.

'Our house could easily be found by simply asking the locals for directions. You know that your status in Michael Njemanze's life made you very popular. Besides, Jessica could have gotten the location of our house from Audrey or any other person close to her. I'm surprised you had to ask such a silly question.'

'I know...but I'm just confused,' Chioma sighed helplessly. 'I saw her today at the mall and she didn't even say anything about it.'

'Because she knew you would reject them,' Louisa said. 'Take them and stop worrying about anything. Jessica meant well this time...' she paused and muttered after a while. 'That girl is lucky that her love story-rival didn't feature in Filipino movie, if not, she would have been dead at the last episode.'

'Mum, you could be funny sometimes,' laughing, Chioma said and turned back to the bedroom to change into a simple white dress.