By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu
It was soon morning in Abuja. Michael luxuriantly stretched himself with a yawn in his magnificent seat in his office. He was looking dashing in his blue suit. As usual he was always punctual to work. But since he began the project of building houses for the less privilege in Ajegunle; he went to work earlier than before, for he wanted to complete the task before the end of this year or at most beginning of next year.
He was looking at the financial report that he had received from the accountants on the computer screen. Just then, Robert walked in, dressed in a high-end black suit. He came to Michael’s side and placed a cup of achara tea on Michael’s desk.
Michael raised his head and said to Robert, ‘Prepare the helicopter am leaving for Lagos with Chioma. I want her to be a part of this Ajegunle project.’
Robert rubbed the back of his head and curled his lips while saying, ‘Take Sir Felix instead. Chioma might not know what to do about the project. I don’t think you should go with her…maybe after the project is complete you could take her there.’
Michael glanced at Robert with a frown. He reached for the cup of tea that Robert had put on the table and passed it back to him. ‘Rinse your mouth, and drink some tea. Maybe you’ll start thinking better.’
Robert felt embarrassed as he took the tea from Michael, saying, ‘I think I will prepare for the helicopter to take you both to Ajegunle.’ With that said, Robert left the office.
Michael stood up immediately Robert left; he grabbed his phone and left to Chioma’s house in a white Bugatti. On his way, he rang to tell Chioma to dress up as he was taking her somewhere.
Chioma was already dressed up in a white t-shirt tucked into cropped black jeans with a denim jacket and white Reebok sneakers when Michael arrived. Instead of a handbag, Chioma was holding Barack Obama's A promised land hardcover, to compliment her look.
Chioma was excited to see him even though she was curious as to why he suddenly called her to dress up.
‘Where are we headed?’ Chioma curiously asked Michael.
‘You’ll find out when we get there.’ Michael took her hand as the two walked to the car. He opened the passenger seat and led her inside and then he made his way to the driver’s seat.
On the way, Michael opened the roof to the convertible. Chioma smiled as she felt like she was taking a leisurely ride, basking in the morning sun which was accompanied by cool breeze.
Reaching Moon Corporation, Chioma looked at him confused. ‘Why did you bring me here?’
Michael laughed. ‘I just brought us here to take off. This isn’t our final destination.’
‘Where exactly are we going?’Chioma was still confused. Then she watched as he pulled the car before a helicopter.
Every employee and executive that saw them were stunned, each of them wondering where Michael was taking Chioma to.
As Moon Corporation was the leading company in the business world, they had large piece of empty space in the company, which was fit enough for a helicopter to take off. It was especially eye-catching in the city centre, where every inch of land was as precious as gold or rather as costly as diamond.
Traffic was busy around this area, maybe because of the large people that came to work at the company.
Michael turned to her and said, ‘We’re going to Lagos.’
Chioma was unsure whether to laugh or cry. She hadn’t even informed Louisa and Andrew that she was heading out, and now it appeared that she was leaving for Lagos? ‘How could you pull me out from my house just to bring me to Lagos? I don’t want to go.’
Michael shrugged and laughed arrogantly. ‘We’re going to Lagos and we’ll ride on that helicopter.’
Before she could speak, Michael led her out from the car and brought her to the helicopter. They both got inside. Knowing that many people were watching, Chioma was even more embarrassed. She just wanted the helicopter to take off as soon as possible. She could sense that the entire company was talking about this. This made her unable to calm herself down despite her composed manner. But then, she was happy with the fact that Michael was with her. I know that Michael will never surprise me with something that will hurt me. I am safe with him even though I am mad at him right now for pulling me out from my house just to bring me to another state, Chioma muttered in her heart.
As the helicopter took off and flew into the sky, Chioma didn’t know if she was upset with Michael for taking her to Lagos against her will or whether she was happy for this surprise.
Smiling, Michael caressed her hair. This woman was everything to him, and he promised himself to always make her happy. ‘Sorry…I know that I shouldn’t have brought you to Lagos like this. But as your man, you should know to expect more surprises from me.’
Chioma stared at him, not knowing what to say to this bossy man beside her. After a moment of silence, she rested her head on Michael’s shoulder.
Robert who was sitting behind them couldn’t help but smile. His boss was bossy and domineering, but he was still cool and lovable. At this thought, Robert couldn’t help but to give Chioma two to three big thumbs up in his heart, for being the only woman that was able to captivate Michael’s heart.
In about one hour, 8 minutes they reached Lagos State, descending gradually in an open field in Ajegunle. The helicopter blades were noisy, and the huge gusts of wind generated from the helicopter forced the people that were playing football in the field to move back, so that a large space could be created for it to land.
‘This is cool. Whoever is up there must be very rich.’
‘Could it be the governor?’
‘I don’t think that the governor will arrive here without informing the world about it.’
The people at the field were curious to know who it was that was about to land from the helicopter. Just like wildfire, the news of the helicopter landing on the field spread throughout Ajegunle and immediately people came over to see who it was. The locals of Ajegunle left all they were doing to come to the field.
At this moment, the helicopter descended under the curious gazes of the crowd. After it landed, its blade did not stop, but continued spinning.
Just then, the people began screaming excitedly as Michael’s tall, elegant and graceful figure jumped out from the plane, followed by Chioma and Robert.
‘It’s Michael! It’s Michael!’
‘Chioma is with him as well!’
Chioma couldn’t help but glance at Michael, cursing at him in her heart. They could have arrived in a low profile way but Michael chose to come here in a flamboyant manner.
Knowing what she was thinking, Michael winked at her. Chioma forced herself to smile at him because of the crowd that was watching them. Then, taking her hand, Michael waved at the crowd as they went to the bright-red Porsche Cayenne that was prepared for them.
After a little ride, the car was parked by the roadside, which was not a very noticeable spot.
Michael turned to Chioma and said, ‘We’re getting down here.’
‘What exactly is going on?’
‘You’ll soon know,’ Michael said as he opened the door.
Chioma turned to Robert for some answers but Robert only shrugged his shoulders with a smile.
Chioma had a feeling that Michael had brought her here for something that was quite huge. But she couldn’t put her finger on it just yet. The place had already changed. It seemed development was coming here, she thought as she glanced around from the car window. Was the government behind this development or was Michael the reason behind it, Chioma couldn’t help but wonder.
Michael got down, followed by Chioma and Robert. Chioma could see a team of professional construction workers busy with raising buildings. The construction workers were all wearing blue helmet and yellow construction uniform, working very hard.
People who passed by were all baffled at the speed of the buildings. The team of construction workers was skillful building professionals and Michael had made sure that the materials used for the houses were imported from reputable construction company abroad. So many people stopped to take photos and commented on how generous Michael was to give them hope.
‘President Michael…’Many came over to say hi as well as thanking him for giving them hope when they felt that their dreams of making it through was already shattered.
Michael took Chioma’s hand, leading her to the building sites.
‘President Michael you’re here! The houses will be ready soon for the people,’ a middle aged foreman wearing construction uniform, said to Michael. ‘You can come over and inspect some of the buildings yourself.’
Michael nodded before glancing over at Chioma. ‘Wait for me here.’ He didn’t want to stress Chioma too much.
‘Okay.’
Then the foreman led Michael to the other building sites. Robert wanted to go with them but Michael stopped him and ordered him to stay with Chioma.
Robert went to a close shop and bought two bottles of milk drink. He passed Chioma a bottle while he drank one.
Chioma unscrewed the cap of her delicious chilled milk drink and took a sip.
Then, Robert tilted his head to say, ‘This project is for you that was why the boss brought you with him.’
Chioma was stunned with this revelation.
‘Ever since you came to Ajegunle, Sir Michael did a research and realised that the financial situation over here is quite dire due to lack of jobs. Many people don’t even have money to finish primary school, some can’t afford house rents, some are like caterpillars who thought their lives were over…but then, Sir Michael had to make those caterpillars fly again. So because of you he decided not only to build houses for the less privileged but also create revenues that will yield money for them to have a good life…and the climax of it all was the Chioma Foundation he was establishing in your name, which will of course help the children living here in Ajegunle who didn’t have the chance to attend school to re-establish their academics.’
When Robert finished speaking he turned to see Chioma’s eyes filled with tears. She was indeed truly shocked by this news.
‘Are you crying because of what I told you? Please, stop crying. President Michael won’t give me my paycheck if he sees those tears.’ Robert crumpled his face as though he was about to cry.
Chioma didn’t say a word as she bit into her lips. When Michael came back from the site inspection, Chioma couldn’t take it anymore as she made her way towards him, wrapping her arms tightly around him and buried her head into his embrace. In a tearful tone, she said to Michael, ‘Thank you so much for giving these people hope…’ she pressed her face into his shirt and wiped her tears on it.
‘I did it for you…without you, I might not have remembered that suffering people like this existed…so, thank you for this great opportunity.’ He leaned down and gave her a kiss on her forehead.
Robert could no longer watch this public display of affection, so he quickly turned away to finish his milk drink.
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