The Moment I Met You (Chapter 307)

 By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu                   

It appeared that Peter had a good heart and showed care to her, so Chioma wouldn’t mind a small request like this, and nodded. ‘Thank you Peter.’                                                                                                             

‘You’re welcome.’Peter finished his tea and stood to leave. ‘Hope you enjoy the breakfast.’                                                                                        

‘No.’                                                                                                                     

Peter turned to look at Chioma with raised eyebrows.                       

‘I don’t want to take it. I have already had breakfast.’She paused. ‘You’re right, I should tell him already.’She reached for her phone on the table to dial Felix’s number but Peter stopped her.                           

‘This is not what you should do hastily. I understand that you had rejected those flowers that I sent because of this, right?’                                           

Chioma didn’t say anything. She only stared at him.                           

‘Just take the food, at least reward yourself well for what is about to happen.’                                                                                                           

‘Please, take back the food. Tell him that I don’t feel hungry. He could find someone else to give it. And if I must take something from him in the future, that will be when we no longer have awkward moment…so, please, take the food along.’                                                              

Peter looked at her for a moment, then, he reached for the bags and carried them back. He didn’t say any word, he turned and left.                             

Chioma didn’t know what to say. She loved Michael so much; she couldn’t bear the thought of being separated from him if he should know about Felix’s love for her. She was trembling, unable even to leave the spot she was standing. She knew that if she had stopped Felix from giving himself false hope, then she wouldn’t be in this state. It wasn’t her fault, but who would believe her. Everyone, including Audrey might think that she was a user. She had rejected Felix’s love and gifts severally, yet he kept on coming closer to her.                                                    

  Blinking back her tears she dropped down to her knees. She wished that her relationship with Michael had been announced. Maybe, Felix wouldn’t have pursued her. Michael had so much power; he could simply choose any woman he wanted. And as one of the eligible bachelors love shouldn’t have been his priority, his priority should be to marry a woman with the same influential and rich family background as his. But no, he never loved any of those women, he only loved Chioma Chima. Chioma knew that many people will react negatively about this relationship, she knew how much hate and belittling they will throw at her, and because she wasn’t ready to face all of that, especially the media, she had to beg Michael for their relationship to be kept secret until she was ready to face everyone. But now it seems that her fear was brought before her even before the time. She was confused. Better put, she was in dilemma.

The Moment I Met You (Chapter 306)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

He could see and hear Chioma in the kitchen, the clinking of cups and a hissing noise which sounded like she had placed a wet kettle on a fiery burning furnace. Not far away from here, he could hear the clucking of hens. It seemed the neighbours reared chickens.  

‘Why did you let Felix keep hurting himself?’Peter asked as Chioma reappeared. ‘I know that I have never loved you for my boss but…I think that there’s some goodness found in you.’                                         

‘I wanted severally to tell him…’                                                                  

‘But just like in movies, you didn’t get the chance to tell him.’Peter finished for her.                                                                                                        

Chioma sighed as if in agreement.                                                        

  ‘I understand that he believes he owns you and had never given you the chance, but then, you’re too smart to let this happen. Everyone will blame you, and Jessica will be the hero.’                                        

‘I take the blame.’                                                                                              

‘You do, but how?’ Peter raised one eyebrow. 

  ‘I am a coward…’                                                                                      

‘And foolish,’ said Peter with a smirk. ‘You’re not only hurting Felix, you’re also hurting Michael, Audrey…so many people.’                

Tears filled Chioma’s eyes. She didn’t know what to say.                

‘It wasn’t your fault, but everyone will blame you for this.’                             

‘Why haven’t you told Felix about this?’                                                         

‘Because I was only given a minor role to play in the story that makes it none of my business…’                                                                            

Chioma was shocked with everything happening around her. None of these was her fault, but no one would think as such. She was certain that she would be blamed. Before Peter could finish his statement, the whistling of the kettle blasted out and she went quickly to the kitchen leaving him with an unreadable expression. He didn’t know why he hadn’t told Felix yet about Chioma and Michael. Maybe, because he felt that it wasn’t Chioma’s fault or maybe because he felt that it wasn’t his business to meddle.                                                                                     

‘Chioma, when would you tell Felix about this?’ Peter asked as she came back with two mugs of tea and a plate of freshly baked bread Andrew had bought this morning before leaving for work. ‘Hope you’re prepared to be in the headlines?’                                                                          

  ‘Did you come here to torture me?’                                                      

‘Why would I do that?’Peter looked up at her. ‘I came to bring breakfast to you. Sir Felix asked me to. I will advice you to settle this problem as soon as possible. Once this is settled, you’ll have to buy me free lunch. ’

The Moment I Met You (Chapter 305)

 By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

 Chioma sat on the double bed she shared with her mother after having her bath. The window was wide open and the morning sun streamed into the room. She wished Chisom was right here with her to share this moment. She was glad that she found a lovely friend like Chisom. In fact, they were practically like sisters. Chisom was lovely, funny, chatty and kind. She was also happy to have a friend like Daniel, and also Audrey who recently became her friend. She hoped very much that Audrey wouldn’t be upset when she found out about her relationship with Michael.

 Remembering she had to take her wet clothes outside to dry, she slowly stood up from the bed and went to the bathroom to carry the bucket of wet clothes she had managed to wash this morning.               

As she began hanging out the clothes in the cloth line, she saw Peter approaching the yard. She was curious as to why he was here and why he was carrying the large bags. Quickly, she spread the clothes and went inside. She brushed her messy hair before he knocked at the front door. She wouldn’t want him to approach her in such a messy hair.                                                                                                                                 

Peter was looking too smart to belong in a slum area like this one where she lived, Chioma thought as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. He was wearing a high-end fitting black suit. It seemed that he had parked his car nearby and decided to walk to her house. Perhaps, he didn’t want to draw much attention in the neighbourhood. She didn’t care about her looks, but she had to this time because she didn’t want to leave any bad impression for Peter to report back to Felix. She knew that Felix must have sent him to her.               

As she was about leaving the bedroom, she had a knock at the front door. She hesitated to go over and open the door for Peter, but if she doesn’t do it, then, it might seem that she was hiding something.                                                                                                                  

Peter, who was still at the door waiting for Chioma to open the door, glanced around at the compound. He knocked again and again but he could see no one coming to open the door. Glancing around, he could see the long line of washing on the clothe line.                           

After much thought, Chioma finally opened the door. ‘What are you doing here?’                                                                                                       

  ‘I would never come if Sir Felix didn’t ask me to.’                                       

‘Anyway, you can deliver your message and go away already,’Chioma said with a shrug.                                                                          

  ‘Can’t you let me in for a cup of tea?’Peter asked, staring at her.                                                                                                                                    Chioma was astonished to see Peter requesting for a cup of tea. Was he trying to test her? Sighing, she said, ‘I will let you have a cup of tea because you look tired.’                                                                        

‘No, I don’t look tired. I simply want to drink tea.’                              

  Chioma bit her lips nervously as if already sure she would regret her kindness. But why would she regret being kind? ‘But promise me you’ll go afterward and you wouldn’t tell anyone that Felix had sent you here.’                                                                                                                             

Peter smirked, ‘I won’t promise you that because I know that Felix loves you and in return you love someone else.’                                               

Chioma was startled.                                                                               

‘Don’t worry I haven’t told Felix anything yet. And I can’t tell you the details of my finding. But it is all related to your attack…’                     

Peter walked inside as Chioma held the door for him to come inside. Then, he walked to the sofa and sat down, placing the bags on the centre table. He was concerned about Felix; he didn’t think Felix would be able to handle the shock of knowing that the woman he loves was in love with another man, who was his best friend and cousin.                                        

The Moment I Met You (Chapter 304)

 By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

At Baze University, Audrey walked into her class with a large bag of food. Then, she went over to her own desk and placed the food atop of it. The gorgeous dressed and attractive course mates of Audrey immediately crowded around chirping, and lively beyond compare. They were all students from rich and powerful family, not only that, they were pampered by their parents. They were students who knew the true meaning of burning money like paper. Majority of them drove smart-flashy cars to school.      

     ‘Audrey, is today your birthday?’Kimberly jokingly asked as she quickly grabbed a  pineapple bun, took a bite with her little mouth, and nodded at how delicious the snack tasted. She wore a blue cape jacket, with bejeweled buttons and collar, black pumps, and blue diamond earrings.

                ‘It can’t be that you bought these for your poor boyfriend and had a change of mind when he annoyed you,’a girl in camel-coloured coat, which she wore over a brown turtleneck and short skirt, said to Audrey with a laugh which was cute and adorable.                                          ‘If my boyfriend annoyed me, then, I would rather throw these foods to the trash,’Audrey said, picking up a carton of milk and began to drink. She was as usual, dressed classy and elegant. She was wearing a casual jean jacket with crisp white button down, black jeans trousers and matching high heels. Her hair fell down in glossy beautiful waves.                                                                                                                                               The students laughed at what Audrey said, then a beautiful slim girl in a little black dress, who was holding a cake, said, ‘I eat the best kind of food whenever my boyfriend annoys me.’                                         ‘That means you annoy your boyfriend on purpose anytime you want good meal,’a young man in black suit said as he drank his soy milk. ‘Girls are annoying most times.’                                                                                 After the students happily grabbed what they want, they returned back to their seat. Some listened to music with their headphones, earpods or earpiece. Some read their emails with their laptops or phones, some chatted away the time, some reviewed their books, some wrote their assignments, some sat lazily on their desks, some video-chatted with their boyfriends or girlfriends, some watched streaming videos with their laptop or phones, some tapping on their keyboards and some lazily ate snacks. Everyone did what they wanted to do while the waited for their English lecturer to enter the class.                              

The Moment I Met You (Chapter 303)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

 Felix listened to morning news while driving to Moon Corporation. He was elegantly and gracefully dressed in white high-end suit with matching pocket square, and matching shoes. With the thought that Chioma might not have had breakfast, he pulled over in front of a luxury supermarket, then selected a trolley, and began purchasing various kinds of breakfast. The salesgirls that worked at the supermarket were happy to see Felix; they happily greeted him and also helped him with his purchases.

               

  Very quickly, Felix was done with his purchases and a smart security officer helped him carry the bags of food to his car. Felix wanted to deliver the food straight to Chioma, but the meeting he had in the next thirty minutes made him head straight to the office. He reached Moon Corporation without being late for the meeting. When he left the designated elevator and entered his large office, he saw Peter in the office holding onto a few documents that needed his urgent signature.     

                 

‘Sir, you should have informed me about taking up the responsibility of bringing breakfast.’                                                                        

Felix raised the two large bags of food in his hands, ‘You’re bringing them over to Chioma.’                                                                                            

While speaking, Felix walked over to the coffee table, because the table only has an Apple laptop and nothing else, it was suitable to place the food there until Peter took them over to Chioma.               

Peter placed the documents on Felix’s desk before walking over to the coffee table.  Seeing the bags were full of glittering foods that would make anyone turn into a foodie, Peter blanked out for a moment, and then turned towards Felix with looks of adoration.                                               

‘Sir Felix, you’re too amazing. I wish to be in Chioma’s shoes,’Peter said, wanting to grab the strawberry cake that looked yummy-yummy.   

  ‘Do I have a chance with you, Sir? I promise to be good to you. I won’t betray you… just have breakfast delivered to me every morning.’                                                                                                                                         

  Felix who was signing the documents Peter had brought to him, frowned and coldly said, ‘I assume you’re tired of living. Don’t touch them until I ask you to.’                          

                 

  ‘Oh, I can’t be a girl even though I wanted to be Chioma right now.’Peter glanced at the bags with reluntance, and still left them in the end.                                                                                                                                        

  Felix didn’t raise his head from the document as he coldly said, ‘If you want to turn into a girl you’re free. But with your ugly face no man will buy you food.’                                                                                                                 

Peter laughed in embarrassment, and said, ‘It’s all right, when I turn into a girl I will go to South Korea for a good plastic surgery.’                                                                                                                                       

After finishing with the signing of the documents, Felix handed them back to Peter. Then, he picked up a report from his table and left for the conference room.                                                                                

When Peter saw Felix was about to leave for the meeting, he curiously asked, ‘Why not I send the foods over? Your girlfriend is weird sometimes. She might reject the food if she had already had breakfast.’             

‘You can deliver them to her.’ Felix pushed the door open and left.                                                                                                                                            

The Moment I met You (Chapter 302)

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

 ‘Tell your boyfriend to stop with his silly jokes,’Chioma said as soon as Chisom brought the breakfast to the dining.                                        

‘Whatever my boyfriend says is right. Everything is right because Andrew said so.’Chisom sat down to eat.                                                                   

Chioma rolled her eyes. ‘Nonsense. You are just like your boyfriend. You guys are so annoying.’                                                                      

Chisom laughed. ‘Thanks for the compliment. We do appreciate,’she said with a shrug.                                                                             

Louisa took off her apron, hanging it on a nail by the wall; she sat down to eat as well. ‘As long as you didn’t do anything wrong, then, there is nothing to be afraid of. But make sure that you explain everything to Michael as soon as he returns.’                                                

Chioma nodded as she poured milk into her akamu bowl. Placing the can of milk down on the table, she picked up a spoon and began to eat her delicious akamu.                                                                    

Chisom bit into her akara ball, and said, ‘Audrey will surely get mad. I’m afraid her finding the truth might push her to leave my brother.’                                                                                                                                        

   ‘She might for a few days, but she won’t for a long time. She can’t do without Daniel,’Louisa analysed. She picked up a small piece of fried plantain and ate it.

           When breakfast  was finished, Chisom took her bath quickly and headed out for work at the same time with Andrew. Louisa carried her fruit cart to the market while Chioma stayed back in the house for a good rest.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

  At the home of the Onuohas, the whole family aside from Chisom who stayed overnight at the Chimas, all sat down around the kitchen table to eat the beans and chicken stew Beatrice had cooked. Beatrice’s cooking pleased her husband and son, as usual. They wolfed it down and and mopped up the stew with thick slices of bread.                                   

‘Mum, you’re indeed the best cook,’Daniel praised Beatrice as she cleared the table.                                                                                                      

‘Well, you could bring Audrey over to have a bite of my food,’Beatrice said and Daniel smiled.                                                                              

At the stove, the whistling of the kettle blasted out and Beatrice rushed over to bring the kettle down. Then, she brought down two thick china mugs from the cupboard, filled the cups with hot piping achara tea. Placing the cups in a tray after adding some sugar to the tea, she went over to Leonard who was now sitting in the living room couch reading a newspaper and placed a mug on a side stool for him.                            

Leonard reached for the tea, and took a brief sip as Beatrice took the other mug to Daniel who was playing with his phone while still sitting at the kitchen table.                                                                                                

‘You better drink your tea and go off to your shop. You can’t always rely on your sales boys and girls.’Beatrice place the cup before him and said.                                                                                                                        

   ‘I will but for now, I’ve got ironing to do.’Daniel stirred his tea with a spoon before drinking the tea.             

                

When he was done with drinking his tea, he laid a blanket on the kitchen table, spread a sheet over it and plugged the iron in the socket by the wall. The electricity had only been fixed some months ago, and Daniel felt that he should iron his clothes everyday before leaving to the shop. Anyway, light didn’t come everyday in Nigeria, so anytime it was brought, people always made good opportunity of it. It was good to have running water in the kitchen too, as it saves the stress of water hunting. Daniel dampened his pale blue shirt he was going to wear, and placed it neatly on the sheet while he waited for the iron to get hot, but his mind wandered on Audrey and how her reaction would be should she discover that Chioma already had a boyfriend. He didn’t blame Chioma; rather he put the blame on Felix because he was too bossy and never gave Chioma the chance to explain things.                                                                                                                                                                                                                

The Moment I Met You (Chapter 301)

 

By Nightengale Ben-Onyeukwu

‘It doesn’t sound good to me. She didn’t tell me about it.’                

  ‘Are you both quarrelling?’Michael chuckled lightly as he propped up a pillow and slouched against it lazily.                                               

Felix rubbed his nose gently. He was in his study, still dressed in his blue checked Chanel suit. ‘If we were quarelling I wouldn’t have bothered about her. But no, we are not.’                                           

‘Maybe, she did it for a reason…when I return I will love to see this dumb puppy of yours.’                                                                                        

‘How dare you call my woman a dumb puppy? Are you tired of living?’                                                                                                                                          

  ‘I thought you would feel warm and cuddly when I called her that,’Michael teased, lifting his glass to his beautiful lips. ‘Still gathering evidence as to why those mobsters attacked your woman. We would find the mastermind and torture them without mercy.’                                       

                  

The following morning Chisom woke up early and headed straight to the kitchen to help Louisa prepare breakfast of akamu, fried plantain and akara.                                                                                                                      

When Chioma came out of the bedroom, Louisa and Chisom were in the process of bringing breakfast out of the kitchen. She went to the sink to wash her face after which she went to the dining and sat down. Andrew who was still in his pyjamas greeted his mother, then, he settled himself on a seat at the dining table. He picked up an apple from the fruit bowl and began to peel it for Chioma while he waited for the breakfast to be served.                                                                                                      

  ‘Chioma, focus on your recovery. Don’t worry too much about the love triangle that you found yourself in. if you explain everything to Michael I am certain that he won’t get mad.’                                   

‘I had wanted to explain everything to Michael but I was unfortunate that very day. Those mobsters are the reason I didn’t get the chance to speak to Michael that day.’                                                                    

  ‘Don’t blame yourself for nothing. If Michael blames you for doing nothing, then I will have to punch him…’                                                             

Chioma rolled her eyes at him. ‘How would a gentleman like you think like that? Michael would never hurt me.’                                         

  ‘I pray so.’Andrew forked up a small piece of apple and handed to her. ‘If you don’t cry because of him, then, your love story isn’t a love story. In love stories, you get to cry, abandoned and hurt to the point that you feel like dying. So, as my sister I will be there to beat your boyfriend if he hurts you. I want to play the role of beating your boyfriend for hurting you. Include me in the script, I am good with beating people,’he teased Chioma.                                                                                    

    ‘I don’t understand your point anymore.’ Chioma bit into   the apple and gently chewed it.            

   Andrew chuckled.