Chapter Thirty Seven
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The house was beginning to suffocate me. Every where I turned, I was met with faux sympathisers who moved about creating messes, with feigned sullen expressions. How pathetic!
I sipped on my glass of water as I watched the workers scurry in and out of the kitchen to attend to the overly demanding guests. I held back a scoff when one woman audaciously made her way into the kitchen and not so politely asked for a snack for her teenage son who by the way, I wondered why he was present in the first placeI had never even met the woman in question before and trust me I had met lots of my parents' associates and I could still place their faces even without remembering their names. People are weird.
I groaned in displeasure. There was too many people swarming around like bees and I wasn't comfortable, not one bit. I just wanted the day to be done and over with, nothing would please me more.
"Lola?" Laila's voice rang in my ears as she called out my name. I looked up from where I was leaning on the kitchen counter and waved my hand in her direction.
"Right here." I said, giving her a questioning look, I hoped she wasn't calling because I had to greet some important guest again.
"Hey, what are you doing here? I've been looking all over for you." She said, walking over to me.
"I just needed a breather, there's so much people here." I breathed out, fiddling with a button on my shirt.
"Oh, I understand, it sure can be overwhelming sometimes." She nodded, seemingly understanding my plight.
"Yeah." I mumbled.
"Well, someone's here to see you." She eventually stated.
"Ugh." I threw my head back with a groan and heaved a sigh of exhaustion, she simply chuckled.
"Who is it this time?" I finally asked.
"It's David." She said with a knowing grin splayed on her lips. I bit back a smile, more like a blush.
"Oh." I tried my best to keep a blank stare. "Please tell him I'll be out in a bit, let me just finish my glass of water." I requested calmly as opposed to my insides which were giddy with excitement.
She shot me a sly grin before walking off.
"Sureeee." She drawled purposefully. She knew me so well, I laughed softly at the thought.
I gulped down the content of my glass in one swig, swiftly rinsed the glass and placed it back on the rack before walking out of the kitchen.
I saw Laila outside the kitchen, clinging on to her husband like her life depended on it, I fought the urge to sneer in irritation. The word, 'forgiveness', reiterated itself in my mind and I turned away from whatever negative thought brewing in my mind. I walked up to them briskly with the intention of asking for David's whereabouts.
"Hello Yemi." I saluted with a curt nod which he mimicked and said...
"Hello to you too, Lola." He stated dryly. I couldn't care less how he acted.
Awkward silence ensued as Laila looked between both of us.
"Tolani, where's David?" I asked.
"He's in the living room with everyone else." She answered and with another curt nod, I left for the living room, my eyes searching frantically for him.
I spotted him, bowing to greet my mum, I smiled at the sight.
Wait what?
Oh no, I scurried over to his side, sensing my mum's obvious confusion. She had never met him before and he was greeting her so fondly, her brows had to be raised.
"Mummy." I called out, gaining her attention.
"Lola? You know him?" She asked, looking between David and I. I gulped and glanced at David for a minute before answering, he looked at me expectantly.
"Uhmm, he's, mummy he's... David." I stuttered, wringing my fingers together.
"Go on..." She urged, equally as expectant as David.
"He's my boyfriend." I muttered after much hesitance.
I shut my few seconds and when I finally opened them to gauge her reaction, she was sporting a wide grin, to say I was shocked is an understatement.
"Awww." She cooed. "Why didn't you tell me earlier? You had the young man embarrassed for a second there." She scolded and quickly turned to him.
"You're welcome my dear, your condolence is well received." She gave him a sweet motherly smile before turning to me who stood there moping.
"Heysss, get him a seat now, offer him a drink or something for driving all the way down here." She said. I turned to head for the kitchen when she called me back.
"Won't you ask what he'll like to have? You're just going like that." She scolded, I stifled a groan.
"No ma, it's alright. I just had something before coming here." David politely declined, I was thankful for his timely intervention. This woman would have left me mortified in front of everyone who had their eyes on us.
"Can we be excused ma'am? I'd like to speak to Lola in private." He requested, flashing her his drool worthy smile.
"Of course, she's all yours." She replied, almost too eagerly. I rolled my eyes at her antics and even more so when I saw Laila and Ima's teasing smiles.
I felt his fingers slip into mine as he led me out of the living room, down to the lobby and finally outside the house.
"Hey." He whispered and I bit the insides of cheek to stop myself from blushing hard.
"Hi, why didn't you tell me you were coming over?" I asked the first thing that came to mind and trust me that was a wrong move.
"Why didn't tell me you lost your dad?" He fired back.
"I...well.. I..." I honestly didn't have an explanation for my actions. His expression was unreadable but his eyes told me how upset he was.
"Can we take this somewhere else? I don't want the guests seeing this." I said and before he could respond, I held him by his hand and pulled Jim along with me to the sitting area by the pool.
He sat down wordlessly and peered up at me. I couldn't bring myself to sit considering the fact that I had to give him a reasonable explanation.
"Dave, everything just happened so fast and I didn't know how to tell you." That was the best I got.
"Really Lola? Really?" He did not sound convinced at all.
"Listen I'm sor..." I reached for his hands in a bid to apologise but he pulled away abruptly cutting me off.
"Sit, we have to thrash this out, right now." He gestured at the seat and I did as I was told.
That was the first time he sounded so bossy with me, I knew better than to refute him at that point.
"Lola,what is the problem?" He asked softly, his eyes searching my face.
"How do you mean?" I bit on my bottom lip,avoiding his gaze. His fingers made their way to my chin tilting it up to look at him.
"I mean, why don't you speak to me about anything. We hardly talk about anything, you ignore my messages and calls most of the time. I know I'm a businessman but baby I still make out time for you, what's stopping you from doing the same. When I want to talk about to someone about how my day went,I want it to be you,but you're never there. What's wrong? Did I somehow force you into this relationship? Is there something I did wrong at some point? Talk to me."
The sincerity in his words multiplied my guilt even further. I wasn't being a good partner but how was I supposed to tell him I didn't know how to.
"Dave,I'm sorry, I don't know how to explain it. You didn't do anything wrong, in fact you've been so sweet ever since our relationship started. Its not you, it's me." I stared at him guiltily. He held my hands and looked straight into my eyes.
"Talk to me. What's wrong?" He looked genuinely concerned.
"The thing is, I, I've never really been in a relationship before so I don't know how to handle it especially with everything going on right now." I confessed, cringing a bit.
He probably blanched for a bit before he regained his composure.
"You said what?" He was astonished.
"You heard me,I'm not repeating myself." I looked away, mortified at his reaction.
"Sorry,I'm just shocked. Oh now, I get it ..." He nodded in understanding with a glint in his eye.
"What?"
"Nothing." He smirked. Now that has got to mean something.
"Tell meeee" I whined and he laughed hard still refusing to open up.
"Let's go back inside,shall we?" He stood up with an outstretched arm, helping me up.
With a sigh,I grudgingly agreed. I got on my feet,only to be pulled into his embrace with a kiss planted on my forehead I leaned into his touch as we stayed in that position for a few seconds, before we made our way to the house.
"What was that for?"
"Nothing." He snickered, I gave him a punch on his arm for it. His melodious laughter filled my ears once again, warming my heart. This dude was doing things to me.
He spent quite some time with us before leaving, my family surely enjoyed his company.
****
Two months later...
Preparations for the burial were hectic. Mum did not want too much of a delay in anything so it was scheduled for the next month. In her words, there was no point in keeping the body for a long period of time as is the norm of most other families. The funeral went on without hitches, thankfully.
Gerald had been around often and we were bonding just fine. I was still trying to get used to the fact that he was my dad. He had simply advised me to take my time, and if I didn't want to call him dad just yet,he did not have a problem with it. I was relieved.
Travis had decided to move back with his family seemingly on a quest to find his biological father. He was currently out of the country but would be back before the end of the week with the kids.
Grey had agreed to sell the company since he was the heir. He sold it for about two million dollars to the highest bidder, the company had crashed and that was the most we could get.
He used part of it in settling the debts that put us in that mess in the first place. Laila and I were finally free.
Laila on the other hand, I didn't understand her at some point. She got separated from Yemi after a while but still didn't want to file for a divorce. I left her to do whatever she chose, she wore the shoes and knew wherever they pinched. Yemi did promise to become a changed man and was currently abroad for his treatment. She got her trust fund and is well on her way to building a state of the art law firm. I was ecstatic.
Me? Well,here I was working on my designs in preparation for my fashion show/Grand opening of my very own studio. I was excited, anxious, nervous and anything you can think of.
David had been of immense help from giving me all the encouragement I needed, to financing. He was simply the best, he understood everything I was going through when I finally opened up on everything. He knew I couldn't get my trust fund till I was married and Gerald wouldn't change the clause for anything and he volunteered to help out,I was more than thankful. It wasn't easy but the Lord had been my strength.
But there was still something at the back of mine bothering me. I paused with the dress I was stoning to think. I had to sort it out, it was long overdue.
I picked up my bag, stuffing it with one of the invitation cards and making sure my hair was in place, I walked out of the studio, locking the doors behind me.
As had been my usual habit, I smiled at the sign which had been covered for some time. It was David's idea to surprise me, I had no idea what it looked like. That only piqued my curiosity even more but I trusted him as always.
I got into my car and sped off. My heart thumped heavily in my chest, I had no idea what I was going to say when I got there, I just wanted to go with the flow but I hoped it would not turn out being awkward like the previous times. Avoiding the issue made it worse, I wished I had faced it head on but now was not the time for regret, it was about time I took the bull by the horn.
I checked the time once again, it was only about two in the afternoon, I hoped she'd be around. I parked the vehicle in the spacious parking lot and stepped out with my hand bag and peace offering wrapped inside a shopping bag.
I walked to the main entrance, pulled on the glass door and found myself in the lobby. The decor had changed again, I thought as much. The wallpaper was now a dark peach colour with bright blue butterflies all over it. It looked really cute. It even had some art pieces which weren't there the last time.
My eyes landed on the receptionist who was busy typing away on her desktop.
"Hello." I said and she looked up. Her face lit up as soon as she saw me.
"Ah welcome ma, She's in her office. Just go straight, but remember to knock on the door, she's very grumpy nowadays." She rambled on, whispering the last part. I chuckled at her actions and tipped her, she was obviously elated at that. I left her to continue with her work as I found my way up to the office.
I rapped on the door until I heard a muffled 'come in'. I turned the knob and pushed my way in, the air conditioner hit different, or maybe it was the stare down that had me freezing.
I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. I gulped, shutting my eyes in a bid to regain my composure. I cleared my throat, ready to speak now.
"Hi," I said.
"Hi."
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