about almost everything they saw. After twenty minutes of driving, Kelvin began to halt slowly close to a broken down car.
"Kelvin, what's the matter, why are you stopping" Frank said.
" Don't you see those chicks are struggling with their car? Let's lend them a helping hand and you know, I think I like one of them" Kelvin replied as he came down through the drivers seat.
" Oh!" Bode complained, obviously irritated, " which one be this now, are we good samaritans, why you just wan spoil our groove this evening?"
"The guy wan toast babe now,abeg leave am o", Frank replied and joined Kelvin walk towards the girls.
" Hi girls, what's wrong with your car?" , Kelvin said as he approached the car.
" I don't know, the engine has refused to come on since I parked to receive a phone call", one of the Ladies replied with a faint smile.
"Let me help you check it" Kelvin said as he checked through the car Engine.
Frank fed his eyes on the girl's faces, he had not seen girls as pretty as they were in a long time. He admired the one in the dark blue suit more, he loved the dimples that revealed themselves as she smiled on sighting him. He smiled back too. He decided to engage the girls in a conversation while Kelvin worked on the car.
"Where were you girls off to? " He asked, directing the question to the girl on the blue suit, but was quickly answered by the other one.
"We were on our way to Erinsic, I don't just know what's wrong with the car, it has never broken down"
"Don't worry, it would be fixed, we were also on our way to Erinsic"
After about one minute of working on the car, Kelvin called out "You can start up the engine now"
The car started at once to the surprise of the two girls.
"Wow, thank you so much" the lady who had been silent all throughf inally spoke beaming with smiles.
"Its nothing" Frank quickly replied her
Ini came out of the car looking grateful. "Thank you so much, we would have been stucked here for long without help"
"You're welcome Mam, It's my pleasure to help pretty ladies like you" Kelvin finally spoke, cleaning his hands with an handkerchief " My name is Kelvin and that's my friend Frank"
"I'm Ini, and she is Amarachi, I call her Ama" She replied cheerfully, winking at Amarachi who was looking less interested
" I heard you were your way to Erinsic? "
" Yes, we wanted to spend sometime out this evening"
" Oh, I see, we were heading for the same place. I think we don't have to waste time anymore, let's just meet there.
............................................................................
" Dennis, time is not on your side anymore, you are ageing gradually and I'm also getting closer to the grave, please let me carry my grand children ", Mrs Michaels whined
" Mummy, I told you to be patient, you would get your grand children when the time comes", Dennis replied as he took a sip of Five alive fruit juice.
" That's what you always say, for years now, we've been patient and there has been nothing to show for it, you better bring a wife home if you want us to live in peace " Mrs Michaels replied and stormed out of the living room .
Dennis hated this kind of discussion with his mother, they've been through it several times and the woman would not let him be, she brought up the discussion everytime she heard about a marriage ceremony.
He thought about the two Ladies he had dated previously. His relationship with Ada hadn't been too nice. Ada came from a rich family and therefore lived a flamboyant lifestyle that didnt work with him, she was also arrogant and lazy, he couldn't put up with the relationship again and had to break up one afternoon after she beat up one of his female staffs in the office for staring at her boyfriend too much.
Funmi, the second lady that he dated hadn't loved him but pretended and play pranks on him alongside with her lover. Three years after that, he hadn't open his heart to any other girl, he focused on making money.
"Brother" , a tiny voice called, interrupting his thoughts " ain't you going out this saturday?"
It was Janet, his younger sister, who was just twenty years of age. He was used to chilling out with her on saturdays when she was on break from school.
"Is anything the matter?" She asked after noticing he looked gloomy, "you don't look cheerful today"
"Its nothing dear, I'm just trying to think through some matters in the office" He lied.
"Hmm, sweet lie, you think I will take that? I know you don't disturb yourself with office matters on Saturdays, so tell me the truth"
" You are too young to understand Janet"
"No, I'm not" , she replied, sitting close to her brother on the three sitter sofa " you can talk to me"
"No, you won't understand Janet " He said and walked into his room.
Amarachi woke up as early as five a.m to prepare for work, she had been nervous all through the weekend since she had received a mail confirming her appointment. Even when Ini took her out to Erinsic, she could only keep her mind off temporarily due to distractions by their newly found friends. Not that she was a timid or fearful girl but she was anxious because it was her first employment and her first day at work.
Her Mum had advised her when she called during the weekend to be hardworking , reminding her that she was the only hope of the family. Her Mum always told how she met her Dad, how Amarachi's father had married her even though she was from another tribe due to her hardwork.
Six years ago, Amarachi's father had a major setback in his business and since then struggled to make ends meet. He managed to cater for the family and get Amarachi through school by petty trading. Her mother engaged herself in tailoring and was able to also help the husband meet some needs.
As Amarachi took her bath, she had Ini calling to her " Hey, Ama. Hope you are awake, we need to leave by seven a.m on dot."
"I'm taking my bath already" Ama shouted back
"Ok, I just wanted to know if you were awake, let me go take my bath too"
It was five minutes past six when Ama came out of the bathroom. As she took a look at her phone, she saw an incoming call from an unsaved number.
" Hello"
" Hi Ama, It's Frank"
"Frank?"
"Yes, one of the guys who helped you and your friend on saturday"
"Oh"
" Yeah, how was your night?"
"Fine, thanks. Please, you can call me later in the evening, I'm preparing for work now"
"Alright then, have a nice day"
"You too"
Frank, she remembered him now, the funny guy who made them laugh excitedly with his jokes on Saturday. They were three guys, one was just talking casually and always taking long glances at Ini, Frank was making them laugh all through while the third one was quiet and only smiled occasionally. But how did Frank get her phone number? She didn't remember giving it to him. He must have gotten it when he askwd for her phone and pretended to be observing what kind of brand it was.
By the time Ini came out of her room dressed, Ama was alreafy taking a breakfast of sliced bread with tea.
"Good morning Ini" Ama said to her as she sat on the dinning table.
"Good morning Ama, I can see you are already prepared for work this morning"
"Yes, I am" Ama replied and continued , "You know Ini, I don't know how to thank you enough, you've been so good to me"
"Come on, you don't need to say that. What are we friends for? Lets hurry up and get to work early enough."
By seven thirty they got to the company in Ini's car and Amarachi resumed her job as the accounting research analyst. She was already seated in her office shown to her by the secretary by 7.45 am. She busied herself studying some files found on the table. At about 8.15 am, she received a call from the accounts manager summoning her to his office.
"Good morning sir" Amarachi said as she walked into his office.
"Good morning, Miss Amarachi" Dennis Michaels replied looking up " you may be seated"
He took his time to admire her looks as she sat, he didn't take notice of her pretty face when she came for the interview. She must be a goddess or a "mami water" if they really existed, he thought to himself.
" Welcome to the company Miss"
"Thank you sir"
" Some documents have been sent to remind you of your duties in here, but I just thought I should talk to you to let you know the import of your job, we need you to be alert always. If your job is done well, it would cause an increase in the progress of the company"
" Yes, I know sir. I promise to do my best and you'll have no regrets having me here"
"Good, you can go now , tell the secretary to come here at once"
"Thank you sir" She said and stood to take her leave.
Dennis watched her, he was enticed by her curvy little shape and the way she walked. He thought of asking her out, but waved of the thought with the excuse that it was too early, he wasn't known for flirting with females in the office.
.............................................................................
Frank shook his head to the sound of Lecrae's Church clothes mixtape as he shaved the hair of a customer in his Unisex salon, he had two other branches in the city. Frank did no office job, he decided to invest in the hair styling business after he graduated and couldn't get a job. He had three hair stylists working in each branch of the other two salons and he worked in the newest branch also managing the others from there and visiting them occasionally.
"Done sir, do you like the cut"? Frank asked as he clean and applied antiseptics to the man hair.
"Yes, thank you." The man replied "How much is it?"
"It's six hundred naira"
"No o, I will pay you five hundred please"
"It's okay, I'll collect it because you are a first timer here"
Frank sat in his office seat and recorded the transaction. As he dropped the pen, his mind raced to Amarachi, he had been thinking of her since he woke that morning. He thought of calling her, but it was eleven am and he didn't want to disturb her work. Why did thoughts of her occupy his mind like this? He had so many pretty girlfriends but none of them took over his thinking capacity like this. Well, time will tell.
TBC AT 3PM.
