The miracle I need episode 77 & 78

#THE_MIRACLE_I_NEED

EPISODE 77 & 78

“Why do you bother driving all this way down to the salon when you can just have someone come down to the house to make your hair?” Eric asked curiously, since he was used to his mother and sister having their hair and nails in the comfort of their home.

“It’s more fun when there are others around. Besides you never can tell what sort of gossip you might hear in a salon.”

“And you don’t think you might as well be the subject of these gossips in your abs£nce?” Eric asked incredulously. He could never un-derstand what it was with women and gossip.

“It’s not like it can be helped, right? So I should as well enjoy listening to them gossip others, that way I won’t feel like I’m the only one being talked about.” Kimberly said with a giggle.

Eric wasn’t exactly sure about the wisdom of going to the salon with Kimberly, since he knew he was likely going to bu-mp into one or two persons he was familiar with. But he couldn’t help feeling very protective of her, and somehow a p@rt of him didn’t want her out of his sight. Knowing how fragile and vulnerable she was, he just wanted to be a shield for her at all times.

“If you say so.” Eric said as he parked the car at the parking lot of the plaza where the salon was located.

As they both got out of the car and headed for the Salon, Eric reached out his hand for Kimberly to hold, and then drew her closer to himself, “Why don’t we go on a d@t£ after you fix your hair?”

“A d@t£?”

“Yes. We’ve never been on one since we met. Just us both, getting to know each other better.” Eric said with a small smile as they walked into the salon.

All eyes turned to them and all conversation ceased as they walked throu-gh the door. Eric made a quic-k scan around the salon to be sure he didn’t know anyone there.

“That would be nice.” Kimberly said with a small smile when she noticed the appreciative glance of some of the ladies as they stared at her husband.

“Hey Kim! I’ve been waiting for you. We were just talking about you a moment ago!” A chubby looking light skinned lady, who looked like she was in her early forties, exclaimed as she walked towards Kim and Eric with a big smile.

First thing Eric noticed about her was that she was ba-refooted. She was wearing a three-quarter trou-ser and a black shi-tsleeved t©p that revealed flabby christian mother arms while wearing an apron over her clothes, and an hair bonnet covered her hair.

“Really? What were you talking about?” Kimberly asked curiously, even though she wasn’t very surprised that she was the t©pic of discussion.

“First introduce your man to us.” The lady said, looking at Eric with genuine interest.

“This is my husband Eric. Babe this is madam Becky, she owns this place.”

“Hi!” Eric said to the lady, but loud enough for anyone else who wanted to hear his voice, to hear him.

“Husband? So the news on Linda Ikeji’s blog was true? How could you get married without inviting me?” She asked Kimberly grudgingly as she ushered Eric to one of the waiting chairs and called to one of her girls to get him something to drink.

“It was a pri-vate court wedding. She will surely invite you when we decide to throw a p@rty. And thanks, I don’t need anything.” Eric cut in before Kimberly could answer.

“So you do plan to throw a p@rty? I’ll be looking forward to it then. Make sure you let me know when the asoebi is available.” She said to Kimberly with a smile.

“By the way, have you seen the video trending on instablog today?” Madam Becky asked as she di-pped her hand into the front pocket of her apron and took her phone out.

“Instablog?”

“Yes. I think it was sh0t at the club last night.” She added, hoping they would clarify the incident for her and her customers who were all paying keen attention to Eric and Kimberly.

Eric felt slightly irritated by the interrogation and a p@rt of him wanted to snap at her and ask her to mind her business, but he couldn’t do that for Kimberly’s sake. He wished he hadn’t come here with Kimberly since all eyes were on them. But another p@rt of him was glad he was with her, since he knew they would have put her on the sp©t, and she probably would have returned home feeling bad.

She handed them both the phone, and Eric could see it was a cl!pfrom the scene at the club the previous night. He could see that whoever had sh0t the video had been standing directly in front of him. He took the phone from Kimberly and returned it to madam Becky since he had no interest in watching it.

“Thanks for showing it to us.” He said with a polite smile, ma-king it clear he wasn’t going to say anything other than that. This wh0le thing was actually becoming more messy than he had bargained, and he knew without doubt that his parents would see it soon if they hadn’t seen it alre-ady. He had always led a quiet life off social media, but now he was on the news for this.

“It was really nice of you to stand up for our Kim that way.” Madam Becky said with a sly smile.

“I’m her husband, shouldn’t that be my responsibility?” Eric asked before looking at Kimberly who he could tell was feeling slightly embarr@ssed, “Babe shouldn’t you tell her what you want to do with your hair? You still owe me a d@t£ today, remember?” Eric asked with a loving smile as he leaned closer to her to k!ssher cheek.

“Awww. God when?” Madam Becky asked with a wi-de smile as she signaled to one of her girls to attend to Kimberly.

Since it was clear that the show was over, conversations resumed again as usual, “By the way, is your family close to that of the Obasans?” One of the ladies asked Kimberly after some time ma-king Eric’s heart skip a beat at the mention of his family.

“Not exactly, why?” Kimberly asked, thinking maybe it was because someone had seen her with Wumi.

“My sister In-law’s friend, told her that the daughter of Chief Obasan c@m£ to the salon to meet your father’s wife. And from what she said, Chief’s daughter seemed very angry with her.” The lady said ma-king Eric stand up abruptly.

“Babe I need to call my friend. I’ll be outside.” Eric said as he walked away. What was the meaning of all this? Why did Wumi have to do that?
___________

“Have I told you, you look ravishing?” Pete asked, turning to look at Kathleen who had been completely transformed from looking like a ‘cultist’ into a Queen.

“You’ve been saying that since you saw me.” Kathleen said with a slightly embarr@ssed smile. She was yet to believe she was the one looking this way. Whatever Ella’s girl had done on her face, alongside the clothes Pete had gotten her, had completely transformed her. She had always known she was beautiful, but this beautiful? She had absolutely no idea.

“WOW!” Pete whistled in disbelief. Everyone of them had been completely enthralled by her transformation when she stepped into his house, looking kind of shy and uncertain. She had been alone in her ap@rtment with the make-up artist and Sharon, while her mother and sister had been in his house as usual, conversing with Chidi and Amanda.

“Is this Ngozi my daughter or someb©dy else?” Her mother had asked first, after she regained from the shock.

“Nne, I’ve always known you’re not from the world! It’s either you’re an angel, or you’re a fallen angel, AKA mammy water!” Chidi had said with a whistle.

“Aunty Kat! You look different.” Amanda had said in awe, while Isioma had just kept looking at her with a proud smile. They had all turned towards the p@ssage door when they heard Pete coming out of his room. The sudden silence in the room had told him they were waiting to see his response, and then when he saw her, it had seemed like someone had knocked the wind out of him.

“She is pretty, right?” Amanda had asked excitedly.

“Yes. Very pretty.” Pete had said, trying not to be too obvious, since Kathleen had told them all that they were going for a company function, and the only person who knew the truth was Sharon.

“We should get going. We don’t want to keep the others waiting.” Pete had said, ma-king Chidi grin broadly.

“Shouldn’t you take pictures before leaving? You might not have the time to do so after now.” Sharon had suggested as she took Kathleen’s hand and dragged her outside.

“You should take some sh0ts with her too. I’m sure the others can wait for their boss.” Chidi had told Pete with a grin, earning him a smile of approval from Kathleen’s mother.

Now seated in the car, Kathleen kept viewing the pictures on her phone. It had been long since she last upd@t£d her Instagram and Facebook profile pictures. Maybe she could do so now, and also change her WhatsApp displ@ypicture too. She had to admit that money was good though.

She s£nt one of the pictures to Ella alongside a short message of gratitude for s£nding someone over to beautify her.

“Wow! See my brother’s wife!” Ella replied, ma-king Kathleen blink in surprise.

“Wife ke?” She asked.

“Stay there nau. From the moment I saw you, I knew this day would come. My Spirit never lies.” Ella texted.

“Okay o. Thanks once again.” Kathleen said before turning off her data.

“So where are we going to?” Kathleen asked curiously.

“You’ll see when we get there.” Pete said, and then turned to look at her, “About my trip.”

“Yeah? What about it?” She asked, knowing he had st©pped just so she would ask.

“I don’t know, I just felt I need to let you know that I’d be traveling with my secretary since she has been the one traveling with my father, and knows more about the conference than I do.” Pete explained.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Pete asked, turning to look at her.

“Yeah. Why?”

“You’re not worried I’m traveling with her?”

“Should I be? If I have to worry about something like that, then I shouldn’t be going out with you in the first place, should I?” Kathleen asked, ma-king Pete smile.

“Well, it’s fine if you don’t feel jealous or insecure. But you can’t go on a d@t£ with another guy while I’m away.” Pete said, ma-king Kathleen turn to look at him.

“Why?”

“Why what?” Pete asked with a frown since that wasn’t what he had been expecting her to ask. Wasn’t it obvious why he didn’t want her to go out with another man?

“Why don’t you want me to go on a d@t£ with another guy?” Kathleen asked reasonably.

“Would you like it if I go out on a d@t£ with another lady?” Pete asked curiously.

“I don’t know. Maybe not.” Kathleen said with a shrug. Travelling with his secretary was one thing, but going out on a d@t£ with her would be very annoying no doubt.

“Why?”

“When did you start answering questions with questions?” Kathleen asked irritably.

“Since you c@m£ into my life. I learnt from the best.” Pete said with a grin, before appearing all serious again, “You won’t, right? Like you won’t go on a d@t£ with anyone else.”

“A d@t£? I’m not sure about that. But I could have lunch with Chuka without you stalking us this time.” Kathleen said in amusement.

Pete’s heart skipped a beat, and then he turned to look at her, a mixture of surprise and embarr@ssment on his face. She knew? How?

As though she had re-ad the question on his face, she giggled, “We saw you.”

How was he supposed to respond or react to this? Pete wondered in embarr@ssment, “Saw me where?” He asked, trying to find out how much she knew.

“Outside the restaurant of course. Why? Are you going to deny it?” Kathleen asked with a giggle. He was fond of laughing at her expense, so she felt very good returning the favor now.

“You make a pretty lousy spy though. What were you hoping to achieve anyway?” Kathleen continued, still laughing heartily.

“If you knew why didn’t you say anything?” Pete asked grudgingly as he kept his eyes fixed on the road, while enjoying the sound of her laughter, even though she was laughing at his expense.

“Because I wanted to know why you did that of course. Chuka said it was because you liked me, but I didn’t think so. So we were just waiting for you to make your move.” Kathleen said with a shrug ma-king Pete sigh. It was obvious she had so many coaches on her side.

“So that talk about him liking you was all just talk, and you thinking of giving him a chance was all just talk?” Pete asked curiously.

“Yeah. We speak the same language, so he sees me like a sister.” Kathleen explained.

“And he didn’t try to k!ssyou at the restaurant?”

“k!ss? Of course not. Why would he do that?” Kathleen asked with a frown.

So he had been worried all for nothing? She was fully his? Pete wondered with a satisfied grin. He didn’t mind her laughing at his expense, as long as Chuka remained in the brother zone.

Kathleen couldn’t help wondering why Pete had bothered to get her such fancy clothes if he was taking her to somewhere so simple. The interior of the restaurant was pretty fancy when compared to the basic exterior. It was her first time being somewhere this posh, but she was sure any one of the clothes she had gotten from Ella would have done just fine for this d@t£.

“Why are you so quiet?” Pete asked quietly as they were both led to the table he had reserved for them.

“Because I have nothing to say.” Kathleen whispered, scared to speak out loud, lest she drew the attention of other patrons to them.

“Why are you whispering?” Pete asked with a grin as they st©pped by their table, and he pu-ll-ed out a chair for her to sit, before taking his own seat.

“What do you think? Do you like the place?” Pete asked curiously.

Kathleen shrugged, she couldn’t care more about the place or any other place. It all seemed the same to her. “Yeah. It looks okay.”

“That’s fine.” Pete said before signalling to the waiter to bring them the menu.

Pete watched Kathleen’s face as she picked up one of the menu, and grinned to himself when he saw her eyes wi-den, ‘Bush girl’ he thought to himself, and pretended to focus on his own menu, while watching her un-der his lid. He knew without doubt that she was going to pick the cheapest drink on the menu.

“What would you like to drink before the starter is served?” Pete asked Kathleen who had a frown on her face as she kept looking at the list of drinks. Luckily the waiter had left them to decide, so they were alone.

Kathleen pretended not to hear him as she thought about what Sharon had told her earlier. “Don’t go there and be acting like a village poor girl. Your boss has lots of money, so don’t embarr@ss him by asking for the cheapest items.” Sharon had warned.

“You’re having a difficult time ma-king up your mind? It’s not JAMB, you don’t need to think too h@rd.” Pete @ssured her.

“I’ll just have Chapman.” Kathleen said, as though ma-king up her mind. The Chapman was the second cheapest c0cktail on the list, and it cost two thousand five hundred naira, unlike Pineapple sour which cost two thousand naira.

Pete chuckled when he saw her choice, “Why that?”

“Because it’s the only expensive non-alcoholic drink here. I figured since you brou-ght me here, I shouldn’t ask for cheap things.” Kathleen said honestly, ma-king Pete chuckle quietly.

“Okay. That’s fine.” Pete said with a grin as he signalled to the waiter again, “We will have the Forest Berry Mojito, and a Chapman, plea-se.” Pete told the waiter politely before returning his attention to the menu.

“Is there something special you want on the menu or do you mind me ma-king the orders?” Pete asked Kathleen who looked at the menu in confusion before giving him the go ahead to place the orders.

“So while we are waiting for our drink and drink, why don’t you tell me more about yourself, ap@rt from the obvious.” Pete asked ma-king Kathleen look at him curiously.

“And what are the obvious?” She asked leaning forward in her seat, showing her had her complete attention.

“I mean aside from the details I alre-ady know about you. Tell me something I don’t know.” Pete rephrased.

“So what do you know? Let’s see if you know me.”

Pete smiled at the challenge in her tone, “Hmm, let’s see. You’re a Christian but can be very judgemental a times. You can be very annoying and stubborn when you want to be. You’re h0t tempered and you have follow come crase. You’re very h@rd-working, you’re a very good cook too. You are the eldest child of your parents. You’re very naive and pretty decent. You have a good s-en-se of humor. You like wearing cheap things. You have a beautiful b©dy that you’d rather hide in ugly clothes than wear S-xy outfits. You are very S-xy and h0t, and your eyes literally light up when you smile. You have a very beautiful smile by the way. You have an award at jumping into conclusions and ma-king @ssumptions. You’re vengeful even though I know you’re going to deny it. Your nostrils wi-den when you’re mad. Yourl-ips are very distracting when you talk, and you speak very fast when you’re upset. The sound of your laughter is very S-xy and it sometimes makes me wonder how you’d sound when you m0@n . You don’t make eye contact when you feel embarr@ssed like now… Should I go on?” Pete asked with a grin when he noticed she was looking very embarr@ssed now.

“What? You’re speechless? The only times you’re speechless is when I k!ssyou, so why are you speechless now?” Pete asked with a teasing smile. He hadn’t realized how much he even knew about her until he started listing them.

Luckily the waiter arrived at that moment with the drinks, so she didn’t have to say anything. Pete waited until the waiter had left before facing her again, “So are you going to tell me about you, or you want me to continue with the list of things I know about you?” Pete asked again.

“What do you want to know?” Kathleen asked as she took a sip from her gl@ss using the straw. Before Pete could guess what she was doing the gl@ss was empty and she was looking at it with a frown.

Two thousand five hundred naira was gone just like that? Kathleen wondered as she looked at the gl@ss. If they had gotten a bottle of coke, or even malt, it would have lasted longer than the Chapman, and they were even sweeter too. Why was the drink so expensive anyway? Were they paying for the chair they were seated on or the interior decoration? Kathleen wondered.

“Do you want another gl@ss?” Pete asked with a grin since he could tell she hadn’t meant to finish the drink just like that. The last time they had eaten together he had noticed she had gulped down the entire content of the gl@ss of jui-ce the moment she raised it to herl-ips.

“So that these people will use your money to open another br@nch? No. Thank you.” Kathleen said with a shake of her head ma-king Pete bur-st into laughter as he signalled the waiter over to get her another gl@ss.

“You never cease to amuse me Kat.”

WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 79