Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) (8 page)

“If you don’t mind,” She continued, when he
had stopped, “I am going to ignore you and eat now.”

He gestured towards her plate with a smile.
“Please do.” He said, looking unrepentant.

She enjoyed every mouthful. He did too, she
noticed. He ate with gusto. She found herself wondering if he would enjoy
something she cooked as well as he was enjoying this meal, then mentally kicked
herself for having thoughts that were so disloyal to the women’s movement.

Later, when the plates had been taken away
and the waiter had departed with the payment discreetly tucked inside the bill,
Ada sighed tiredly, she was so full, she had eaten every bite on her plate. “I
could fall asleep right here on this chair.” She said. “I feel wonderfully
full.” She giggled at the words.

He joined in her merriment. “Feel free.” He
said. “I’ll just carry you to the car and take you home.”

The thought of being carried in his arms
did things to her insides. “I’ll just try to stay awake then.” She said,
ignoring the amused look he gave her.

Downstairs, she waited for a few moments as
he bought some of the Suya. On the drive back to the mainland, the roads were
almost completely free as the rush hour traffic was long gone. Ada felt
extremely relaxed, full and luxurious. Outside the car windows, the moon was
full and bright and the sky full of stars. Her mind filled with the beauty of
it all.

They didn’t talk much as he drove, she
watched him, and every now and then, he would glance at her face.

At her house, he walked with her to her
apartment, taking the keys from her and unlocking the door when they got there.

She was hesitant to go in and end the
night. “I had a great time.” She told him.

He smiled. “That was my intention.”

She chuckled. “Well, Thanks.”

They stood there smiling at each other for
a moment. Her heart started to thud as she realized how close they were standing.
He was going to kiss her again, she thought. What was that she had told herself
earlier? That there was nothing romantic attached to their date. Well that
theory was going to be thrown out of the window if he kissed her.

She had to stop it.

Even though she really wanted him to kiss
her.

So much.

She stepped back, creating a little more
space between them. “So.” She said. “You’ve got the one date you wanted.” She
watched as the expression on his face changed to curiosity. “I hope I’m free
now.”

He frowned. “So…” He considered for a
moment. “Your opinion of me hasn’t changed?”

She paused. Well it had, a little, no
actually, a lot, but she wasn’t going to tell him that! “No, not really.” She
lied, shaking her head.

He was gazing intently at her face. “That
was a long pause.” He observed finally, looking amused. “You are lying.”

“I am not!” She protested weakly. “I was
just tying a way to phrase my words so as not to hurt your feelings.”

 “So you care about my feelings.” He
inquired, there was something very unsettling about the smile on his face, Ada
decided.

“Well, as much as I would care for the
feelings of any of my friends.” She said, trying to keep her voice even.
Mistake! She should have said acquaintance!

He moved closer to her, effectively trapping
her against the door. “Are we friends now?” He asked.

She had nowhere to look but up at his face.
She nodded slowly.

He chuckled and shook his head. “I have a
lot of friends.” He said dangerously. “I don’t want any more friends.”

“What do you want?” She whispered.

“Well for now I’d very much like to kiss
you.” He said.

What are you waiting for? Her inner voice
screamed at him. “Is that all?” She asked him instead.

He smiled wickedly. “What do you think?” He
was so close now that their bodies were almost touching. She let out a shaky
breath, why fight it? She thought. She wanted him to kiss her. Honestly, she
wanted a lot more than that, she wanted so much more.

He raised one hand and slowly stroked her
face, running his fingers from her cheek to her chin. Then he sighed and
stepped back from her. “I like you Ada, you can claim to dislike me all you
like,” He said, his voice low. “But I’m not going to give up.”

Ada blinked, so was he leaving?

“I will see you soon.” He said. He leaned
forward and planted a small, innocent kiss on her cheek.

Then he handed her the package of Suya he
had bought at the restaurant, and the next moment he was gone. Ada watched him
as he descended the stairs, her heart beating wildly. When he was out of sight,
she leaned her full weight on the door and took a couple of deep breaths. Only
then could she gather the strength to go in and lock the doors behind her.

Sophie was talking about profit margins,
advert sales and other such things, Ada wasn’t really listening, she was
thinking about Eddie.

She had done that almost nonstop since
their date, almost a week ago. It was embarrassing. It was also pleasurable.
She couldn’t have stopped if she tried, and she didn’t want to try.

The morning after her date with Eddie, he had
surprised her by calling at about six am, to ask when she would be leaving for
work. Every day since then, whenever she came out of the house, his car was
there, waiting to take her with him on the long drive to the Island.

His behavior was faultless. He was always
the amusing, ultra nice, ultra friendly Eddie, with no requests for dates or
anything that vaguely resembled an attempt at seduction. He would pick her up,
engage her in friendly conversation throughout the drive, and drop her off at
her office. She had gotten to know him a lot more than she did before, and she
hadn’t found anything not to like. Spending time with him was getting very
comfortable, too comfortable in fact. She had started to look forward to those
morning drives with too much excitement, and he wasn’t even pursuing her. Now
she understood why it was so easy for all those girls to succumb to his charm.
He wasn’t even using it on her and yet, here she was, dying for him.

“What do you think?” It was Sophie’s voice,
cutting into her thoughts. What do I think about what? Ada wondered, looking
blankly into Sophie’s face.

Sophie sighed. “You weren’t listening, were
you? Where does your mind always go these days? I wonder.” She gave Ada a quizzical
look. “I was talking about… oh never mind.” She frowned.

“I am sorry.” Ada apologized. “I just seem
to have a lot on my mind these days.”

“Yes you do.” Sophie replied, sitting back
on her chair. “I would ask you if it was something I could help with, but I’m
sure you’re just mooning over some guy. Your face tells the whole story.”

Ada felt her face heat up in embarrassment.
Was it so obvious? She really had to get her feelings under control. She didn’t
want to fall head over heels for Eddie just because he had taken her out to
dinner…. Once! The thought was embarrassing.

“We’re expanding.” Sophie was saying now.
“We have to. We have to increase our pages to support all the advert requests
we’re getting. We are all going to be doing much more work very soon, and I
won’t be around for some of it.” She eyed Ada to make sure she was really
listening. I have enrolled at the Lagos Business School.

Ada smiled. “That’s wonderful.”

“Don’t rejoice yet.” Sophie said. “You’ll be
doing much more editorial work than usual.”

“But please no interviews.” Ada pleaded in
panic. Convincing people to open up to her was not one of her strong points.

Sophie smiled. “Err no, I know you too well
for that. No I’ll still handle most of those, but you’ll still be doing more
work, so you will need an assistant. I’m going to send out advertisements, but
you will conduct interviews yourself.”

“Okay.” Ada said, thinking about it. “I
could use an assistant.”

Sophie nodded. “I’m promoting Oliver to my
assistant, and hiring a real receptionist, someone who doesn’t simper at all
the men like Fadeke does.” She smiled fondly. “Fadeke can take over some of
Oliver’s old responsibilities.”

Ada nodded. So far so good.

“And you will be getting a car.” Sophie added,
almost as an afterthought. “As features editor and head of our graphic design
department, it really is high time you stopped scooting around Lagos on
commercial motorbikes.”

Ada started. A car! Yeah she would like a
car. She wanted to jump up and let out a whoop, but she caught herself. A car?
It must have been Eddie’s idea. He had been trying to ‘cure’ her of her habit
of using commercial bikes, or death instruments, as he called them. He had even
offered to pick her up every day after work, but she had refused and there
hadn’t been anything he could do about it, because she always left the island
earlier than he did.

Well… nothing except get Sophie to buy her
a car.

Sophie was studying her quizzically.
“Aren’t you pleased?” She asked.

“I am.” Ada replied earnestly “I am. I’m
just in shock….” She sighed. “Did Eddie ask you to do this?”

“Eddie Bakare?” Sophie asked.

Ada nodded. Was there any other one? She
thought.

Sophie sat back in her chair and smiled.
“What is going on with you and Eddie?” She asked. “Please tell me he has
something to do with the way you’ve been smiling around the office and make my
day.”

“I haven’t been smiling around the office.”
Ada denied hotly. “And if I were I’m sure Eddie would have nothing to do with
it.” She finished, lying through her teeth.

“So why do you think he would ask me to
give you a car?” Sophie frowned, and gave Ada a stern look. “I’m totally in
charge of our management decisions. Eddie sometimes advises Ada, but I am the
one who runs this company.”

“I am sorry.” Ada apologized, feeling
small. Her lies had earned her a chastising. If she had only told the truth,
Sophie and she would right now be huddled over the desk talking about every
single thing that had happened between her and Eddie…. Oh well.

“Anyway,” Sophie gave her an
‘I-am-still-annoyed-with-you’ look and continued. “Your car will arrive in a
couple of days at the most.” She paused. “And don’t think I am not going to
find out why you think Eddie went behind you and used me to get you a car.”

“I was just surprised,” Ada said
contritely, “and I know you understand that the bikes are more convenient when
I need to get from place to place really quickly.”

“Well the days of bikes are over.” Sophie
said. “I heard from a very reliable source that they will soon be banned from
most roads. So get used to the traffic, you’re going to be getting stuck in it
from time to time.” She smiled mischievously. “So are you going to tell me
about the guy?”

“There’s no guy!” Ada exclaimed, wondering
who the reliable source was.

“I’ll just tell you now that I suspect that
it’s Eddie.”

Ada tried to keep her face blank. She knew
Sophie would be studying her expression very closely. “Why would you think
that?” She asked calmly.

“Well,” Sophie shrugged. “He’s been acting
much the same way as you, you know.” She considered for a moment. “Yeah, I’m
sure he’s in love.”

Ada could almost hear her heart beating.
Stop it, she cautioned herself. He is in love doesn’t mean that he is in love
with you.

“Maybe you’re mistaken.” She told Sophie.

“Maybe I am.” Sophie mused. “He was over at
our place a few days ago and he actually asked Michael how he knew he was in
love and wanted to settle down.” She chuckled. “I think that’s telling.”

Ada realized that she had been holding her
breath, waiting for Sophie to finish. She let it out slowly. “That doesn’t
really mean he is in love.” She said, forcing a laugh.

Sophie shrugged. “He seems to want to talk
about you a lot.” She said. “No matter what we’re talking about he always seems
to somehow bring the conversation back to you.”

“He does?” Ada asked before she could stop
herself. Was that eagerness she could hear in her voice? She grimaced.

Sophie didn’t miss a thing. She gave Ada a
measured look and chuckled. “Well I hope he is in love.” She continued. “I’ve
definitely become that smug married girl who wants all her friend to settle
down as soon as possible,” She winked at Ada, “and that includes you.”

Ada sighed and got up. “I had better go and
finish my work for the day.” She said. She was travelling early the next
morning to see her granny in Owerri. “Please try not to match-make me with
someone old and ugly.”

“How about someone who we can all agree is
young and handsome?” Sophie asked innocently.

Ada’s mind immediately went to Eddie. She
pretended to laugh. “Those ones are all taken.” She said, as she left Sophie
laughing in her chair.

Her phone rang as she was about to leave
the office. It was Eddie.