After the storm (49 page)

"I said
you can't order the food," she emphasised. "You have to cook it
yourself."

"And I
said I won't order it," he repeated. "As in order it from a
restaurant. Satisfied?"

"You
can't ask anyone else to do it either. You have to make everything
yourself."

From the
way he laughed, she knew that he had been planning to do just
that.

"Hmmm…but be prepared to eat anything I cook, though," he
told her, still smiling. "But I can't believe I'm paying for
beating you! See why it's easier to just let you win?"

"Whatever." Yemi smiled and tossed her hair.

He
leaned forward slightly, his eyes holding hers. "So what do I get
for winning? Can I ask for anything too?"

She
shook her head. "Nah."

"But
that's not fair," he protested. "You should extend the same benefit
to me. I can assure you that I won't take as much time to reply as
you did." He smiled slowly, looking at her through half-hooded
lids. "I know exactly what I want," he added softly.

Yemi
felt heat radiating in her cheeks. There was no way she would give
him that chance. She didn't trust him, and that roguish look in his
eyes was anything but honourable.

"No, the
way we've always played this game is that the winner pays the
loser. That's the rule of the game."

He shook
his head. "I'm being bullied here. Who can I complain
to?"

"Your
daughter," she replied, and he laughed.

∞∞∞

Yemi tried her best to eat the meal that Akeem prepared for
her a couple of weeks later. Aleena and Kufre had opted to eat the
pizza he bought for them instead.
Smart
choice!

She took another forkful of the marshy rice. She disliked her
rice soft, and the sauce he had made to go along with it had so
much seasoning in it that it was almost tangy in taste. Maybe he
thought the more seasoning a food contained, the tastier it would
be.
Very wrong, Mr. CEO.

"You
were warned," Akeem said, watching her.

"Am I
complaining?"

"I can
read your face, little girl."

She
mouthed "old man" back at him, and he smiled. She pushed her plate
back after a few more bites. "I think I'm done. Thank you for the
meal. Please can I have the dessert now?"

He shook
his head. "I'm not going to poison you." He got up from the table.
"I'll just get you some ice cream instead."

She hid
a smile, and they cleared up together before going back to the
sitting room.

"When's
Bassey coming back?" she asked as she settled in the
sofa.

"In
about ten days time, why?

She kept
a straight face. "I wouldn't want to see you poison yourself
either."

He
laughed. "See, I knew you were just pretending. But not to worry,
I'm going to take you out for a proper meal. What's your schedule
like? Are you free next week?"

She
shook her head, and they fixed it for the week after. The men's
fellowship at her church was holding a business seminar the
Saturday he had wanted them to go out. She had been hesitant about
inviting him, but she decided to do so now that she knew he would
be free.

"It's
very informal, nothing heavy. More like a business session
actually," she explained.

A
shuttered look came over his face. "Um…I don't think so for now,
but will let you know," he replied.

Yemi
didn't push it. She had just wanted to try. However, she was
surprised when he brought up the topic later on.

"I'm
still not sure about so many things," he said to her. "I could just
decide to go with the flow of all this 'born again' stuff because
my wife is into it, but that's not really me."

That was
another thing he liked to say. He called her his wife at every
opportunity, whether necessary or not, as if to remind her who she
was.

"I
understand. I had a bit of a struggle as well, so I really do
understand your hesitation."

"But
I've got to say that you're a lot more confident about your beliefs
now, though." He grinned, his face looking incredibly attractive.
"Those days, your words lacked merit. It was simply a question of
the blind trying to lead the blind, as they say."

She
feigned a scowl and then turned round to grab a pillow from behind
her to throw at him, but he was faster than her and grabbed her
wrist. They laughed as they both wrestled over the pillow. He had
the upper hand and held her hands firmly.

"Okay…I
give up, I'm no longer throwing anything at you." She laughed, but
he didn't release her.

"You're
beautiful when you laugh," he said softly, looking into her eyes.
She tried to look away, but he released one of her hands and used
his other hand to tip her chin up so that she had to keep looking
at him. Their laughter faded as their gaze locked.

Yemi
felt her heart fluttering at the look in his eyes.

"You
never asked me why Lois broke up with me," he said a little
huskily.

She
almost couldn't speak. It had always taken so little for this man
to get to her. "Why?" she asked, hardly recognising her own
voice.

He bent
his head a little closer to hers, his cologne teasing her nostrils.
"She said I was not over you," he said as he trailed a finger along
her neckline, leaving a flame burning in its wake. "And you know
what?" he continued softly, his head dipping a little bit more.
"She was right," he added before covering her lips with
his.

She
didn't bother trying to resist and kissed him back. There was no
use pretending anymore. Akeem owned her heart and would always
do.

Aleena's
coming into the sitting room a few minutes later was what made them
draw shakily apart.

"Mummy,
Aunt Kufre said…" The little girl stopped briefly when she saw
them. She took in the scene and then continued as if it was the
most natural thing in the world to see them like that.

It felt
liberating to be able to admit to herself that she was still very
much in love with Akeem, Yemi thought to herself as she drove
Aleena and Kufre home later that evening. He wasn't perfect, but
neither was she, and she had just been as much to blame for the
breakup of their marriage as he was.

∞∞∞

Yemi was
pleasantly surprised when Akeem told her a couple of days later
that he would be attending the men's meeting.

He just wants you back, that's all.
A malevolent voice tried to whisper into her thoughts, but
she shoved it away before it took root. She was done suspecting his
motives. It hadn't helped her in the past.

She
prayed for him, as she was wont to do these days. She knew her
pastor normally gave a short message during the programme, and she
prayed that it would make an impact on him.

But as
the day drew closer, she remembered his views on Christianity, and
she soon forgot about praying and began stressing, hoping that he
would understand the message. She even thought of dropping a hint
to the pastor so that he could adjust his message appropriately to
capture Akeem's attention. As she pondered on those thoughts, she
almost despaired. Could any message touch a man who had so narrowly
missed death and yet was still sticking to his views?

But in the midst of it all, she heard a gentle rebuke in her
spirit. Since the incident with Mrs. Kadiri in England, she was
beginning to know how to distinguish God's voice. So when the
words
is anything too hard for me?
dropped quietly into her mind, she knew that it
was God speaking, and she repented instantly and pushed all her
doubtful thoughts away. If God could touch her, a person who had
been such a self-righteous moralist, then He could touch
self-sufficient Akeem also. She just had to keep on praying for him
as people had prayed for her over the years.

"So how
was it?" she asked him when they spoke on the phone after the
programme.

"Not
bad, actually. I enjoyed the break-out sessions. I got to talk with
some sharp guys."

She
tried to pay attention to what he was saying, but she was not
interested in the business networking session. She was dying to
know what he thought of the pastor's short message, but she
refrained from asking him about it. She didn't want to appear like
she was pushing him, so when he did not say anything about that
part of the meeting, she had to leave it at that.

She
attended a programme at Abby's church the next Sunday and was
surprised to see Deji there. He told her he had gotten born again
and had been attending the church for a few months. Yemi was even
more surprised when she learnt that Abby was aware of it
too.

"Well, I
was planning to mention it to you at some point," Abby said when
Yemi asked her about it. "But maybe after you were safely back in
your husband's house," she added.

Yemi
just shook her head.

Chapter
26

Two days
before their dinner date, Akeem sent her flowers and a gift. She
almost gasped at the sheer beauty of the necklace and earrings when
she opened the parcel. Thoughts of the diamond necklace he had
given her after his affair came to her mind, but she pushed them
away.

She made
arrangements with Ayo for Aleena and Kufre to stay the weekend at
his place but didn't let him or his wife know that she was going
out with Akeem. That was her private business for now.

When
Akeem arrived at her house, his gaze lingered on the necklace
around her neck for a few seconds before moving back to her face.
Although he said nothing about the necklace, she could see that he
was pleased that she had worn it.

"You
look so beautiful," he complimented her again as they made their
way to his car.

"Thank
you," she replied, feeling strangely shy at the look in his eyes.
One tender look from those dark, beautiful eyes had always been
enough to melt her insides.

He
didn't tell her where he was taking her, but from the landmarks,
she guessed where they were going. It had been one of their
favourite places when they were together, and they had spent many
beautiful moments there. The look in his eyes, as he held out his
arm to her when he helped her out of the car, made her know he was
remembering those times too.

They
were led to the table he had reserved for them. A waiter handed
them menus and withdrew discreetly after taking their orders for
drinks.

"What
are you having?" she asked him.

"I'm
sure you can order for me." He smiled.

He was
right. She knew what he liked. Akeem rarely ate naughty things like
she did. He ate healthy, probably because of his mother's heart
condition and growing up around her careful dietary
needs.

He
closed his menu. "Let's do it this way, order for both of us, and I
will add anything else I feel you missed."

She
looked through and picked out the starters, main course, and
desserts for him, and then picked hers.

He laughed softly when she was done. "You still remember, and
now let me add something you forgot…for yourself." He took the menu
from her and picked a
mousse au
chocolat
for her. "I know your sweet
tooth, and that dessert you chose does not seem like
you."

She
giggled. "I'm trying to be good these days and not take my body for
granted."

"You're
beautiful just the way you are, but anyway I won't mind you adding
on a dress size."

"No
way!"

"But I
don't see any sign of weight gain anywhere." He pretended to look
her over, squinting his eyes as he peered at her.

She made
a face at him. "I don't want to be fat before I start to watch
it."

"Like I
said, you are beautiful, and you will always be that way to
me."

The look
in his eyes was tender. Their eyes locked, and neither one of them
seemed able to look away. The waiter coming back to take their
orders broke the spell.

"How did
it go with your customers yesterday?" he asked her when the waiter
left with their orders.

She
giggled. She had told him about some new diva-like clients and how
she had been dealing with their antics. He laughed about the funny
things she told him.

They
talked about his work. Things were going very well with Ka-Tell.
She knew about that anyway. The telecoms company always had rave
reviews in the media. It was practically a household name; it had
been well received by the public, which was happy to finally get a
reliable network.

"So what
new plans do you have now that Ka-Tell is running smoothly?" she
asked him.

"New
plans?" He raised his brows. "Don't you think I need to take a long
break off from work?"

"I know
you always have something cooking. So c'mon, tell me your new
plan." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "I promise not to
steal your ideas."