“Should I wait for you?” Alex asked as I stepped out of his car in front of the market. He was driving in the Chevrolet today.
“No need. I can find my way home. Plus, I may take a bit of time in the market.” I responded looking around.
“Why would you take time when you can easily buy everything from like two or three people?” He queried clueless of how the market actually works.
“Don’t make me laugh abeg. I’m a selective buyer and I must look around to compare prices and most importantly, the quality of whatever I want to buy.”
“I see. I’ll meet you at home then. Hope the money will be enough?” He asked as he started up the engine and I only scoffed and rolled my eyes at him.
Alex had given me a lot of money.
I stood there watching him drive off before I finally turned round and entered the roadside market.
The lady mending clothes by the roadside close to where he’d dropped me had the expression of a proud big sister on her face and I’m sure she was imagining that a big fish like that was my man. Yeah I wish!
Within an hour, I was done with buying and already in a ride I’d ordered heading over to Alex’s place.
This time around, the gateman didn’t question me like the first day (Alex must’ve told him to expect me.) but even helped me get the bag out of the car and carried it all the way to the front door where I took over from him.
On getting inside the living room, my eyes landed on a young lady who was cleaning the house. She had a mop in her hand and was busy mopping the glossy marble floor.
“Good morning ma.” She greeted with respect apparently suggesting in her mind that I was the madam of the house.
“Morning.” Was all I managed to respond as I was too surprised to think of more to say.
“I’m Philomena the janitor.” She added as if she was in my head knowing I badly wanted to know who she is.
“Hey! I’m Folake.” I said awkwardly (at this point, I didn’t know what title to give myself) as I was struggling with the full polythene bag, I tiptoed to the kitchen to prevent the soles of my slippers from messing up the wet floor she was working so hard to clean.
I washed my hands, put on the apron that I just bought and got to work on my cooking.
Alex must have perceived the aroma of what I was cooking from wherever he was as he just appeared in the kitchen the minute I started cooking the meat.
“Welcome back. I saw the taxi drive in when you came back. I was in the penthouse living room.” He said as soon as he walked in with a glass of red wine in hand.
Chai! This handsome mumu guy dey enjoy life like dis for early momo.
“Oh wow! I bought something for you. Check the fridge.” I announced as he walked tiredly past me smelling so nice and was just about to take a seat.
“What is it?” He queried as he dropped his glass and approached the fridge opening it up. He turned round to face me with a grin before returning his attention to the fridge which I’d stocked with bananas, watermelons, juice, bread, etc.
“How did you know I love bananas?” He asked as he brought out a bunch and closed the fridge.
“You mentioned it last week as usually being part of your breakfast.” I said and he nodded mouthing an ‘oh’ as his mind probably flashed back to what he told me that last time I was here.
We continued making small talk and he even lent a helping hand on some minor stuff like helping crush the seasoning cubes or slicing onions after he’d finished downing the entire bunch of bananas.
Just as Alex opened his mouth to say something, Philomena walked into the kitchen to inform him that she was done with the cleaning.
“You’ll get your alert on your way home.” Alex said as he pulled out his phone from his pocket.
“Thank you sir. Byebye ma.” She said politely and walked out of the kitchen as I waved at her.
“Thanks for coming.” Alex replied without even lifting up his face.
“She comes often?” I asked the second I heard the front door close.
“Yeah! Every Saturday morning.” He replied finally looking up as he returned his phone back to his pocket.
“But I didn’t see her last Saturday.”
“I told her not to come. I really needed my rest.” He said and took a seat watching me stir the contents of the pot.
“Oh! That reminds me. You never gave me any updates on the embezzlement stuff.”
“Well, the auditor and accountant are prime suspects and the EFCC has them in their custody. I’m assuming you don’t have much time for the news.” He explained adding the last part to mock me.
“Whoa! I had no idea. And yes, I don’t have time for the news because in the morning, I’m rushing to beat traffic and get to work on time and when I get home, I sleep like a log.” Alex didn’t even let me finish as he started laughing and hitting the kitchen table.
“What’s so funny?” I queried returning my attention to what I was cooking and turned down the heat.
“You sleeping like a log of course.” He continued choking up with laughter.
“Whatever!” I exclaimed with a playful eye roll.
By a few minutes to three that afternoon, I had finished making three pots of soup and a pot of stew.
Alex wanted us to try the okro soup so I made semovita.
“This soup makes Kebari’s version taste cheap.” Alex commended and all I could do was smile sheepishly.
He likes the food! How better does this get? It’s not everyday you get to cook for your egotistic boss in his house and even come dine with am join.
“You got something on your beards.” I announced as I tried suppressing the laughter.
“Doesn’t matter.” He said casually wiping his beards with his left hand but still didn’t get it off.
“Lemme help with that.” I offered and he steadied his face as I gently pulled his beard with my fingers and got the residue of soup off.
“Wow! They’re soft! Like really soft!” I exclaimed and he smiled at me biting his bottom lip. That was so cute and I quickly looked away from him blushing really hard.
I sat there just looking at him as he did his usual magic trick of finishing off everything in his plate. Yes I am still crushing on my boss.
We finished eating and Alex dropped me off at home at about five thirty something in the evening. What a day!
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