LITTLE BLACK BOOK

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This guy is crazy

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Hmm Nawa Oo

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[b]Episode 3[/b] My boss had an acquired taste. For a man who did what he did well, it was necessary for him to never lower his standards. I had to only stay with him for a year to realize that he didn’t do one-night stands; he kept short carnal relationships but never one nighties. The chase was more exciting than the kill. I always saw him get bored the instant he got what he was going after. On one particular occasion, after getting a yes for dinner at so and so from some woman he was chasing via text, he muttered “now I have to find something else to do this weekend.” He already knew the chase was over the moment her text came in. That was how easy women were for him. Therefore, he kept his taste high and sought for those that would lead him on a long thing. And that was where Clara came in. Clara was a feminist. Hers was no joke. She was the type that could go butt naked before a government building holding a placard while hunger-striking for women’s rights. Men were afraid of her because she had a reputation of emasculating them. But not my boss. He found her amusing. After watching her on TV a couple of times, he decided it was time to dive in for the catch. “Anna?” I saw him swiveling on his chair with a tickled expression one afternoon. “What do you women fight for?” “Sir?” “As in, women’s rights? What do you guys fight for?” I stopped to think. I had five brothers and throughout my childhood, I was forced to fight for everything I got from them, yet I couldn’t find an answer to my boss’ question. “Equality, I guess.” “Equality in what?” “In everything. Work place, church, mosque, school, in business, in government, at home…” “Hmmm…interesting.” “Women have been oppressed for a long time.” “Really? I didn’t know that and I didn’t know lesbians fought for equal rights too. I thought you guys were so absorbed in gay rights.” “Sir, I am not gay.” He sat up. “Point noted. Go to your office, think up some feminist cause the hotel can support, write a brief proposal and bring it to me after work hours.” My mouth hung open but I knew better than to protest. I marched out, cussing him in my mind. “I’m not gay!” I muttered, loud enough for the new secretary to hear me. “I’m not a feminist! I’m just a PA and yet you won’t let me drink water!” I sat behind my desk and decided I wasn’t going to waste brain power thinking up some stupid feminist cause; I was going to Google it. But after two long hours on the net and I came up with nothing, I decided to take a break. The secretary was playing some music videos on her PC and I was drawn to the sounds, so I went to her desk to see what it was she was watching. “Who is that?” I asked. “Kas,” she answered, dancing to the beat of the music video. “You don’t know him?” “No.” “Mehn, you should go out more often, girl. This is what is rocking in clubs now. Fi mi le. Fi mi le, baby…” she sang. “I thought it was Oleku.” She shook her head. “Oleku is a national anthem, babe, but Kas is the real ish.” Oleku, Kas, whatever. Nigerian music bored me. “But why do they like using all these white girls with their shapeless shapes sef?” the secretary asked, not stopping her dance. And gbam! It hit me. I had found a cause I could present to my boss. I almost ran into his office to tell him but I remembered he said he wanted a proposal. I sat behind my desk and quickly typed out a lazy proposal and waited for the closing hour. When the time came and the secretary left, I entered his office and found him looking out his large glass window, tucking in his grey shirt into his trousers. He looked so appealing that I temporarily forgot why I was there. “Yes, Anna?” he said, not staring my way. “I have a proposal.” He stretched out his hand to me took the proposal, sat in his chair and studied it carefully. Then out of the blue, he burst out laughing. “Seriously? A campaign against objectifying women on TV?” “Yes, sir.” I moved forward. “On music videos, TV commercials and even movies, they always use women as sex symbols and it’s not fair. Someone has to speak out against them. If you watch the white people’s music videos, they tell a story, it’s art, but here, they just use women as meat.” He laughed again. “This is 2011, Anna and it’s going to get worse by let’s say 2013. The girls are going to dress skimpier, the music content will be all about sex and the videos raunchier. And more ads will use women and sexual undertone to sell their products. Finally, Nollywood is not going to stop showing bawdy-looking women because their audience loves it. And you talk about white people; they sold this culture to us and we’re enjoying it. So do you think your campaign will make any headway?” I shook my head, deflated. “Good. We’ll embark on it. Schedule a meeting tomorrow with the PR and media departments. Also find a way for us to get Clara Williams.” Bells in my head went off. Not that formidable woman! Why on earth did he want to use her? There were other more agreeable feminists. “Sir, I should contact Clara?” He stared at me with a naughty smile and I saw that familiar hunger in his eyes. “Yes.” he tapped at a poster on his table with a picture of Clara on it. “Her. I want her.” You gotta be kidding me. The woman looked like a man. She was nothing like the others. Flat-chested, rectangular-shaped, big-boned, caustic-mouthed. What did he see in her? “Is she doable?” “S-sir?” “Can we use her for the cause?” “Yes-yes sir. She is the hottest feminist in town.” I wish I hadn’t used the word ‘hottest’. It brought out a glint in his eyes. “Get her for me,” he replied in that sly manner that hardly moved his lips and I hurried out. Geez. The man was up to his antics again. So far he had not been on the dating wagon for a healthy number of months but now he wanted to hop on her it just like that? Phew! I had my work cut out for me. The next day, after the meeting, I made a call to Clara’s office and I got her PA who was of course, a guy. He told me Clara was unavailable for the next twenty years. Mind you, I could hear her speaking in the background. The moment she had been informed the call was coming from my boss’ office, she had drawn a long hiss and called him a dog, saying she wouldn’t touch him with a hundred meter pole. “I’m sorry,” her PA told me. “Tell your boss she’s dead. Just kidding!” He laughed. “Clara Williams is unavailable.” And he rang off. I knew I couldn’t go back to my boss with that message. He sometimes saw me as a miracle worker and expected unrealistic wonders from me. So I took a bike straight to her office that hot afternoon and demanded to see her. When she spotted me from her beautiful pink and black themed, modern day office, she asked me to come in. I was intimidated when I saw her. She was almost as tall as my boss, had piercing eyes and high eyebrows that stayed way up there mocking anyone she decided to look down on. “So you’re his personal assistant?” “Yes ma,” I said. “Does he sleep with you?” I was thrown off balance. “No-no ma.” “Because you’re not sexy enough for him?” I was speechless. “I know his type. Men that feel they can have every woman.” She gave a lazy, mocking expression. “Tell him to come ask me himself, if he’s a real man.” I smiled, thanked her and turned to leave when I saw him at her door. He looked past me and stared at her. “May I come in, ma’am? You are a very difficult person to see. Lucky I get to find you on seat.” “Come in.” She kept a straight, stony face. “Oh, Anna, don’t leave just yet. Please do sit with us,” my boss requested and I followed him back in. After we were seated, he took a professional pose and spoke to her about the cause he was about to embark on. “Oh, really?” She raised thin eyebrows. “I am amused. Quite tickled, actually.” “My pleasure,” he responded without his usual smile. I could see her reading his face to know if his response had been some kind of tease. She leaned forward over her table and I was surprised to see that she wasn’t flat-chested at all. She actually had boobs! Did my boss know this? I followed his eyes but they were on her face, all seriousness. “Well, you’re quite fortunate, mister,” Clara said to him. “We are about to launch into something similar. Thank God your enterprise has the name and the reach we need, so I guess this will be a good alliance.” “However?” She smiled in surprise. “I see a clause in your eyes. What are your terms?” he asked. “However, I wouldn’t want you to show your face in the campaign and seminars.” “Reason, being?” “You’re a man whore.” I almost gasped at the unapologetic way in which she said it. “The whole of this city knows it. Heck, the whole of Nigeria knows.” My boss put his hand to his chest and carried a wounded look that had traces of mischief. “I am hurt, Miss Williams.” “Oh, spare me. You probably think working with me will get you into my pants, some sort of conquest for you to see me dominated.” He broke into laughter and she watched him with what I would have naturally believed was hatred in her eyes. But after being with the man that long and watching him do his thing on the regular, I had come to understand that the women that fronted the most were only doing so to make less obvious the fact that he had won them already. “Fine.” He stood up and straightened his suit. “We’ll support your campaign and as you desire, I’ll stay in the shadows and do what people subjected to the shadows do. But you should know that I am a feminist as well.” This time she laughed. “No, really. I believe in the movement…” “Give it up, sir. It’s never going to happen.” She stood up and I did the same. “You’ll hear from me tomorrow.” “Okay.” He nodded. “Call the office and…” “I’ll take your assistant’s number instead. I feel a lot more comfortable working with women.” He smiled. I gave her my phone number. They shook hands and we turned to the door. “After you.” He held open the door for me and waited until I walked out before he did. Now, that was a little different. Don’t get me wrong; he was always the gentleman and held doors for me but the way he did that one was exaggerated. When we go into the car, he handed me his phone. “Get on Twitter and Facebook, will ya? Some random tweets and statuses about treating women right and upholding the cause of equality amongst the sexes will make my day. Be classy about it, though, because one of these bloggers will pick it. If they don’t, by tomorrow morning, pay that Melinda blogger chick to run a story about the tweets on her blog and hint about the coming campaign.” This man was full of surprises! I couldn’t believe he was going through all the trouble just to sleep with one woman! “Stop looking at me like that, Anna. I really am a feminist. So you better start spreading the word. It would help my government. I wonder why I never thought of it.” I said nothing in reply. “Erm…also have reception reserve Presidential Suite A for Saturday night…and maybe for Sunday too.” I was instantly annoyed. Why that ugly woman? I was way more feminine than she was. When was he ever going to notice me? “Sir, Miss Williams doesn’t like you.” “Oh, she will. Soon.” I got bolder. “And the tweets won’t move her.” “But she just followed me on Twitter. Please, do not follow back. The last thing I need is a feminist yapping on my timeline.” “Sir, Miss Williams already knows what you’re up to.” He looked at me through dark eyes. It was a warning to mind my business. “Anna, what are you talking about?” “Nothing, sir.” He picked his second phone and engaged some business partner in a long conversation all the way back to the hotel. We spent the rest of the day in another meeting that lasted until closing hours. I was having a headache by the time I got to my hotel room. I was done with the social media assignment by then and tried to go to bed. But I couldn’t. I was thinking about him as usual. His voice, his laughter, his mischief, his smile, his eyes… oh, his eyes. I could just die for them. And his skin… I wanted to touch him so bad… to feel him… How could I be so close to someone yet so far away? Why didn’t he see me? Was it the way I dressed? I knew I was called Ugly Betty behind my back but I wasn’t ugly. I was just a geek and couldn’t dress sexy to save my life. The one time my brothers tried to help me, it didn’t work. I just couldn’t do it. To me, I was too smart to be identified simply by the way I looked. But I guess the world today sees things differently. I sighed and got off the bed and walked to the dressing mirror. My glasses lay there on the dresser, gathering dust for not being touched in a while. Stupid room service girls; they never bothered to dust my dresser. I picked the glasses. I had missed them. I still wasn’t used to the contact lenses I bought a month ago… He hadn’t even noticed anything that first day I tried them on. He had asked what was different about me. “New hair? You got laid last night?” I had given him a sad shake of my head and walked away. He never noticed. I dusted the glasses now and took off the contact lenses. I wore the glasses, went back to bed and lay beneath the covers, staring up at the ceiling. I will not think about him this night. I will think of other stuff. I won’t give him that power over me. I turned to my side, trying to force sleep in but got interrupted by my buzzing phone. I reached under my pillow and drew it to me. I didn’t recognize the number yet I took the call. “Hello Anna.” “Yeah?” “This is Clara Williams.” “Oh, hi.” I felt indifferent about her. Maybe a little hateful. “I hate to disturb you.” “No, it’s okay.” “Are you alone?” “Yeah.” “Okay, good because we need to talk.” “Okay.” “You’re probably the person closest to your boss.” I wasn’t. He had family but I lied. “Yeah.” “So you know him well. Look, I hate working with people I don’t know, especially after hearing terrible things about them. I’m sorry to think about your boss that way but his reputation precedes him even though he is hardly in public eyes. My repute is important to me. I can’t be going into something with someone who will spoil my name. I hope you understand this.” “Yes. So, how can I help you?” She hesitated a little. “Tell me all about him. Especially about how he treats women. I read his tweets earlier. I just want to know if all that is real.” I sighed. Another one bites the dust. Oh, but I hated myself at that instant. Wasn’t it me who wrote those tweets? Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He had used me as a wingman – again! “Anna?” AGAIN! “Yes, Miss Williams.” My voice was sweet but my face was covered in anger. “I’m listening.” I rolled my eyes and started loading her with the mother of all BS about him. Nice one, Anna. I could hear my voice of reason scold loudly in my head. At this rate, you’ll begin delivering foreplay to his conquests right before he slays them on his love altar.

Uhmmmm

[b]Little Black Book – Episode Four: In Those Heels[/b] I was obsessed over my boss. If this wasn’t clear before, I am putting it out there now. In a short while, I had crossed the line from crushing on him to full obsession. I worshipped the air he breathed. I woke up every morning thinking about him. I made a customized t-shirt with his name on it. I had post-it notes where I wrote my name and added his just to see how it would look when we eventually got married. Each time I went to pick his laundry, I kept his clothes awhile with me just to have his perfume fill my room. Every love song reminded me of him. Everything he did was good; even if he committed murder today, I’d probably blame the person he murdered. He was the god of my universe and I, his humble minion and lover. But you see, obsession is a really bad thing. You never know that it is consuming you until it ruins you. It’s often a blissful journey of a life that exists only in your head. It has different stages, however. For me, I was at the point where I had begun to imagine things. It kicked off on a normal day at the office. Not so normal though. There was some renovation on our floor and my boss didn’t feel like doing anything worthwhile, even though we had lots to iron out. He told me he was going out to relax at the poolside since it was a hot day. I told him we needed to work on a report he was to present at a seminar the following week. He grumbled, I stood my ground. He ordered me to follow him to the poolside. An hour later, we were almost done with the report, sipping on margaritas under a huge blue and yellow canopy. The area was mostly deserted with only a family of Arab tourists chilling off at the end of the pool. “I think I’ve found the one, Anna,” my boss said from nowhere. “One what?” I asked. “The one. The woman I want to spend my life with.” “Oh.” Something in me stirred. For some reason, it hit me that this person he was referring to was none other but me. Crazy, yeah. I know. But like I already told you, my mind was not in the right place. I was lost. “Damn, she’s beautiful. You need to see her. Natural exquisiteness. She is gorgeous, Anna.” His eyes were rich with emotion and he was staring straight into mine. He was talking to me. I was the one! “It’s the effortlessness of her beauty that gets me. The naturalness. Her hair… I just want to run my fingers through it.” I touched the base of my neck to feel my hair. It wasn’t all that but if it was to him, then… “I want this woman, Anna.” Aww, I want you too. “No, this is not like the other times. I need this woman in my life like I have never desired anything before. I can’t stop thinking about her even though I watch her every single day.” My head began to swell in a sweet way. He said ‘watch her every single day.’ People, he was talking about no one else but me. “And yet…” He put his hands behind his head and stretched out his legs before him on his lounger. “Yet, the old demon surfaces.” His eyes lustfully followed a group of four girls who had just come to the poolside, all dressed in bikinis. I frowned at them. Why did girls have to dress so desperately? He was still staring at them when one of them shamelessly caught his eyes and smiled at him. He didn’t smile back. His interest dropped. He turned to me. “Yeah, old things don’t easily pass away like that, not when the world is still rife with tempting offers.” My heart sank. He caught my disappointment. “Do you think I should settle down?” he questioned. I scratched my neck. In the past I deflected questions like this but after what he just told me about his mystery woman (AKA, Me, the One), I wasn’t going to shy away. “Yes, you should settle down, sir.” He laughed. “Why?” “Well, if you say you’ve found the one…” “I have.” He straightened out his swim shorts and I forced my eyes away from the lower part of his body. “When this woman finally takes her place in my life, I’ll take a bow from this life you’ve known me to live.” I smiled without realizing. “Why are you smiling?” I quickly wore a straight face. “I… nothing.” “Okay. Could you Google Zara for me? Find out what she’s been up to these days?” I kept my straight face but I was mad at him inside. What on earth could he possibly want with that woman after the way she treated him the last time she stopped at the hotel? Was he a sucker for pain? Didn’t he see that no matter how much he tried (and he had tried quite a few times) that Chizara Achusim was never going to have his time? I understood that he was a man with these strong urges, just like other men, and coming round to finally settling down would take time. I was ready to wait for him but to watch him get his heart broken by Zara was something I had to stop. The woman was mean. You know her type—spoilt, from a rich family, heiress to excessive wealth, fulfilled mogul of a flourishing hospitality business, a PhD holder and finally, the proud owner of a body made for sin. All of that nonsense got to her head and with it she treated men, including my boss, like shit. But to him, she was a conquest. She had to be had at all cost. “Sir, she’s in Paris for some fashion show,” I relayed to my boss what I had gotten off the web about Zara’s latest activities. She had this blog where she kept updates of her goings-on to her faithful followers. “I initially arranged for the manager to represent me at that boring annual hotel convention in Abuja but I think I just changed my mind. Anna?” He sat up. “We’re going to Abuja.” “We?” “Yes. But you’ll need a makeover, though.” His eyes were all over my body. I felt naked. No, that man stripped me naked with those eyes. “You can’t rep me looking like this. You need to come out of the closet. And no, I’m not referring to your sexual orientation.” The lesbian thing again? “There’s a sexy woman beneath all this. Bring her out.” “But sir…” He dismissed me with a wave of his hand. I hated when he did that but at the moment I had bigger issues on my mind, like how I was going to become feminine in two days. To me, even if I had a year, it would not be enough to become the type of woman he wanted. He sensed my fears. “Anna, you won’t need to lift a finger or spend a dime. It’s all on me. Just enjoy the treat and unleash your inner Barbie.” Inner Barbie? What the heck was that? I picked my laptop. “Make reservations for the convention.” “Reservations? We’re not staying at our branch?” “No. I know the hotel where the convention is holding is booked but that’s where I want to stay. Do your magic.” I nodded and began walking away. “Anna?” He stopped me. I turned. “Just a little heads up. Zara will be staying at one of the penthouse suites at that hotel. I know you don’t like her.” He had his poker face on. Handsome devil. I knew what he was suggesting. Yeah, I could read his mind like that. Isn’t that what couples do? I smiled. All my fears about Zara were allayed. He didn’t want her anymore. He just wanted to get even and who better than me, to enact it. Silly, spoilt thing! She didn’t know what was coming for her. * * * * * * The convention was to begin the day after the next and so far, things were going well. He gave me the day off to take care of myself. I had woken up early and commenced on Operation Displace Zara. First of all, I dialed her office and asked to speak with her, claiming I was calling from the hotel hosting the convention. I got her secretary, instead, who confirmed that Zara would be attending the three-day event and would still be staying at the penthouse suite reserved for her. When I was done with that, I dialed the hotel next. Using a fake voice, I canceled the reservation, claiming I was calling from Zara’s office. Having accomplished that, I called ten minutes later in my real voice and asked if there was any reservation for my boss. When the concierge heard his name, she naturally stumbled over herself and offered the penthouse suite to him. Genius! I could imagine the look on Zara’s face when she waltzed there in all her pride and discovered she had been overthrown. At this point, it was some minutes to ten and I had just finished breakfast. Someone from our hotel’s salon was knocking at my door. They had come for me. I was ushered downstairs like a queen. First, I was given a full spa treatment and after that, I was taken to the hair salon where the entire transformation took place. Hours later, I stepped in front of a mirror and didn’t recognize myself. I almost ducked away at my reflection. I could swear I was looking at someone else. Oh my! He was right, there’s a Barbie in every girl. I could hardly sleep through the night, high on excitement. I remembered thinking before I dozed off, that I could conquer the world of men. But I wanted just one man – and he wanted me. * * * * * * The car was waiting and so was my boss. I had never kept him waiting before but I was a nervous wreck. Somehow, my million dollar makeup didn’t look so smashing when I woke up the next morning. I had to call one of the salon girls to redo it for me and she took forever to appear. Next, I was panicky over the tight, short skirt I had on. God knows that before this time, I didn’t know I had a sizable bum and full hips. I wore the skirt and gbam! I was all petite and shapely. Didn’t even notice it the day before while trying it on. I guess it was the fact that I had to face him that was making me all jittery. I can’t recall how many times the salon girl told me I was looking okay. Her name was Fatima, by the way. She became my friend later, just because she believed the boss and I had a thing and she wanted to get in on the action too. “It’s too short!” I whined for the eighth time. “It’s not,” Fati answered for the eighth time. “Let me wear something else.” “No, this is fine, Anna. Abeg, knack these heels on and be going. Oga will vex that you’re wasting in his time.” “I know.” My phone was ringing. He was calling. I answered. He was mad at me. I apologized and said I was on my way down. The moment I ended the call, Fati picked my new designer handbag and pushed it over my arm. I had never carried any of those things before. I always carried a backpack around. Fati showed me how to hold it. “There’s a small makeup purse I put inside there. You don’t need to do much. Just compact powder, lipstick and mascara.” “Oh God, these eyelashes itch.” Fati slapped my hand away from my eyes. “Don’t scratch!” She pushed me to the door. “Let’s be going.” Thank God she escorted me all the way to the reception and through the door that led to his private parking lot. There, she left me and my luggage and wished me well. “I want all the juicy details when you come back o.” Like I was going to tell her anything. I pushed open the glass door and stepped out. The sun hit me. Part of my senses returned and I recalled him talking about his mystery woman’s natural beauty. Alarm bells! O ye gods, what have I done? I turned around to glance at my reflection at the mirror. Oh no! Fati had overdone it! I looked overly made up. What was I going to do? “Anna?” I made a slow turn. It was the chauffeur. Even he could see that I had guffawed. His eyes said that much. He took my luggage and left me alone. I wanted to hide behind him all the way to the car but he was gone in a jiffy. Then I looked up… and I saw Him… His door was open and he had a leg out. I stared at the leg, at his shoe, at the ground. I didn’t want to look up. What would he think of me? But I couldn’t help myself. My eyes traveled all the way up and met his face… The perplexity in his eyes, the surprise, as it slowly turned to a smile. A smile that undid me. Still I had to walk, no matter how wobbly my feet went or how sweaty my underarms felt. And the worst part, he wouldn’t stop staring. Damn the stilettos! They made it so hard to keep any type of composure. How did these girls do it? He was still staring. I was almost there. I could pick out a whiff of his perfume. I could almost hear the words waiting on his lips; words that will tell me how beautiful I looked, how stunning, how gorgeous, and then everything will be okay. All my nervousness will disappear. And maybe he’ll even kiss… Was that the sound of my right stiletto about to disgrace me? Oh God, no! I lost my balance and in a blink I found myself flat on the ground, staring up at a not-so-clear blue sky. Ouch!

This episode is something else

lol...I cnt stop myself 4rm laughing hahaha

hahaha

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continue

hahahahahahahahaha oh my abeg no kill me with laugh,I know with the way u are behaving u I'll be on the ground for sure

Hahahahaha??

[b]Little Black Book – Episode Five: Anna Banana[/b] Abuja was a disaster. I wish I hadn’t gone. Wish I had made a mountain out of a molehill over my ankle injury and stayed back. Then I would have spared myself the heartbreak and embarrassment that followed. Now, the trip didn’t start out badly, although my ankle was hurting and I was uncomfortable with my short skirt which was bent on exposing my nudity in front of my boss. Don’t get me wrong. I have nursed fantasies of me being nude before him but not like that. Not with the chauffer sitting in front and sending me these nasty glances through the rearview mirror. You see, the problem with people like us who are down the status ladder is that we don’t support each other. The chauffer carried this look on his face like I had thrown myself at the boss. But I had not. The bloody stiletto had. Anyway, who cared what he thought? My prince charming was worried about me and made us stop by at a pharmacy to have me checked. Turned out the ankle was dislocated. The pharmacist fixed it, massaged it with some balmy ointment and thinking my boss was my boyfriend, taught him how to massage it. Then he gave me some drugs and we were on our way to the airport. When my boss suggested I stayed back, I told him I was fine. But I wasn’t. By the time we arrived at Abuja, the foot was swollen and he was forced to take me to a private clinic to meet a specialist who wrapped the foot up and gave me a crutch to aid movement. The moment we got to the hotel, we were welcomed by Zara’s pitchy tone at the reception. As expected, she was giving the front desk people hell for not reserving her suite. My boss tended a sinister smile as he strolled towards her. I thought he was going to speak with her but he simply walked past and informed the front desk ladies that he was checking into his penthouse suite. Zara watched aghast as they handed him his key and a concierge appeared to lead us to the suite. “You stole my penthouse?!” she screamed. Her personal assistant rolled her eyes and shook her head. The girl looked tired already. “I am talking to you!” Zara approached my boss and stood right before him. “Hi Chizara.” He was calm. “Don’t ‘hi’ me! How dare you?! You’ve not stopped your little games! When will you grow up?!” He laughed indifferently. “I will not take this!” She flipped long curls of her hair to the back and spun around. “Where is the manager?!” She threw at the front desk ladies. “Let’s go.” My boss nodded towards the elevator. He looked at Zara’s personal assistant. “You too, Lola.” What the hell was he doing, inviting the enemy’s handbag to our special love nest? I glared at him and my eyes naturally turned nasty at the Lola person who was now grinning. And without even a side glance at her boss who was still raising hell at the front desk, she followed us to the elevator. When the door slid open and we got in, we heard Zara, “Lola, have you gone insane?!” My boss held the elevator door and turned to Zara. “What’s your problem? Can’t we settle this quietly and in a less-bitchy manner?” She was huffing as she faced him. “Don’t even give me that! You know what you did! But I won’t talk about it here!” “Good.” He released the elevator door. “Anna, I’ll meet you and Lola upstairs in a bit.” The door closed in my face and I sighed petulantly. A got a nosy stare from the concierge which I ignored. My foot was killing me and all I wanted to do was lie down. “Hi! I’m Omolola.” The Lola chick held out her hand and I shook it, not sure what to make of her sudden burst of energy. She looked like one of ‘those girls.’ You know the type that parties every night, has men taking care of her every need and dresses like she’s a brand ambassador for a designer line. She was fine too. In a very bleached way. “I’m Anna,” I told her. “Anna Banana.” She giggled. “No. No banana. Just Anna.” “I know.” She grinned. “But I like Anna Banana. So! Looks like we’ll be friends.” She giggled again and I wondered what she found funny. “And looks like we’ll all be sharing the penthouse since the hotel is booked.” What?!!! “Ha!” She laughed. “You actually look terrified.” The elevator door dinged open and the concierge led us to the suite. She opened the door and guided us in. She was about to start some pitch about the magnificence of the place but Lola gently pushed her out and shut the door with a very snide ‘thank you.” “Why did you do that?” I asked. “Because she’d rather have your boss here than us. Didn’t you see her face?” Lola kicked off her heels. “I’m thirsty!” She headed towards the kitchen. “What happened to your leg?!” I heard her ask but I didn’t reply. I started a personal tour of the place to see why it was causing all the fracas. And I must admit, it was something out of this world. Spacious indulgence was the best way to describe the three-bedroom space. It had two master bedrooms, a smaller room, and a living room; cathedral ceilings with cedar beams, skylights, hardwood floors and gourmet kitchen with stylish granite countertops. Each bedroom had custom pillow-top mattresses, lush robes in separate spa-style bathrooms and breathtaking artwork. The suite had more than I had imagined it would. No wonder my boss wanted the place. I picked the smallest bedroom and sat on the bed to rest my foot. Lola popped in. “Not bad for a penthouse, huh?” She asked, a glass of liquor in her hand. The other hand was taking off her thong. I just didn’t know what to make of the girl and her brazenness. “You should change out of your skirt,” she told me. I raised my eyes in suspicion and she laughed. “Chill. I’m not a lesbian. You look uncomfortable in the skirt. And maybe you should remove the eyelashes too. You have beautiful, brown eyes and the lashes are hiding them. She disarmed me with those words. No one had ever called my dirty, brown eyes beautiful. “Thanks.” “Let me help.” She sniffed her thong, tossed it aside and walked to me. I wasn’t so sure I wanted those fingers anywhere near my face but they were on me before I could protest. Over taking off false eyelashes, helping me remove my makeup and forcing me to watch while she showered, Lola and I bonded. By late afternoon, we were seated at the front gallery, sipping on gin and juice like old friends. We heard voices in the living room and we knew our bosses were back. I got to my feet. I had missed him all day. What could he possibly have been doing with Zara? “Let me see if he needs anything…” I began to walk away but Lola held me back. “Don’t interrupt them. They’re probably kissing their way into one of the master bedrooms now.” The image she conjured tried to make its way to my head but there was no ground for it. No way in hell was my boss getting it on with that bitch. I don’t know why but the picture wasn’t just working for me. “You’re shaking your head?” Lola asked. “Did I?” “Abeg, sit down, Anna Banana. Allow them do the do. It’s not today they started.” BREAKING NEWS!!! “Are you…? Are you serious?” Lola pulled me back to my seat. “This whole convention was for them to end their last fight. When they’re done, they’ll fight again.” “But he told me he wanted to see her because he wanted to buy off one of her businesses.” “Yes, that too. But they’re an off and on item. I wouldn’t say item because your oga just hits it and disappears… but he still comes back.” I was gobsmacked. No. It couldn’t be. So Operation Displace Zara was in my head alone and to my boss, it was more like Booty Call with Zara? I downed the drink in my hand at a go. Lola reached out and rubbed my back. I moved away. “What’s that for?” “Just consoling you. I know you have feelings for him.” “Me?” I put my hand to my chest. “Oh, please spare me. You’ve been talking about him since we got in here and you should have seen the look on your face when I told you they were about to have sex.” “I can’t have feelings for my boss. It’s unethical.” “Rubbish. See, let me just tell you something: when you like someone, there’s nothing you can do about it. If you try killing the feeling, it’ll keep growing. So the best way to handle it is to tell the person how you feel.” I stared at Lola with wide eyes. I wanted to remind her that we were referring to my employer and not some random guy I met online; but I just couldn’t reveal what I felt for him. It was my secret to keep. Our little secret – he and I, and when he was ready, he would tell me he loved me. “Lola, I’m not in love with my boss…” “Aha!” she pointed at me. “Caught you! I never mentioned love.” She was beginning to seem like the type of person you didn’t argue with. I let her and her insinuations be. She milked the opportunity well and spoke long on the issue of one-sided love and its dangers. In the end, I think she convinced me to approach him. I wasn’t so sure about it but the idea had been stripped of its awkwardness and now appeared to me full of promise. Still, I said nothing to her, either in agreement or otherwise. Friday and Saturday went by and I was glad to see that Lola’s account about the relationship between my boss and Zara was baseless. There was nothing between them. They stayed in separate bedrooms and ignored each other at every turn. There was so much tension between them that it started to affect me too. Sunday came and I was only too glad that we were leaving the next morning. To while away time, Lola made me follow her for some shopping in town. We came back tired later in the day and went straight to bed. The bosses were conspicuously absent. By evening, Lola forced me into one of her dresses and took me out to enjoy the capital city. We visited three different bars and met new people. I drank more than my limit and when I couldn’t hold it anymore, I took a cab back to the hotel. Half-asleep, half-drunk, I entered the suite. I sauntered to the kitchen for a drink of water and fell upon a scene that broke my heart, and was at the same time, a sight for sore eyes. Right there in the kitchen, my boss and Chizara were having sex. It was one of those she-on-the-table-and-he-standing encounters. They were both fully-clothed and I would have been fooled into believing nothing was happening if I hadn’t heard her moaning. I became immobilized. They were too immersed in the act to notice they had company. A voice told me to quietly retreat but for some reason, I remained there. I watched them, starry-eyed, like a voyeur, until I began to feel weird in places that had been dormant for years. Yes, I was getting aroused, much to my shame, and God knows I am not a pervert. But the way that man was taking Zara could make a sinner out of any saint. All of a sudden I wanted what she was having. I wanted him. And like that I saw myself on that table. I felt his hands on me…tasted his tongue…smelled his cologne… really felt him… “Anna?” Shoot! I had been so carried away by the fantasy that I didn’t notice when he turned. My mouth flew open with no words. “Get the hell out of here!” Zara shooed me away. “Erm… I just… I came to get water to take my meds,” I murmured. Stupid excuse! There is a water dispenser in the living room, Anna! Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! “I’m, I’m sorry.” I turned round and shut the door. I headed straight to my bedroom in shame, took my pain medication and buried myself under the sheets. I felt jealous and angry at Zara. She had the guts to take my place and yet speak to me as if I was some slave? And he, how could he be doing that to her while I was there? Didn’t I mean anything to him anymore? Tears came to my eyes but I refused to cry. People who cried were losers and I was not one yet. He still belonged to me. Lola came back and caught me under the sheets and I told her what happened. Of course, I still put up the front that I had no feelings for him but she was not buying it. She drilled me until I came clean. Fessing up to her (like she didn’t know already), I opened up about the feelings I had carried for him for a long time. She was sympathetic and yet called me a fool for not letting him know. “You’ll just be dying there for nothing until he marries someone else.” I shuddered. “Dey there, you and your ethical nonsense. Look, you won’t be the first to date your boss. It happens but it won’t happen to you if you sit there like a mumu. You have to seduce him. Men love that type of thing. Seduce him and when he’s starts falling for it, you just dive in there and tell him you want him. That’s what Zara and the other girls do. Seduce, Anna Banana! Seduce!” Once again, she gingered me and I felt good in my insides. Plotting graphs in my head, I went to bed, fantasizing like there was no tomorrow. The next morning, I woke up still dreaming. Dressed in a fitted dress I brought from Lagos, I ditched my walking aid and managed around in a pair of fancy slippers. The idea was to look simple, yet seductive. Somewhere in me, my actions felt all wrong but there was a romantic song playing in my head and I was too pumped to care. Too pumped to notice my boss was in a bad mood and hadn’t spared a smile for me all morning and through the flight back to Lagos. Too pumped to hear his tone of voice when we got back to our hotel and he asked the chauffer to excuse us. To me, it was just he and I alone in the world and I was going to open up to him at last. “Anna?” he called. “Yes?” I smiled. Stupid me. Looking back now, I must have looked like a fool. “Do you have any feelings for me?” The music in my head stopped for a second and I blinked at him a few times as my heart went into overdrive. But Lord! Those eyes of his and the way they were staring into mine… I lost it again and the music resumed. Lola’s voice was edging me on: just tell him the truth. “I asked you a question, Anna.” He’s making it easy for you. That means you’re on the same page, Lola continued in my head. Don’t be a mumu. “Yes. Yes sir, I… I’m in love with you.” I grinned. Lola was right. There was something freeing about letting your feelings out. Once more, I failed to notice his facial expression because I was totally consumed by a wild thought that dropped in my head from nowhere, and without running it through my reasoning process, I acted on it as I leaned toward my boss and boldly placed my lips on his with a kiss. I had caught him on the verge of saying something and so his lips were parted, and boy did I rape them with mine. It was orgasmic! Better than I had imagined. But the man ended my obsession with a firm hand on my upper arm, pushing me away from him. Yet and still, Anna Banana did not get the memo that she had been curved. “Get down,” my boss instructed, “go upstairs to your room and throughout today think of a sensible answer to give me tomorrow morning about this shameless and disrespectful act you just pulled now. If you can’t come up with an answer by tomorrow, consider yourself fired.” It was at that point that the music stopped completely and Lola’s voice disappeared as the devil does when he puts you in trouble. Something slapped me back to reality and one look in my boss’ beautiful eyes gave me chills. The man was not playing. I opened the door, took my suitcase from the chauffer and had my walk of shame all the way to my bedroom. I couldn’t face myself. What did I just do? I buried my head in tears as reality gave me several bites that hurt more than hell. It was hard but I came to the realization that I alone felt something for him. On his side, there was nothing. He wasn’t just with Zara to while away time; he was really into her and into all the others. Everyone else but me. To him, I was just his personal assistant. I wasn’t The One. I never was. Heartbreak was an understatement to describe how I felt. And now, I had to come up with a reason why I sexually harassed him or my job was gone. Good Lord! I was dead. I hate you Lola!

[b]Little Black Book – Episode Six: Kiss And Tell[/b] So I thought about resigning. A lot. For a greater part of the night with my head on my tear-soaked pillow, it seemed like the only option. However, I am not known to be a coward or a quitter. I grew up with boys and through them, daily, I learned what it meant to face my screw-ups. Kissing my boss was probably the biggest screw-up in my life, right after losing my virginity to an idiot. I didn’t walk away from that idiot when I felt regret. I braced four more days with him until my brothers beat him to a pulp. Similarly, I made up my mind not to quit my job. I was going to face my boss and give him the explanation he wanted. It was up to him to fire me or not. And my feelings… well, they were to remain buried because God knew I could never stop going crazy over that man. That kiss had made things even worse, although it also cleared my delusions about me being The One. Come Monday, my boss kept me waiting. I was all nerves behind my desk. He didn’t need my service for one second and the poor secretary was loaded with everything. When evening eventually came and most of the day staff were already on their way home, he called me in. I walked into his office and stood by the door. He called me closer but didn’t offer a seat. I maintained a position before his desk. He held a cup of steaming coffee in one hand while tapping away on his phone with the other. As usual, he was looking spruce. It was the end of a very busy day and still he had it together even while dressed in a t-shirt and pair of denims. “So did you enjoy the kiss?” he asked and a glass shattered somewhere in my head. Um… what is wrong with this man? How am I supposed to answer that? I already had a speech rehearsed with clear reasons how my lips stumbled over his. I was going to blame it on my pain medication, on the fact that Lola had messed up on my mind, on the horniness that was plaguing me all these years, on the weather, on the government, even on childhood trauma! I was prepared to tell him whatever but definitely not prepared for this. “Did you enjoy the kiss, Anna?” Okay, he just called my name. So there wasn’t any chance he was talking to someone else on the phone. But I had to be sure. I looked up and caught his eyes and I couldn’t look away. “Yes,” I croaked and cleared my throat. “Yes.” I lowered my head again. “Ah.” I heard a smile in his voice. “Look at me, Anna.” I obeyed. He put his coffee cup aside. “You do know that the hotel has zero tolerance for sexual harassment, right?” I dropped my jaw. “Sir?” He wasn’t smiling. “That was what it was. You sexually harassed me and I have been traumatized since then.” Oh, this man, where do you come up with these things? “I initially wanted an explanation but what explanation would you give other than you lost your mind? And then there was that other issue of you talking about having feelings for me. That was what bothered me a lot. Look, Anna…. you’re beautiful. Very, as a matter of fact. And to be honest, under different circumstances, I’d have satisfied my curiosity by now.” My cheeks went hot. “But I don’t see you as that type of woman presently. You’re a good girl but you’re too gushy. You can’t take what I can give. Don’t be deceived by how easily I get women into my bed. There’s a method to my madness and I know the type of women I pick. They are dead inside as I am. We do what we do because we are empty and lonely and lacking of heart. And you’re nothing like that, so if I touch you, I would hurt you.” I melted at his words. “And that’s why I am letting you go.” Wait….What?!!! “I am sorry, Anna.” He pushed an envelope towards me. “That is your termination letter. This working month ends in two days but you can choose not to come to the office. Please, make sure to pack your desk. And as for the hotel suite, you have a whole month to stay until you sort yourself out.” My knees shook beneath me. I searched his face. He was joking, right? How could he be so handsome and yet be such a mean, heartless thing? Tears swamped my eyes. “Anna, please don’t cry. I know this is unexpected and it’s hard but I’m doing it for your own good. It will be totally unethical to keep working together if you have feelings for me.” Tears washed over my face. He stood up and handed me some tissue from his desk which I declined taking. “It was just a kiss!” I cried out, not knowing where I got my guts from. “I didn’t rape you! I didn’t ask for anything! I just kissed you! And you kissed me back!” I hit the tissue off his hand. “You did! Then you go say that I sexually harassed you and fire me?! You’re a hypocrite!” “I know. And I am sorry, Anna. Yes, I kissed back because it’s very ungentlemanly not to kiss a lady when she kisses you…” “That’s nonsense! You liked it!” I think at that point, I had lost my mind. Why was I being punished for falling in love with another human being? “I’ll get you a better job out there and pay for your house rent and anything else you need.” “I don’t want anything from you!” I tried to put up a front but it was useless; I was in tatters. I buried my face in my hands and my body rocked from the pain of his rejection. And just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, I felt his arms around me. He held me up and patted my back as I cried. He held me for a long time and didn’t let go even when I was sure I had made a mess on his t-shirt. I truly did not want him to let go. His body felt so comforting that I wanted to bury myself there for eternity. The feeling was next to none. “You’re going to be fine, Anna.” He eventually lifted my face and looked into my eyes. My tears were gone by now. I just wanted him to hold me some more. It was better than getting my job back or anything else in the world. He drew away and I knew it was time to leave. I picked my termination letter and walked out of his office with legs weighed down as if with lead. I went to my suite and locked myself in through the night and cried till I was out of tears. By morning, I put my things together. I didn’t bother taking anything from the office. I had my laptop and that was all I needed. I took a cab to my elder brother’s home a broken woman. It would take my boss just three days to find me. He sent his chauffer to take me to my new home, a one-bedroom and parlor apartment not far from the hotel. My brother didn’t want me to leave but I didn’t think it was wise to be a burden on him and his young family. I settled into my new home in less than a week and in the next week, started attending job interviews which my boss had hooked me up with. This time I was applying for the thing I knew how to do best and that was a systems programmer. Via a text he told me he wanted me to actively pursue my dreams and that he was solidly behind me. I didn’t reply the text; I was still mad at him. A month went by and I adjusted to my life away from him, although it was hard. Little by little I picked up the pieces of my dismembered heart and moved on. I was yet to get a job, even with all his influence. The competition was high and I was behind on a few years. I needed to update myself with the latest in my field. That alone kept me occupied as I scoured the net for cheap online programs I could run. Meanwhile, I kept up with current gist about the hotel as the secretary always intimated me on goings-on in the office front. Le Boss was yet to find my replacement. Several girls had come and gone. He was so picky that if they didn’t impress him in two days, he sent them off. The new one had lasted only five days and she was at her wits end. He was ruthless with her. Such gist made me smile. I fed off the feeling of retribution. My tears were long gone and though I still had this dull ache whenever I thought about him, I felt quite alright. To me, I had built this tough shell within that no one could crack. But I had no idea I was going to be tested soon. Sooner than I expected… I got a call early one morning – from him. Rousing lazily from my pillow I let the phone ring out when I saw it was him, although I was slightly thrilled. He called again. I answered this time. “Morning, Anna.” “Good morning.” “Sorry for waking you up but I need you.” I sat up. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” I lied. He repeated himself and it sounded good in my ear. “My new PA, she’s infected our entire database with malicious software she got off the net and she has shut us down completely. I called the guys from tech and they couldn’t do anything. They said it’s a relatively new virus and the antivirus is not out yet. They’ve been working on it all night and nothing good has come out of it. Can you come over and see if you can help out?” I was grinning wildly, silly me. I couldn’t help myself. “Sir, I’m busy…” It was my little moment of triumph. “Please, Anna. I’ll pay you double.” I pretended to think about for a bit. “Okay…I’ll be there,” I said blandly. “Great. I’m expecting you.” He hung up and I sat still to quell my excitement. But I couldn’t. I was up on my feet, pacing round my small room, thinking of what to wear. Almost an hour went by before I settled for something. It was simple, though ─ a knee-length, fitted skirt with a simple blouse, a pair of flats and my new designer glasses. I checked my reflection in the mirror a million times before I was assured that I was casual-geeky-sexy. * * * * * * I arrived at the hotel and found him waiting in the control room of the tech department. The moment I spotted him, I felt my tummy flutter. He was still as handsome as ever and maintained that dominating air, even though I could tell that he was tired. “Hi, Anna.” He smiled genuinely. “Great to see you.” He got up and gave me a hug. There were others with us in the room, including the girl who messed up the systems. Unsurprisingly, she was gorgeous but she came off as an airhead at first glance. He hated airheads. He pulled a chair for me and explained in detail what had happened. The tech guys also gave more information on the problem, and right away I knew what was wrong with the systems. It was going to be tedious process to get everything working again but it was something I was going to enjoy doing. I asked for some space and set about my business. Long hours passed and evening came without my knowledge. He stopped by to tell me to call it a day and to take me out for dinner. I didn’t know what to make of his request. It was a first for us. “Don’t say no. Let this be me apologizing for letting you go. I wish I hadn’t.” His eyes weren’t lying. “Sir, I…” “Don’t call me sir. You know my name, Anna. And you’re no longer my employee.” I was not? Wow. It sure didn’t feel that way. Well…to me, it wasn’t always about boss and employee; it was about my crush on him. And now that I had the freedom to express myself, like a caged bird, I still wanted him to be my master. “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” He took my hand and steered me towards the door. “After you.” He took me downstairs to the VIP restaurant and we sat down to eat. We talked like old friends. It was awkward at first, I must admit, but we got over that and over me calling him ‘sir’ on default and conversed on everything except why I left. “I miss you,” he said out of the blue, sipping from his glass of sparkling water. “Sorry?” I studied his face. Was this guy making moves on me or was he genuine? “Seriously, I do. You had my life organized and kept me grounded at all times. You have to admit that we were good together. I’d like you back but that would be selfish. I want to see you grow bigger and better in life. Speaking of bigger…” he swept lustful eyes over my body. I responded by looking away. “I hope you’re okay with the way things are with you, now?” I nodded, but it was a lie. I wanted us back. “Good to know.” “And you? Any new conquests?” I asked him. “For where?” he laughed. “I’ve been too busy and quite frankly, you used to take all the stress off my shoulders. You were a great wingman.” We both laughed. Gosh I missed him. I stared at my watch. It was quite late. “I should be heading home.” “Why don’t you stay in the hotel since you’re not yet done with your work? Your old room is still there.” I smiled at his attempt of kindheartedness but I knew that the devil was working really hard beneath the surface. The man wanted me. I could see that familiar madness dancing in his eyes. “My house is not far from here,” I reminded him, refusing his request. “Then let me take you home?” I shook my head. “Thanks for the offer but I’ll get a cab.” He helped me up and held my hand, leading me out of the restaurant. Outside, he hugged and kissed my cheek and I went home. * * * * * * I returned early the next morning. I worked all through the day and didn’t see him. I was told he was in Kano. I faced the job at hand and by midnight, I had the systems back up. It took another three hours for me to run diagnostics and to fix other minor issues. By 4am, I retired to my old room in the hotel and slept off like a log. I woke up to breakfast in bed and familiar cologne in my nostrils. I opened my eyes and saw him standing by my bed. “You were so tired you didn’t close your door before you collapsed on your bed,” he informed me. “Oh?” I sat straight, adjusted my dress which was barely covering my butt. “Thank you, Anna, for the job well done. As I speak, your account is being credited.” I eyed the tray of breakfast. I was famished. “So, would you want to go out somewhere? Private beach, maybe, and just relax. The weather outside is great.” Oh, this man. He was pressing all the right buttons. I loved my men to woo me, to treat me like a lady; and he knew this. He damn well knew this! “Thank you but I’ll rather stay home today.” I got up and headed for the bathroom. “Is this awkward for you, me asking you out and all?” The hell not! I was loving it! I turned around. “No.” “’Cause if it is, I can stop. It’s just that you’re a woman that deserves to be treated with respect.” I laughed out loud in my head. How easily he had forgotten that I had the complete curriculum of his wooing moves. I knew what page we were on. It was the Treat Her Like A Lady page. How long before he leaned over for that unexpected kiss? I thanked him for breakfast, respectfully turned down his invitation and went home. I knew he was enjoying the challenge as I was. I went through the whole day so consumed with the thought of having him that I forgot that he was once my boss. I knew it was pure lust pulling me to him; sexual, nothing more, but I couldn’t help myself. When darkness came, I got off my bed and shut my laptop, then I spent almost two hours in the bathroom, trimming, shaving, tweezing and cleaning up. I came out crisp like a newborn and yet smelling like a woman desperate for a man. I was borrowing a leaf from his book, taking the bull by the horns. I would go to him. I would tell him I wanted him. I will open up to him like a flower. I studied my reflection in the mirror and couldn’t believe it was me about to do the craziest thing in my life. I had changed so much in a short while and he was to blame. Gone was the shy, reserved, uncertain girl that walked into his office a long time ago. I was a woman now who knew what she wanted. The thought made me shiver. What was awaiting me in his arms? Would I hate myself the morning after or get so hooked I would go back to him for more. Again, I shivered. * * * * * * I asked for my old suite at the reception. They said a couple took it that evening. I asked for a similar one. They said they all had been taken. The phone at the desk rang and one of the receptionists answered. I knew he was the one calling. She looked at me and told me Presidential Suite B was available. Her colleague handed me a key and I took the elevator. There is no backing out now, Anna, my voice told me. You’re going to get what you so ache for; are you ready? I wasn’t. Not in the least bit, but I was starved for it. I was either going to have it or lose my head. I arrived at the suite and let myself in. The moment the door shut, the lights went on… And there he was, leaning on the dresser like he had waited for me all day. I should have known that he had been in control the whole time. He knew I was coming back. He knew I would ask for my old room and ring him up to let him know I was in the building. And that was why he told them at the front desk to inform me that the room was occupied. And of course, he had already prepared this particular suite for me – for us. I looked at him. His eyes were dark with desire. This was the part of him I had never seen before and it scared me shitless. “You’re sure this is what you want?” he asked. I smiled but my insides shook. My name was about to go into his little black book.

Uhmmm yes but you want it

Sorry babe, though he might fall in love wt u...

You could have started by accepting normal lunch or dinner dates than this outrightly seeking him

interesting

let's find awt

[b]Little Black Book – Episode Seven: Le Boss, Le Lover[/b] I should have walked away the moment I entered that suite and looked into his hankering eyes. He was going to consume me, all of me, and I would be broken in the end. I knew that, but I was too far gone to care. My body was dying for him in ways no woman should desire a man. When he stretched out his hand and touched my face, it felt unreal. I lost my breath out of sheer excitement. It was finally happening! “I’m going to hurt you, Anna,” he said, begging me with his eyes to let go. But I wasn’t listening. “Are you sure you really want this?” I could only nod. My voice would have failed me at that moment. I shut my eyes and waited for his kiss but it didn’t come. Instead, he ran his thumb over my lower lip as the rest of his fingers stroked my neck. The kiss came much later, after his hands explored places on my body I never knew needed exploring. He took my lips like he owned them, like he had been kissing me all his life. My mouth seemed made for his and my body… well, let’s say it wasn’t a waste of time knowing all those women before me. I was pleasuring in his vast experience. He touched me everywhere, with my clothes still on my body, right in the middle of that room. When he began to undress me, I was already weak in the knees. He laughed at me when he saw the look of pure helplessness in my eyes. He lifted me off the floor quite easily and took me into the bedroom. The air was cold in there and I was shivering when he put me on the bed and began to take off his clothes. He didn’t let me touch him. I once heard that he never liked his women in control in bed. I was about to find out it was true. “It won’t be a bad thing if you looked at me, you know,” he said. I had actually diverted my eyes the moment I saw his jeans going down. Inside me, there was still that person that wasn’t ready for this encounter. The good girl, I guess. But I so desperately wanted to be the bad girl that evening, so I looked at him and lost my breath again. I was actually looking at my boss nude! Is there a song in this world that can perfectly describe how I felt because I can’t really put it in words? He came back to me and slowly, took off my underwear. His eyes washed over my body first before his hands continued where they left off. His tongue was not left out of the party as he feasted on me, inch by inch, and drove me wild with wanting. When the magic eventually happened, I was at his mercy. I had never screamed so much in my life nor had that much pleasure that I started begging him to stop when I couldn’t contain it any longer. And because he was a gentleman, he stopped, pulled away from me and rested on an elbow, watching me with amused eyes. I was falling from the sky at that point and writhing beside him like I was being shot with a Taser. Finally my breathing came to a steady rhythm and I lay there beside him like one dead, not sure if my body was mine at all. He took me in his arms and wrapped a blanket around us. I yawned. I was rested and sleepy. He felt good to hold. I remained in his arms until I fell asleep. The morning came with breakfast in bed – a bowl of fruits and a glass of wine. It was his thing and I was glad to share it with him. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there. I panicked instantly when I discovered this. Was this it? Was he done with me? Was I to forget what happened the night before and move on with my life? I pushed the breakfast tray aside and stepped down from the bed. I searched round the entire suite, hoping my fears were unfounded but I was proven right. What did I expect, anyway? He expressly told me he was going to hurt me. I guess I was to snap out of Lala Land and face my life. I had finally made it into his little black book. Congratulations, Anna. I took a shower and ignored the parts of my body that were still throbbing for him. I wore my clothes, picked my phone which I had checked a million times for a text from him, and made my exit. Reality was beginning to dawn on me, even though I couldn’t quite shake out the pleasure he had given me. I wanted more of him, desperately desired to have him hold and kiss me again the way he did the night before. Yet I was afraid to call and ask. I had seen him turn his conquests down with a cold ‘no’ and a stony face. Now, I was to join that statistic? Just like that? Tears burned my eyes as I sat at the back of a cab on my way home. I was biting my nails to keep my disappointment in but I couldn’t quite help myself. The more I thought about him, about how sad I was feeling, the more my body yearned for him. Right there in the cab, I was having a ‘happy’ moment as my lady business began to act out all on its own, something that had never happened in my life before. It was embarrassing! The man had unlocked parts of me that had lain dormant for years. I hated him for it. Still I wanted him – just one more time. I got home and forced myself to sleep with the help of a pill. I couldn’t stand being awake just to spend my time thinking about him. I knew I needed to get out of my illusion fast; what better way than to sleep it off? I woke up as the sun was setting, made late lunch and while I ate, I watched some dull action flick. My phone was on my lap the whole time as I waited for him to call or text. But I got nothing. My rational mind was getting louder by now, and it was telling me to get over what happened. It’s what adults do, Anna. That is why it’s called a one-night stand. You knew it was all he wanted from you. Get over it! I would nod every time I heard that and with each nod I thought I was getting stronger. What a little idiot I was! All it took was him standing at my door to break my resolve. A look from those unassuming eyes took me back to the day before. “You forgot something,” he said to me, holding out my thong with a finger. I smiled shyly. I had actually looked for it back at the hotel when I was leaving but gave up when I couldn’t find it. I had a feeling he had been with it all day. “Can I come in?” I nodded and let him in– into my house, back into my head and into my body. This time, he wasn’t gentle. He displayed a virile need for me and I was shocked that my body could respond to such intensity without giving out. However, the more he had me, the more the pain in my heart deepened. I didn’t want to just own his body for a while. I wanted it for a long time; and his heart as well. My fantasies of him in the past were always of us being together exclusively. I didn’t want to be just another name ticked off his list. I wanted to be his. “Stop, please…” I cried. I was exhausted. Drained out. If I had any more orgasms left in me, I was going to reserve them for the future. The man wasn’t going to kill me with pleasure. “I think I’m going to faint.” He let out a laugh and lifted me off my feet and carried me to my bed where he dumped me. He walked into the kitchen for a glass of water. I marveled at the way he made himself comfortable in my home. He was such a man of means and importance that seeing him there in my little space, all at ease, gave me hope. Maybe. Just maybe… He handed me a glass of freezing water and sat to watch me drink. After I was done, I asked him a question burning on my mind. “What are you getting out of this?” “Out of what?” “Us. The sex…it’s not like you cum or anything…” He lay on his back. “It’s a curse, Anna. It can only be broken by true love’s vagina.” I could have laughed right there if the joke didn’t hurt me. What did he mean by true love’s vagina? What was mine to him? A hit and run vagina? A booty call vagina? “I don’t understand.” I sat up so I could see his face. I was shocked to see some form of pain etched on it. “Like everyone, I’m looking for love, Anna. I told you once, I’m empty inside. There’s nothing I can give a woman except this. It’s all meaningless.” His words hurt me but I was sensitive enough to see his own turmoil. “I live for the excitement but the high dies out too quickly. I want something lasting.” Then, pick me! I cried in my head. “You once said you had found the one,” I muttered with a fluttering tummy. “Who is she?” He smiled. A smile that died out too hastily. “I don’t think she’ll give a damn about me when she finds out who I really am. I’m afraid to love her, Anna, and have my heart be broken.” Wow! Who would have thought he had this side to him? “Well, you have to try. If you’re truly looking for happiness and something lasting as you said, you just have to try.” I stopped there. That was my one magnanimous act for the decade. I wasn’t going to say more, not when I was dying for him. I got off the bed and went into the bathroom for a shower. There, I cried. For the man I was going to lose and the love I wasn’t ever going to have. When I returned, I cuddled up to him and had him tell me stories about his trips around the world. I discovered that beneath his suave and charm was a simple uncomplicated guy who was just like any other. It endeared me to him the more but I knew it was time to draw the line. He slept while I stayed awake until late, watching another boring action flick. When daylight came, I asked him for one last moment. He told me he didn’t want to leave my life just yet. I told him it was best that he did. “There’s no use prolonging the inevitable,” I said, courageously. “And stop trying to make me feel like I’m different from the rest.” I was sitting astride him and his hands were cupping my breasts when I said those words. It wasn’t a sexual moment. It was emotional; for me, at least. It came with tears that I tried to fight but couldn’t. “Oh, Anna.” He caught the tears as they fell. “So, one for the road,” I requested. “Something to remember you by.” “I’m not going away from your life, Anna.” But I am, I replied him in my head. “Just make love to me and act like I’m the one. Pretend I am she. Love me like you’ll love her.” Most men would have chickened out of such a challenge but not this man. He gave me what I asked for, made love to me like I was Eve and he was Adam and we didn’t have any other options out there. He fulfilled my deepest fantasies, and when I told him to say he loved me, he said it without holding back. At first, I thought he was only acceding to my wishes but I realized that he was only playing out his make-believe as well. By noon, he was gone. I was sleeping then. I woke up late afternoon and was in the company of an empty apartment, the intoxicating scent of his cologne and the memory of him between my legs. I didn’t cry. I couldn’t. I just wanted to move on, even though I didn’t want to forget. I sat in bed for a long time, recalling every kiss, every touch, every sigh, every movement… Darkness came and found me cuddling my pillow. Hours went by, days passed, weeks dragged on… I was finally letting go. I didn’t pick his calls. The only time I did, I told him to forget me. I got a temporary job out of town and plunged myself into it without mercy. Christmas came early, everyone I knew was traveling. He was traveling too, as the secretary had told me. I didn’t ask where. I didn’t want to care. I spent Christmas alone. I thought it was a good idea but it turned out to be a big mistake. Somehow in the silence of my little space and the echoing loneliness of my heart, my obsession returned full force. I fought but couldn’t banish it. I started to crave for him even more than I used to. It was torture each passing minute and it could only be cured by him. Hence I decided to go back to him. I didn’t care if I occupied the smallest place in his existence; seeing him, even if just for a minute every day, was enough. And thus, one uneventful day in January I walked into his office and asked for my old job back. I put up a compelling argument, told him he needed me as it was obvious he hadn’t been able to replace me. I managed a straight face as I lied that I was over him, stressing that what I felt for him was long dead. “Strictly business, sir,” I stated. “Or can’t you handle that?” He pushed his chair backwards and regarded me in the eyes. If he could tell that I was lying, he didn’t show it. “So I’m supposed to forget all that happened between us?” he asked. “Yes, you should. I have.” “Damn, you’re cold.” I said nothing. He smiled. “Well, I’d be happy to have you back but things would be awkward.” “We’re adults, sir. Two nights of meaningless sex shouldn’t define our working relationship.” “Why do you need this job so badly, Anna?” “Are you going to give it to me or not?” “Feisty!” He laughed. “Oh well…like I said, I’d like you back.” He pinched his nose in habit. “Come in tomorrow and do the necessary paperwork. Welcome back.” “Thank you, sir.” I turned to the door. “You don’t fool me, Anna,” he muttered. “But I’m not going to stop you or even judge you. I’ve been in your shoes, known of the obsessive need to feed a fixation… But you’ll get over it one day. All on your own.” I dashed out of the office as fast as I could. He had no right to get into my head that way. In the days that followed, I took my work seriously. More seriously than I did before. I was back in my Ugly Betty mode. A frown constantly graced my face while I watched in interest as he smiled a lot more than he used to. It was like he went to sleep each night and woke up each morning to news that he had won a lottery. My curiosity was turned full notch and unable to keep it in, I spoke to the secretary one morning. “You don’t know?” she asked, in response to my probing. “Know what?” She peeped at Le Boss’ door which was slightly opened and pulled me away from view. “Oga has a steady now.” “Steady what?” “Girlfriend.” Something heavy sank hard into my tummy. “Girlfriend?” “I’m so happy for him,” she grinned, speaking in her characteristically-fast manner. “They don’t want it public sha but they see each other all the time. He spends most of his nights at her place; sometimes she comes over. He’s crazy about her, always asking me to send flowers and stuff to her office. I think he really loves her!” I felt ill at once. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It had to be a lie. There was no way he was in any type of committed relationship. Who the hell was this new girl? “Who is she?” I didn’t get an answer to my question as he stepped out of his office at that moment and gave both of us serious glances. “Isn’t it too early to gossip, ladies?” The secretary walked away and he informed me that we had to be somewhere for an impromptu meeting. I never brought up the issue of his new girlfriend with him or the secretary. I didn’t even ask her to fill me in on the parts she missed. I had deeper concerns like how I was regretting my return. I had come back, thinking things would go back to the way they used to be with us. I enjoyed being his wingman, enjoyed helping him get his conquests but loved most when he dumped them and moved on to something new. I had lived vicariously in those times. It was our thing, he and I. How could he give up all that freedom and excitement over one woman? One flimsy vagina! Oh, and then there was this fantasy I was nursing; that in-between his conquests, I could fill in—quickies in the office, in his car, at his suite—as per the perfect personal assistant. Anyways, I became determined to find out who his ‘girlfriend’ was. Then I would decide on how to get her out of his life. He was not a one-woman man. He belonged to all of us. “Anna, I’m expecting a package from Egypt tomorrow evening. I would be out. When it comes, please take it up to my suite. I don’t want it lying around here.” “Yes, sir.” It was a Thursday and a lazy one. He was through for the day. Leaving the office, his phone rang and a warm smile creased his face as he took the call. “I told you,” the secretary whispered with a broad smile while I frowned. I went home angry that evening. Friday was busy. I worked all through and only got a break during the closing hour. I was almost on my way home when I remembered the package that had come in earlier from Cairo. I went back to the office, picked it and my boss’ spare keycard to his apartment. I took the private elevator up. When I got into the penthouse suite, I found it a little messy. It was no surprise, though. The man wasn’t really into cleaning up after himself and room service came only in the mornings. But curiously, I took a good look at the mess and discovered that it wasn’t made by him alone. There were signs that he had entertained a female. I dropped the package on the dining table and knew I was to leave at once but I couldn’t help but snoop. Finding his bedroom door slightly ajar, I took slow steps towards it, the sound of soul music drawing me further. When I took a peep, I discovered to my annoyance that there was a lady lying on his bed, dressed in his shirt. She was asleep, face down, with her hair spread over the pillow. I stepped in and looked at her more closely. She had flawless skin and the type of body shape he adored in his women. Her backside was thrust up in the air. She was nude beneath. Even I as a woman thought it was a heavenly sight. Anna, you should go now, I heard that reasonable person in me say but I ignored the warning. I moved closer to the bed to where the lady’s handbag was lying. I needed to know more about her. I dipped my hand into the bag and towed out her wallet. I opened it, pulled out her National ID Card, Voter’s Card and work ID. I was shocked when I found out who she was. Life is full of ironies, fam. The lady was none other than my favorite on-air personality. In fact, I worshipped at her feet. On nights when I was lonely, it was her voice I sought on radio to keep me soothed and hopeful that I would find love again. She had healing in that voice. She was an angel. How on earth did she end up stealing my man?! She stirred and I backed away from view, my heart beating wildly. She went back to sleep. I returned the cards back into the wallet and put the wallet where I found it. I turned to leave but then my ears caught the sound of my boss coming in. He was calling her name. I freaked out. What was I going to tell him I was doing in his bedroom? Shoot! She was stirring again. She was going to wake up… I spun towards the bathroom. It was the only place to hide. I dashed in there fast, careful not to close the door for fear that it would make some noise. My boss was already in the bedroom. I could hear him louder now and I could hear her too. That heavenly voice of hers—real after all. Not synthesized. I held my breath, praying neither of them would come my way. I swear, I almost peed on myself. They were still in conversation. There was laughter. Then, silence. More laughter…more silence…and a giggle from her. What were they doing? They dare not! My curiosity was awakened. For a second I forgot I was hiding and dared to peep out. And like I suspected, they were getting intimate. He had her on his laps, his hands missing beneath the shirt she was wearing, but she seemed like the one in control as she went at him impatiently. “Madam, calm down,” he laughed. “Did you miss me that much?” She ignored him and kissed his lips even as he was still speaking. “With the way you’re doing, you’ll soon get pregnant o.” At that statement, my heart stopped short. Pregnant?!! He was sleeping with her without protection?! And having orgasms with her?! Oh dear God! She really was the one! Everyone knew the man never played with his condoms. Like his shadow, they followed him everywhere. He once told me that the only time he had unprotected sex was in his teenage years and that he was only going to go bare for the mother of his kids. Was she really The One? My eyes flared with tears. I didn’t want to accept what I had just seen and heard. It clearly spelled the end for he and I. Shaking my head in disbelief, I backed away from the door and accidentally knocked a metal waste bin that had been kept carelessly behind me. It made a loud clatter and I stopped my breath with my hands over my gasping mouth. I stood there, frozen. It took him less than five seconds to make it to the bathroom. He flung the door open and there I stood in humiliation. “Anna?” I didn’t have words for him or for her as she stared at me peculiarly from where she stood behind him. “You’ve been here the whole time?” he asked. “How…? What are you doing here?” Like I said, I had no words. The only thing I could do was run. And run, I did. Out of the suite and out of his life… for good. I told myself I was never going back. It had to be over for us. And the Little Black Book? Oh well…let’s just say like the other women before me, I got my entry, and in the same manner as they, my chapter closed. Fairly, we all got our happy endings in his hands. And I think it is safe to say that now, he was allowed to get his. ***

Sorry for the late update, really busy with an important project so I wont be regular to the site till Sunday evening.. Pls bear with me

Wow! I love this story oooo...

finale on the way

[b]Little Black Book Finale[/b] **** I once told you I was not a quitter. I screw up or get screwed, I stay. One does not just exercise their license to run away from every situation at a whim. One has to be an adult and weather the storm no matter how harsh, or one would be without a job. Well, that was so not me. I had not stayed. I had run, tail between my legs, with no intention of returning. To hell with the job, I told myself. I would find something soon. It may not pay as much or boast of all the benefits I was getting at the time but it would be way better than being stuck in a situation where I had to watch the man I loved expend his love on someone else. I packed my things that evening, called my brother and told him I was coming home. He didn’t ask any questions. He didn’t do too well with crying human beings. Next, I called my cabbie. He told me he wasn’t close; he would be there in an hour to pick me up. And so I waited, phone in hand, butt on the floor, knees drawn up. My little apartment seemed as sad as I was. The walls had witnessed me being loved by the man they had watched me fantasize about on many nights. The sadness in me had somehow bled out and affected everything around me. Even the floor beneath me was uncharacteristically cold…or maybe I was catching a fever from all the crying. I felt drained. I was abandoned. I needed someone to lay all my burdens on… I needed Lola. I picked up my phone and dialed her number. She answered on first ring. “Anna Banana!” she yelled. “This one you called me today. I hope you sha have hot gist for me because my evening is dull. Me and my oga had a fight and he’s in the parlor sulking while I’m forming my own vex in the room. How are you, sha? How is work? Your oga nko? Shey everything is cool between you guys? I even owe you a visit sef. I’ve not just had time. Zara wants to kill person with work.” She said all of that in one breath. Somehow it made me smile. “Ha. This one you’re quiet like this, hope you’re alright, aunty? Talk to Lola.” It took me a moment to put my thoughts together. I spoke to her in breaks, talking and crying, crying and talking. I blubbered a lot but she understood every word I said. “Clean your tears, banana babe. And stay there. I want to see how I’ll steal this yeye boy’s car key and drive over to your place. I’m coming with wine and chocolate and my Alanis Morissette CD.” I felt slightly better after the call but the tears didn’t leave. My head kept on replaying the embarrassing moment at my boss’ suite. How many times would I fall flat on my face before the man? I took a pillow and laid it on the floor to rest my head on. Lola came some thirty minutes later, barging in like the crowd she was. The first thing she did upon entry was to give me this long, comforting hug. After which she began to play Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album. She had wine, I had the chocolate, we talked about my love life. “I have to be honest with you, Anna Banana, it’s time to move on. I’m not saying you should leave. Just pack your emotions and get the hell out of his life, or he’ll keep hurting you. But retain your job…” “I can’t handle that.” “You can and you will, Anna. It’s going to be hard but you have to do it.” “When I first heard about his girlfriend, I told myself that their relationship wasn’t going to affect me. In fact, I was in denial until I saw her. That was when it occurred to me that it was really over for us.” “That’s why I said you should move on. Anna, you will get a guy. In short, my cousin who just got back from the states is single and wants to start dating…” “I’m not interested,” I answered tersely, nibbling on a nugget of white chocolate. “Whatever. Just concentrate your energy elsewhere. The man is not yours. Keep your relationship with him on a professional level.” At that point, I felt I needed some wine. Her advice had sunk in. I would keep the job but keep the man out of my life and pants. Lola passed the bottle of wine to me and popped open another one. The cabbie called, I told him my plans had changed. Lola and I drank wine and talked about men and our jobs. The night wore on. Her boyfriend called her six times. She didn’t take his calls. She fell asleep slantways on my bed, her head hanging off on one end. I took the couch and snuggled in. The walls were still sad. I was still heartbroken. *********** Months sped by. Lola’s cousin, Sheriff, turned out to be great. Our first date was at the stadium where one of my brothers was playing a game of football with his team. Sheriff could hardly get my attention that day but I got all of his. Later on, he told me he hadn’t seen a girl who loved football so much. It turned out the boyish side of me came out on that date, even though I was donning a short, floral dress and a pair of fancy wedge sandals. Sheriff loved the mix. His kind of girl, he said. He kissed me in the back of the cab on our way to my place. I tried hard not to compare his lips to my boss’ but I did. I wouldn’t say Sheriff didn’t meet up to expectation. He was good. He just wasn’t him. Sheriff and I started dating a week later. After our second kiss. He was a tall, athletic guy who once played basketball in college but left the team after a knee injury. Now, he used his spare time coaching teenage boys at the stadium. During the week, he worked with an IT firm. We connected on an intellectual level. He often wondered what I was doing in the hospitality business. Many times he offered me a job in his office but I declined. I treasured what I was doing because the man my heart once loved was part of it. I saw him every day – le boss. He was still in love with her, still sent her flowers, still spent long hours on the phone with her. It stung every time but I always had Sheriff whose arms I would crawl into and forget my pain. I met his family after dating him for five months. His dad and mom loved me. Before I left the house I was renamed iyawo. Each time I was called that, Sheriff smiled. That night we spoke about marriage for the first time. I didn’t like the conversation. We had a fight about it. I slept in my own apartment. Sheriff didn’t bring up the issue again until I took him home to my family. “When will you two get married?” my eldest brother threw in unexpectedly. The question was his way of saying he and the others liked Sheriff. “We’re not thinking about marriage now,” I answered. “Maybe you should, Anna. You’re almost thirty.” Sheriff rested his hand on my knee to calm me. We revisited the topic that night at my place. Sheriff scratched his well-trimmed beard as I spoke. I told him I wasn’t ready, not even in the next two years. “What are we doing with each other, then?” I felt pressured by him. Suddenly the air began to choke me. I told him I was taking a walk. I hurried out and hopped into a cab instead. I ended up in the office. It was dark and empty – or so I thought – until I heard laughter coming from my boss’ office, the unmistakable voice of his girlfriend. I heard kisses too. One would think that after that last time, I’d give them their privacy. No, I stayed, and heard them make love. “Sunshine, you know how I feel about you, right?” He asked after they were through. She had laughed and said nothing in reply. “I’m going crazy here.” That was when I felt I had had enough. I quietly left the office and went back home to Sheriff. I found him asleep, clutching a book, mouth slightly open. He was handsome. He was successful. He loved me. What else was I looking for? Why chase after the wind? I decided right there that I was going to invest all my emotions on him. I wasn’t ready for marriage but I was ready to finally fall in love with someone else. I kissed his parted lips and he stirred. “Anna?” He looked at me through shaded eyes and pulled me close. “I’m sorry about the marriage talk.” “It’s okay, baby.” He chuckled in a tired tone. “She called me baby. Yay.” “Go to sleep, jare.” “Can I sleep with you, instead?” We made love intensely. I put my heart into it, and for the first time since knowing him intimately, I didn’t fantasize about my boss during the act. It was all me and Sheriff. The days that followed were best described as amazing. We entered a different phase of our relationship as I fell in love with him. Even the secretary noticed something was different. She asked me why I was always smiling. “Nothing,” I replied with giggles. I spoke with Sheriff every chance I got. We never ran out of ‘I love yous’ to say to each other. On one of such endearing moments over the phone, my boss walked by with a knowing smile. Later on, while we rode to some event on the outskirts of town, he asked me how Sheriff was doing. “How did you know his name?” I threw back. He smiled. “I do hope he’s treating you right, though, because if he isn’t…” “He is.” “He’d better be.” I was flattered but I noticed a certain quietness about him. He had come off as reserved over the past couple of days. “Are you okay, sir?” I looked into his face. He looked back. “I’m fine, Anna.” His eyes said otherwise. “Thanks for asking.” I didn’t inquire again, even though the quietness lingered. I faced my life with Sheriff. He was busy a lot then, swamped under work. But he always found a way to make out time for me. We spent the weekends together; his week days belonged to his job and family. I didn’t mind. He always made up for missed time. He was the sweetest boyfriend ever. It seemed I had finally found my happiness. But not quite. Not yet. I stumbled across a used condom under Sheriff’s bed on a Saturday, while searching for an earring that had fallen over the bed post. Sheriff had gone out to buy lunch and returned to find me holding out the condom by a finger. The look of guilt on his face saved me time on whatever he had to say. Nonetheless, I allowed him defend himself. “It’s an old one, baby,” he explained. “We stopped using condoms three months ago.” “It’s probably been there for the longest time.” “This is fresh, Sheriff. Most likely yesterday. I swept under this bed last weekend and this wasn’t there.” “You must have missed it.” “Sheriff, don’t lie to me.” “I am not lying, Anna.” He came to me, arms already stretched out to hold me. I moved back. “You think I’m cheating on you, Anna?” “You tell me.” “I am not.” “Then explain this.” He began to say something, then stopped, looked into the air in thought and burst out laughing. “My colleague and his girlfriend slept over two days ago. I took the other room.” “Why didn’t they use the other room?” “The AC there is bad. You know that.” I didn’t believe him. He called the colleague in question, put him on speakerphone and asked him to explain to me that he had slept over with his girlfriend two nights ago. The guy confirmed his claims. Only then did I let the matter go. We had a quiet lunch with me lost in my thoughts. I knew Sheriff was lying to me. Four days later, in the dead of night while normal humans were asleep, I sat in the back of a cab and watched as a girl wearing a short dress stepped out of a yellow cab outside Sheriff’s home. I waited until I was certain they were deep into their fornication. I let myself into the house with my own key. The girl was on all fours. Sheriff was banging her brains out. They didn’t see me. I took a picture and left the house. I sent the picture to him and broke up via BBM. I didn’t take his calls the next day. I didn’t tell Lola. I didn’t cry. Office hours dragged on forever but I had no desire to go home. I stayed back after everyone was gone. Only then did I let the tears out. I was deep into my pain when my boss walked in. He turned on the lights and stood watching me with worried eyes. “He cheated, didn’t he?” I was too broken to reply. The man walked over and pulled me up. He didn’t hug me. Rather, he led me to his suite where he fixed me a cup of hot chocolate that brought strange calm to my emotions. “I laced it with something,” he confessed. “I need you to forget what happened.” We sat in his living room, listening to the radio. His girlfriend was doing her nightly show. She was doing her magic of healing to broken hearts with her words. I sought for tears to expel my pain. I didn’t find any. Whatever my boss gave me seemed to work. Soon we were laughing over inconsequential stuff that I wouldn’t normally find funny. I realized after an hour, that I was high. But it was a good high. I felt in control. “Heartbreak is a bitch,” he said. I saw the quietness I had noticed in him return. “She cheated on you too?” I dared to ask. “Not really. She just can’t commit.” He laughed silently. “Isn’t that ironic? She’s the female version of me without the whoring around. She just cannot commit. All she wants from me is a baby. Imagine that.” He left his seat for a glass of brandy. When he returned I was chomping on peanuts from a bottle. “I’m just a dildo to her.” He had a taste of his drink. “I feel used, small, inconsequential.” I threw my head back in laughter. It was probably the high but the irony of his situation was thick. “Yeah, Anna, laugh. I’m the one being played now. The merry jack in the box has found a box that has no strings attached. She swallows me and spits me out whenever she likes and every time, I’ll take her back, yapping up to her like her little, lost puppy. But she gives it to me good, Anna. Every bleeping time.” The humor left me just as it came. I sat there watching him. He was hurting. “I love her. I love that woman to death. I am obsessed. Have you ever felt that way before?” His question threw me back into the past when what I felt for him had been strong. I still felt it but I had mastered it and dumped it somewhere. Now I feared that it would return with a stronger force. “Yes, I have,” I gave his question an answer. “I’ve loved like that before. In fact, I still do.” “Do you want to be cured of it?” I shook my head, no. “Me neither.” He drank his liquor. I watched him. Something about the way he looked that night brought back old memories. Or maybe it was the dim lighting over grey and blue décor that gave off the feeling of ardor. Or perhaps I was just high and stupid. Whatever it was, it told me to leave my seat and walk to him. I did. It then told me to put my arms around him. I did. Finally, it said to me, ‘kiss him, Anna’. I did. And then the voice vanished, abandoning me to the whims of my boss, who never saw an offering presented to him willingly and passed up on it. He chugged down his drink and kissed the common sense out of my life. Old feelings returned in a rush as he held my body and reminded me of why I could never let go. We made love on one of the sofas, and then we moved to the spare bedroom, and stayed there until morning. Daylight came quickly and as the sun rose, he held me in his arms. “You mean so much to me, Anna. You have no idea. You know parts of me that nobody else does.” That much was true. I knew his crap. I had seen him at his worst, at moments that she could never share with him. I took him as he was; the good, the bad and the dirty. I loved him that way. It was a shame that she played with his heart. “I’m never letting you go,” he whispered and began to kiss me. That morning, we both arrived at work late. Sheriff was waiting when I entered the office. He made quite a scene begging me on his knees. I didn’t give in. My boss called security to throw him out when he wouldn’t leave. I observed the scene in sadness, watching how months of invested emotions and body parts came to nothing. Shortly after he was gone, Lola called. I thought she wanted to plead on his behalf but she was telling a different story. “The girl is his ex. I’m glad you dumped his ass. Good riddance.” I didn’t tell her what I did the night before. She hurried off the phone to attend to Zara. She told me she would visit after work. I closed at normal closing hours and took the staff bus home, listening to my colleagues talk about the wave of terrorism spreading around the world as I had flashes of the previous night. The bus dropped me on a street next mine and I walked home leisurely. When I got to my building, I saw a brand new car with a ribbon on it parked outside. I concluded it was one of my neighbors surprising his wife with a birthday gift but it was I who got the surprise when my boss’ chauffer stepped out of the car and walked to me with an envelope. “For me?” I asked awkwardly. He didn’t respond. I opened it and took out a plain card with a handwritten note. For sexual healing. For helping me cope. You’re for keeps, Anna. I want you exclusively. I could hardly believe what I had just read. For real?! “For real?” I asked out loud. The chauffer, of course, carried that condescending look in his eyes he always had for me but I didn’t care. Look who’s the boss now. I wanted so badly to scream out loud. Excitement was a mild word. I glared at the car. It was as real as the pavement on which it was parked. My first car ever! And I didn’t even know how to drive. Given to me by my man. My man. “But there’s a clause,” he said to me on the phone later that evening. “We don’t go public yet. We remain as we are. I, the boss, and you, my assistant.” “Sure, sir.” “Say my name, Anna. Say it the way you say it when I’m between your legs.” I laughed and called out his name. “I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up. I lay in bed, still as a rock but tumbling in excitement. However, I had questions. How was this exclusivity supposed to work? What did it even mean? Had he totally let go of her? It took a couple of weeks for the high to fade and for me to realize what his words actually meant. He treated me as he said he would during office hours. Nothing changed in our working relationship. But sadly, the same treatment carried on after office hours. He never called, not even to say hi. At the start, I took it in stride but after a long stretch of silence, I became worried. Another week passed and only then did I realize that he had gone back to her. I caught them making out in his office on a Sunday morning when I stopped by to pick my laptop. He hadn’t been perturbed when I walked in on them. “Hi, Anna,” he called with a smile. I apologized for barging in and left. He didn’t call to explain why he was still with her. I spent the night with tear-filled eyes. “Why not pick your phone and call him, aunty?” Lola suggested. “I’m scared of what he’ll tell me. Maybe he’s changed his mind about us and gone back to her.” “Just call him and let him give you a proper definition of what you people have. You deserve more than he’s giving you.” “Fine. I’ll do that.” But I didn’t. Rather, I maintained the current situation, waiting to see how things would turn out. He cut short my wait, however, when one day, he rang and asked me over for dinner and drinks. We sat out at his balcony, taking in the view of city lights while we dined. The radio was playing like the last time. His girlfriend was on air. She was talking about one-sided love, and how hard it was for some people to simply let go and love the person who loves them dearly. She explained how scared they were of losing control of their hearts and have it broken in the end. His face at some point, while we listened to her, turned icy. He went into the bedroom and changed the radio station to something that was more upbeat. I poured him a glass of wine and he stood resting on the railing, looking out into the night. “Come, Anna.” He stretched out his hand. I went to him. He stood behind me and clasped me tightly. The air was cool as were his lips on my neck. We stayed that way for a long spell until a P-Square song off their Invasion album began playing. “I love this song,” he whispered. “You want to dance?” “No.” “You’ll dance, anyway.” Holding me, he moved to the beat of the music and somewhere in the middle, he sang along. “And I swear, if you are my girl, I’ll take you round the world. I’ll take you places where you’ve never, ever been before. So give me your hand…” I fell into rhythm. “I’m giving you my world,” he sang on. “I promise I’ll be loving you forever and ever. I’ll love you forever. I’m giving you my world.” “I like it,” I caroled in response. “I really, really like it.” “If you are my girl, I’ll take you round the world.” “I like it. I really, really like it.” “You know I’ll love you forever. I’ll please you forever. I’ll kiss you forever.” And then it struck me, right there, from nowhere, that he wasn’t actually singing to me. He was singing to her. The words did not apply to me. He didn’t want to love me forever or give me his world. He just wanted me in one little part of it. The part where he could run to whenever she walked away. I was always going to be his little, side project. She would wear his ring and have his kids and bear his name while I made his coffee, organized his life and gave him sexual healing. I was a mistress! Plain and simple! What on earth had I been thinking? I wriggled out of his hold and went for my handbag. “Where are you going?” he asked, surprised. “I’m going home,” I told him. “Why?” “Because I can’t do this – this thing we’re deceiving ourselves that we’re doing here. I can’t. You don’t love me, you love her. She doesn’t love you, she loves someone or something else. But it’s neither of you who suffer. It’s me. I’ll always have to wait for you to need me when she doesn’t need you. And I don’t want to do that. I want to be needed as much as she’s needed and as much as I need you. If you can’t give me that, I’m sorry. This can’t work.” I started out and he stopped me. “Please, don’t complicate this,” I begged him. “Just let me go.” “Sit down, Anna. Let’s talk.” I hesitated. He held me and sat, pinning me down on his laps. “When I told you I wanted us to be exclusive, I wasn’t lying. I meant it. I want you, Anna, and not just for flings. I need you in my life. Only you understand me. Only you really know me. Yes, I love her and I desperately want to own her but it doesn’t lessen what we have…” “How can you say that?” “It is what it is, Anna. You’re stuck in my world. I can never erase you from it. If you go, you’ll break my heart. And God knows I can’t stand to watch another man hurt you again. Please, stay. Don’t go away.” I swung my head from left to right countless times. I didn’t want to listen to him. He was working his magic into my head. Soon he would kiss and I would melt again. I pulled out of his clutch and dashed out as fast as I could, shutting my ears to the sound of my name on his lips. The floor of the elevator could hardly take my wobbly feet. I broke under the weight of my decision. “You deserve better, Anna,” Lola’s words re-echoed but I didn’t agree with her. The man was the best I ever had and I wasn’t looking for a replacement. I was simply going pulling out of the present situation to assess my position and then decide on what next I wanted. I planned to keep the job, the car, the apartment – and of course, him too. But you see, he had to come back with a better offer than what he was already giving me The old Anna who was naïve and blindly in love with him wanted me to go back there and take what was he was offering. But I had been through a lot in his arms to ask for less. [b]The End[/b]

I need to read from on set.

@Itzprince .. can I have your WhatsApp contact, there is a story I want you to edot for me, please.. I will be grateful.

I fink xo

nice ending

Very interesting

This is d most complicated story I've ever read