The Love That Will Never Die 4

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My desk phone gave out its boring ringtone as I sat rotating in my chair, trying to lick up the sweet taste of tea in my mouth with my tongue. The phone rang for the second time, I leaned forward and picked the receiver, falling back on my chair and holding it to my ears with my shoulder. 

"Hello" I said into the receiver. 

"Hi, It's Gift"

"Baby, how are you?"

"I'm fine and you?"

"I'm okay dear"

"Alright, I have been calling your phone but you were not picking"

"Yes, I left it in the car, sorry about that"

"Are you still coming?" she asked after a pause. 

"Yea, told you I would make it over during the weekend"

"I just wanted to remind you, you know it's been long"

"Sure, I won't forget, today is Thursday, I'll be there tomorrow sweetheart"

"Okay, I just miss you"

"I miss you too. How's princess?"

"She is fine, do you want to talk to her?"

"Yes dear" I said. 

"Baby come, daddy wants to talk to you" I heard her say over the phone. Princess' voice came up after that. 

"Hello daddy" she said in her little developing voice. 

"How are you baby?" I asked trying to mimic her voice. 

"Fine"

"How is mommy?" 

"She is fine"

"How are you daddy?" she asked after I heard her mum tell her to ask me how I was. 

"I am fine baby, hope mommy is taking care of you?"

"Yes daddy"

"Okay baby, what do you want me to get you tomorrow?"

"A teddy" she called out. 

"Okay sweet, I will get you a big teddy"

"Okay daddy" 

"I love you sweet"

"I love you too daddy"

"Alright, now give the phone to mummy" I said. Gift's voice came up. 

"Baby" she called out. 

"I have to go now love, I will talk to you later". 

"Okay, take care". 

"You too, I love you babe". 

"I love you too, bye" she said and the line went dead. I dropped the receiver back in its place and fell back again, a smile of satisfaction on my face. 

"Jennifer" I called and my door opened almost immediately and my very luscious secretary walked in baring her cleavage over a black singlet covered by a grey suit. She smiled at me as she walked to and stood before my table. 

"Do I have any appointments?" I asked 

"Hmm, not exactly, they are being handled by your P. A." 

"I'm leaving now, take care of this place" I said getting up from where I sat, pulling my jacket off the hanger and putting it on. 

"Where to?" she asked frowning her face in a way that amplified her beauty. 

"Just going home to rest, anything?" I asked and she walked up to where I stood, I moved back a bit and she pulled up closer, holding my jacket and adjusting it. 

"Nothing much, It's just that I don't get to see you the way I would love to"

"What way is that?" I asked even though I knew what she meant. 

"We hardly spend time together like before and you are always too busy to see me and things like that" 

"Uhm, Jennifer, I thought you were getting married?"

"So what?" she asked curtly. 

"Shouldn't you be dedicating time to planning your wedding and other things like that?"

"It's still far away, he only proposed, we haven't fixed a date or anything" 

"I see" I said scratching my head and trying to figure out a way of avoiding the discussion that was about springing up. 

"Are you jealous?" she asked all of a sudden and I took a sharp look at her. 

"Jealous?" I said with a scoff "Of what?" 

"Yes, are you jealous that someone else is going to have me?".

It really sounded ridiculous to me, the idea of my being jealous, Jennifer asides being my secretary and a side fling, she was the last person I would want to get serious with, I loved keeping our relationship to an office affair and nothing more than that. 

"I'm not jealous, I'm happy for you really" I said adjusting her hair to reveal her beautiful eyes. 

"Cool" she replied weakly and I could see the disappointment in her face. 

"So can we spend the weekend together?" she asked, a sudden spark of excitement lighting up in her eyes. 

"The weekend?" I asked pinching my nose. 

"Yes, the weekend" she repeated after me with raised eyebrows. 

"Not possible dear" I said, putting my right hand on her hair and smoothing out the curls in them. 

"Why?" she asked, disappointment registering all over her face. 

"I promised my wife I would be coming over" 

"Your wife?" she asked with a creased brow. 

"Yes, really, I have been away from them for too long"

"Oh, sorry I asked" she said walking out on me and heading for the door. 

"Jennifer" I called and she turned back to look at me. 

"I'm sorry" I muttered helplessly and she nodded. 

"Come" I commanded and she walked slowly towards me. I placed my right hand on her cheek and pulled her face closer to mine, we locked our lips in a deep kiss, our lips made clicking sounds as we tilted our heads from one side to the other. We were interrupted by the sound of my door opening. We withdrew and met Angela at the door, facing us with her mouth wide open. 

"Erm, Jennifer just go, I will see you later" I managed to say. She nodded and walked past Angela who frisked her from head to toe and back with her eyes. She cat walked in a carefree manner out of the office and shut the door behind her. 

"You know you should learn to knock on closed doors" I said, leaning back on the table. 

"So you moved the action from your house to your office too?" she asked totally ignoring my comment and putting her hands on her waist and standing akimbo. 

"What action are you talking about?"

"What were you doing just now that I came in?"

"And what was I doing? Please remind me" I said with a naughty smile on my face. 

"Well, all that is your business" she said moving over to the couch in the room and sitting on it, throwing her hand bag on the glass side stool, her plump laps shooting out  of her cream body hug gown. 

"But you seemed so bothered by it?"

"I'm not bothered anything but I also do not think I'm going to let you donate blood to our son again, only God knows which virus is living inside you with the way you are running after everything that wears a skirt "She said hissing and throwing her face out of my searching eyes. 

"You look more beautiful when you are jealous" I teased her and this forced a smile out of her face. 

"So what brought you here today? You hardly come to see me in my office" I asked heaving myself up the table to sit on it. 

"I just wanted to let you know about J.J's school's P.T.A meeting" 

"What's a P.T.A meeting?" I asked with a mischievous grin on my face. 

"Don't be silly Jay, this is serious, you have to prepare for it, we are going together"

"Together? Since when did it become mandatory that both parents attend?" 

"They said this one's different" she said pulling at her hair. 

"Well, that won't work please" 

"Why?" She snapped, looking up at me from the couch. 

"I will be spending the weekend with my wife and child" I said maintaining eye contact with her. 

"so?" she asked, her eyes still fixed on mine. 

"So, I won't be available" 

I shifted my gaze to the purple rug on the floor. Apparently she had won the staring match. 

"That is none of my business, we are going there together, J.J is tired of living like he has no father and me too, I'm done with it, it's either you solidify your stand in our lives or you get out of it entirely". 

She was angry and understandably too. The gap between me and my son had been so wide and my efforts so far in rectifying it had been rather uninspiring. 

I got up from where I sat on the table and walked over to her on the couch, I sat beside her and tried touching her, she shifted away from me and threw her face from my direction. 

"Angy, I'm really sorry, I know I haven't been the perfect father to my son and I'm sorry about that, really sorry. I promise to make it up from now on" 

I recited my pleas trying to pull closer to her, she didn't move away from me but she still refused to look at me. 

"Sweetheart"

"... "

"The mother of my child". 

The smile came up slowly and she turned to face me. I parted her hair from a part of her face to reveal the smile which was slowing fading away. 

"Baby, all I'm saying is that we should go there together, at least to give him a sense of belonging, you said the other day that you loved him, try and prove it to him with this, you won't know how much it would mean to him, to me. Baby please" she pleaded with both her voice and her eyes. I heaved a big sigh and conceded to her. 

"Alright, we will go together, I'll make out time" 

She barely let me finish, she threw herself at me in a big hug and held on to me for a long while. 

"I love you dear" she said and pecked me on the cheek. I nodded and gave a weak smile. 

"So what next?" I asked. 

"Nothing dear, so what so we wear?" She asked excitedly. 

"Clothes or do you have any other thing in mind?" 

"Don't be silly dear, I think we should wear something like a uniform" she said stroking my arm. 

"Please, Lets just wear suits, I think that's the best we can do"

"Okay, if you say so, but I would have loved something... "

"Baby I insist"  I shot in, in a bid to end the clothing issue. 

"Errm, lemme drop you off, I have somewhere to be right now" I said looking at my wrist watch. 

"Don't worry dear, I came with my own car" she said getting up and picking her hand bag. 

"Hmmm, okay". 

I got up after her and switched off my laptop. I adjusted my jacket just in time before she pulled me to herself. She held me as we walked out of the door. I turned to Jennifer, she was busy Punching away on her computer. 

"Jenny, I'm leaving"

"Okay" she nodded at the same time. 

"Please, take care of my office"

"Alright".

We walked to the elevator, Angela clutching on to me possessively, apparently, she wanted to send a message to Jennifer. 

"Just look at that, she didn't even put a "Sir"  in her reply, not minding that you are her boss" Jennifer said as we got into the elevator. 

"Angy please, don't start". 

We were quiet as the elevator took us down 3 floors and we got out still stuck together. Greetings and stares flew from all corners as we left the lobby down to the car park. I led her to her car, a pink Porsche 911 Carrerra. A car I bought her on her 36th birthday. She turned around and leaned on the car, searching my face all over. 

"How are you holding up?" She asked. 

"Finally, she asks about me"

She laughed and held my hands. 

"You know I care" 

"Well I'm holding on fine" 

"I can see that, you are always looking good". 

She patted my chin with her fingers. 

"Thank you" I mouthed. 

She kissed me and pulled away immediately. I helped her open her door and she got in, she started the engine and turned to face me. 

"I hope you do eat well" she said looking at me like a mother would look at her child. I nodded with a grin. 

"I try my best"

"You should come over sometime, maybe spend a week or a month with us, we are your family you know, allow us take care of you like you deserve"

"I know and that would be sweet, I will make out time one day". 

She smiled and nodded, I smiled back and shut her door. She started the engine and drove out of the park, blowing me a kiss as the car moved. I waved at her and searched my pockets for my sunshade. I found it in my jacket's inner pocket. I slid it on and scavenged the premises with my eyes. A lot of eyes were on me as expected. Angela was a controversial figure in my company and my randy lifestyle wasn't unknown to everyone. 

I walked a few meters down to my personal car park. My black Range Rover Sport glimmered under the canopy as I approached it. I had a thing or two for big cars but that didn't stop me from keeping a Lamborghini in my garage for occasional show offs. 

The security system beeped on receiving signals from the remote in my hand. The door unlocked and I pulled it open. I got in and rested back on the chair, taking in a deep breath and inhaling the sweet scent from the air refresher that hung down from the rear view mirror. I shut the door and picked my iPhone from the center console, passed my thumb over the fingerprint scanner and it unlocked. I met 7 missed calls waiting for me on the notification panel, 4 were from Gift and 2 from Angela. Navigating to my contacts list, I clicked on Rita's number and it started dialling. It only rang 3 times before a vibration feedback notified me that she had picked. A sweet voice came up from the other end. 

"Hello" 

"Hi, your voice is just as beautiful as you are" I teased. She laughed and I smiled. 

"Thank you"

"You welcome"

"Sorry, who am I speaking with?"

"Ermm, would you still remember me?"

"Tell me first, maybe you are someone I wouldn't like to forget"

Her voice was dreamy and I was falling in love by the minute. 

"Ermm, Its Jason actually, the Post graduate guy". 

"Oh, hey you, how can I forget about someone that left me all alone in his car with his stereo". She said and we both laughed. 

"Where are you now?" I asked after the laughter had subsided. 

"In my lodge, why?"

"I was hoping to meet up again, maybe hangout together, are you busy now?"

"Hmm, Not really but then, I don't know if I'm ready to hang out with you, just yet" she drew the words slowly. 

"Hey, you refused me the first time, do not do that again, please"

"Erm, where are you now?" she asked. 

"I'm about leaving my office, I intend coming to pick you up from there"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes" I said, nodding like she could see me. 

"Okay, just start coming over, I'll see if I'll be ready by the time you get here"

"Okay, I'm on the next available flight to Awka" I said, starting my engine as the call ended with the both of us laughing out loud.

I pulled the car out of the car park and drove out of the gate with the security men waving at me as I hit the tarred road on my way to Ifite Awka.