The Right One

Twelve

His reply took less than a minute.

Really, Hope?
10:27

Really. I didn't fall asleep until 4:00 am.
You abandoned me when I needed you the most!😭
10:27

-----
10:27

What's that supposed to translate to?
10:28

I have no words.
10:28

Hope chuckled.

That's 'cause you know I'm right.
10:28

Is this going to be a thing now? You texting me at odd hours? Do you have so much free time?
10:29

Hope scoffed. Arrogant human. She decided to ignore the jab.

Whatever. You're picking me up from work today, right?
10:29

She had to wait a bit for his response. When he did reply, it had her eyes rolling.

I didn't realize I was an official driver now.
10:31

Well, you are.
10:31

Sorry, but there's no fuel in this driver's car.
I was hoping to sell some airtime to buy fuel but I can't since it's all gone now, courtesy of a certain someone.
10:32

Hope's mouth dropped open in disbelief. What the. . .

You're the shallowest and most petty human being I've ever met in my life!
10:33

Thanks.
Order a cab, miss.
10:33

I don't have money for a cab :(
10:33

"You look so serious. What are you doing? Why do you have that weird look on your face?"

Hope glanced up at Oke. "What? What's wrong with my face?"

Her phone vibrated and she immediately looked back down.

So engage the service of your legs.
Bye, Hope. You're distracting me from work.
10:34

"Jerk," she muttered, turning off her mobile data and tucking her phone back into her pants pocket.

"Who were you texting? Your boyfriend?" Oke inquired.

"Boyfriend, ha!" Hope snorted. "Just my driver."

"Hm?"

Hope laughed. "Joking. Just . . . someone."

"Someone, hm? Okay oo. You don't want to get caught texting during work hours though. The boss takes real exception to that. Like seriously, he doesn't even want to smell your phone on you."

Hope chuckled, surprisingly feeling a bit more awake. She faked a military salute. "Yes sir! Noted."

As if the universe was out to call her out for being a liar, her phone vibrated again and she hastily brought it out, grinning sheepishly at Oke who regarded her with a blank look.

"Last one," she promised.

He rolled his eyes at her and turned to attend to a new customer.

She stuck her tongue out at him even though he couldn't see her. She swiped her phone open and her blood instantly chilled. It wasn't a text from Raymond as she'd been hoping. It was one from an unknown number but the content of the text gave her a good idea who it was.