Untouched love

Chapter fourteen: clueless

‘’ Party…? What party?’’ Bolaji didn’t know about any party that was supposed to take placed next week.
‘’ You didn’t know?’’ Bisi asked.
‘’No.’’ He answered.
‘’ I thought you knew already. My dad spoke about it when we were talking earlier today. I think he said it was to celebrate the company’s growth or something. I don’t know the full details, I assume he is going to tell you. It might be better to contact him, he’s forgetful this days, he might’ve forgotten he hasn’t informed you.’’ Bisi said.
‘’ Wow,’’ Bolaji said. ‘’ Nobody mentioned anything of sorts to me here. They might’ve thought I knew already.’’’
Bisi chuckled over the phone. ‘’’ I going to go out on a limb and say you don’t have any plans. Good.’’
‘’Good?’’ He asked unsure of what exactly is good here.
‘’ Never mind.’’ Bisi said. ‘’ So, where were you when I came around earlier? ‘’
‘’ I was out on a date.’’ There was a pause as he said that. ‘’ Hun… what’s wrong?’’
‘’ Nothing.’’ She said quickly. ‘’ So… a date…? Can you tell me about it?’’ She was acting strange, her earlier enthusiasm was now gone. He raced his eyebrows up in question, not that she could see it.
‘’ Yeah… ‘’ Bolaji wasn’t sure what was going on. ‘’ I went on business date with one of our business associates.’’
‘’ A business date?!’’ He heard her breathe out. ‘’ Oh, I see.’’
‘’ What do you mean…’’ Something just clicked inside his head. Bolaji burst out laughing. ‘’ Wait… you thought I went on a real date? Really…? At that time in the morning?’’
‘’ It’s your own fault for not stating it clearly! Don’t try to put this on me.’’ The pitch of her voice went up as she talked.
He was having the laugh of his life with her reaction. ‘’ I don’t believe there was anything wrong with what I said. Besides, shouldn’t you be happy if I actually went on a date! You were always saying I should get a girlfriend.’’ He said incredulously.
‘’ It just came as a shock, is all. Silly me, I should have known, all you care about is work.’’ Not recently, he thought.
‘’ Wait a minute, are you not in the same position as me? How long as it been since you’ve went on a date? You are always going on about how your work is getting in your way.’’ Bolaji replied her.
‘’ Uhm… no, it’s not the same. I actually have someone I like, the guy is just too stupid to notice or just doesn’t care. I willing to bet it’s the former though.’’ Her said took a slightly sad tone as she finished.
‘’ Or you could just tell him how you feel.’’ Bolaji said to his friend.
Bisi took a breath and let go. ‘’ I doubt that would change anything.’’
‘’ Then he is surely missing out a lot. I’ll bet it would, though. I mean, you are a beautiful and lovely lady.’’ Bolaji said trying to cheer her up.
‘’ Well, if he is missing out, he isn’t showing it. But don’t worry, I’m not giving up on him.’’ Bisi said. Her voice returning to normal.
‘’ That’s the spirit.’’ Bolaji said.
‘’ Okay, then. I think I’ve taken enough of your time, I’m sure you have a lot of things you want to do. I’ll see you later. Bye.’’ She said as she cut the call.
Bolaji was going to have to visit the CEO of the company directly in his house. He could call him, but he didn’t want to do that. The CEO’s health wasn’t as it used to be, and he hasn’t visited him for quite some time now. His health status was one of the main reasons he handed control of the company over to him. Bolaji also had company matters to discuss with him. With all that, he definitely had more than enough reasons to go visit him.
Bolaji finished up in the office late evening. The beautiful red hue of the sun was almost past the horizon, the day would soon get dark. Lydia had gone home already. He greeted some of the securities who were already patrolling the building and went to the parking space in the ground floor where his car was.
The ride to the company owner’s house was a smooth one with no traffic, which was not common in Lagos at this time of the day. The place was quite far so it was already dark when he arrived at the house. Or what would could be referred to as a house. It was more like a huge estate that spanned hectares. A part of it was even used as plantation. It had a long driveway with streetlights for illumination the way at regular intervals. There was a lot of land surrounding the mansion right in the centre. The land is mostly covered in freshly mowed grass with few bald spots. There were also small-big trees and neatly trimmed flowers decorating the compound. A beautiful sight all in all. Even though it was night already, the immediate surroundings was well lit. He drove past the set of heavy gates after the security opened it for him.
He drove his Audi up to the house. He circled a huge fountain in front of the house and parked his car in the parking space by the fountain. The house was just as impressive as it was when he first saw it. The mansion was painted white and it was ginormous. There were four tall and large blue pillars in the porch which extended and help up the roof. He rang the doorbell and the maid, a middle aged woman, came to open the door for him. He stepped into the mansion and glanced around for an instance before landing his eyes back to her. The maid, Mrs Fatima, was a short dark skinned woman, with slightly greying hair that’s braided all-back. According to what Bisi told him, she was living with her husband in a cottage in a part of the huge compound. All her children had already left home, her youngest was in school and her oldest is already married. Bisi said the woman was the closest thing she had to a mother after her mother own divorced her father. Mrs Fatima is a kind and sweet woman who he always found pleasant to be around.
‘’ Bolaji,’’ She said, her voice a little hoarse but sweet nonetheless. ‘’ How are you doing?’’ She asked caringly.
‘’ I’m fine, thank you. How are you, too?’’ Bolaji asked.
She gestured to herself. ‘’ As you can see, I’m fine.’’ Her cheeks rose as she gave him a smile. ‘’ We don’t see you around here much this days. Not even to drop in to greet, unh… that’s too bad of you.’’
She took his arm as she led him to the living room. They descended down a small step as they walked towards the living room. The large room was brightly lit and there was a huge chandelier hanging above the room.
Bolaji made a guilty face.’’ I’m terribly sorry for that, Mrs Fatima. I’ll try to drop more often.’’ He said apologetically.
‘’ That’s better.’’ She said patting his arm as she smiled up at him. She had to raise her head up as she smiled at him, she was just about half his size. Her head not even reaching up to his shoulder. She was also quite petite, but one shouldn’t underestimate her, she has quite the fire in her that would make you doubt her height.
She led him up to one of the large sofa in the living room and he sat down.
‘’ Is there anything I can get for you?’’ asked Mrs Fatima.
‘’ Just a cold drink is enough. ‘’ Bolaji said.
‘’ Nonsense.’’ Mrs Fatima said. ‘’ I’m going to go whip you something to eat. You are just coming from work, aren’t you? And I’m just about to cook dinner anyways. You need to take better care of yourself, I can bet you haven’t eaten anything, have you?’’
He grinned at her. She was spot on, now that he thought about it, he was quite hungry.
‘’ Thank you.’’ Bolaji said to her.
‘’ Now, if you had a young miss waiting for you at home, I wouldn’t be worried.’’ She said shaking her head. She sighed. ‘’ I mean look at you, it looks like you are not even feeding yourself well.’’
Bolaji chuckled at the mixture of worriedness and lamentable expression that appeared on her face. She always says that with the same expression every time. ‘’ I’m perfectly fine taking care of myself. There’s no need to worry about me, Mrs Fatima.’’
She continued shaking her head. ‘’ You young people, always the same, thinking you are fine on your own.’’ She sighed again. ‘’ It’s the same for Bisi, too. I don’t even know why you both are not going out with each other, as far as I can see, you are both perfect for each other.’’
‘’ We are just friends and very good ones, too.’’ Bolaji replied as usual.
‘’ Yes, yes, so you say every time. I’m not going to give up on  you both just yet.’’ She said. ‘’ Let me go prepare something for you.’’
‘’ Is he home?’’ he asked Mrs Fatima as she was just about to turn around.
She paused in her motion. ‘’ Oh… yes. He is. You know he doesn’t go out much this days. He is in the study reading. Let me get him for you.’’
She went up the spiral stairs to the left of where Bolaji was sitting that led to the first floor and disappeared from view for a few seconds after going up a few stairs before reappearing again through the visible wide glass that lined the corridor of the second floor for a few feet before disappearing again behind the walls. The living room was boxed by pillars supporting the second floor on both side of the room.
While she was gone, he had nothing to do, so he just glanced around. The wool rug beneath his feet gently caressed his feet as he stretched his leg out a bit. There was a different foot wear for when inside the house and he took it off just to feel his tired legs on the woolly rug. It felt like a gentle massage on his feet and toes and it felt much better than before. The whole interior of the house was painted white and the floor was filled with glistening white tiles. He had always thought the house was overkill but with him being the CEO of their company he could definitely understand why.
Five minutes later, he heard footsteps descending down the stair.