When A Playboy Loves

|| 51.

King

Rustling of papers broke the silence of the boardroom, I scoffed as Tibi placed a hand over Wole's. The duo were sickening to watch, they were not as subtle as they thought with their affection and their stolen glances did not go past me. Besides, this was an office, not their bedroom, the display of love should be reserved for a private place without observers. They could stare at each other for as long as they wanted but not in our--my presence. I didn't need to witness that shit or see Tibi's visible baby bump.

If the other men in the room noticed, their mask of indifference gave nothing away and maybe I should have acted like them, masked my jealousy, no, annoyance better but the simple gesture was bringing back memories. Memories of my beautiful Uti, she still wouldn't talk to me. How could one woman be so stubborn, naughty and cute?

I missed her.

My chest tightened, I exhaled. A baby bump would look good on my Uti, she would rock pregnancy with grace. I was yet to send her my usual text, I didn't expect the meeting would go on for this long. She never replied but I liked to picture her reading it with her legs crossed at her ankles, blanket pulled to her chin and a small smile playing on her lips. I hoped to God those texts made her smile, that she mouthed an 'I love you too' while reading even though I couldn't see her and I looked forward to resuming my position as her lover and kitchen assistant.

Did we break up? She had better not end things because she was stuck with me for life. Or was this also part of space? The boys said to give her space, I wouldn't have listened if Cynthia didn't agree with them. But two weeks. Fuck. Two long miserable weeks, didn't she miss me too? I missed her and our babies. God, I loved that woman.

I dug my nails into my palms, Wole's words went into my right ear, came out of the left. This was odd, having him sit at the head of the table with Tibi by his side while I was seated among the others, pretending to listen to his boring speech. I exhaled slowly.

"Miss Tibiebi Edwards," he paused to smile at a grinning Tibi, "is giving us the land for the extension as a gift. A show of solidarity on our partnership for project Pavilion 2.0." I scoffed, the other board members offered her a round of applause and she beamed at them. "We will do great things together."

Yes, great things such as making babies to get a position. I let out a low hiss. At least his dress sense has improved greatly. Our eyes clashed, a ghost of a smile appeared on Wole's lips and he winked. If there was a word stronger than hate, it would best describe how I felt about the overambitious bastard.

Trying to rein my violent thoughts because one bald, beautiful woman told me violence wasn't the answer, I picked my phone that was lying face down on the table. Five missed calls stared me in the face, the time at the top left corner of the screen had me jumping out of my seat. My goddaughter's birthday party already started and I was still here, I didn't even have her gift yet.

"Mr Daniels?"

Seven pairs of eyes turned in my direction, I gulped and offered them a tight-lipped smile. "Excuse me," I murmured and stepped outside with the phone in my grip.

Excitement rushed through my veins when I tapped on the notification bar to see Uti's missed calls and I fist bumped into the air. Finally. My smile grew as the image I used to save her contact appeared on my screen, I pressed the phone to my ear, waiting for her soothing voice to come from the other end. The call ended without her picking, I shoved the rising disappointment aside and redialled the number, she could be busy.

Two trials later and no response from her, I let out a deep breath. She could be busy, maybe she was at the party, helping out, she liked to help. I sighed, would she go? I promised to take Emma but his stubborn mother wouldn't even speak to me. Women.