Marked ( Nigerian) #4

CHAPTER 28

He had seen her walk past the room he was exiting alone at the ministry. He had worked out of a meeting and had ordered no one to follow him. He needed a break from hearing abut his campaign and his fathers reputation or his grandfather's power and legacy.

She walked into the frame of the one way mirror that stood where a wall should. She waved goodbye to her friend as she walked away and Tobi tilted his head to the side. She intrigued him.

Not once as he ever felt genuinely intrigued to meet or speak to someone.

His phone rang and he reached in his pocket to look at who was calling despite having a hint of who it might be.

Grandfather.

He contemplated answering the call before he looked up and she looked at him or it seemed so. she stared back at him but he knew for a fact that she didn't know he was there.

Her attention was drawn to someone else who walked into the frame and had a small chat with her before they walked away together.

His phone rang and he picked it, he listened to grandfather yell as he took in his instructions. Tobi let his mind trail off, he found himself lost in the eyes of a stranger.

His assistant entered the room and handed him a file which he scanned through

'It doesn't add up sir' he said as Tobi mentally acknowledged the details of the file.

He handed it back to him 'is the car ready?'

'yes sir'

Tobi went back to the conference room and further negotiated the deal despite not wanting to. As he signed the contracts he tried to not think about what he had to do next.

He walked by the lobby after cutting a deal with the ministry, he had been warned about the flash mob at the lobby and was sort of prepared to walk through.

He caught a glimpse of her, for the last time he thought and to him that was the end. He went to bed that night less troubled as he calmed himself with thoughts of her eyes and her smile.

'This is the end' he thought. He had never been captivated for longer than he wanted to be.

He walked through the lobby and spotted her from the corner of his eyes and for a split second he was able to stop thinking about the fact that he was on his way to kill a man.

Tobi had shot that man in the middle of his head later that day. He cleaned his gun with a piece of clothing. He didn't feel guilty, he never did but today he felt different about taking out one of his grandfathers loose ends.

Just like the day their paths crossed again, He had taken care of one loose end and was going to take care of another.

He had ordered them to do what they had to do for them to get to their destination as quick as possible while scanning through the latest headline that was in his favour.

He looked up and out the window to see what was causing their further delay when she stepped down of the bus. His curiosity awakened. She looked at the car like she could tell he was looking at her.

She was furious as she crossed the road to his car.

She knocked his window and went straight to why she was there. He maintained his regular deadpan look as his idea of her shattered by the reality of who she was but her eyes still captivated him.

Did she not know who he was or did she not care? She became his loose end and he had to do something about it. He couldn't exactly kill her in the middle of a road, a jammed one that is.

He had planned to forgive her with the assumption that she was being gullible. He contained his anger with thoughts of hope that they never cross path again. Her eyes had captivated him once and he hoped it was enough to spare her but her actions kept daring him.

He was merely going to educate her before things escalated. She hit him.

No one had ever raised their hands on him asides his grandfather.  

He wasn't going to bother coming for her himself, he had more important things. He would leave her to the mercy of the islanders who wanted his grandfathers favour

Later that day his grandfather had decided he wanted things handled differently but he had made plans of his own on his ride to his house. He had ordered them to provide a full brief on her first.

She had a man. He saw the pictures. The thought irritated him which made him question his stance and personal bias towards her. He caught a glimpse of her on his drive out of the estate and He felt envy knowing why she was there until he completed the brief.

He read her brief and realised her boyfriend's parents had presented a marriage alliance with another Islander family.
He had proposed before and she had said no and he was curious why.

He knew he had to change his plans so at the gates, he informed them on what they had to do for him.

With every interaction he had with her since he decided to protect her, she won. Her stubbornness, her strong will both irritated him and made him want to protect her even more from everything and everyone including himself.

He had never let himself feel any form of loving emotions, he had been grown that way. He found that he could only express frustration in ways that were foreign to him. He never yelled or spoke loudly than he had to, his presence was enough to demand all the respect in the world from friend, family or foe ever since he was a kid.

Her lack of respect for him was something he had never had to deal with and didn't know how to deal with in a way that would make his grandfather proud. He did think about just ending it by shooting her but he couldn't. He wanted to end the torture he felt due to the foreign feeling within him that he finally traced back to her.

He felt empty at the thought of her existence vanishing so he laid next to her instead. He watched her sleep quietly.

He had never been drunk. He never let himself get drunk. He had no control of the feeling which he had no label for but knew who caused it. So he let himself go by taking two more glasses of scotch hoping it would knock him out but instead it brought out a version of him he didn't know existed.

Remi had unlocked a version of him grandfather never wanted to exist.

'I am sorry, My inability to navigate my feelings is no excuse for how I have treated you' He said leaning into her and placing a kiss on her lips 'but I do have to warn you Remi'

'what is it'

'Its nothing' he said looking into her eyes with eyes filled with fear of scaring her away from him

'You will become one of the most powerful women in the world once we are married and I need you to own up to it. I have a lot of enemies and they will become yours once we are married to the world'

Remi was unsure about how to feel 'will you be there to protect me?'

'Your life is the most valuable possession...more valuable than mine' He said. She searched his eyes for any doubt of what he had proclaimed

She kissed him to seal the moment in time.