"You will suffer?" Charles wasn't sure what Veronica meant by that. Veronica stood up and walked out of the room. Charles stood there watching the door after she had gone and then he sat back on the seat and wondered. He was a man that had no time asking a lady out. He was a drug lord and a business man. He wasn't seen with women because he had always been told that women had a way of making things hard for men in his shoes. He instead dealt with women whose job were to make him happy in a chamber he owned. The women he met with didn't know his face because he would cover it before meeting with them and his men who mobilized these women for him were not always talking. Their job was to arrange the prostitutes to go to the chamber which Charles owned and where he had designed to be meeting with those women and Charles is to go to meet with them with his face covered with a mask. Most times he asked the ladies to do some unthinkable things to him for his own pleasure and when they they frowned at that he doubled their pay.
But now same man who lived this kind of life is stuck with a decent lady in the office of one of his chains of companies. He sat there thinking if it was his fault; being too careless with his heart to the extent of allowing it wonder that far.
*****
That same day after Veronica returned to her house she flung her handbag on the couch and sank dejectedly on one of these seats. She had a three rooms and parlour apartment and she was living alone. She however knew how all of these things came to be just few weeks she arrived the city of Enugu. She was always felt it was a thing that would later backfire. As she remained seated there with her head bowed low she kept thinking of how she left the village, the love of her life Edu and his sick mother and all the while tears stood in her eyes.
*****
"What did you do Edu!" Veronica had lamented while seeing her Uncle John on the floor of his compound rearing in pain. Edu had entered his compound and found him struggling with Veronica over the keys that Veronica had come for. This annoyed Edu and adding to the anger that already was in him he rushed towards the both of them, separating them with force and when John saw it was him he hit him with his walking stick and this annoyed Edu even the more. He snatched the walking stick from him and pushed him to the ground. When he fell Veronica knew they were in trouble. It wouldn't be long before the village Chief would hear about it and summon them for their punishment. Just then she asked Edu to leave at once but Edu wasn't going to let her stand the consequences alone. He asked her to go instead. Veronica leaving the compound could still hear the man screaming ontop of his voice. She did not want to have anything to do with the situation, after all Edu had asked her to avoid the situation.
That was how she left the village. She had lost contact with Edu ever since then and she could not tell what happened afterwards. That was so inhumane of her and she knew. She sighed and stood up to peep through the window to see a neighbor coming in through the gate of the estate. She sighed, realising that wasn't Abel, a man that had vowed he must get her to be his wife. She sank back on the seat and just then her voice began to vibrate. She stared at it for a while and seeing it was her best friend ignored it. Anita always liked to come over on weakeneds and truth be told Veronica had decided to have that weekend all to herself; alone in her house and having the peace of mind. She knew she had alot to deal with, a lot to think through and arrange and she did not need to have anyone coming over to distract her. Just then she saw a text message on her phone and reading it she sighed frustratingly and dropped the phone again; Anita was already on her way and she was coming to pass the weekend. She heaved a sigh once again before she stood up and walked away from her phone. Just immediately she left her phone began to vibrate again, this time it was her boss. After vibrating a text came in which read, "Would you mind a hangout this weekend?"
Anita wasn't sure her friend meant it but she was not going to waste her time thinking about it. She shoved her aside, stared at her for a while and asked, "Are you insane?"
"I'm not insane Anita but I aren't going nowhere" Said Veronica before she headed for the TV remote on the table, collected it and sank on her seat. Anita sat, still glaring at her and waiting for an explanation. "What?" Veronica had to ask.
"What?" asked Anita who still felt she demanded an explanation. "Why are you being so local and timid?" She wanted to know. Veronica raised her eyebrows, wondering what brought about that comment.
"Listen; I'm not being timid, just being careful. You introduced me to this rich guy and believe me it still doesn't make sense that withing few weeks of my working for him I now own a place as luxurious as this"
"So what are you insinuating?" Anita wanted to know.
"What I'm insinuating is that it looks too fast and too forward. I can't go out with a man the more I look at him the less I see him. You know where I come from; I'm not ready to forget that" She focused on the television; ignoring her friend Anita.