He waited for a second before he removed his shoulder on which Rose was resting her arm and she smiled at him and asked if she could sit. He did not respond but soon discovered she had not come alone but with a man. He wondered what they were upto. He waited to hear them talk and soon the man said, "Here are we and we haven't come for war but for peace. I hope you welcome us"
"I am not the owner of this place" Edu said and took his backpack, ready to leave but Rose asked him to sit back right there.
"Believe me, you really do not need to be reminded that if I made it all the way to find you it means I have something very important I would like to discuss with you and that also means I am not going to take it lightly with you if you think you can just stand up and walk out on me the way you are trying to do now" At that point the young man Edu did not know what to respond but the truth was that he was aware that someone like Rose could be in the same organization with Veronica and so they must have decided to warn him to stay away from Veronica. The truth of the matter was that he was not ready to listen to that; if they had come to him to tell him to let go of Veronica he had already concluded in his mind that he was not going to do that and they had better let him alone.
"I am not going to have a word with you and you should not try to force me to have a word with you. I am done eating my food and now is the time for me to leave. Please let me leave in peace" it was Edu saying but then Ken felt it was time for him to speak sense into him.
"Chinedu, that is your name right?" He asked and Edu waited to hear what next he had to tell him, "I would advise you sit back right there. If you don't I have what it takes to take your life this minute and it will do me no good if you die ignorantly. So I would suggest you sit back there and listen to all I have to say to you, for your own good and for the good of the one you say you love" Ken was serious and Edu did not need to be told just this. He sat down and waited to hear what they had to say further.
"I should not have come here but because Rose saw it fit for me to be here I had to come here. Now that I am here I have just one thing to talk to you about and that is about Veronica. I know that both of you must have had something in the past and somehow there was so much love between the both of you. I can understand this and I know without being told that if there is something else you would have wanted me to do you would have just given me a sign. You are a young man, full of potentials and Rose thinks if you were wise enough you would not be seen asking for Veronica. She is no longer to march with you because you are not going to be able to march with her. So here are we to offer you a help and make you walk away"
"A help to make me walk away? How do you mean?" asked Edu.
"We will offer you three million naira to walk away, I know that is little but I also know it is not little where you are, so you will take it and you will find your way out of this city and never get back here. Do we have an understanding?" Asked Ken and Edu looked at both their faces before he sheepishly nodded in response. "That is great. Now here is the thing; you will take this money alongside this briefcase and you will walk away from Veronica. She doesn't belong to you any longer and you don't have the right to seek for the access to her. Do we have an understanding with one another?" When he asked this Edu stared at their faces and nodded. The two of them then stood up and left him seated there. Shortly after they had left Edu stared at the briefcase sitting on the table where he had just finished his meal and he was scared to open it. When he finally did he saw stashed of cash in it and he suddenly closed it in fear. He opened it again and to make sure the cash was real he touched it and felt it under his palm. He then sighed deeply and closed the briefcase. He then stood up and left there with it.
When Ken and Rose got back to the house Ken said to her, "You need not bother about that young man any longer" he then was about to go when he stopped and turning to her he said, "I know why you feel so terrible for him; i know it has to do with Kelvin, the man that was after your own heart, but then you need to let that stay in the past if you are willing to be effective in this family, in this organization, in this business. Are we good here?" he asked, knowing her heart was heavy and she nodded. That was Ken's place but it seemed Rose did not want to leave. She wanted to stay for the night. Ken sat down, expecting to say goodnight and then walk out through the door but then he saw that she was willing to stay longer.
"It is getting late, if you stay any longer you will be needing me to take you home" he said.
"I don't think you need to bother about that. Here is the thing; you need to know that there are things we need to look out for and there are many things I need to know about the company. I want to stay back and have you put me through some of the things that will help me work with this company" he stared at her eyes for a while and then stood up and said, "Come with me then" he showed her where to freshen up and then went to his room. After she was done she walked into his room with the towel on and asked if there was a cloth for her to put on. He rose from the bed where be was on his laptop and showed gave her some of his cloths and returned to the bed. She walked back to the guest room and after she was done wearing the cloth she returned to his room and saw that he was still on his laptop and she had to ask, "Should I join you?" he stared at her and nodded. She walked to him and sat on a seat near the edge of the bed and kept staring at the laptop. He showed her some of the things that he was working on presently and then went on to teach her the routs of their operations and some of their connects. As he thought her she learned. When he was done for the night she said, "I really appreciate this"
"It's alright. You know, you could be one of the delivery ladies who has to negotiate business with these foreign men" he said and smiled. She smiled too and asked why he deemed her fit for that. "You are eloquent and you are smart. If you are our negotiator we will have less businesses to loose to some of our rivals" he said and closed the laptop.
"Your rivals aren't necessarily your enemies are they?" She asked. He stared at her and said, "Your rivals are your enemies in this business. The reason we call them rivals is because we haven't had a war with them but sooner or later we will have one with them and it will be just enemies and nothing else" He explained and stretched himself on the bed. "I am sleepy" he said under his nose. She could see he was a gentle man who could resist a beautiful lady before him. She sighed and stood up.
"Goodnight" she said and he answered with a murmur. She left the room and headed to her room. When she got there she took out her son's picture from her purse and then ran her fingers through it before she sighed and laid on the bed. She had a dream of him that night and in the morning she rose and decided to go and see his son against the wish of Charles. When she stepped out of the house was still early and she entered her car and drove off.
She reached the school and alighted his car. She stood there until a teacher approached her and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"Oh, Ma, I'm looking to see my son, Abel, he is in grade two" she said. The woman looked at her from head to toe and asked, "You are Abel's mother?" Rose wasn't sure who she was and she was not sure why she was being rude. "Yes, I am" Rose answered, obviously loosing her patience with her. The woman did not say another word but left. Rose wasn't feeling comfortable there any longer. Having sent a student to call Abel she was no longer at peace and she would have left if she had asked for Abel. Shortly she saw Abel coming towards her but there was a fair woman holding his hand. When they reached were Rose was standing the woman stared at Rose and asked in a language that Rose was shocked to learn that she speaks. She was sure that only those in the organization knew the language and could use it to communicate with one another. She wasn't sure how the lady was able to take to her in hat language and waited to here the end of this.
"You have come for your son?" asked the woman.
"Who are you?" Rose was shocked.
"My name is Lilian, your son personal teacher. I have to warn you, your boss mustn't know that you came here looking for your son. Since you think you can sneak up to see him let me make this clear, you need to stop, yes, you need to stop coming this way, do you understand?" Said the woman.
"I'm sorry" Rose said and entered her car, driving off with great speed. She could see through the side mirror that the woman was still staring at her as she drove off.
"Is she going?" asked Abel and the woman with a forced smile looked at him and said, "Yes, she is going"
"Is that not my mother; didn't she come to see me, why is she leaving so sudden?" asked Abel.
"Because somehow she realised she had made a mistake coming to see you; you see Junior, your mother doesn't like you, she doesn't love you, but we do love you and we are willing to make sure that you are kept safe. We are your family, we are your keepers and with us around you there is nothing for you to fear" When she said this Abel nodded in understanding.
Rose drove back to Ken's house and when she got there she met him outside in the compound and she packed her car and alighting she walked straight into the building. Ken seeing her mood followed her into the house too and when he entered he met her seated on the couch and he sighed and asked, "You were not able to have access to your son Abel?" With this from him Rose was shocked to the brim.