RIPPLES E. 3

[Catch up on E.2 here]

I don't know what to do about the lady sitting beside me in the warm luxurious car. From the way she is angling her body away from mine, it's obvious she either thinks I am a lunatic or a serial killer about to dice her into tiny pieces. But that is the least of my worries.

The question driving me insane is; how in the world will I be able to repair her car when my current net worth is fifty thousand naira? Okay, minus thirty thousand for my kid sister's upcoming exams from that. Being an orphan, my sister is my world and I would do anything to see her happy, even if it requires starving myself. Considering also that my rent is overdue for payment, I am actually worth less than the balance of twenty thousand naira. To make my case worse, even if I decide to sell my car, the only property I inherited from my late father, nobody in their right senses would offer to buy a car that has been marked off road severally. Put simply, I am done for. Finished.

Probably this is God trying to get back at me for neglecting to go to church. Where do I start from? What do I tell this lady? Should I cry and beg her to overlook that I bashed her car? That last thought actually made me cringe. 

Instead of crying like a girl, maybe I can sweet talk my way out of this. You know, flirt with her alittle, flash my dimples and get her all giggly. It might work, I thought anxiously while eyeing the lady who was glued to her side of the door from the corner of my eyes. She looked deafeated and frightened out of her wits. I am suddenly overwhelmed with guilt and the urge to make things right;

"Listen, I know you might not buy this, but trust me, I won't harm you. It's just that your car is warm and dry and sitting in my car in this rain is not a good idea. I hate saying this but my roof leaks, the windows don't go up so sitting there will be like sitting in the rain. I-I'm sorry for everything." 

I grinned genuinely at her, hoping she would relax a little but my speech is instead followed by a depressingly long silence. It felt like I was alone in the car, talking to myself. I wiped the stupid grin off my face and frowned.

"Madam I just apologized."

She sighed after a while and without a glance in my direction, said; 

"Okay."

"Okay? Is that all you have to say?" 

"Yes! Especially since I can't seem to figure out the purpose of your apology. It's not as if you are getting out of my car right now or are you?"

She turned to face me, her eyes are burning with her displeasure. This woman is far from frightened and she is gorgeous, I slowly realize. 

The precision of her laser like stare made me shudder slightly and zapped out any plan I had formulated. My smitten brain somehow managed to command my frozen lips to respond;

"No... I-I mean I can't..." When did I start stuttering?

"Then we have nothing to discuss." She cut me off and continued smoothly. 

"But I will let you know that if you insist on forcing your intensely exasperating company on me, then get ready to hear from my legal team after this your drama. FYI, my security team has your picture as we speak and are digging into your background down to the last meal you had earlier today. My PA is actually on his way with the Police, rain or not and will be here in about ten minutes." 

Glancing briefly at her expensive wrist watch and she looked back up at me with a wry smile;

"And you were you saying?"

She asked as our eyes locked in a silent battle. My gaze faltered as the full import of her words hit my senses, ridding them of any warm thoughts towards the furious woman; she might be beautiful, mesmerizing and have gorgeous eyes, but she is apparently uncongenial, probably worse than the mafia and should be avoided. I looked away from her angry glare. 

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