~Kene's POV~

Aside from the noise the workers made outside and the soft sound accompanied by the breeze from the ceiling fan in motion above, with its occasional creaking making it seem like it was bound to drop any minute, the room also served as my makeshift office was very much silent.

From the open window, my eyes were on Tejiri, Emma, Jude and the rest going to and fro, carrying the smelly half-dry timbers, Delivered by the lumber trucks yesternight.

They carried the bronze-coloured timbers from the storehouse–large enough to accommodate a church congregation stocked up with different kinds of woods, to the massive acre of unrestricted land space behind the tripartite building to lay them under the sun to kill the smell.

The land was guided by a line of trees used as a windbreaker and a zinc fence a foot behind the trees.

The dirty black cloth Tejiri wore on his head repeatedly dangled as he struggled with dragging mahogany, his teeth gritted and muscles bulging and glistening with sweat. The shiny surface made the fabric look wet from his position under the sun.

Although my eyes were on them, I wasn't paying attention. Instead, I was brooding, quietly calculating who would be up to a creepy stunt like this.

The unknown number had called me when I was still in bed this morning without getting a single word from the caller for about a minute before the call went off. But, of course, I'd been silent too for that whole minute, waiting for the caller to speak first, which could be expected in Nigeria.

The number had called an hour ago and done the exact thing, but I'd muttered a series of hello this time.

I'd ignored the weirdness that morning, thinking nothing of it and going about my normal activities.

But now, it wasn't calming.

I checked my phone for missed calls and wondered what kept Akan at the market. I'd sent him to the warehouse I usually got my materials from to get Velcro, glue, buttons, pins, leathers and fabrics for upholstery. I'd already paid for them and given him proper directions to the destination. But, unfortunately, he was taking too long already, over 10 hours, and he wasn't reachable on the phone either.

I sighed, walking to my desk, which was situated at the left corner of the room if you were standing opposite the entrance door. It had my laptop and camera and some sheets of papers clipped together, my copy of the agreement, which I'd written my signature on at the late hours of the previous day after my collection of woods had arrived here safely.

There was an invoice close to the wood-carved animal that was painted with various splashed colours.

Tunji had dropped the invoice there over two hours ago after arriving with the new set of saws and drills.

I should have known better than to send Akan to a place he didn't know. But, even though Tunji didn't know the area, he was at least savvy while Akan was, well, Akan.

The clock in the room ticked, and my eyes flew to it. It was already 3 pm, and I was starving. I let out a small yawn, my stomach making gurgling noises signalling that the worms it was accommodating were not at peace.

I collected the flask containing food Ifeoluwa had dropped on top of the small fridge this morning while I was parking sawdust at the second large building we used as the workshop, close to the storehouse, and I opened the flask peering inside.

My stomach grumbled again as the message passed to the brain from my nose when the atmosphere was filled with the smell of jollof rice and fried meat. I was tempted to dig in, but after Ife and her Iya-Ife had nearly killed me with pepper the first time I ate their food, I'd refrained from doing so again to any of the food she brought directly from her shop, always passing the food to Akan who was forever in love with their cooking, they were great cooks though, but the pepper was hell.

I sighed, closing the flask back with the dripping cover with the steam-turned liquid and setting it back on the fridge for Akan. That's if he would be back in time before I'd run out of excuses to give Jude and the other workers who'd constantly been eyeing the food.

I opened the fridge and collected a bottle of plastic zero coke, opened it and took a huge gulp, then grimacing afterwards, cleaning the liquid that had escaped from the side of my mouth.

It tasted like they'd poured water on regular coke and bottled it up.

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket, and I brought it out, abandoning the coke for later.

The same unknown number.

I picked it up Immediately.

"Who the hell is this?".

The creepy silence that followed was gut-wrenching. Cause I could hear the slow breathing from the other end, and I knew the person was listening, quietly testing my patience.

It seemed like this person was enjoying this. I ended the call, blocked the number from contacting me further, and then picked up the coke. Just as Akan stepped inside the room, his face was darker than usual, an effect from staying under the scorching sun for too long. His body looked like it was just getting dry from being wet, or maybe it was sweat and the foul smell he returned with following him into the room.

"Akan since 6 o'clock!".

"Na lost me I lost o, oga", he defended warily, eyeing the coke in my hand and dropping the dirty invoice he was holding on my desk.

"Where did you drop your phone? I've been trying to call you" I gestured for him to collect one from the fridge because he looked quarter to faint.

"My phone fall for inside water" he brought the phone from his pocket, waving it repeatedly, causing it to release tiny splashes of water into the air.

I watched as he downed the coke bottle, then belched out long and loud, rendering all the bacteria in his mouth homeless. I gave him a grimace that mirrored my disgust.

"Wetin dey worry you?" I asked him.

"Sorry oga", he dumped the empty plastic into the trash and began talking with his faint Akwa-Ibom accent.

"Oga you no go even believe the waka wey I waka today, I trek pass madman and aboki combined together for that market today because of just one warehouse," he began explaining Immediately to take my mind off his initial animalistic act.

I folded my arms across my chest, leaning on the desk, listening to his ordeal at the market today, how he'd lost his way and gotten to a stop where the road had a left and right divert.

Confusion had set in, and he decided to imitate what they did in epic Nollywood dramas and follow the right path. How the right direction he'd eventually taken led to the toilet built with zinc at the end of the market.

Then confirming my thoughts on the foul smell that followed him, how he nearly got into a fight with a Barrow pusher who'd gotten him into a dirty gutter with his double-wheeled truck. How a woman had helped him clean up with a bucket of water, I eventually got tired of listening and dismissed him telling him to take the food Iya Ife had sent Ife to give me earlier.

He thanked me before leaving.

Emeka, who was spraying the air freshener on the atmosphere in this part of the building to ward off the nasty smell of the under-dried long stool, which I'd gotten as a gift from the lumber contractor and I had ignorantly kept yesterday evening indoors, not taking notice of the smell then. He sprayed a handful on Akan's body as they walked past each other.

"Unam ikot." came Akan's insult, while Emeka ignored him and continued with the job he was doing, whistling a tuneless melody.

Emeka sprayed it around my office, too, while we both chuckled.

"Please check out the materials he brought back from the warehouse. I don't know why I even trusted him with that kind of job in the first place".

"No qualms," Emi replied before heading out.

I settled on my chair, pulling my laptop closer, when the sound of my ringtone filled the atmosphere. A call came into my phone again. I looked at the screen and could barely contain my smile.

Sarima

It seemed she was here already.

I answered the call.

"Hey, I'm outside." Her voice was loud, and the sound of honking vehicles was noisier in the background.

"Okay, just come right in," I replied.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"I said you should come into the building" I increased my voice so she could hear me.

"What?" The noise from the road was making it impossible.

"Okay, wait there. I'll be out in a minute."

"Okay."

I let out a sigh.

That's the one you'll hear.

I stood up, pushed the chair into the desk, and left the office.

My mind returned to the surprise call she'd given me on Sunday evening. It had always felt nice talking to and teasing her, and I admit to missing her company. Not like we usually spent time together, but at least I saw her face once a week or twice when she still worked at the salon that was just a stone's throw from this place.

I remembered the first time we met at Ajah market, she'd given me hell over a particular type of gum we both had coincidentally come to buy, and we dragged and argued over who was going to leave with it cause it was only one left in the shop.

She'd nearly slapped me that day.

My smile Came back as I relived the memory of her angry face.

She was really short-tempered.

I know the average chivalrous man in me would have allowed her to have the gum. But alaye, I'd just wanted to argue and annoy her.

That gum eventually fell amidst our little squabble and broke, causing a massive mess on the floor. We were both told to pay for it.

The look it had gotten on her face was priceless as we tried to blame each other, but then it got on the nerves of the shop owner, and he got mad at us.

He said he needed cash, and Sarima was only with her ATM card. On the other hand, I paid and told her to transfer part of the payment to my account just so I could continue taunting her.

When we both left the shop, she'd roughly shoved me out of her way and walked away without doing her part of the deal or even glancing backwards at me.

I'd smiled so hard with little chuckles in-between that Emeka, who came to Join me later from where he was getting some stuff from another shop, thought I'd gone crazy. I don't know, but seeing her get so worked up over a bucket of gum amused me.

That was the first good laugh I had had since my relocation to Lagos.

Days after she started working at the salon and when I'd gone there to deliver a locker cabinet for Mama T, she'd pretended she didn't know me until I cornered her one night and asked for my money.

I'd received a very hot slap from her that day, stopping my fun for a while.

When I'd eventually seen them together, I discovered she had a twin and that I'd cornered the wrong person.

Enough of the tell-tales. The subject of my thoughts was standing under the hot sun across from me with her cute, signature tiny frown.

Goodness 💓🇳🇬