"Can't sleep?"

Adaora snapped out of her thoughts the moment she heard her husband's warm voice, followed by his footsteps as he tried to be as quiet as possible the moment he walked into the medium sized bedroom, dabbing his afro with his towel to stop all that water from wetting the rug.

Adaora slowly turned to her seven year old, who was fast asleep on the bed, making sure her husband's voice had not woken her up yet.

Olivia was still very much deep in her sleep. She took a deep breath, returning her gaze to her yellow night dress, suddenly stretching her numb legs and brightening her face so Steven didn't have to see just how troubled she was. But she was too late.

"What's wrong?" Now he was coming closer to her, a dashing look of concern all over his face. "You've been in your thoughts for days now. " he slowly reached for her hands. Adaora exhaled. "Is anything the matter?"

She shook her head. The last thing she needed was giving her husband a reason to worry about everything that had been going on at work. She knew she couldn't tell him just how suffocated she was becoming especially since after her meeting with her boss. She didn't want to give him any room to doubt her or insist that she had to quit her job because she knew how much they both needed that job.

"It's nothing." She managed to force a smile on her face. "It's just work stress that's all."

But this was her husband though. The one person in the world she couldn't lie to and even if she did, she knew he always found a way to read through her, just like he was doing at that moment. She could already sense that he knew she wasn't being completely honest. Just how long did she think she could actually pull it off?

"Come on," He pushed closer to her, "Tell me what's bothering you."

Adaora stared at him for a second. It looked like he really wanted to know and he wasn't going to stop asking till she gave him the answers he was looking for. She drew a deep breath and then turned to her fingers. She fidgeted them again.

"I uh-" her voice broke. "It's my boss." She slowly raised her head to meet his concerned face. She watched her husband twitch his brows like he was trying to make meaning of what she said.

"You mean your supervisor?"

"No." She shook her head. "The big boss."

Steven thought for a while, just for a while till he got it.

"Randy?"

Adaora let out an exasperated sigh.
"Yes." She told him.

"O-Kay," Steven rubbed his wet hands on his pajamas, not daring to take his gaze off her. Adaora thought for a while, she needed a way to say what she was about to, to her husband without hurting his feelings.

"He told me he wants to have a sort of relationship with- me." She broke her last two words, biting her lip as she watched him carefully to see his reaction. Steven narrowed his brows for a second, he wasn't sure he understood what she meant.

He puffed air into his cheeks like he was about to say "what" and then stoped for a second.

"I— I don't understand. What sort of a relationship?"
Adaora rolled her eyes, wondering if he was just being ignorant or he just wanted to hear the words from her mouth. He got it now. He could read the signs perfectly. He stammered. "O-k-ay," He continued. "Really?" He asked her. She nodded. Steven looked away. He was trying to think of what to say. He slowly turned back to her.

"Maybe he doesn't know you're married."

"That's the point Steven," she continued. "He's well aware of that fact. He just doesn't care." He squinted his eyes. "I'm doing all I can to avoid him everyday but he won't just stop. He won't stop insinuating that he wants us to be together."

"H-how long has this been happening?" Steven managed to keep his cool.

"Four days..."

"Four-" Steven repeated with a look of surprise in his eyes as he pretended to adjust a little bit so he could have a better look at her. "Baby, why are you just saying this now?"

"The reason is because I didn't really think it was a big deal. I didn't think he meant it. I thought if I just waited it out, he was going to stop being such a pain in the ass or he was going to get the sign that I didn't want anything to do with him and just leave me alone but he won't just stop. He won't just go away, plus, I didn't want you to worry like this."

Steven took a deep breath and joined his hands together beneath his jaw. He needed a breather. He needed to breathe.

"Steven, " She drew closer to him, the worry on her face increasing and more visible now under the ray of light coming from the fire lantern. "Baby, you know I'd never do anything to hurt you or our family. I tried to make him stop. I really did but he's really so persistent and at this point, I don't even know what to do, I'm really so confused-" her hands were trembling now.

"Hey, hey," he slowly reached for her hands. "It's okay." He tried to assure her. "It's fine." He placed a hand behind her head and gently pushed it to his, joining their foreheads together. "You've done nothing wrong." He whispered to her.

She exhaled .

"Do you think I should resign?" She raised her eyes to look into his. He examined her eyes for a while. "I finally got this job that I really love and it really pays well and somehow I feel like resigning is the only way I can stop all of this."

"Just as much as I'd want you to stay away from that man baby," He told her, "I really don't want to be the one to make those kinds of choices for you. To be honest, I always thought Randy Okonkwo was a respectable man but it looks like I was wrong. He's just like everyone of them out there, ready to take advantage of those that have nothing. I want to punch him in the face so bad but I could just end up complicating everything for you. Plus I know you wouldn't want me to get involved."

"Please don't ." She told him.

"He has a really beautiful wife, really beautiful and kids too. I've seen them on the news, you've seen them. I just don't see why he'd do something like this to her, why he'd hurt his family like this."

"I don't think his wife knows he's a cheat Steven."

"Oh she does, trust me." He raised his brows. "I hear a lot of things about that family Adaora. So many things about them and from the look of things, you're not the only woman he's doing this to. You know, there's a rumor in my office. You know how the women in my office love to talk all the time," Adaora nodded. She was pretty much aware of that fact. "It's about the lady that used to work for him before. It looked like they were having an affair until one day, she went missing and then her body was found days later in a house. She was dead already, burnt to death with the other lady he used to see too."

Adaora placed her palm over her mouth. She was so surprised.

"They think his wife did it out of jealousy but there's no evidence that points to her yet."

"What?" Adaora couldn't believe it. "They're all dead?"

"That's what they said." He squeezed her hands. "That's why I want you to be really careful with that family. If what they say is true, then we have every reason to fear not just Randy, but his wife. If she finds out her husband has his eyes on you, she's going to try to strike back and she won't care if you reciprocated or not."

Now she was scared. She had never heard that part of the story before.

"Baby, I know things are hard right now and I know how much you love your job but I also know you're smart and you can always find another job for a replacement. You don't have to work in that place anymore if your sanity, peace and safety is going to be jeopardized at once. You don't have to work at all. If I just work a bit longer, I can raise enough money to open up a salon or something for you to -"

Adaora exhaled. He was beginning to worry too much.

"A salon? Really?"

"Let's face it, that company is going to fall any moment from now. It is into a lot of trouble as it is. An entire local government is suing them for the Apapa lung cancer spread. Six people are dead already, people keep dying everyday and they all think Rand oil is somehow connected to the incident. It's been months now and the issue has not even been settled in court."

"There's no evidence that Rand oil is responsible for what happened baby. Randy Okafor is a lot of things but I doubt he'd be that heartless as to bury toxic waste at the backyard of people's homes, infecting them with lung cancer."

"Are you vouching for him now?"

"I'm not. I'm just saying if Rand oil was guilty, the court would have found evidence by now."

"Tell that to the protestors that surround the building everyday for the past three months."

"They don't really do that anymore." She corrected him. "It's been a long time Steve, I'm sure they've all moved on by now. They've really reduced in their numbers whenever they come to protest."

"That's because they've not found any evidence yet. That's because Rand Oil is trying to keep them silent forever, trying to bribe so many and push this under the rug. Politics my dear, wicked politics."

Adaora scoffed.

"You're an employee there now, it's only normal for you to want to support and stand with them."

"I'm just stating the obvious."

"It doesn't change the fact that I want you to be really careful over there Adaora. One little mistake and we could all be affected. You, me, Olivia." He turned a little to look at his baby girl. "Our family."

"I can handle it Steve." She cut him off. "I'm not going to do something stupid, and if it ever feels like it's getting out of control, then I'm just going to quit and we could open up that salon."

Steven exhaled. He stared at her for a minute, still holding on tight to her hands. God, he loved this woman.

"Come here." He leaned closer to her and planted a kiss on her forehead. Adaora let out a sigh and went into his embrace. It was just what she needed, all she needed at that point. A hug, his hug. She let out a smile. She couldn't thank God enough for this man beside her. He was everything she hoped for. Everything.

"Thank you." He whispered to her. "Thank you so much."