Alex Adejare had never thought of himself as naive or stupid, but that notion seemed to have been altered ever since he came in contact with the mysterious, scary yet enticing woman. He knew it was wrong to run after her, still, he could not refrain from doing so.

With a severely bruised ego, he walked back into the poorly lit room. His shoulders were slumped, his eyes fixed on his feet as he dragged each step while rummaging through his thoughts, and his hands playing with the face cap which happened to be the only evidence that the past few minutes were not a mere figment of his sometimes bizarre imagination.

He took a deep breath to get his emotions in check and then raised his head, to take a glance around the place. After all, his job description was to make sure everyone was content and comfortable.

Most tables were littered with drinks, some full, some half-empty. The customers that comprised mostly of ill-mannered, garrulous middle-aged men, and a few insouciant women, went about diving from one meaningless charter to another as they took more gulps of addictive refreshment.

The only reason he'd taken up this job was out of sheer curiosity.

What was so special about the bitter taste of alcohol? Why did it make these men and women so elated? Was it enough reason to leave a ten-year-old kid all alone to cater for himself? Were the stupid drinks and stupid arguments with like-minded individuals worth more than him?

He sighed and walked past the tables, towards the bar where his friend was standing with his ears plugged in and his eyes fixed on his phone. "Where did you wander off to?" Ben asked, without bothering to raise his head from what he was so intently watching on his screen.

Ben was more than a friend. With all the years he'd spent as an extra member of their family while his father was away drinking himself to a stupor, they had grown to become brothers. Knowing this, Alex ran his hand through his overgrown, wooly, black hair, trying to come up with the best reply that would not arouse suspicion or cause him any further embarrassment. That only meant one thing. He had to be careful enough so as not to dig a ditch for himself that he'd inevitably fall into.

However, his hesitation was already enough damage as Ben had looked up at him with the glasses that rested on his nose and made him resemble and fifty-nine-year-old detective. No one could guess how many times he'd hidden those glasses and he could never fathom how Ben found them easily, seizing every opportunity to annoy him.

"That woman dropped this," Alex replied with a shrug.

"What woman?" Ben asked halfheartedly as he picked interest in his phone once more. He would not believe how much relief that offered Alex.

"The one that was..." The words rolled off his tongue before he could think which was just enough to reinforce the point that he was indeed stupid. Maybe he just never noticed until tonight.

Ben looked up at him again. "Jesus! What did you do?" He did not bother to reduce his voice and Alex hushed him as he took a look around to make sure his exclamation had not alerted anybody.

"Nothing." He knew he sounded defensive, but what more could he say?

"Okay," Ben replied, watching him intently.

He could've as easily said, 'I don't believe you and we're definitely going to revisit this issue.' But for now, it was best to throw his encounter with the puzzling woman to the depths of his memory.

Then again, he just couldn't.

There was something so vaguely familiar about her. The way she watched him with those eyes that both terrified and bewitched him. Her proximity as they stood by her car where she flirted with him, made him feel small and stupid, and left him disoriented and speechless. But he wouldn't mind being stupid for her. He wouldn't mind being anything.

The feeling was so overwhelming it made him weak from his spine to his knees. And he knew that this infatuation that he felt was going to be destructive yet, he did not want to stop. He wanted to embrace the feeling and live it. He wanted to find her and could care less whatever effect it'd have on him.

"Have you heard that this year's TNPYI is taking place in Unilag?" Ben asked, pulling him out of his reverie.

He turned to face him and at the same time, a pot-bellied man had walked towards him to request another drink. It was almost 11:00 pm, and he sighed at the fact that he still had to work for five more hours.

"What's that?" He asked as he prepared the drink for the man who stood there watching him.

Ben seemed to watch the details on his phone and read out the words, "The 10th annual Nicolson Project for young inventors," with enthusiasm in his voice.

"Oh, that." Alex rolled his eyes and handed the man his drink.

"Are you participating?" Ben inquired as he turned to face his friend.

He shook his head. "Definitely not."

"Why? I mean... You're so smart. I don't know why you waste your time working in a stupid place like this. The prize money has been raised to 500 thousand. Imagine what 500k would do in your life right now?" He paused maybe to give room for the imagination process.

"You expect me to sell my idea for 500k so that an already wealthy man goes on to make billions off it? Isn't that plain stupidity?"

Ben scoffed. "Plain stupidity is chasing everything in skirts like you do, Alex," he said and was not expecting the smack on his head. "Ouch! What did you do that for?" He asked placing a hand on his head with a frown.

"You better get going now, it's already pretty late. I don't want mum to be worried. You know how she gets," he said.

It still felt a little weird to refer to Ben's mother in that manner even though she was such a kind woman that'd taken him as her own. She fed him, bought things for him, inquired about his academic performance, and was there for him in every possible way she could. Even when to everyone else he was the recalcitrant boy that got into countless fights, and her husband was not very keen on the idea of him hanging around the house with their kids, she was relentless and unwilling to give up on him.

He was always grateful for her presence at such a crucial time in his life when he was dealing with his mother's sudden disappearance and his father's alcohol addiction.

"She doesn't like you staying out so late either. You know that right?" Ben asked as he picked up his bag and swung it across his shoulder.

Alex chuckled. "I can take care of myself." And he could. Living off neighbors and spending so much time alone since he was ten had forced him to grow faster and more independent than most.

Ben took a few steps forward till he was close enough and then patting Alex twice on the shoulder, he said, "you don't belong in this place. I know you're scared to try, but you're smart and I think you'd do just fine." With the satisfaction of his speech, he walked away.

Alex sighed and leaned against the bar. He could only wonder why the stupid competition was so important to Ben. As a struggling young man with little family support on the verge of getting a degree in mechanical engineering at the prestigious University of Lagos, he should have much bigger dreams than that.

After working for three more hours, exhausted and battling sleep, he decided to check his phone. The fact that Ben's speech kept echoing was not helping matters. That boy did know how to get to his heart.

He thought to take a look at the website and then followed the link to their Instagram page.

"Harry Nicolson foundation..." he muttered with distaste. The arrogant man's foundation happened to be the sponsor of the competition. According to the founder, this was his philanthropic way of giving back to society. Alex didn't believe it was possible to roll his eyes any further after going through the page.

As he was about to drop his phone, he thought to do something unusual. He went through the tags to Harry Nicolson's page to get himself more riled up so he'd have enough reasons and excuses to give the pestering Ben.

Just like the men and women in the bar, he was comfortable and content with his present situation. He did not want to try. Because trying meant hoping and hoping for anything brought about disappointment.

All the reasons he was searching for were displayed. The exorbitant pretentious lifestyle, the association with thieves that disguised as politicians. Even evidence that he was heading towards that path. Rich people all had something in common. They accrued wealth at the expense of others and they were never satisfied.

He was about to leave the page when something else had caught attention.

It took his breath away.

'I can't say thank you enough to all the honorable guests that graced my 65th birthday celebration. But I am most thankful to my beautiful wife @diana_nicolson'

With his heart thumping hard against his rib cage, he went through the caption once... twice... multiple times before his eyes traveled back to the picture. This had to be a mistake. It was unbelievably wrong.

As soon as he was able to regain balance, he rushed to the tagged page with the speed of light. Little did he know that he was utterly unprepared for what he was about to discover.

Those beautiful, nerve-wracking, amber-colored eyes.

They belonged to her.

Diana Nicolson.

A/N

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