The oil she greased the pan with earlier was already smoking so she ran back to the cooker. "He is my friend" She lied, but she was already flustered as she reduced the cooker heat.

"Hahaha!" TY laughed wickedly "Sofi I am your friend too and I love you yeah? Have you ever received a 2 million naira bracelet from me?..to 'make you smile' " TY knows a lot about jewelry she is a timepiece collector.

"He is rich" She said.

"Are you doing sugar daddy now?" TY whispered.

They were back in the living room eating when she started talking.

"It's Mr. Madaki" She said and TY almost choked on her pancake.

"What!? Sofi! no, no, no" She said 'no' like 10 times shaking her head seriously she was not cracking jokes anymore.

"This is worse than getting back with Wale!" She kept her food aside. "I knew something was up with you when you stopped bashing him and started praising him on top" She went on to scold her for about 5 minutes.

Sofi was quiet, she knew she deserved it, she would have said the same thing to TY if she was sleeping with her boss too. She needed to hear some bitter truths from someone not blinded by his charms.

"Don't worry it's over now, he has a girlfriend Sef" She said as she fought back tears.

TY must have sensed the hurt in her voice so she calmed down a bit on the scolding and ate her food small.

"So why is he still sending you jewelry when you've ended things with him?" She asked.

"I don't know, maybe he trying to entice me with Money," She laughed weakly. "He said he likes 'spoiling' his women"

"He said that to you? that's hot!...." TY said then changed mouth when she saw Sofi eyeing her "I mean... not him...like that's a hot thing to say"

Is he really still trying to 'Spoil' her back into his bed? If she wanted sugar daddy, she would have gone that route years ago with men who are much richer and powerful than he is.

She has had MAD money thrown at her by some of Chief's acquaintances and friends. She has seen the ones that were ready to marry her as second or third wife or just keep her as full time mistress; it is a thing in Lagos. 

If she was about that life, she would have resigned and followed one of them long ago, but that is not what she wants for herself. She works hard for own and she wants love, it doesn't even have to be perfect but she wants... love. She can't even bring herself to kiss someone she is not attracted to, talk less of sleeping with them or even marrying them.

"Mehhn this is one fine bracelet sha, he has taste" TY said as she admired it again one last time before she snapped the box close.

"What else did he 'spoil' you with?" TY smirked and Sofi flung a throw pillow at her.

"But I support you sha, you should definitely return that. He should know you are serious, and you're not a hungry girl" TY rolled her eyes.

***

Monday Morning.

"I can't accept this" She handed it to him in his office as soon as he settled in.

"Sorry about that I forgot to cancel the order, I got that about two weeks ago, before..." He paused and looked at her then continued, "You can keep it, your name is engraved on it" He smiled without showing any emotion.

She was surprised and touched. She didn't even know that he put in extra effort to customize it for her. How thoughtful of him. She thought to herself but the other side of her brain reminded her to 'FOCUS!' so she dropped it quickly on his table and left his office.

Dare's POV

One week later.

Mr. Bakare was back and he wanted to hold a board meeting first thing that Monday morning. They arrived one week later than planned because he went to visit his Son and grandkids in Europe first.

Dare, Mr. Obaze and Mr. Richards are part of the Board while the remaining 5 Board members are non-executive Directors.

He was already seated on his sit in the Boardroom with Mr. Obaze, Mr, Richard and 3 other directors. The Boardroom is on the 15th floor, the Company Staff do not have access to the 15th floor it is reserved strictly for the Board of Directors and Mr. Bakare despite the fact that they don't even come to the building every day. The whole floor is reserved only for days like this.

The CEO Seat used to be empty during the board meetings in the past because Mr. Bakare has always been the CEO and Chairman of the Board so he always sat on the Chairman Seat. The Board secretary, an elderly woman in her late 50s was super excited when she directed him to his seat.

"Finally, someone gets to sit there!" She said and everyone in the room laughed.

She gave him some voluminous documents on the meeting procedures to read and some forms to complete since it was his first general board meeting. When he started completing the forms, he put on his air pod in one ear and played music. The other Directors were busy on their laptops too or chatting away with each other as they waited for Mr. Bakare, they had about 30 more minutes before the meeting.

Halfway through the six-page document, he caught a whiff of HER scent and he stopped writing.

He knew intuitively that she was in the room, he could feel her presence. He didn't look up he kept his head down but he muted the music on his phone.

"The printers are too modern I don't know how to operate them, Thank you my dear" He heard the Board secretary's voice.

"You're welcome Ma," Sofi to her.

The older woman said something in to her in Yoruba and they both giggled.

Wow, so she helps Board members with their tasks too. He was done with the forms but he still did not raise his head until he heard the sound of her heels on the hard marble floor as she walked out.

He was avoiding her because he didn't want her face to destabilize him or ruin his mood. The meeting is going to be a long one considering the fact that it is the first in 6 months and he knows that the board will grill him on some of the major changes he has done in the Company since Mr. Bakare stepped down. The last thing he wanted was thoughts of her distracting him.

He needed to stay focused but her perfume, her voice and her footsteps were already disrupting his thoughts.

Some few minutes after she left, Mr. Bakare arrived with Senator Dele. He took his seat on the other end of the table directly opposite him, clasped his hand on the table almost aggressively and then looked him directly in the eye critically.

Dare was almost panicking because the man looked like he was about to go off on him at first but then his frown suddenly curved into a proud smile as he nodded at him and said;

"Shall we begin?"

Dare smiled back at him with admiration. Honestly, he admires the Man because he built all these from scratch when he was in his 30s and he has managed to keep the company going all these years.

Before he took this job, he used to be mouthy about Chief's methods, though he still doesn't agree with him on a lot of things but he has so much respect for him now because he has seen first-hand that running a business in Nigeria is only for the strong hearted. The more time he spends in the Company the more respect he has for him. Only Legends can run a business in this country and survive this long while staying sane.

After the meeting, Chief went with him to his office to discuss some other stuff. Chief told him secretly that the Minister of petroleum has confirmed to him that the President has approved the gas block allocation, it will be announced next month officially but he was worried about something.

Apparently, the blocks were allocated by pairing stronger/older companies with startups. He has the name of the startup Company they've been paired with and he wanted Dare to find out more about the Company because they will be required to go into a joint venture with the Company to develop the block first.

Dare nodded. He couldn't wait for Sofi to hear the good news, he wished he could tell her right now but he has to wait till it is announced officially because this is just between him and Mr. Bakare. He was glad all her hard work finally paid off, he was happy for her...and the gas project team off course, but happy especially for her.

Chief then informed him that during his trip he met the new President of Terra de pérola a tiny African island nation during his vacation and the man is looking to partner with the Company to develop the country's natural gas fields. It is a small island Country off the coast of Senegal but an oil rich nation.

"Isn't that country under a dictatorship?" Dare didn't like the sound of it. During his career in investment banking everyone stayed away from assets in such countries. They are too risky.

"Not anymore, the new President, João was elected, unlike his father, he is a very smart young Man like yourself, and he has big plans to turn the country around.

Dare knows all about that Country lol. They have been in a dictatorship for over 50 Years. The João guy actually ousted his Tyrant father in a coup and sentenced him to life imprisonment, then sent his elder brother who was supposed to succeed the father on exile.

He declared himself president based on a state 'social media election' he had no opposition at the time so the citizens accepted him.

To be fair though, he has since improved the country in terms of standard of living and tourism compared to his sick tyrant father. His father's regime misappropriated all their oil wealth and signed off most of their oil blocks to International oil companies (Oil majors) in return for monthly fees in some of the dumbest contracts he has ever heard off in the corporate world. His father executed people anyhow, including family.

President, João is developing other sectors and creating jobs for their youth however, the country is still not in a real democracy, there has been incidents of arrests made without trial, people who criticize him disappear or are suddenly accused of a crime and arrested. He does not have any opposition because people are afraid of contesting against him.

That is the last country they should be doing business with. Like, just imagine a small country (3 million population) with more oil than Nigeria but worse off than Nigeria. The Country is supposed to be the Qatar of Africa but it is one of the poorest.

As if it is not bad enough that they are already dealing with the Nigerian Government and their wahala. 
Dare raised some concerns about it but Chief insisted that President João is different and he is about to fix the country. He vouched for the guy, said he even went fishing with him. "He is Great guy!"

No, he is a baby dictator Dare thought to himself.

"Anyway You, Obaze and Sofi will meet with him and his team next week Tuesday, he has requested for a presentation so clear your schedules," Chief said and Dare's heart started beating rapidly.

The last time he travelled with Sofi, they bonded and he fell harder for her because they were alone. He didn't argue with Chief again about disadvantages of 'doing business with a dictator' he wanted the trip to happen!

Moreover, meeting with the guy does not automatically guarantee they will do business with him it is just to officially introduce the Company and tell them about their technology naw.

"I have informed Obaze already, please get Sofi" Chief said and he phoned Ada to call her.

She was wearing all black suit, she looked very serious but still gorgeous as ever. He will never give up with her, he thought to himself as he scanned her subtly.

"Welcome back Sir" She curtsied small to greet Mr. Bakare with a warm smile.

He patted her on the back like a proud Dad would and Dare low key rolled his eyes as he watched them.

"Hope some people were not bullying you while I was away" he peeked over his glasses and smiled at Dare mischieviously.

"How?" She switched to Yoruba "No one can try me here" She said and Chief roared with laughter.

Dare kind of understood what she said. He glared at the two of them as they started catching up. They were speaking Yoruba in between and it irked him a little. He even got jealous small.

Did she dump me because of Him? Is there something between them?.....Nah that is not possible, he could tell from Chiefs body language that their relationship is pure. He has worked with many wealthy randy old men and he knows the way the act around women they've bonked.... or plan to bonk. Mr. Bakare was talking to her the way he talks to Yinka.

He does not even care if they've had something in the past, he'll snatch her from any man in a heartbeat. it is what it is.

He has decided to give her space for now. Over these past few days, he reminded himself that she is young, and there is at least 7 years age gap between them. He keeps forgetting that about her because she acts more mature than her age and she wields a lot of power. However, she is still young and it is okay for her to develop cold feet with him. He came on too strong and he shouldn't have had sex with her, so early.

Not his fault tho, she is too sexy.

He observed them as they continued talking. See how Mr. Bakare is treating her like one innocent baby as if she is not the same girl that tore his back with her sexy nails, screamed his name, begged him to give her some vitamin,...... then dumped him like one rag.

In fact, at that point he realized that she definitely dumped him because she knew Chief was coming back to town. She was very adamant about them keeping 'it' a secret so she must have backed out completely because her mentor is back in town.

He was so happy about this upcoming trip. Abuja was just 430 miles away from Lagos and she softened up to him then, this country they are going to is about 2500 miles away! Lol, she is going to forget about the Company and even her Job over there.

He started strategizing on how to win her over again, this time it is going to be harder since Mr. Obaze is coming with them.

Please Port Harcourt should close their airport again He thought to himself as he smiled wickedly.

He didn't know he was smiling like an idiot until Chief faced him again.

"I don't think there are daily flights to the counrty so you people will go with my Global Express XRS" Chief looked at him weirdly for a second when he saw him smiling.

"Okay" Dare nodded quickly then frowned.

"Sofi, call the agent later today to sort out your travel papers okay, I don't think you need visas, it is a West African Nation but Dare might need one" The old man instructed then she nodded and excused herself.

"You were supposed to be resting, I can't believe you were still working" Dare raised his eyebrows as Sofi walked out.

"An entrepreneur never takes a break, I know you know that by now" Mr. Bakare said as he sipped his tea calmly.

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