Kora

The GBTS gala.
Grace was right. It was nothing like all the other rich events I had been to. Peter's connection came through at last, and I had ended up taking the royal blue shimmer dress Mum and Grace had chosen for me. The long slit by the side made me feel almost naked, that I just had to constantly and consciously keep my silver clutch on my thighs, to at least close it up a little bit. How on earth did I even agree to this?

My make up was a bit heavy. Trust my mum to do the most. She had hired an entire fashion team to handle the process of getting us ready for the gala. I couldn't even remember the last time I wore that much make up. You should have seen my Mum. She had herself covered in designers, from head to toe. From Prada to YSL to Vanessa Ador and Gucci, she wore it all, and was all smiles the moment she had noticed her "friends" talking among themselves at one of the corners of the large expensively decorated room. She left me to go talk to them, and Peter followed suit, the moment he saw some business partners too. I mean, who wouldn't want to brag and make an entrance, by appearing to their friends, just to show them that they were invited too?

It was just me and Racheal now.

I still had my eyes scanning round the room. There were so many people, I didn't even know half of them, and I could have sworn there were many non citizens there too. I could see them. Different people of different colors from different countries. Americans, Arabs, Asians, you name them. I could see how Oma was blending easily with all of them, without any stress. There was a woman beside her, doing most of the talking. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen, and she looked a lot like Oma too. It was really obvious now how Oma got her looks. With genes like that, there was no way you wouldn't be one of the most beautiful girls in the world.

"Drinks?"

My eyes shifted to the man with a tray filled with champagne flutes in his hands, and a wide smile on his face. I returned his smile.

"I- can I get something non alcoholic please?" I asked him. Even though I had just clocked eighteen, and was legal, I wasn't sure I was ready yet for most of the things in the world. Call me boring, but I had tried alcohol in the past, and it didn't sit well in me. My system simply wasn't built for it. I had zero tolerance for alcohol, so I mostly passed on it.

"I'll have one please." Racheal reached for the tray, and got out a flute. "Thank you."

The man smiled, and then walked away. I let out an exhale. Of course, what else did I expect to drink at a gala? I just had to wait a bit, till someone with a tray filled with cocktails passed by.

"I know you're not used to parties like this." I slowly turned to Racheal, who pulled her flute away from her mouth. "You're not really used to being around rich people, and engaging in rich people's activities, but God, can you really not start with your 'only daughter of Jesus' attitude here and now? It's bad enough I have to identify as your family."She rolled her eyes, and then turned to leave, before she paused. She turned back. I really wished she didn't.

"Try as much as you can not to embarrass this family please. There are a lot of people here, and we wouldn't want them thinking we are a bunch of clueless people. Your mother is doing the most already."

I exhaled and turned to where my mother was. She was doing all the talking, while the ladies just stood there watching her, pretending she was making a lot of sense. She quickly turned back to me, and then waved at me, gesturing me to join her. I scoffed. The mic tapped twice, and everyone turned to the big stage where the MC stood, right in front of the huge projector screen.

"Good evening everyone, the GBTS auction is going to start real soon. Everyone is expected to get seated, get out their cheques, and put on their coats of generosity."

He chuckled.

I could see my mum open her purse and look inside. I just knew she was looking for her cheque book. The smile on her face after that, affirmed she had found it. I watched her let out a relief exhale. I walked towards her. I knew how much my mum loved to introduce me to all her friends. She was so proud of me, prouder than I ever was of myself.

I smiled, the moment they all shifted their attention to me.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Jeremiah

The auction had already started. You know, the one where my family and other families got few of our elite items and antiques, and displayed it in front of a crowd of rich people, while we watched them debate and struggle for ownership rights, financially.

I could hear Natalie's voice echo, even though I was far from the auction room. She was in charge of the auction, and with the way the audience responded, it looked like they were having a good time. I was distracted and cut out of the moment, when I got the text, and when I read what was in it, all I could feel from that moment onwards was anger, fear, and an urgent need to find Emmanuel, because something in me made me feel he was responsible for all of it.

I hurried to the bar. Someone had told me he had seen him around there, I clenched my sweaty hands. I had a lot going through my mind. A whole lot. There he was, exactly where one of the serving staffs told me he would be. At the bar, drinking with a few of his friends. I was too upset to even count. I hit the table so loudly that it frightened them.

"Where is she?" I glared at Manuel. "At that point I didn't care about anything else. Not his friends, not the bartender, I didn't care who was listening, or was about to listen to the other parts of our conversation, but Manuel knew better. He knew whatever I had to say concerned me, and that meant it was something no one else could know about, since all my life was practically filled with secrets. l waited. I gave him a second to decide whether he wanted me to go on, or ask his friends to give us some privacy. I was good either way.

"Let me talk to you guys later." I heard him tell his friends calmly. Good choice. One by one. I watched them stand up from their seats and leave one after the other. I barely waited for the last one before-

"Explain yourself." I ordered him, because that was all I needed. An explanation. Manny turned back to the table and reached for his bottle of Dusse. I pushed myself even closer to him. "Where is she?"

"What are you talking about?" He asked filling his glass.

"You know what I'm talking about. Where's Obianuju?"

He paused. Manuel raised his head to the counter, and then looked around to make sure no one was in sight. He knew how sensitive that conversation was. He turned back to me.

"What kind of a question is that?" He asked me in a whisper. "Don't you know the way to her work place? I thought you visited her often?"

"Don't play dumb." I leaned closer to him, so it just had to be the two of us listening to each other. "I just got a tip that she doesn't work there anymore. No one has seen her in days. You're the only one capable of making that happen. You're my father's watch dog after all. You promised. You told me you weren't going to tell him."

He scoffed.

"I didn't."

"You expect me to believe that?"

He turned to look at me. He stared into my eyes.
"I didn't." He repeated in a rather clear tone. I didn't know why, but I was dumbfounded. I found myself staring into his eyes for a few seconds, and that was when I realized that he was telling the truth. It wasn't him. I let out a frustrated sigh, straightening myself up.

"Have you tried calling her phone?" Manuel continued. "Maybe she's ill."

"Like she'd ever pick my calls. I did earlier, switched off."

He exhaled. I watched him rub his forehead with his hands. He knew something.

"What is it?" I asked him. "Do you think she has been kidnapped?"

"He knows."

"What?" I knew exactly what he meant, but I just needed to hear him say it.

"He knows you've been going to see her."

"Y-you don't know that." I stammered. If my father really knew I had been visiting the restaurant, not once, not twice, not three times, he'd have done something about it ages ago. Why did he have to wait  until that moment?

"I told you we couldn't hide it from him anymore." Manuel let go of his forehead, and then turned to look at me fully. "I told you to let it go, to let her go, to stop going there. You didn't listen to me, and now your father has gotten a hang of it."

"If he knew, he'd have surely told you about it."

Manuel chuckled.

"Do you possibly think I'm the only one your Dad has given orders to watch what you do? To monitor your every move? If I could find you out that easily, what do you think the rest did? He must have known all along, and didn't do anything about it. He waited until now to prove his point to you. To prove that you can't hide anything from him. We are so stupid." He let out an exhale. "And I'm so screwed. I'm going to lose my job."

I let out a sigh. My fingers were trembling, and my heart was beating fast. I knew the kind of man my father was. He was the kind to make people disappear without a trace. The only reason my mother was an exception was because he knew he needed to keep her close, so he could keep me in check. So he could keep me on a leash, like a dog. She was my weak point, and he knew he needed her to keep me under his control.

"W-what's going to happen to her now?" I asked Manny because I thought if there was anyone that was going to know what the fuss was all about, know about what my father's next move was, it was going to be him. "Is he going to hurt her? To send her away again? Make her disappear for good?"

"I don't know. The chairman is a very complicated man. I really can't say what he'd do."

What did I have to do? How could I help protect my Mum.

"What can I do-"

"Don't do anything." Manny snapped at me. "Don't do anything anymore. You've already done enough."
He got up quickly, and then grabbed his coat. "Just go back to the party and act normal. Act like nothing happened." He put his coat on quickly. "Do everything your father has asked you to do, and focus on impressing everyone at the announcement of your engagement. Stay put!" He yelled at me, and then drew a deep breath. "And don't do anything."
He warned me.

My legs were starting to fail me. I swallowed hard as Manuel walked away from me as fast as he could. I couldn't breathe. I hurried to the counter as fast as I could, and picked up Manny's half filled glass, and emptied it into my mouth. I dropped the glass with a thud, back on the counter, and then filled it up again.

I was going to repeat the process until I was dead drunk, or at least close to it. That was the only way I could do what Manny had instructed. That was the only way I could act dumb and go on with that stupid engagement. I shut my eyes for a second. I was scared.

I was really scared.