A month later, Richie led Tolu out on a field trip, they were out to answer to the distress call of one company. They have been there since morning editing a troublesome account, now it was time of the company lunch, the finance manager they were cooperating with asked them whether they would like their food to be brought to them or they would like to go to the company's canteen downstairs and eat?
Richie told him he would like to be away from all the files for a while so that their brains could be refreshed as they looked at other things, this means they would walked down to the canteen, so the manager led the way and he introduced them to the canteen Chef.
While they were serving them their foods the finance manager left them on their own. The food came but Richie just toyed with it he did not eat.
Since this was not the first time that Tolu would watched him eat, they have had many lunch together in the course of their work and she knew he eats heavily because he liked food. So seeing him toying with his food today caught her attention and she asked, "Sir, you are not eating your food, are you still thinking about that account? Eat your food we will unravel the mysteries surrounding that account today."
Instead of Richie heeding her words, he dropped the cutleries completely and looked steadfastly into Tolu's eyeballs with strange emotion on his face that Tolu have not seen before on his face. This caused Tolu to blush because she recognised this look.
She was forced to look away because her shyness greatly come to fore, she looked at her own hands and she too could no longer eat because of what she saw on his face. While she looked down she expected him to talk but he did not say anything he just continued to look at her penetratively.
Though Tolu momentarily could not raised her head to look at his eyes but she felt his eyes on her and she felt she was looking into her soul, this made her to blush the more because she felt he could see what she was thinking.
And what was she thinking? At that moment the conversation she had with her mom rushed back to her head and she said in her mind, "Mom was right, my boss is in love with me, i am in trouble because I cannot enter into relationship with this man while we work in the same company, what will I do, God help me?"
Just then Richie spoke with a very faint husky voice so that staffs of that company sitting closer to them will not hear him, he said, "Tolu, I cannot fight myself anymore, it is too much for me to hold my feeling for you in my soul, I need to let you know my mind and let you decide my fate, I have been in love with you from the first day I set my eyes on you. And when I say I love you I do not mean boyfriend and girlfriend kind of stuff, I want you to be my wife"
When he said this he kept quiet and continued to look at her face, when Tolu did not hear any more words from him she knew he was waiting for her to say something, and this means she would have to look up to his face.
Having no choice, she looked up but what she saw in his eyes was too much for her to continue to look and talk, so she dropped her head fast and said, "Sir, you are asking for the impossible, so I don't know what to say or how to answer you, please let us finish our food and get back to work"
Richie answered her and said, "We will do that, but you have to tell me this first, when you say I asked for the impossible, does it mean that you don't love me?"
Tolu managed to look up again into his eyes, she shook her head and said, "Sir, I cannot tell you more than I have told you for now, please let us talk about this later when the shock is lessen"
Richie asked, " The later that you talked about when will that later be?" Tolu answered and said, "I don't know but let it be later" With that Richie said, "Okay, but we will definitely talk about it later because I am loosing my mind over you, let us go"
He stood up to go but Tolu did not stand up, she said, "Sir, please go ahead I will meet you later" She said this because she was suddenly too shy to walk with him as she used to do before.
Later, when they were returning to their office in his car, Tolu sat tensed and perched close to the car door all through, and they both did not say a word to each other, but they stole occasional glances at each other when they feel the other was not looking, however, they caught each other looking at such moments.
Each time Tolu was caught she blushed and entered more into her shy shell, but when Richie were caught he used such moments to ask her questions with his eyes as if he was pleading to her to agree to his love.
They got to the office just when the work hour elapsed, Tolu rushed up to the office, packed her things and sneaked through the back of the office to go home, she did not even say bye to her boss because she did not know how to meet his eyes. Richie also did not come straight into the office on purpose to give her time to leave.
He was of the opinion that Tolu might crack if he come near her in the office and people would know something is happening between them.
When Tolu got home she met her mom at home, the way she entered in an unusual manner drew her mother's attention to her and she called her back before she escaped to her room, she ordered, "Tolu come back here, what is the problem?
Tolu answered and said, " Mom I have no problem" And she turned to enter her room, but the mother insisted that she must not go. She said, " Come here I say, how can you say there is no problem when you are flushed all over, talk to me I know you very well, I know when you are not in your element"
With this Tolu turned back and sat beside her mother, she exhaled and said, " Mom you are right....." The mother cuts in and said of course I am, how will I not know at a fleeting glance when a thing is wrong with you, don't you know you are my soul?"
Tolu replied, "Mom, when I say you are right, it is not about the fact that you read this moment right it is about what you discussed with me about a month ago."
The mother asked, "What I discussed with you, what was that?" But before Tolu would answered she figured it out and said, wait, wait, wait, ooooh, your boss, right?" Tolu said, "Hun hun, you said so, and now the trouble has started, I don't know how I will work in that office now, with his eyes all over me!
The mother said, " My dear, mothers always know, especially mothers like me, don't worry, just take time to look into your heart and make your decision about him, don't allow yourself to be under unnecessary pressure about it so that you won't regret over the choice you will make. However, if you chose to go with him please remember my advice, there must be no sex until wedding night, that is your unconquerable weapon over him, don't loose it"
Tolu embraced her
mother and said, "Thanks mom, I am always confident in your advises and I will keep strictly to this one in particular whether I am to marry this man or another another man"