After Grace took a shower, she put on a pair of blue jean trousers and a yellow top before coming out to see Efe and Rose laughing as they cross-checked notes together.
"Great, you're out," Efe said, raising his head as soon as she stepped into the living room. "Hey, that's mine!" He barked pointing at the shirt.
"Well I like it and I wore it so now it's mine." Grace retorted.
Rose couldn't help herself but laugh at the victimized expression Efe wore on his face.
"What are we eating this morning?" Grace asked.
"What is in the kitchen?"
"Noodles?" Grace exclaimed. "What is wrong with you people, isn't there something decent to eat around here?"
"We don't buy foodstuffs to keep for later because of work." Efe said to appeal to Rose and Grace's disappointed faces. It didn't help change anything.
"Come on, " He said to Rose "you should be on my side here, we both work in the same place."
"That's not an excuse for eating poorly." Rose replied.
"Like you do prepare your food all the time."
"Yup." Rose nodded. "I don't like eating outside... And to silence your doubts, I'll bring some of my chicken stew to work on Monday for you."
Efe was quite surprised by her statement as he wondered if he was dreaming or not.
Grace sighed.
"I'll go whip up some noodles." She said then headed for the kitchen.
Grace after getting into the kitchen decided to wash the dishes before she started to cook. Just as she did, Rose walked in.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She said immediately. "I didn't startle you, did I?"
"Oh no!" Grace replied with her eyes still on the kitchen sink. "Where is Efe?"
"He went in to freshen up too."
"Great! I'm surprised you could stand seeing him in that robe." Grace said.
Rose laughed and decided she wasn't ready to talk about Efe's sexy calves.
"So Efe told me you just finished your WAEC exams... Can I help?" She asked, gesturing to the pot.
"Yeah, sure. The matches are over there."
"So how was it?"
"It was okay, but definitely wasn't easy."
"That seems like a pretty okay answer." Rose replied, turning on the stove. " Definitely not bad." She added which made them both giggle.
"He forced you to come didn't he?"
"Yeah."
"But what about your friends, I mean, aren't you graduating?"
"I actually wanted to come... And about graduation, hopefully, I would have gotten what I came for before then." Grace said rinsing the last of the plates.
"Oh, sounds intriguing. Care to share?"
Grace froze for a second then turned to face her.
"Can you keep a secret?"
"My lips are sealed." Rose gestured with her fingers.
Somehow, Grace knew she could trust her.
"I have this rich friend who it turns out was lying to us about who she was so I came to track down her parents and find out why she decided to hide her true identity from us."
"Hmm," Rose said, nodding her head. "I see you're eager for the truth like your brother."
Grace smiled.
"How's my brother?"
"Your brother is the best, he is a very brilliant, dedicated, and hard-working man and I respect him so much."
Grace laughed.
"I don't mean like that... Personally, how is he to you?"
The question made Rose blush.
"He's really funny and caring, I find how he is always thinking about others charming. But he can be so rigid on principles you know."
"Ugh, tell me about it!" Grace replied, sending the two of them on another laughing spree.
"So have you gotten any lead yet?" Rose asked as she poured the noodles into the boiling pot.
"Nothing yet." Grace answered. "I never realized how hard it was to find out where rich people live until now."
"Oh, it's easy." Rose countered. "That's if you know where to look... Where's your phone?"
"Right here." Grace said bringing out her phone from her pocket and handing it to her.
"Okay so basically, not everyone leaves out their house address deliberately on the internet," Rose said, getting to work immediately. "But if you can easily track down where they live from the most frequent locations of their posts on their socials... What are their names?"
"Mike and Abike Badmus."
"Okay." Rose told her and fell silent for a minute. "Here it is, Vaillant Estate, Banana Island."
"Wow, thank you so much!" Grace said, astonished as she collected the phone. "You know I stayed up all night for this but I got nowhere, and you just figured it out in no time like it was nothing... You're awesome."
Rose smiled.
"It was nothing, I'm glad I could help... And you're welcome."
The meal was soon ready and they all retreated to the living room to eat. Efe had turned on the TV and as they ate he was partly surprised and frightened by how well Rose and Grace got along. But it was also good news for him too. It meant that he and Rose could have something outside the basis of work.
She stayed on for a few more hours and while they worked on their paper, Grace texted her friends on the recent update, she would be tracking Veronica's parents tomorrow.
"Thank you so much for having me, despite the little notice," Rose said just as she was about to leave.
"No, it's nothing. You are welcome anytime." Efe said smiling without realizing how awkward it made everyone else.
"Uhm okay, bye... It was nice meeting you Grace, you're cool. See you tomorrow Efe."
"Ask her out, you baby!" Grace whispered to him, pinching his hands.
"Rose, wait!" Efe said, grabbing her by the arm. "Uhm, how about I take you out for lunch tomorrow? To at least thank you for not saying anything about my ridiculous night robe."
"But I'm bringing you my chicken stew."
"Well, then we will share it at lunch tomorrow."
"It's a date," Rose replied with her cheeks almost turning red. "Bye."
"Bye." Efe and Grace said in unison as Rose walked away with a wave.
Immediately they got back inside, Efe sighed.
"You're hopeless!" Grace blurted.