Chapter 1:
1…2…3…4…5 counted a slightly masculine voice, it was 6am, some birds weren't even up yet but loudly rang out the voice in the damp early morning, echoing across the slightly large storeroom used as a gym space at the back of his rented apartment. A muscular arm pulled the barbell over his head, forearms gleaming with sweat in the slightly dull fluorescent light, chest radiating with light like a spearhead in bright sunlight, sword shaped eyebrow---well, trimmed by an handsomely paid barber, nothing short was expected of him, the innocent barber of course, still thought of as a dupe, 'who the hell takes #1,500 just for a hair cut…in Edo' he thinks and says each time, a suave man he was, an eye catching set of obsidian black eyes and a well arranged dentition, top of his class in military school…not to forget, a perfect body to top it all because to fred, his body meant the world to him---almost all the world.
Taking a look at his wristwatch, he had spent an hour, thirty at his gym already 'time for the early jog' he thought, doning on his stylish body fitting armless, he walked out of the small sized gym---his small sized gym, it felt good to call it his.
As he ran along the roadside, his mobile rang in his pocket, taking a stop to see who it was, the screen screamed "maami" 'ah ah, what is she doing awake by this time of the morning' sounded more like anger than question, ' wasn't she told to relax more and not stress herself?' making it sound like waking up early morning to speak with one's son was stress, ever since his father died of heart attack, his father, the main reason he joined the security agency in the country was a hard man to reason or even communicate with, highly secretive and rarely praises his son, Fred joining a security agency was a move to gain his approval, because he himself was in the army before his retirement, this obviously didn't go a long way in salvaging their relationship, a rumble in the sky snapped Fred out of his thought and taking a quick look at the sky, looked like it was going to be a rainy morning, he decided to call his mother as soon as he got back.
............
'why on earth must it rain today, today of all days, this time of all times' Julia screamed out in her highly sophisticated, five-star hotel look alike room, she had a date with friends this morning, it was the weekend and weekends meant fun…well, just like any other week day.
Daughter to a high-ranking officer in the Nigerian military, Colonel Adesiyan, an highly trained officer, who takes no nonsense in his line of work, but underneath…he was more.
Julia was a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, studied English Language, although she didn't even know she needed the certificate for, a piece of paper with scribbled writings, any one could fabricate those things these days. She could play pranks and eat maize all her life and still end up head of the biggest Government owned corporation in the country, to her, her education was a waste of good money…the waste of course counted for nothing, not even waste of money but waste of her time, which she would have used for fun anyways.
'Ping' sounded her phone, signifying a whatsapp message, she whispered a silent prayer, 'hello beautiful' although cliché, it sounded brilliant and innovative to her, even the typing seemed elegant and different "who has such beautiful hand-typing". 'did you sleep well', rolling her beautiful eyes the way girls liked to, she replied 'what do you think', 'I think you're beautiful and no other compares to your other worldly beauty' came the reply, '(giggles) how does that relate to the question?' after a few seconds that seemed like a few days to her 'ping' in came the reply, 'how does anything relate to anything, with you around, my world seems to be disconnected, but in an orderly manner…oh shoot! Have to go, I'll talk to you later, you have a beautiful day…although I doubt any day can be as beautiful as you'. "Awwwn" she sounded the common way spoilt girls did…those that pretended to be spoilt too, 'why does he have to leave?' she had come to see all guys as assertive, even saw this stranger as assertive at first, since Noah, the son of the minister of finance, Mr Williams, a renowned politician started pestering her about love like they had been predestined from heaven, saying "we are tailored for each other, you and me" and all that shit, yen yen yen stuff, she has never seen anyone as proud and she doubts she ever will, perhaps he inherited that from his father, who her own father told her once said "if I wanted to rule, I would rule the world, but I'm content ruling over this country's money", with his signature wretched smile and small beady eyes, a well known look for fat, greedy men, only GOD knows how he managed to produce such good-looking son. 'Speaking of son, why is the sun this hot? Thought it was raining a few moments ago' then she remembered she had asked the house help to heat water in her bathroom for her bath since it was raining before, 'I can't remember her informing me she was done',"I go kill this idiot today" she grumbled.
All hell let loose on the innocent househelp.
............…
Fred ran his hand over his well trimmed beard after a short bath, which left him unsatisfied as he loved to feel the different level of coldness in water and savor every refreshing feeling each drop could bring 'I should never whatsapp in the mornings again, Fred be warned!' he screamed at himself 'now I'll be late for my mid-day sightseeing' he said with a frown but later replaced by an expectant smile and a distant dreamy look
He didn't call his mother, didn't remember to.
Riding on his bicycle, specially bought for this kind of trip, listening to his favourite artist, NF, he headed to the famous park in the area to meet his assistant and well...a bright smile on his face---"such a beautiful day"
When he was chosen for this mission, he grumbled, especially when told he had to do stealth 'who does stealth these days? why not just bust in on the bastard and rain bullets till heavens rain blood and gore', that was his style "combat"why this female sluggish style of stealth, sounds like death to him. Everything changed when he caught the sight of her, ' it's amazing how these monsters give birth to cute puppies' the sight of her natural beauty, long legs, long lashes---not the one drawn with pencil---the natural one, wow! Such a beauty, most beauties are limited just to the photos but hers was even more alluring than in the photos.
'Yes sir!' he opened his eyes to a ramrod straight beautiful figure, that was Maggie, his assistant "err...ehm...ah...yes' he stuttered, the figure before him gave him a questioning gaze which made him look around and gulp like someone caught undressing in broad day light, he felt like his earlier thoughts of lashes and beauty were on display to the public.
He had to give her detailed weekly reports on his progress so far, which ...well, he hadn't gone beyond whatsapp and daydreams, seemed like he had been doing personal job than national one---was he the right person for this though---no other choice than to report his failure so far, which actually sounds like success to him infact, who else can get close to such a beauty in less than two days and fool around for seven.
Seeing Maggie off, all he could think of was his secret spot, 'I'll beat the crap out of whoever sits there' he thought while watching Maggie drive off in her baby blue vehicle, which seemed tailored to her size---he raced back to his usual spot with a large bowl of pop corn, time seemed to painfully slow down 'aabi i don miss am nih' he thought almost with tears.
Then he saw her.
.............
'Why is today like this' she asked herself that question about ten times already, Julia grumbled as she walked along, heading to the park, ' why must he demand to see me and with such pleading tone', the Noah she knew wasn't someone to have such a tone, she was even tempted to believe he must have paid someone to do the voiceover for him and God knows how soft-hearted she could be , even if the devil uses a pleading tone to ask her to come spend summer in hell, she would agree with a wet eye 'why do I have this kinda personality?' seemed like she was questioning God.
Unaware of the ecstacy filled eyes training after her every step in her faded jeans and cream top topped over with a blue baseball cap, a deliberate outfit for an unpleasant encounter with Noah...' I should have invited about seven friends over, each with their siblings and siblings' lovers' sitting on a bench in a well shaded area, she mulled over her thoughts.
A black avanti sports car with a tinted glass parked a distance away from her and out came a well shaped handsome young man who reminds her of Batman in Gotham city but this Batman before her has all the attitude of Joker. Noah, a man of average height, good looks and a proud politician for a father was a man of every ladies' dream, a rich young man---nothing short was expected of him, having a minister of finance as a father---in Nigeria---and not Iraq, well, you'll be cursed not being rich.
Followed by an assistant bearing a large bouquet of flowers, Noah walked towards her in a nice fitting short and surprisingly, an oversized longsleeve, which in a weird way had a nice fitting 'impressive', with an honest straight smiling face, a perfect definition of calm, he said "hello" and Julia replied in a robotic manner "hi" like two strangers "a nice spot you've chosen, I like it" showing a beautiful set of teeth, formerly covered up by two gorgeous flesh of pink 'was he using lip balm though, its almost as pink as mine' then she seemed shocked by something, because a spark of electricity seemed to corse through her and you could, if paying perfect attention, see her hair stand on ends.
"I suspended some appointments to come see you, although important, I thought I must see you, and to be..." she couldn't hear him anymore, she was staring ahead---SHOCKED---
Seeing her walk in her faded jeans and top with a baseball cap, his world seemed to stop rotating 'to hell with that Seyi' why would I suddenly look at that her backside, I vowed never to do that with her---well, until she gave her approval---definition of well shaped backside "barca" as that wretched Seyi used to say, 'can I be the messi of this team though'. While in military school, he met with Seyi, who had a humble background just like him, but unlike him, he possessed all sort of bad trait, from womanizing---to womanizing---he was almost put in trouble when Seyi took him on sightseeing---sightseeing ladies and giving them ratings was one of Seyi's favourite past time and now his eyes seems to have developeda mind of its own, always screaming 'look the back, look! The! Back!! If you no look i go look o' he swore not to do that with Julia, why was he doing this now? 'uhn, nice car' heloved the color black a lot as it was the favourite color of his ex, he seemed to still be holding to his past, ' the past is in the past, you should let it go' you should let it go, but his ex was such a beauty, a nice lady 'Ice' a nice nickname, he loved that name, sounded cold and beautiful and then---snap!---'why is that guy from the black car approaching Julia' is there another lady beside or behind her? he seemed to instantly go angry and veins could be seen bulging at his neck, knuckles clenched subconsciously and he could not help but move a bit to get a better view and confirm his guess, he was now fully in the open, with his joggers and black sweatshirt---and---is that a flip-flop he was putting on? Wasn't this time for her afternon walk, as he had studied her and knew what time and day she went out on her walk around the park, wasn't she taking a walk today? was she coming out to meet this guy with a large bouquet behind him? was he going to marry her right away? because this heartbreaking scene seemed like a wedding procession to him. A million questions whizzed about his head as he stood motionless, still with a clenched fist and what the hell---those really are flip-flops---
'what is he doing here, isn't that the guy from whatsapp? he lives in the same state as me?...uhn he really is as good looking as his dp, taking a more detailed look---wha??are those bathroom slipass?'
'oh shit! she saw me, what was I thinking?'he screamed in his mind, he wasn't really good at eye-to-eye relationships or meeting with strangers, his personality on social media and real life seemed like identity theft, even to him.
Her courtesy got the best of her again, she just couldn't leave Noah standing and walk awayin search of a stranger she met on whatsapp a few days ago, she realized he left already after taking a hard long look at her, she just couldn't possibly chase after him---or could she?---
Noah realized he had been talking to someone who wasn't paying any attention and he couldn't help but go red on the inside 'what could be stealing her attention, I MYSELF AM ATTENTION!'
"Excuse me, I lost myself there for a moment, i'm very sorry but i have to go now..uhm, had something doing and i wasn't finished before leaving home" she said with a face which screamed "LIAR"
"Hope to see some other time" she said and left without even waiting for a reply.
Watching her go without even waiting for him to present her with the flowers, veins bulged on Noah's neck.
..............
Sitting in a king's chair in his private garden with his lackeys, Noah let out a soft chuckle, showing a slight dimple which when fully revealed, deep and beautiful enough to fit a car key. With a wine cup held in his left hand and a ball, obviously meant to relieve stress held in his right, he seemed to be waiting for something… or someone.
A door opened to the left and the assistant that had been with him earlier walked in with a flash drive in his hand, which he inserted in the laptop before Noah and a scene appeared on the screen, which surprisingly displayed the scene earlier at the park, Noah had obviously requested for the CCTV footage from the authorities at the park, he was going to find out what took her attention. It was an embarrassment to him, to his well built reputation.
Then he saw it.
A young tan skinned and well shaped man, standing motionlessly in the direction Julia was looking "so it was him" he said with that dimple revealing smile, a smile his lackeys recognized too well. "Burn the flowers" sitting more comfortably and sipping lightly from the drink held in his left hand, he continued "find out about that guy" while pointing at Fred on the screen. Watching the smoke drift to the sky, it felt like Fred's life.
Noah revealed a bloodthirsty smile