While they had been texting daily, Nonso and Afoma were already planning their first date. Afoma then told Nonso that she will be free on Friday. Since it had been a while since she had been on a dinner date, she was very nervous. She had to call her friends for help. After trying on over five outfits, she settled on a black gown that she felt was not too much because he said it was a dinner date. The only reason she hated dates was because of the uncertainty when it came to what she had to wear. She wears her gold heels, jewelry and a small purse. Aliya helps her pack her braids, and they all cheer their friend , and even take pictures of her. She smiles, and then they hear a knock on the door. The girls squeal, and for a moment Afoma slightly regrets telling them to come because now they are making her more bashful than she originally was. Still, she doesn't regret it because her indecisive self could not pick an outfit to save her life. When Tiwa opens the door for him, Afoma's mouth nearly drops open when she sees him. He was wearing a black shirt, and left two buttons open, and wore a simple gold chain and watch. He looked really expensive, and we were matching unintentionally.
He notices that he is staring at me profusely, and her cheeks warm, especially because of her friends too. He comes closer, and gives her red roses and chocolate, and he says, "You look breathtaking."
She smiles shyly, "You too." He grins, "I mean I tried, but I'm no you." At that, the girls squeal, and then Amanda shouts, "Please you guys should come let me take a picture of you." Afoma glares at them, but Nonso seems happy to oblige, and he puts his hand on her waist, looks at her, and she looks at him, and Amanda captures it. Her friends make them take more pictures, then she introduces them to him. She drops the flowers and chocolate, and whispers to her friends, "If you touch this chocolate, you guys will be dead." They salute, and say, "Yes ma."
They go to his black G-wagon Mercedes Benz, she turns to him, and asks, "No bike?"
He rolls his eyes, "Not this time." He opens the door for her and sits beside her. Apparently, he has a driver. From this, she realizes that Nonso is definitely from a wealthy family. They both make small talk here and there and stop at the place Nonso picked. She makes sure her jaw is locked so that it will not drop open. It is beautiful, and she turn to him, and say, "It is beautiful."
He grins, and as they get down from the car, he says, "I hope you left your credit card at home?" She rolls her eyes, "What if your card declines?" He smirks, "Then it isn't mine." He drags the seat for her to sit, and she realizes that chivalry still lives. They talk, and when the waiter asks them what they would like to eat, she notices that the waiter addresses Nonso as Mr Ikechukwu, and she starts to wonder just how rich Nonso is. She turns to him, and asks, "You finished secondary school at the age of 15 right?"
He nods, and says, "Yeah. I then went to private university, and graduated with a business management degree at the age of 19."
"Damn. I'm jealous." He grins, and says, "Don't be."
"So why business management?" He looks a bit sheepish and says, "Well, my dad owns companies here and there, which was why it was a no-brainer. I'm also the first son so, really it was always going to happen. I own my own company though." At that, She stops eating, and asks, "You are really twenty-four right?" He rolls his eyes, "Do you want me to show you my birth certificate?"
"I mean I just what to be sure. You are twenty-four, and you own your own company. Do you manage some of your dad's companies?" He nods, "The company I just opened is still a bit new." They make more small talk, and Nonso shows her around the restaurant which is also a hotel. She asks about his company, and he tells her about his ideas, and he asks, "Why did you pick law?"
"Well, you know I'm a freelance writer, and ghost writer so, I always enjoyed writing. I would have loved to study writing in university, but my parents will not hear the end of it. We are not poor, but we aren't wealthy. My parents never suffered to get food on the table or send us to school, but they did work hard for it to be easier for my siblings and I. There is no way they would have paid for a writing degree, and I understand. They talked about the fact that it will be hard to publish books without funds so, when I started freelance writing, I could write, and I loved law as a course so, I picked it. It was my second option, and I decided I will love to be a corporate lawyer. I started loving law in university, and I've been happy with my choice because I still get to write."
"So, you do not regret not studying writing?"
She grins, "nah. I also took some writing courses. Plus corporate law has a lot of money."
He gasps dramatically, "So, you don't want to be a lawyer to save lives and fight for justice?"
She snickers, "The leaders who claim to fight for justice have not done it so, who am I?" They both laugh. He then asks, "How is it being the middle child?"
"Stressful. I have one older brother and sister, and a younger brother and sister. For some reason, my younger brother thinks he is older." He grins, and I continue, "I don't blame him, it is his height that is giving him that illusion."
Nonso laughs, "Of course, he is taller than you." She glares at him, "What is that supposed to mean?"
He smiles, "Are you not 5'2?" she hisses, and says, "I am 5'5. That is not short." He raises his hands up in mock surrender, nods, "You are right ma'am. Forgive me."
She hisses, and says, "Anyways, I once thought my older brother was overly protective, but my younger brother is worse. It almost makes me slap him. If I go out with him, and a guy tries to approach me, he gives them this particular stare, and I honestly pity them. There was this one time a guy was following me, and I had already called my brother because it was late in the night, and I needed help carrying my bags. My brother came, and saw the guy trying to force me to give him my number, and he punched him so bad. I almost felt bad for the guy until I remembered how he followed me and refused to leave until I gave him my number."
He smiles, "I think I will like him." She laughs, and says, "I hope he likes you. He will be so suspicious of you, and will wait for you to make a tiny mistake so that he will feed on it." Nonso scoffs, "Is he not nineteen? Give me some credit babe, I'm twenty-four."
She laughs, "True. You are the same age as my sister. My older brother is two years older than she is."
He grins, "Now that is who I should be scared of. How old is the last born? Seventeen?"
She nods, and says, "She is also taller than I am."
He grins, and says, "Babe, are you sure you are not going to accept the fact that you are short?" She glares at him, and flips him off, which only makes him laugh more. She then says, "I will have you know that I am taller than my older sister." At that, she sticks out her tongue at him which makes him laugh harder.
He takes her to the rooftop, which is also a restaurant. There, they order dessert. They eat, and she asks, "What about your siblings?"
He groans and says," Well, you already know I have three. Two sisters and a brother. My brother recently turned 18 and has this preconceived notion that he is a man. My first sister is a trouble maker. She is twenty-two, and does fashion. The second one is in medical school. They are also annoying."
She rolls her eyes and says, "You are only saying that because you are the oldest. You all feel like lords."
"Aren't we all?"
She gives him a look, and says, "My older brother is married, and is a banker. My older sister is a chef/caterer/baker. She has her own shop too. My younger brother is studying architecture, and my youngest sister is studying computer science. She can hack the unhackable. She terrifies me."
"When is she graduating? She must work for me if you say she is that good."
She grins, "She will think about it, but her lawyer will have to go through it. They both smile, and talk more, then he asks, "What is your most embarrassing moment?"
"You want to know my most embarrassing moment?" she asks. "You have to pay for this knowledge because I wanted the ground to swallow me that day."
His eyes twinkle, and he says, "You are just being dramatic. It could not have been that bad." she looks at him dead in the eyes, and says, "Maybe to you, but to me, it was the worst day of my life. I literally begged the ground to swallow me."
"Thank God it did not answer you. You would not have been here with me." she rolls her eyes,and says, "Sadly, fourteen year old me did not know that. She still feels embarrassed till this day." He grins, "This better be good. Now, I want to know I about it even more.
She sighs, "You will have to give me something.Preferably your own embarrassing moment."
"But that moment does not exist. I am perfect. Such a thing has never occurred." she gives him a blank stare, and he says, "Okay ma'am. You go first."
"Do I have to?"
"Ladies first. It will be rude of me to go first."
She rolls my eyes, and says, "I insist."
He clears his throat, and says, "May this not make you cancel our second date."
You already think there will be a second date?"
"I hope so. So, my most embarrassing moment is the reason you can never catch me dancing till this day." she snickers at that, and he continues, "So, it was during our graduation party, I was fifteen so, I blame my age. They were doing this celebrant turn by turn dancing, and it was my turn. I remembered all the legwork videos I had been watching, and I felt like they were easy so, I decided it was time to put my practice to action. I was in my own world, not knowing that my shoe lace was loose so, I was dancing, or galloping as my friends called it, and I fell down on my graduation day in front of everyone."
She immediately starts laughing.
He rolls his eyes, "Yeah yeah, let it out, let it all out."
In between laughs, she says, "I think yours is worse. Mine was witnessed by my classmates. Yours was on your graduation day in front of everyone."
He says, "Your turn."
"So, I had a crush in senior secondary school 1. I was fourteen then. I was also very big at looking for trouble, so, I went to my best friend, and hit her back with my hand. She turned to chase me and I hadn't even gone anywhere when I fell down face flat in front of everyone, and my best friend said, 'God always fights my battles for me. I didn't even need to touch.' It made everyone laugh more."
Nonso laughs, "So what did you do?"
"I stayed there praying for the ground to swallow me. Obviously, it didn't answer me. I started feigning waist pain, and that made my friends rush to check on me, and then one guy stepped on me, which then made me chase him instead. That was the opportunity I used to stand up because I was not going to stand up for real."
He laughs, and they both smile. He orders take out for her, and says, "For you, and your friends." She raises an eyebrow, "Look at you, trying to win some hearts."
"I try."
Nonso's driver then drops her at her apartment, and Nonso comes out to open the door for her and carry the food too. Before knocking, she turns to him, and she says, "I enjoyed tonight."
"Me too. I hope we can do this again," he says.
She smiles, and says, "Definitely." They both continue looking at each other, and he bends down and puts his lips on hers, and she sighs and he kisses her like she has never been kissed before. It goes on for a while, and they separate to take a breath, and continue kissing. Then against her lips, he says, "We will definitely be doing this again."