Layla is a very charismatic woman who is well-known for her creativity in the fashion industry. Layla has worked as a fashionist for almost half of her life but recently moved to our vicinity due to some personal and unknown reason she refused to share. I respect her a lot and do nothing to ruin the mutual relationship that exists between us. She has been of great help to me in so many areas such as counselling my mental health and other times too financially. She barely takes no for an answer and that makes her more exceptional. She advises me when I get into quarrels with my siblings and makes sure she has a great relationship with my family as well. Just as a mother can tell if something new is going on with her son, she can unarguably predict when something is new with me.
She realized I have changed a bit lately and has been observing me for the past few days. She will constantly ask what was new with me and I slimly walk away without giving her any answer, yet she is never angry at me.
This particular morning, she busted me in, sat down and asked what was actually wrong with me. I could not look away this time but told her everything that had been bothering me, including the thoughts of Nia. I have already spoken to her about Nia but just did not make it too obvious to her that I like the girl. She got worried because she has never heard me speak of anyone except Deon, but getting all emotional and worked up because of Nia is beginning to become a matter of worry to her. She teased me almost all day just to keep my mind away from thinking of Nia. My phone rang and I quickly answered thinking it was my best friend, but to our surprise it was her, Nia is calling.
My tummy rumbled to hear her name through phone and love also began to sweep me off my feet. As I was thinking of how she got my contact because I never shared my contact with her, she immediately said she found my number writing on the book and was calling just to return it back. I was dumbfounded and speechless and Layla interrupted. She suggested I ask if she has any plans for the name or can probably come over to Layla's place. I already spoke about Layla to her on the yacht the other night, but she is yet to meet her in person. I could smell the excitement in her voice when I asked if she could come over to Layla's place and said yes without any hesitation. I was so happy that I could finally get to spend more time with her and probably get to know her better. I hurriedly went into Layla's house and got myself ready for her arrival.
It has been less than an hour and I saw another call on my phone, Nia is here and I went down stairs to pick her up to the house. Nia was super excited to meet Layla, so was Layla too. We sat down in the corridor and began to have some little chitchat.
Nia's home is a home of wealth, yet she chooses to live the life of normal people. Her dad is a colleague of Ermia's father, since they both own big companies that deal in cosmetics to agriculture down to fashion lines. Their companies have grown so well throughout the years, making them the most prominent and distinguished families in the country. Their companies also grew to the international stage respectfully, as they have more international partners than local partners. They grown fond of each other and will definitely want their children to settle down with one another to keep their lineage growing.
At Layla's, Nia looked so happy and free, as she is able to express and explain to us all that she wishes to do in other to experience the kind of life style that we live. She even expressed her happiness as she explained how she informed her family about riding on public transport, but they expressed deep insatisfactions and disappointment at not riding in her car while going to-and-from school. Everything about her feels different and I become much happier spending time with her. My studies and performance no longer become an issue when I am with her. She makes me the man that I am, that is what I say to myself when am around her.
Along the line through our conversation, Layla grew a bit curious by asking for the name of her family. She seemed to know a lot about Nia's family as she kept speaking out the names of some of her relatives. But what got me a little bit suspicious was Layla's facial expressions as Nia continued to say almost everything about her family to us. Her face became pale like she was getting sick and became mute at some point. I thought to myself maybe Nia's family got something to do with her, because it is not normal of a lady of Layla's caliber to move into a vicinity full with almost families below the middle class. She is a lady of class and magnitude yet humble and polite to everyone. I once remember asking her for the reason for leaving the estates and moved into the slums. Although her house seems to be the only beautiful house in the slum sitting on top of a hill with a view of the beautiful ocean, it was still unusual for someone like her to come live with us.
It is obvious Nia needed an environment where she can express herself freely and live life the way she wants, because she could not stop speaking when she started, and that isn't a bother to me either. Layla became paler as I was looking at her then she stood up and went into the house. She claimed she had some chocolate cakes that's he baked last night and wanted to serve us with them. I could not leave Nia seated all by herself, even though I wanted to go after and ask if everything was fine with her. Since Nia is visiting, and visiting for the first time, it would not be appropriate to leave her by herself alone sitting in the corridor. Nia asked if everything was okay with Layla because she realized that she was worried and pale when she started speaking of her family, but of course I said yes and asked if she was okay and excited to be here, and she responded positively.
Nia's house has become a house of chaos as Ermia has come to pick her up for dinner and probably apologize for what he did at her party the night before, but he got furious when he was told she is nowhere to be found. He seemed not to have taken it lightly and decided to follow up by tracking her device to Layla's place. He came to their house with a concert ticket which was happening in London the next day. He could not believe that upon all his struggle she seemed not to give him the attention that he wanted. He is not just arrogant but also authoritative even towards the women he claims to love, and Nia is not ready to take that from him.
After she got the message from her brother who had informed her about what Ermias was up to, she immediately decided to leave and promised to come some other time. I was worried and did not want her to leave, but at this point it would be illogical to look selfish before her, after all we are just friends for now and nothing more than that. I walked her down the hill as she quickly drove her car away from the vicinity. Afterall, I have her number now and did not look too worried on how I would be able to reach her. Layla comes out from the kitchen with the chocolate cake, but I told her Nia has to leave for an emergency. She sighed with a bit of worries but looked a bit calmer than when Nia was around. She then took me inside the house and began to advise me about her worries with Nia's family. Of course, I stayed calm and listened.
The day is coming to an end, and it was time to get back to the shore to help Deon. He has closed from work and has already taken the lead to being on the shore. I came later and met already prepared and we went into the sea to fish again. This time, we have high hopes of harvesting some good salmon and selling them at the market.
The thoughts of Nia seem to have gotten the best of me and watch her leave in such haste has really gotten me worried. She seems to have a good life but at the same time not actually having the life she wanted. The thoughts if it makes me feel like being rich comes with a whole different kind of curse, not living a life like a normal person, everything you do has to be documented, forced into a relationship of no love but selfish interest, really does not sound pleasing to the ear and might make you give up on getting rich, but at the same time, riches gets you recognition beyond measure and also gets you whatever you want with so much ease. Of course everyone wants riches, but not to be limited by their own riches, like Nia has been limited to almost nothing but an object to opportunity.
We have finished our day by the sea and have gotten quite a number of fish to help us get some few change from the market.