I stood in awe of the so called 'Mr. Gabriel' with my mouth wide open. Unable to move a muscle, my eyes almost falling out of their sockets. She stood right in front of me like the sun in the middle of the day. I beheld the kind of beauty I could only imagine or see in my daydreams. Her perfect height, her curves, her dark chocolate complexion, oh her beautiful face complimented by her long thick black woolly natural dreadlocks. She is perfect… An angel, oh scratch that, she's a goddess that should live forevermore.
"wake up young man." she snapped me back to reality.
"Oh s- so sorry Ma" I stammered.
"What were you looking at?" she inquired.
"I didn't know Mr. Gabriel is a woman."
She led out a faint chuckle and replied, "Well, he was my husband."
"Oh so sorry Ma."
"Sorry for what? I don't need your sorry. Everything whether good or bad happens only for good."
"Then who did I speak with on phone yesterday?" I asked out of curiosity.
My question probably vexed her, she narrowed her eyes and hissed. She remained silent and only used her right hand to usher me into her bedroom where I would work on her main System. I walked passed her quietly feeling sorry for myself. How foolish was I to think I could be comfortable with a woman of her caliber?
"This bedroom is paradise and hell at the same time." I thought. Everything has been though of when building that house, but the bedroom, nah… the thinking there was times three. The beauty of that room mesmerized me. From the warm soft colorful material on the floor to carpet the whole room to the beautiful paintings on the walls, and to the heavenly juggernaut family bed and then the soft beautiful well done sofas all in the same bedroom. "Wow! Enjoyment is real." I thought again, " I use to think places like these can only be found in movies and dreams but wow… enjoyment is real." That room alone tripled my desire to get rich.
Knowing that my time there was a limited one, I didn't give myself the pleasure of checking out the entire room keenly so I headed to the Main System and proceeded with work. Trusting that my guy Pahpa was already playing his role as a distractor, I was determined to make us both rich.
Thirty minutes later I dropped my working tools inside my backpack. I pushed the start button and the System booted successfully. I eagerly waited for it to finish booting, so that I can fulfil my own part of the plan. Inside my minds eyes, I saw money falling from the sky like rain drops on me. I began to imagine all the things I could purchase with lots of money. I removed my Flash drive from my pocket and inserted it into the System. "Alright" I whispered, "Here comes the Trojan horse." Just as I was about to click on the OK button for the transfer of the Trojan horse a thought suddenly rushed into my mind.
The Woman… her face flashed in my mind's eye. I began to run a playback of that very moment I met her for the first time. Her angelic figure, her perfect curvature, complimented with good height and the most beautiful face I have ever seen in my entire life. If anything, that woman should have her place among the gods. I closed my eyes tight, I opened them back, I smacked my right chic with my hand. "Wake up man." I whispered to myself. I took a deep breath in and out, oh I needed composure and focus at that moment more than anytime of my life. The mission was supposed to be more important than anything but my heart wanted to interrupt. I didn't know her before I came into the house, I didn't come because of her but then, my mind is using my desires to wreck havoc and jeopardize our mission.
"Is everything OK there?" a piercing voice startled me. "Oh heavens! She's the one" I silently blurted, "Y-yes ma" I hurriedly answered. I dared not to waste a second without answering.
"Can I come into my room then?" she politely asked. "Polite in her own house?" I thought, "This woman is no ordinary person. She is definitely a goddess." I found myself rattling and dragging, trying to decide between the mission or my emotion.
As expected, Without waiting for my permission to come in, she opened the door and stepped into her bedroom. My eyes met with hers. Her face decorated with the must beautiful smile I have ever seen in my entire life. I couldn't help but smile back at her. I tried as much as possible to hide my overflowing feelings for the woman I just met minutes ago, but my eyes betrays me with the fire inside.
"Are you done?" she asked.
Her question pierced through every fabric of my being. I didn't know what to say, I stood there like a fool. Should my answer be yes, then my mission fails. If my answer is no then she would wonder why I am taking so long and might become suspicious. I looked straight into her eyes, I saw how innocent they are, her smile, her beauty. Mrs. Gabriel is a light that shines in the darkness of my soul. It was at that moment that my heart took control of the wheel, shoving my brain to the backseat. I answered her question with a swift reach at the Flash drive stuck in the system to pull it out. "Yes Ma. I am done." Mission failed. She gave me another beautiful smile and gave her words of gratitude.
"I have your phone number" she said, "I will call you anytime I need you."
"Ok Ma, I will be waiting for your call."
"You may refer to me as Freda"
"Oh thank you Ma… I mean Freda."
"Thank you too Sol, for fixing my system after Pahpa tried to ruin it with water."
"I am at your service Freda."
She gave me the permission to call her by her first name. Oh gracious, anytime that name flows out of my mouth my heart trembles. Tremble at the fact that a goddess-level woman said I could call her by her first name. My mind became occupied with the thoughts of Freda, I could not take my eyes off her.
"Sol!" she called.
"Yes Ma, I mean Freda, please pardon me."
"You are off minded." she said.
"Sorry, something took my mind away." I replied.
"Ok, well you may now go. I will complete your payment before evening since I already have your account details."
"OK Freda. Thank you."
Few minutes later, I stood outside her house. Hanging my head like a fool. I failed the mission, I blew away that one chance that could have changed our story. I was carried away by Freda, the goddess of light, she made my blood boil like liquid fire. How could I have stood a woman like that? Even Pahpa could have failed this mission if he could see what I saw in that woman. "I betrayed him." I whispered to myself rather regrettably. At that moment, I started wondering what it would be like to face Pahpa after failing a well planned mission. He gave his all, he took the risk of being a distraction to the chief security of Mr. Gabriel's house. He bought me enough time to do what I had to do but at the end, I failed.
An hour later, I sat on a stool looking directly at an angry Pahpa. His face resembling that of a mad hulk, he fixed his fiery eyes on me.
"You had one job Sol, one job." Pahpa blurted angrily.
"I am sorry Bro, I didn't know I carried the wrong Flash drive I swear." I lied.
"And I always thoughts you were the smart one, look, you failed a simple mission."
"Simple you said?" I angrily barked back at him. "I know I messed up, but calling that mission simple is nonsense."
"Shut your stupid mouth Sol." He cursed furiously. He continued, "You took a risk, I took a risk. Do you have any idea what it was like to distract that chief security? That man is savage. I had to slightly chop some flesh off my foot just to make my acting real. He was a hard man to distract. Then you, you messed everything up. I hate that I trusted you for this mission."
I turned my eyes to see his chopped foot wrapped with a bandage. I felt terribly sorry for him but there was nothing I could do. I had to lie to save myself from the mess. How could I explain my encounter with Freda to Pahpa, he would kill me. He should never know that I blew the mission because of a woman. No one in the entire neighbourhood would understand the situation I was in facing Freda. Now, my heart sank at the knowledge of the wound Pahpa inflicted on his own self just for the mission. I felt like the biggest betrayer of all time. I stood up from the stool, I walked slowly to him, squatted in from of him and I remorsefully utter the words, "I am sorry Bro."
The sound of my apology obviously disgusted Pahpa. He raise his fully frowned face and in a low frequency voice said to me, "If I found out that you lied about everything. There is no crack on earth that you would hide without me finding you Sol. I would find you and freaking kill you."
"Wow Pahpa, I thought we are brothers?" fear gripped me.
"You are not my brother." Angrilly.
"Come on Pahpa, But I sincerely apologized. Don't do me like this."
"Get out of my house and until you have another plan to get that job done, don't let me set my eyes on you Sol."
On my way home from Pahpa's, I began to think deep about the whole situation. For the first time in my life I saw a human metaphorically transformed into a ferocious beast, just because of some money that was never his. Human. What really are we?