RUTHLESS

45, THE CONVERSATION

"So tell me about yourself?"

Tacha had a small smile on her face. She was beyond full despite not eating much, and it hurts to speak with her full stomach. She reigned a quiet chuckle that lasted for few seconds at Nathan. "Sorry," she said. "You sound as if you haven't done your assignment already. You can just ask me what you don't know."

"Well," Nathan rested his back on his chair, not denying the fact. "I want to hear you tell me so you can get to know me through me and not what people say about me."

"Okay then, I'm Tacha Williams. My mum said she thought my Dad was a Yoruba man which was the reason she fell for him until she got to know him better." Tacha laughed. "And, I'm actually bearing my Mum's surname. She did a change of name for me without getting my permission. That's how angry she was when my Dad left." Tacha rolled her eyes at Nathan with a bit of a chuckle. "I'm starting with what you don't know."

"Oh!" Nathan couldn't hide his grin from Tacha. She was right because he really didn't know about that, and that was not even necessary if not because she wanted to brag to his face. "So?"

"So?" Tacha continued. "I finished secondary school at the age of seventeen. I entered university at the age of twenty and graduated at twenty five. My course was a four year course, but this is Nigeria where you need to give yourself an extra year or years considering our government." She shook her head and broke into a wry smile. "That's the more reason you need to be serious with your courses and avoid zero at all cost in any course while in school, because you really don't know how many years you gonna be spending in that federal university." Tacha said even when she hated that about her school. She smiled at Nathan. "You really don't know that too?" She paused, laughing freely this time. "That reminds me, I haven't done my convocation as well, and I will be twenty seven this year."

"Oh!" Nathan tried to pretend but he had to admit he didn't know much about the education system of Nigeria, letting his eyes out with an expression of...boom! Are you kidding me? He leaned away from his seat resting his elbows on the table. "I actually spent all my days out of the country though. My high school, college, masters, and every extra classes I took was done outside Nigeria. I lived most of my life in America. Only Kate is insisting on attending a private university here in Nigeria because of her boyfriend." He laughed, shaking his head. "Are girls that hard to train, cause my sister is stubborn, nosy, and she's causing Dad lots of troubles. If he says anything, she starts crying saying because she's the only girl."

Tacha chuckled lightly at his response. "Not until I have one though." She pointed to herself. "I can't say much on that as a daughter, but I think your sister is just extra. No!" Her eyes came out also. Boom! "She's gonna hate me for that if she ever finds out. Your sister seem to be hot tempered." Tacha didn't know she was going to add the last statement. She laughed but her tummy couldn't allow her to express her laughter just the way she wanted after squeezing her tummy together with a waist strainer. "My stomach hurts." She confessed, making fun of herself.

"I was wondering why it was so tiny cause your breasts came out even more and your shape. This is deceiving."

Tacha couldn't hold her laughter before Nathan. "Na waist trainer biko. I wan do fine girl for you na."

"Fine girl busted. You wanna remove that?"

"I will be fine." Tacha said with a smile.

"So, what's your plan?" Nathan said after she was calm. "Do you have any side hustle apart from your work? Do you plan on quitting it to pursue something you really love?"