The Right One

Thirty seven

It had been a week since Hope's mum gave her consent to Raymond and Hope's relationship, a week filled with so much positivity that Hope didn't think she'd ever get off the high. Every single time it struck her that she no longer had to hide her relationship with Raymond, she felt like she was on cloud nine. It was such a refreshing feeling. It almost made her completely forget about the events of the previous weeks. Almost.

She couldn't exactly fool herself into believing she was completely over them though. She was constantly reminded in the way she tossed and turned in bed every other night, unable to sleep and resulting in her constant state of tiredness. She'd managed at first to convince herself that it was completely normal and it would take a while for her to be able to fully get back into her normal routine, so she hadn't told anyone about it. She'd however persuaded her mum and Raymond to let her continue working at the restaurant pending the time she went back to school. It had been a war, but one she'd won eventually.

Working at the restaurant would keep her busy during the day and hopefully by the end of the day, she would be exhausted enough to fall asleep quickly. Maybe that'd help get her mind off Philip. She figured that after a few weeks of that routine, she'd have completely forgotten about him. Hopefully. He popped into her mind a bit too often than she appreciated and even though she didn't know what it was exactly, thinking about him really unsettled her.

Whatever it was, she wasn't going to allow him mess with her head or her life more than he already had. Shoving the thought of Philip to the back of her mind, she intentionally shifted her mind off of him and coincidentally collided gazes with her co worker who immediately flashed her a brief smile. She remembered what Raymond had told her about him and grinned.

"So I heard you've been acting as a secret spy for Raymond."

Oke's smile slipped and he looked like a dear caught in headlights. His reaction had Hope cackling. He was always so much fun to tease. "Calm down, Mr man. I'm not mad or anything."

He looked relieved at that and Hope smiled as she realized that he cared enough about her to not want to hurt her feelings. "As long as that's not why you're friends with me."

"Oh no no no," Oke refuted immediately, shaking his head fervently. "That's not it at all. I genuinely like you. You're a very nice person."

Hope almost laughed again, thinking about how quickly the boy's expression went from happy to guilty to awkward in such a short period of time. Currently, he looked like it caused him physical discomfort to say that he liked her, albeit platonically. Unable to resist teasing him, she further goaded, "Did you just admit you like me? Wow! Tayo would not be very happy when she hears about this."

It took all of her willpower to keep her serious face as she watched him splutter, "No, I didn't mean it like that. I don't like you--"

"You don't like me?"

"No, I like you, but not like that . . . " He scratched his head, an obvious tell of his discomfort. "I just meant that I like you as a friend--"

"Lay off the boy, Hope."

Hope's laughter burst free as they both turned to Raymond who had managed to walk up to them without either of them noticing. Hope had texted him as her personal chauffeur to come pick her up after work, but she hadn't put into account how fast he'd get there so she'd had to have him wait for her till she was done. When she'd asked why he'd arrived so early, his explanation had been that work had ended early. She doubted that was it though, maybe he just missed her too much. She'd told him as much and it'd brought her joy when he hadn't denied it.

"Don't mind her, she's just teasing you," Raymond said, thoroughly amused by how flustered Oke was. He turned to address Hope, staring pointedly at her. "You, tell your cougar friend to stay away from my boy."