Sugar Daddy✔️

A

A CHAIR SCRAPES ACROSS THE FLOOR AND HIS STRONG ARM PUSHES ME SOFTLY ONTO THE SEAT. "Are you okay?" He whispers quietly to me and I shudder in reply. "Don't forget the deal. All you have to do is play along." He pulls away but not before clasping my hand in his.

"Sorry my parents. She just felt a little bit dizzy." I would have found his reference 'my parents' funny under normal circumstances but I am way too shocked to connect with the part of my brain that deals with humour.

"Is she pregnant already?" His mother asks and my eyes bulge out of their socket. It is only by the grace of God that they do not fall out and roll across the table. First it was the engagement, and now it's pregnancy. What the hell have I gotten myself into?

"No mother." Eric says without a falter nor a waver to his voice. I turn my gaze to him and I frown at how utterly composed he is. But then again, he is the one who brought up the whole issue. Of course he should be calm and collected and not slowly going crazy like me. "She is not pregnant. She just feels tired today. This is why we may not be able to stay for dinner."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Onikosi asks. She seems to be the only parent who cares. "The chef will be serving the food in just a few minutes."

"No it's fine mother. We will be okay." Speak for yourself. I think. Now that my stomach isn't making me feel queasy like before, I actually would have loved to get some food. It is too bad that a certain someone has chosen to do all the talking.

The discussion between father, mother and son goes on but I tune out of the conversation and find solace in my own world where I am back in my room gisting with Dessy and not sitting in a hall with strangers, engaged to a man I barely know.

"Miss Adannaya." I only snap out of my fantasy when I am addressed by Chief Onikosi.

"Yes sir." I smile nervously while Eric squeezes my hand underneath the table.

"Did you go to school?" He asks with a piercing gaze that could force a man to cower behind an object. It is obvious where Oga Eric gets his glaring talent from. Somehow though, the old man does not scare me. I feel a bit intimidated yes, but that is only because I want him to see the good side of me just like I always wanted Nnam to.

"Yes sir." I reply and I am surprised by how firm I sound. "I am a graduate in Business Administration with a second class upper degree, and I also have a solid foundation in Designs as I was able to take most of the courses in my extra year in university."

"Interesting." He nods as if in deep thoughts. "Are you working now?"

"Not at the moment sir." I say truthfully.

"Do you have siblings?"

"Yes sir. Four." I smile at this.

"And you are the oldest?"

"Yes sir I am."

"How are your parents faring?" The chief raises an eyebrow at me.

"My father died almost five years ago and my mother lives in the village with my siblings."

"So your family is poor?"

"Justice!" His wife calls out.

"We survive sir and I think that is more important than being rich." I say evenly. Being called poor no longer has an effect on me. It once did before, but not now. Not when I know peoples' opinions are not worth a mere kobo.

"Being rich is important." He says.

"Only to vain people." I snap back.

A suffocating silence follows afterwards and I desperately wish I could leave. Without turning, I can feel Eric's gaze on me and I make the effort to keep my head straight. He tries to hold onto my hand but I keep it out of his reach. He soon gives up and retires his hand to his thigh and for some reason I don't understand, I wish he is still holding me.