YOU FOUND ME

CHAPTER 5- PART 3

KOREDE DASILVA

I sat down at the departure waiting lounge of JFK airport, New York. My flight was by 7:00pm and I made sure to arrive at least an hour early so as not to miss my flight. Thankfully the weather had been really favourable all through my stay, I couldn't stand extreme winter periods.
I was also glad about the outcome of the business trip and entrepreneurship conference as I was able to network with other entrepreneurs from all over the world. It was such an enlightening experience.

I was even able to find time to visit my long-time childhood friend, Bode, in Manhattan.
My man was living the good life!
I met his Irish wife and 8-month old daughter for the first time in person as our previous interactions have been via Skype.
They treated me warmly and we were able to catch up on old times. It's amazing how life could move so fast; I remember the mischievous games we used to play when we were kids. Now we're all grown men facing the reality of life.

To buy time, I scrolled through my Instagram account to catch up on what was happening in the world of social media. It had been almost a month since I last checked IG; I usually visited Twitter more often and YouTube occasionally.
The first thing that caught my eye while scrolling through was a picture of a plate of grilled chicken wings, fried potato chips and tomato sauce on the page of popular food business handle.
The business was really popular these days, especially with the advent of social media. The most important thing for me was that the food should taste good irrespective of the flamboyant packaging but this wasn't the case often times.
Speaking of food, my mind reverted back to the meal I was given to sample on Monday by the new company chef.
Teniola Adams.

The food was really delicious, with wonderful presentation. I wanted to give feedback to the HR manager but I had to travel to the States the following morning and I was in a hurry.
Actually I was curious about her company name which I just realized I didn't know, though I was almost certain that it wasn't one of those big names in Lagos.
Even though I might have given her the job impulsively, I was beginning to feel that it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
I was actually quite impressed; by the food...and by her.
Something about her caught my attention that day at the elevator.
Though I had been busy all week, she'd crossed my mind a little more than a few times.
She was undeniably beautiful; a caramel-skinned beauty at that, although that was not the only catch.
She seemed to me like a go-getter, the kind of person that would not give up until she got what she wanted. That was my kind of person.
I so much wanted to have a real conversation with her, I was just so curious about a lot of things.

A thought crossed my mind. I could actually check her out on IG, hopefully she was on the social media platform.
I clicked on the search icon and typed her name.
Displayed were about eight options and I tried to see if I would find her profile picture.
"This is not it", I said to myself after clicking open the page of a woman who looked like she was in her mid-fifties.
I smiled when I finally found her page.
Her last post was two days ago. It was a quote about being grateful even in difficult times because there was someone who wished to even be where you are.
Truly inspirational.
I scrolled downwards to see her other pictures; there were a few throwback pictures too. From her posts, I could tell she was a very spiritual person. Almost all her captions had something about God in them.
Pretty interesting.
Surprisingly enough, I found no posts about her work although a part of her bio read, "a lover of food art".
I'd deliberated for quite a while in my mind before deciding to follow her page and send her a direct message.
What was wrong with me?
Given her cold response towards me the other day, I would be better for me not to complicate matters.
But what was the worst that could happen?
It was a likely possibility that she would ignore my message, or worse still block me. But it won't hurt to at least try.
I'm amazed at myself right now. I doubt I'm even making a rational decision at the moment. But I just want one more conversation with her, at least let me know something more.
As soon as I followed her page, I sent her a DM.
Hopefully she would reply, or maybe not.

My eyes were still glued to my phone screen when I heard the announcement that it was time to board our flight back to Nigeria.
Home, sweet home in a bit.

Thank you all for reading!

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