1…2…3…4…5 counted a slightly masculine voice, it was 6am, some birds weren’t even up yet but loudly rang out the voice in the damp early morning, echoing across the slightly large storeroom used as a gym space at the back of his rented apartment. A muscular arm pulled the barbell over his head, forearms gleaming with sweat in the slightly dull fluorescent light, chest radiating with light like a spearhead in bright sunlight, sword shaped eyebrow---well, trimmed by an handsomely paid barber, nothing short was expected of him, the innocent barber of course, still thought of as a dupe, ‘who the hell takes #1,500 just for a hair cut…in Edo’ he thinks and says each time, a suave man he was, an eye catching set of obsidian black eyes and a well arranged dentition, top of his class in military school…not to forget, a perfect body to top it all because to fred, his body meant the world to him---almost all the world.
Taking a look at his wristwatch, he had spent an hour, thirty at his gym already ‘time for the early jog’ he thought, doning on his stylish body fitting armless, he walked out of the small sized gym---his small sized gym, it felt good to call it his.
As he ran along the roadside, his mobile rang in his pocket, taking a stop to see who it was, the screen screamed “maami” ‘ah ah, what is she doing awake by this time of the morning’ sounded more like anger than question, ‘ wasn’t she told to relax more and not stress herself?’ making it sound like waking up early morning to speak with one’s son was stress, ever since his father died of heart attack, his father, the main reason he joined the security agency in the country was a hard man to reason or even communicate with, highly secretive and rarely praises his son, Fred joining a security agency was a move to gain his approval, because he himself was in the army before his retirement, this obviously didn’t go a long way in salvaging their relationship, a rumble in the sky snapped Fred out of his thought and taking a quick look at the sky, looked like it was going to be a rainy morning, he decided to call his mother as soon as he got back.
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‘why on earth must it rain today, today of all days, this time of all times’ Julia screamed out in her highly sophisticated, five-star hotel look alike room, she had a date with friends this morning, it was the weekend and weekends meant fun…well, just like any other week day.
Daughter to a high-ranking officer in the Nigerian military, Colonel Adesiyan, an highly trained officer, who takes no nonsense in his line of work, but underneath…he was more.
Julia was a graduate of Obafemi Awolowo University, studied English Language, although she didn’t even know she needed the certificate for, a piece of paper with scribbled writings, any one could fabricate those things these days. She could play pranks and eat maize all her life and still end up head of the biggest Government owned corporation in the country, to her, her education was a waste of good money…the waste of course counted for nothing, not even waste of money but waste of her time, which she would have used for fun anyways.
‘Ping’ sounded her phone, signifying a whatsapp message, she whispered a silent prayer, ‘hello beautiful’ although cliché, it sounded brilliant and innovative to her, even the typing seemed elegant and different “who has such beautiful hand-typing”. ‘did you sleep well’, rolling her beautiful eyes the way girls liked to, she replied ‘what do you think’, ‘I think you’re beautiful and no other compares to your other worldly beauty’ came the reply, ‘(giggles) how does that relate to the question?’ after a few seconds that seemed like a few days to her ‘ping’ in came the reply, ‘how does anything relate to anything, with you around, my world seems to be disconnected, but in an orderly manner…oh shoot! Have to go, I’ll talk to you later, you have a beautiful day…although I doubt any day can be as beautiful as you’. “Awwwn” she sounded the common way spoilt girls did…those that pretended to be spoilt too, ‘why does he have to leave?’ she had come to see all guys as assertive, even saw this stranger as assertive at first, since Noah, the son of the minister of finance, Mr Williams, a renowned politician started pestering her about love like they had been predestined from heaven, saying “we are tailored for each other, you and me” and all that shit, yen yen yen stuff, she has never seen anyone as proud and she doubts she ever will, perhaps he inherited that from his father, who her own father told her once said “if I wanted to rule, I would rule the world, but I’m content ruling over this country’s money”, with his signature wretched smile and small beady eyes, a well known look for fat, greedy men, only GOD knows how he managed to produce such good-looking son. ‘Speaking of son, why is the sun this hot? Thought it was raining a few moments ago’ then she remembered she had asked the house help to heat water in her bathroom for her bath since it was raining before, ‘I can’t remember her informing me she was done’,”I go kill this idiot today” she grumbled.
All hell let loose on the innocent househelp.
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Fred ran his hand over his well trimmed beard after a short bath, which left him unsatisfied as he loved to feel the different level of coldness in water and savor every refreshing feeling each drop could bring ‘I should never whatsapp in the mornings again, Fred be warned!’ he screamed at himself ‘now I’ll be late for my mid-day sightseeing’ he said with a frown but later replaced by an expectant smile and a distant dreamy look
He didn’t call his mother, didn’t remember to.
