The ORION Project | ✔

chapter 40

"Hi, I'm Grace Ilori."

Nehemiah Abayomi gave her a warm handshake, his smile never wavered, not even when he caught her hesitation as she said her name, he didn't even cast a look at a scowling Tolu Kingston. He just focused his eyes on her in a manner that was flustering, there was something about his wide eyed gaze that made one feel like the center of his universe when he looked at you. If Grace hadn't already had a crush on Kendrick, she might have fallen a little in love with the barrister.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Ilori, please, call me Nehemiah," He said.

Grace nodded as if he'd said something profound and then spluttered something unintelligible.

"Right, call me Grace."

She realized she was still holding on to his hand and let go, his teasing smile put her at ease. He turned to Tolu Kingston and gave a jerk of his head, the latter only peered blankly.

"I'm thinking that we get down to business?" He asked. Tolu nodded, remembering his manners.

"Of course, Barrister, this way."

Tolu led them through the adjoining hallway in the foyer to his office. Grace caught Nehemiah's contemplative look as he stared at the life sized portrait of Tamika hanging in the hallway. She wondered what he thought, there were times where she marvelled at her father's dedication to his late wife, other times it was chilling that there was a chance that he was still stuck in the day his wife had died, a chance that he hadn't moved on at all.

When they were seated, Nehemiah set his black briefcase on the mahogany desk and pulled out several bulky files that he soon handed to Tolu Kingston.

"Most of the things in those files are personal mementos, university documents, photographs and the likes," Nehemiah said.

Grace watched her father switch on the lights in the office and blinked. The room was almost always dim that she'd begun to think that somehow the electricity was cut off from the room. He flipped through one of the files and she caught the logo on the crinkled paper.

"Freeman University?"

Tolu Kingston looked up from the file, a faint smile on his face.

"Yes, my alma mater." Tolu said, fixing her a look that soon turned incredulous. "I just realized that I never told you."

Grace leaned forward. "Jesus, I thought you guys graduated from the Lagos State University's Medical College."

"Actually, the first students from the Ikeja campus were first admitted in 1998 and graduated in 2006." Nehemiah chirped in. Tolu nodded.

"No, we graduated from Freeman University in 1996," Tolu said. "Actually, ORION and ARTEMIS was first based in Freeman before the organizations branched out to other Nigerian universities. Anyone who knows Freeman well will tell you that the private university is the hub of secret societies."

"I can count about fifteen serious ones," Tolu added.

He closed the file and reached for another that Nehemiah handed to him. When he opened it, something flashed through his eyes before they shuttered. He reached over and handed it to Grace.

"You should see this." He said but strangely, his voice wasn't devoid of emotions, in fact, there was an amusement in them that made her smile.

Grace opened the dusty paper and her own laugh exploded from her lips. She leaned back, laughing carelessly. It wasn't just some random papers stapled together, it was a photocopy of what appeared to be the diary of a teenage Tamika Afolabi.