AROUND THE HEART IN 80 DAYS

Twenty

Jacob and Chinonso watched their friend jack up a heavy sack of flour, three other people behind her, two males and a female, equally carrying large bags.

Within two weeks, Jacqueline had successfully obtained 20 yoga mats (they could not all be used at once because of limited spacing), renovated a room at the community center with hired help, had an almost complete temporary attached structure behind her bakery space with an electrician that lasted a whole day ensuring electrical fixtures were made, bought a generator to power the oven (a new commercial oven that had also magically appeared) and hired three other bakers to help her and in the process of holding an interview for a dispatch rider.

The rush of the whole thing must have been the fuel behind Jackie's surprising speed. That and the huge sum of money that had miraculously made this possible because no way in hell the loan would cover such expense.
Besides, she was already planning on kicking off in full start on Monday, in three days' time.

"I admire Jack, do you know?" Chinonso patted her boyfriend's hand. "She's so invested in making this happen. She's just busy to the core and she would still smile to the end. What kind of girl is she?"

"She has limited time in wherever she's staying right now. But even at that, she is moving fast."

"She needs to tell me her secret, I know I'm also planning my restaurant, but I'm sooo lazy." Her eyes crinkled at the ends when she laughed.

"I know you are," he pinched her cheek then began to absent-mindedly pluck at the ends of her hair.

They waited a while longer before Jackie finally came to meet them, two glasses in one hand and a chilled orange juice carton in another.

"Wow, you already have a refrigerator as well?" Chinonso gasped as she got up to receive the offer. "Just how big is that bakery structure behind?"

"Thirty square meters. Could be less. But it is longer than it is wide, I don't want to pose a challenge for the surrounding neighbours."

"So in there, you got a timber structure, a generator, an oven and a refrigerator?" Jacob counted off the list on one hand with his fingers.

"And baking space, I had to make sure there was enough of that." She looked back at the worker who was measuring the open hole for a door to the back. "I know everything seems so hurried but I am running on adrenaline. My dream is finally being created right before my very eyes."

"We are all super proud of you, Jack. Honest. But, uh, where'd you get the money for all this? The loan you got would have covered the purchase of this space and maybe the seating arrangements, but Jackie, you've got a fucking generator." Jacob shrilled.

"And you've already hired bakers." Chinonso added.

"What can I say? I was lucky..."

"Lucky my ass." Jacob countered quickly. "Was it Rebecca?"

"Are you silly, Jake?" His girlfriend turned to him. "Compare the weight of the deal with the money we're seeing in here. Even if the Rebecca lady did help, no way she did it alone. And I bet on my life it can never be her new husband. And," Chinonso shifted the focus to Jacqueline, slamming the table softly with her palm and going into interrogation mode, "with the way you're spending at a pace, I know it's a really big backer behind you. Tell me I'm wrong."

Jackie settled comfortably in her chair and folded her arms. "I was never planning on lying. Rebecca didn't give me the money, Edrei did."

Now, Jackie loved the couple before her. They were always an animated duo, feeding off each other's silly and serving it to anyone around them. Now, she enjoyed watching them gape at her, drop open their mouths and go 'noooo' in perfect sync.