Subdued (18+)✔️ [A Nigerian Romance]

47~In Her Business

Three months had past since she heard from Kachi but it didn't stop the monthly deposits of one million naira. Aria refused to touch the money, instead, she'd taken the gold necklace he'd gotten her to a pawn shop in Victoria Island. She still remembered the shock on the attendants face when they'd tested the jewelry.

One of the attendants had taken her to a private room and offered her champagne.

"Its not fake," the woman had said and Aria had let out a relieved breath.

"Of course. How much can I sell it?" She didn't want the woman to notice she had any doubt and she couldn't let them cheat her too so she had to form like she knew how valuable her jewelry was.

"We can give you six million naira ma," she said and Aria forced herself to not whoop for joy. "Do you have the receipt from when you purchased it? Hope you didn't steal this sha?"

"I didn't steal it." She eyed the woman. "It was a gift that's why I don't have the receipt."

"Assuming you had the reciept you could easily sell for seven to seven point five million."

"Its fine, I'll take the six."

Aria had stared at the credit alert on her phone wondering why Kachi would spend something that expensive on her and then disappear for three months. Why was he even still sending her money?

She figured he'd blocked her number when she couldn't reach him and Usman had kept giving her polite yet ridiculous excuses for why she couldn't reach Kachi, so she gave up.

The first thing she did after getting the money from the jewelry sale was travel to Asaba to clear off her loan with Mike. After that, she had four million left, and the three million that Kachi had sent her. Her life was finally falling in place the way she'd dreamt about for years. She just had to deposit the rest of the money at Chase Bank to offset her remaining debt and she'd be free. She'd be broke too, but at least it would be a clean slate for her to start over. She could work where she wanted and finally put her needs first.

Pete's honking brought her out of her musings as he pulled up in front of her apartment building. She immediately hurried into the car and thanked him for offering to drive her to the bank.

"So after you make the payment, what next?" Pete asked after they'd both been silent for a while.

"I got an offer in the mail to write for some book apps and the pay is good. I'll start from there and hopefully, more will come."

"What about him? Anything yet?"

Pete didn't need to say who the 'him' was. After Kachi had ghosted her for a month, she'd broken down and called her best friend then went on to sob about how she'd fallen for him and how she missed him. After that night, they hadn't mentioned his name again, chosing to refer to Kachi as 'him' or 'the guy'.

"I've moved on babe. Let's not talk about him again."

Pete didn't seem confused but he dropped the subject and let the radio fill in the weird silence between them.

***

"Are you Miss Zariah?" a woman walked in and asked Aria after she'd waited in the reception for about five minutes. Aria affirmed and the woman gave her a wide smile. "My name is Tope and I recently became your account manager."

"Okay. So they told me that my loan has been paid off. I didn't make that payment o. Hope this isn't a scam?"

"No no." Tope laughed. "You didn't lose any money so this is not a scam naw."

"Hmm. So who paid off my debt?"

"We got orders from our oga at the top," Tope said.

It was Kachi. It had to be. No one else had that much power to do that, besides he was the only one she knew personally at this bank.

"When did you get that order?"

"About a month ago."

So when he was ghosting her, he was still sorting out her issues? Why? It didn't make sense that after just a few weeks together he'd be compelled to go this far for her.

"I want to speak to Mr. Onyekachi," Aria said. He was the only person who could answer all these questions.

"Who?"

"Mr. Onyekachi Obiagu," she confirmed.

"Lol. Do you have an appointment?"

"Tell him that Zariah is here to see him, I'm sure he would want to see me too."

The woman stared at her as if she had two heads but she made no move.

"I'm not leaving till I see him."

"Look, Miss Zariah. I've never heard of debts being cleared off by our oga. So obviously, you know him personally but that doesn't mean you can demand to see him. You can call him personally and discuss that." Tope eyed her phone on the table. "If you can't call him for whatever reason, maybe you should go home and enjoy your money."

"Call him. Its important."

"I can't risk my job for you ma. He clearly said he didn't want any disturbance today."

"How sure are you that turning me away won't risk your job?" Aria asked and Tope stared at her for a few seconds, probably weighing out her options. It was clear that Kachi found her important enough to clear off millions for her, but just how important was she? Aria could hear the wheels turning in the woman's head.

She looked away and picked up her phone then began typing. Aria watched her place the phone against her ear and held her breath as they waited.

"Good afternoon sir," she greeted then paused. "There's a Zariah asking to see you, sir." She turned to look at Aria again, then stood up. "Yes that same one."

After a few more seconds of Tope listening to him talk, she finally dropped her phone.  "Come with me," she said.

Finally, she would see him and she'd find out for herself why Kachi was still in her business.

***

Omo. Laptop typing is hard o.

What are your thoughts and predictions? Why do you think Kachi is looking out for her even months after he stopped seeing her?

Please do vote and comment.

Happy Sunday ❤️