ENIOLA: Beauty For Ashes

Chapter Seven

"Oge...wake up"

She mumbled something about fried rice and went back to sleep.
"Oge!"

"Sir?! Ma?!...Ohh babe. Good morning"

Eni woke up around 8am to see Oge passed out on an empty bed next to hers. She didn't expect that she would stay overnight and felt really bad. She allowed her sleep till 10 before waking her.

"Morning. How body?"
"I suppose dey ask you. How are you feeling? How's your head?"

"Ten times better than it was last night. The doctor did this cold scalp massage thing that helped a lot. I thought I was going to run mad. Hangover na bastard"

Oge sighed and stretched. She'd been so terrified the previous night and was grateful Eni was okay.

"The doctor said he couldn't give you any medication because of the large amount of alcohol they found in your system. Babe...abeg, I know you're dealing with a lot and you know I'm here for you whenever, but pleaseeeee, till you heal properly, we are not going to any club again. I nearly wan faint last night as I see you dey shake for car. Abeg"

Her voice shook a bit and looked away.

"Yeah, sorry for scaring you like that...and thank you for staying over. I owe you one"

"One ke? More like one million. Do you think they'll discharge you today? If they're not, let me go home and change and bring food. Can you eat sef?"

King walked in with a nurse who was carrying a bowl of pap in a tray.

"Good morning. Feeling better? You look better" he said.

"Much better, thank you. That massage did wonders" Eni replied.

He smiled and turned to Oge.
"Good morning ma"

"I know this face. I've seen you before" she said. She stared hard, trying to recall his face.

"He was at Tunde's birthday party...the guy you were trying to force me to dance with" Eni said. Oge let out a loud "Eh hen!" and smacked her thigh.

"What a small world! I never would have imagined you'd be a doctor. You were so awkward that night, you didn't even drink" she exclaimed.

"He doesn't drink-"
"I don't drink-"

The uniform answer made Oge pause with an amused expression on her face.
"Well, I'm glad to see you're doing better. You'll be discharged today. Total bed rest, no heavy food, lots of fruits and fluids. Just deliberately allow your body relax for the next two weeks, please" said King.
He was becoming uncomfortable with the suggestive smile on Oge's face and wanted to get out fast.

"Yes sir. Thank you, I really appreciate your concern for my well-being" said Eni.

He handed her a card. "Here, for when you want to make another bad health decision even though I don't expect you to. I've got a busy day ahead. You two take care"

Oge waited till it was just two of them in the room before laughing. Eni ignored her and dug into the bowl of pap, glad to have something to eat.

"What was that madam?" Oge asked.
"What?"
"All the low key flirting I just witnessed? How did you know he doesn't drink?"

"Because he told me ma. Unlike you, I prefer to have sane conversations with people. We didn't dance, we just...talked"

"Are you sure? Because it was looking like you guys did more than just talk" Oge teased.

"Your eyes are not working ma. He's not like your yeye club boys. You know he owns this hospital?"
"Ehn?! Are you for real? He owns this place?"
"Toh, be talking nonsense"
On the way home, she sent him a text asking why no one brought her a bill. After a long nap, she woke up to his reply.

"Don't worry about it. Take care of yourself"

*****************************

Changes were made over the next three weeks. The first thing Eni did was to resign from work. That wasn't the initial plan but when she called Oga Felix to update him on everything going on, he raised his voice and rained insults on her, telling she was stupid to think he'd allow her back into the company. She didn't hesitate to put him in his place.

"Sir if you think I'm calling you to beg to come back, you must be high. I'd rather drop dead than work for you ever again. You don't even deserve the curtsy of a resignation letter. I'm out"

He realized she wasn't going to beg and tried to be diplomatic. Oga Felix hated loosing staff.

"Eniola wait, we can come to an agreement. You can have some time off to-"
"I quit. Good bye"

The next thing she did was to call Kunle's account managers from the different banks and set up a meeting. Her grieving widow facade worked on them and by the end of the meeting everything Kunle had in his Nigerian and domiciliary accounts was moved over to her, totaling five hundred million naira and just a little above a million dollars.

She did the same thing with a lawyer for the land he bought and got the ownership papers.
Selling his clothes brought around five to six million and she decided to keep his car around for a while to avoid raising eyebrows. By the end of the month, everything that belonged to him (asides the car) was gone.

Another month had passed and Eni was not in a hurry to go back to work. She had more than enough money to take care of all she needed, and she didn't even need much. She was content to stay home, watch movie after move after movie, shop, smoke, and experiment with different kinds of recipes in the kitchen and play video games.

Oge came over on weekends to check on her, take her out and fill her with office gossip.

It was a Friday evening and she was home. Oge had a wedding to attend so she wasn't going to be available for the entire weekend. She just finished a series and she felt like going out but there was no one to go with.
Reconnecting with the old friends Kunle had separated her from proved...uncomfortable.
Asides Oge, she was practically alone.

"Who can I call ohhh?" she mumbled as she rummaged through her contact list. Dr. Kingsley's number popped up and she paused. His position of authority as a doctor in charge of her well-being had somehow lessened the embarrassment she felt from the whole birthday fiasco. Maybe calling him was not such a bad idea.

He picked up on the third ring.
"Please tell me you're not about to go on another drinking spree"

"As a matter of fact, I am. I need a handler, someone to keep me in check. I'll pay you"

His low chuckle made her smile.
What a way to ask someone out for dinner.

"Time and place?" he asked.
"Seven, I'll text you the location"
"Alright"

It was 5 o'clock so she had roughly an hour and twenty to thirty minutes to prepare. "Now what do I wear?"