Led to Mr. Billionaire

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

"Oh, my God. How did you escape?" Her voice was full of surprise and pity, which I hate but was inevitable.

"One day my husband had an accident, and everyone left to see it, but I wasn't allowed to, so I searched every room for money, stole as much as ten thousand naira, and left with my baby without any belongings. I think he died anyway," I said with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant. I wasn't bothered with saying my past anymore, and I wasn't sure why.

"How old were you?" Her voice had become small but firm.

"I was thirteen when I married and fifteen when I left." She had her hand covering her mouth, now making me laugh a little.

"I can't believe what happened to you, but you sure are a brave, strong woman. When Mr. Coker recommended you, I thought you'd be one of those girls who wanted an easy way out and lots of references, but now I would love to know more and learn from you all that happens in small towns we do not know about. It must not have been easy to share this story, but the way you did shows how much you've grown, and I'm happy about that." I just smiled at the woman. What could I say, 'Oh no worries, I'm used to it?' Nah.

"As you are aware, the internship is for three months, but Adeyemi told me about your school, so I decided to have two weeks of intensive training first, and then after your schooling, you can come back for the rest and maybe have a retainer depending on your progress. For now, you will join the rest of the recruits and shadow your teacher as you learn all you need to, and then by the next week, you all will be a part of one of the projects we will be undertaking in the community," she explained.

"Thank you so much, ma. I appreciate this opportunity." My voice held excitement for what was to come.

Mrs. Adedotun called in her secretary, or Eniola, as she was called, and gave her orders on my behalf. Standing up from my seat to follow Miss Eniola, I was called back by Mrs. Adedotun.

"Maybe one day you can come up again, and let's have a drink while we finish our conversation. You can even bring your child; I would love to meet her," she suggested.

"Okay, ma'am, I'll do that," I said, making her smile widely before waving me goodbye.

Following Miss Eniola, we get into the elevator again, this time to the second floor.

"So, I'm Eniola, and you can always come to me when you need help. You will be among the other recruits for the internship. There are four plus you in total, so you can be free." She said it nicely while we stepped out of the elevator.

"Thank you, ma," I replied, getting a smile in return.

The floor was not as filled up as I expected, as the desks were arranged in cubicles. I followed Miss Eniola to a small door, which was an office much smaller than the one upstairs but still spacious enough to hold five cubicles and a big desk in the front.

There were two guys, a lady already seated in their stations and a man seated at the big desk, who was currently looking at me. Why are there a lot of men here?

Oh, boy, this is going to be nerve-wracking.

I walked behind the woman I had been following, sending small smiles to the people looking at me and getting the same in return. Okay, maybe not that hard. We stopped in front of the man at the big desk. He looked around Yemi's age, not to mention that he was handsome. Taking my eyes off him, I scanned the room.

"Mr. Tolu, this is Darasimi, the last intern. She is to take part in the two weeks intensive training and must take part in the project as well, Orders from above" Miss Eniola explained, exaggerating the last part. The man turned to look at me with curiosity. Really, again?

"Thank you, Eni." His rough voice was hard to miss. Miss Eniola smiled, nodded, batted her lashes, smiled again at me, and finally left. I turned to look back at the man to see if he was looking at me already.

"So, let's know you." What? Whoa, this is eerie. Just like Mrs. Adedotun, I introduced myself again. Satisfied, he nodded and pointed at the empty cubicle to his left.

"Take a seat and read the case on the table. After thirty minutes, you will explain what you understand and the best way to tackle it." I gave an affirmative nod and went to sit down.

My cubicle was beside another one, but with a guy who looked young. We were the only two on the left, and the other two were opposite us. I received welcoming smiles from them all, so I looked at the table and tried to find the paper Mr. Tolu talked about, but before I could ask, the guy beside me stretched his hand to my desk, making me still for a second, and when he brought out the paper from underneath the table and set it in front of me, I relaxed.

"Sorry, I had to keep it under because the fan was blowing it away," he explained, making me nod.

"Oh, thank you so much," I say quietly.

We went back to serious mode as we examined the case. I read it twice, and from what I know, it's a case of child abuse.

The boy had almost been beaten to a pulp when his friend saw him being beaten and called the police. This happened in a small town in Delta State where there was no school, meaning the children had to commute to the neighboring village for education, which is quite far.

It showed that the boy was never given money for transportation, and only his tuition was paid for, meaning he didn't even have money for food or access to medical attention since the school made them pay for everything separately. The mother was said to be late, which means it's the father who did all this and is denying all allegations since it was a young boy who called the police and, as such, didn't have any evidence. The young boy was said to have some relatives from his late mother's side who were not allowed to visit him unless it was urgent.

I examined the pros and cons of this case, and my heart went out to this young boy as his picture showed how small he was and how malnourished he was.

"It's been thirty minutes. Gabriel, explain what you understand and how we can tackle it," Mr. Tolu ordered in a firm tone.

The guy called Gabriel came out and gave a short explanation of what happened to the young boy, and while I agreed with what he explained, I noticed he said the father did it out of grief for his wife, which I wasn't sure of.

Everyone gave their explanations and a way to tackle it, and then it was my turn.

"This young boy is just eight years old and in primary school, and as we know, he had to walk a certain amount of time to get to school every day. Noting that the school assembly usually starts at 7:45 am, lateness is 8 am, and it takes approximately an hour to get to the school by public transport, then it means it takes approximately two hours on foot, which begs the question, what time does he wake up and what time does he leave the house?" I started my theory.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mr. Tolu asked.