Ex Gratia (#1 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 5

"Akoma, are you there? Hello?"

Akoma quickly ended the call and gulped. The only thing she could think of as a weapon for defence was locked in the boot, and she was not sure whoever it was, if they were hostile, would allow her the time to open it and find it. She bowed her head and tried catching a glimpse of whoever it was from the corner of her eye, but the person slowly moved out of view to Akoma's right hand side. Akoma looked up at the reflection again and peered at it closely, and then she saw the camera hanging from the person's neck - and then those ears.

"I can call the police," Akoma smirked and said.

"That won't work," the photographer growled.

"Then I will slap you in the face."

"And then I will slap you back."

"I will use the back of my hand."

"My hands are tougher than yours. You will not have time to think."

"It's better that way. Hitting you without thinking. You will regret."

"Are we just going to stand there and spit threats at each other? Let's do something."

"Something like?"

"Hit me."

"No. You hit me."

The photographer sighed. "You are wasting time."

"You are doing same," Akoma shrugged and folded her arms across her chest, finally at ease.

"You look comfortable. You seem to be sure nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Because I am in a car park."

"That doesn't work that way. I can knock you out and take you away in your car."

"With security cameras and security on the grounds? Really? You watch too many movies."

"I take them from you."

Akoma sighed and rolled her eyes. "Nii, why are you following me?"

The photographer scoffed. "Because you don't like taking photos. I just wanted to capture you in a natural moment, and I have a couple of them. You want to see them?"

Akoma turned around slowly and glared at the photographer called Nii. Nii was tall and bulky, and his thick hairy arms stuck out of his T-shirt in a manner that appeared as though they had been forced into the sleeves. His broad chest was more intimidating than charming, and his thick black beard seemed to have taken his whole life to grow to that length. He grinned and winked at Akoma, and Akoma shook her head in disgust.

Both of them were friends and neighbours in the apartment Akoma lived in.

"So you had to follow me? How long have you been stalking me?"

Nii scratched his cheek and tried taking one more shot of the disappointed look on Akoma's face, but she covered the lens with her hand. "For some time," Nii replied. "Look. I am sorry, Akoma. You are a pretty woman. I just can't ignore such a - um - such a striking design of a woman and let her escape my lens. Please. Just pose and let me take one shot. Just one. Please."

"You scared me, Nii. Seriously. Don't do that again." Akoma shook her head and turned around to walk around the car to the driver's seat. Nii walked to the window of the passenger seat next to her and leaned over to grin at her. She did not return it.
"Guess what? I have the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie. 2017. You want it?"

Akoma pursed her lips and started the engine. She turned to stare at him for a moment and cocked her head. "Are you trying to woo me with a movie you know I can't resist? You really like preying on my desperation, you know that?" She scoffed and shook her head. "Fine. Bring it to my place tonight."

Nii smiled. "Will we watch it together?"

"Good bye, Nii," Akoma said with a tone of finality and pulled out of the parking area. When she finally drove off, she glanced at the side mirror and saw Nii viewing something on his camera. She was sure he had stolen another shot when she was not looking.

"What was that?" Rich asked when Akoma called him a minute later and put him on loud speaker.

"Nothing," Akoma said. She did not want to reveal who it was because Rich would ridicule her. "Have you ever dated before?"

"Oh yes. Few times."

Akoma bit her lip. "Have you ever married before?"

There was silence on the line for some seconds, and Akoma cocked her head. Rich finally said, "Not really."

Akoma raised an eyebrow. "Gosh. That's a yes or no question. What does 'not really' really mean here?"

Rich sighed. "I will tell you when we meet. I promise."

"When will that be?"

Rich sighed. "Tonight."

Akoma gulped.

They were finally going to meet, and Akoma was not very sure if she had the guts to face him. She had come to like Rich in a subtle way, and her fear was that on their first night together at her place, anything could happen, especially if both of turned out to like each other deeply at first sight.

Nii was also going to come over that night. She did not want to create any confusion.