Crimson Chaos

Chapter iv

Aisha watched Benita as she kept admiring her new necklace given to her by one mystery guy. "Its beautiful", she said as she turns to Aisha who has been steering at her all along. "Huh, what was that", Aisha pretends to be indifferent as she quickly turns her face to her computer and then back to Benita, but her smile betrays her.
 "Don't behave as if you haven't been watching me"
 "What are you talking about", Aisha said in between chuckles.
 "You must have seen who dropped this here so tell me who, and don't lie to me else I'll eat your eyes out" Benita threatens.
 "Ok, it was me, i kept it there"
 "You did?" Benita asked with twinkles in her eyes.
 "Well Hendrix gave it to me, he asked to give it to you", Aisha replied uncertain whats gonna be Benita's reaction. Benita scowled at Aisha and she knew she was in trouble, "The kid is in love, what am i suppose to do, ask him to come give you himself". Aisha tries to defend herself.
 "Well, how did he know today's my birthday" Benita asked with fury in her gaze.
 "I swear i didn't tell him, I was surprise too, he must have seen it on Facebook or something like that"
 Silence filled the office as Benita continues to finger and admire the necklace, Benita smiled at Aisha who was already smiling.
 "It looks pretty expensive", Benita said, "It must have cost him all his savings", they both burst into laughter.
 "Its time for lunch, lemme go give you a birthday treat" Aisha offered
 "Well I uhm, I..I.." Benita stammered
 "What? You're not having lunch with your bestie on your birthday?"
 "No, its him"
 "Who?". After a while of exchanging blank and curious glances, Aisha soon realizes who Benita was talking about.
 "Dave?" Aisha asked somewhat disappointed
 Benita shrugged with a smile on her face, flashing her dimples.
 Aisha broke into laughter and Benita joined her.
 "Benny now stop laughing, this isn't funny"
 "But you're laughing"
 "Only I have the right to laugh, but seriously Benny, you're not really going out with him again, not after what he had done to you"
 "But Aisha, you told me everyone deserves a second chance, at least Dave does too, right?"
 "Well.. uhm not really everyone, you know, especially if they hurt you as bad as he did"
 After a moment of silences, Benita quickly assemble some files and shove them into her drawer, she reached for her purse and got up to her feet.
 "I have a date to catch" Benny said as she smiled at her best friend who was trying her best to maintain an angry face. "Common get over it, its not as if he killed my dad and dated my mum" Benita said, "see ya later" . She walked straight to her bestie to deliver a peck and off she went before Aisha got a chance to utter any more word.
"All I want is your happiness Benny", Aisha said to herself. She look at the start bar on her PC to check the time, sure it was lunch time, but Aisha had no idea where her appetite vanished to. As she glances through her desktop, her eyes fell on a salient folder named TOMORROW. "Well then", Aisha said to herself, "lets get busy".

 Benita kept smiling as she made her way to the garage where she was suppose to meet up with Dave, well this is the fifth time she is returning to the garage to check if he had arrived, she had been in the cafeteria waiting for a couple of minutes and then back to the garage. Though she would have preferred to be with her bestie right now just to whirl away the waiting minutes that had evolved into hours, but she couldn't for shame sake. Just before she had left the cafeteria to come check for her boyfriend for the fifth time, she met someone.
 Benita took one last glance at her wrist watch and then makes up her mind, "he still hasn't change, has he, now if he's not there this time, its so over between us". She stood up fiercely and turn around towards the exit without watching, then she bumps into something hard and soft, "Ouch", she screamed.
 "Oh am so sorry ma'am, are you OK?"
 Benita looked up and saw his face, he had his arms around her back to prevent her from falling, she gazed into his brown eyes and time seems to have slowed down, he wasn't much of a stranger especially now that he had his security uniform on. "Hendrix?", she said.
 "Are you hurt", he asked.
 "uhm yeah, Oh i mean no, well yeah am hurt but not by you, and can you let go of me now".
 Hendrix looked around and saw that everyone was watching, he slowly let go of her, maintaining  eye contact.
"Happy birthday ma'am" Hendrix said.
"What! Oh thanks", she replied trying not to look into his eyes
 "And your necklace looks good on you".
 "Damn it", Benita cursed in depth. She was so into the necklace that she forgot she had it on.
 "Oh Hendrix you're so sweet, but you shouldn't have".
 "Its the least i can do for a very special friend who is having her birthday" Hendrix replied with  a shrug and a smile, he could swear he saw her cheek turned red after he said that.
 "Awww thank you so much, it must have cost you a lot" Benita mocked Hendrix to his incomprehension.
 "Nahh, it was nothing" Hendrix lied.
 Both eyes started playing tag, they would look at each other and then away, knowing what it is but not knowing what to say or do, they just kept smiling.
 "So uhm, how is Jennifer" Benita asked.
 "Oh, she's fine, she sent her regards", Hendrix replied
 Benita chuckled, "She did?, what a sweet little girl"
 "Yeah, she wanted to come see you, but she had to go to school, you know". Hendrix observed her for a while and he guessed she was expecting someone. "So, you're going out on a date on your birthday eh?".
 "Uhm yeah, Cupcake is taking me out" Benita said, "but it seems he changed his mind, he was suppose to be here like four thousand three hundred seconds ago" she added.
 "Oh, cupcake again"he said after taking a lifetime to work out the math.
 Benita broke into laughter, and Hendrix join in, "Its OK" he continued "I just want you to be happy"
 "Thanks Hendrix".
 "Hey Hendrix will you get your ass down here and stop flirting", a familiar voice yelled out
 "Oh i gotta go", Hendrix chuckled, "have fun and happy birthday" he ran away without looking back.
 "Awwww thanks" Benita whispered with twinkles in her eyes.
 She then makes her way to the garage unable to eliminate the smile from her lips, and then she bumps into something hard and soft, but this time it hurts.
 "Ouch, not again" she lamented as she lifted up her head, of course it was him. "Dave?"
 "Well who else were you expecting" He asked
 "Your dad" She replied with a pissed tone and Dave needed not be told that he had hurt the lady again, she turn away but Dave held her hands.
 "Am sorry babe, my mum was sick, she needed me" He apologies softly. A wave of guilt rushed through Benita's heart and immediately all the anger in her disappeared, she turns backs at him and apologies, "Oh am so sorry, i didn't mean to..."
 "Hush", David place his index finger on Benita's soft lips, "Its your birthday, lets go have some fun OK".
 "Sure" she smiled. Dave led her to a black car decorated with balloons.
 "Happy birthday, so do you wanna go" He asked with a smirk
 "Well where do you want to take me"
 "somewhere downtown"
 "Hmm surprise me"
 "Thats my thing" he winked and they both walked into the car, and off they went.

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 Its only a couple minutes drive from LILY HOSPITAL to the Kadel's mansion, but Aisha felt it had taken forever, perhaps she was frustrated at her fruitless effort with her project "tomorrow". She has until two months time to finish it and make sure she beats Alex at it and get promoted. Well Alex is her major counterpart, its very obvious that Alex would get the promotion after the face off in two months time. Aisha felt she really needed this, she want to prove to her half brother Saheed, that she is better than him and he was wrong about her mum and her.
 Aisha walked into her room and shut the door behind her, after second thought she bolted the door just to make sure no one gets in because she would be having a long shower. She walked straight to her reading table where her pink laptop sits gorgeously, she spent the next fifteen minutes checking and replying to her inboxes, some made her laugh, some made her smile, some made her blush, others made her scowl and one made her said "We'll find out in two months time".
 She got up from her reading table and walk to her dressing mirror, she took of her blouse, and just as she was about to take off her skirt, she heard a familiar deep voice.
 "Not yet".
 "Haaaaaaaaaaaaa", Aisha screamed at the top of her voice.
 "Hey hold it, am not killing you yet"
 Aisha turned and saw her half brother whom she hated with a passion, sitting on her beautiful pink bed, "the nerve of that bastard", she thought. "Saheed, what are you doing in my room and how did you get in". She asked with fury in her soft voice.
 "Dunno", he smirk, "Hey little sis i found out that you're competing for a promotion at your place of work and are you crazy to think that you really stand a chance"
 "Correction, I am not your sister and will you get off my bed before you stain it with sin".
 "Hahahahahaha, you're so funny sis, fate has brought you to me, no me, so deal with it, and perhaps, is there anything in this earth that is as sweet as sin"
 "I don't want to speak with you, so just leave will you"
 Saheed got up from Aisha's bed and walked towards her, Aisha kept her eyes fixed on her bed as she watched out for any stain of sin.
 "You're right girlie, am not here to speak with you little brat, am here to speak to you, and all you're gonna do is listen"
 "Speak to yourself, not me" Aisha said
 Saheed slaps Aisha with the back of his hand and she fell to the floor, screaming, blood and tears streaming down her face.
 "Now listen to me bitch", he said pulling her hair fiercely, "you're getting married to Alhaji Saraki in five weeks time, so i think its high time you quit all your nonsense, your job and start learning to be a wife, a real housewife".
 "You're a bastard" she spat at him.
 He chuckled and slams her head on the floor and then walks away leaving her in excruciating agony.
 Aisha Kadel (daughter of Alhaji Abdul Kabir Kadel), is a beautiful and breath taking young lady, loved by everyone around her, everyone except Saheed her half brother. After the mysterious death of her mother Atiya Kadel, Aisha found herself in a world of hostility whose architect is Saheed Kadel. Aisha has no idea why Saheed hated her so much, or why he is bent on making her life a living hell. Despite all the oppositions she faced from her brother, she never let it get in the way of her ambitions. Atiya Kadel use to tell little Aisha that they live in a man's world and are therefore subjected to their ascendancy, but Aisha had disagreed with her mum and she was determined to prove her wrong.
 Five years ago in New York City, Atiya Kadel was driven to the hospital by Saheed, from what Aisha heard, her mum was going for a test, but it all baffled Aisha afterwards because her mum was in health, and that was the last time Aisha ever saw her dear mum. Apart from Saheed being mean towards Aisha, she also hated him because she felt he had a lot to do with her mum's mysterious death.
 Many nights, Aisha would sit on the roof, with a bleeding soul, wishing, underneath the congregation of the stars, that all her sorrows and nightmares will come to an end, and also for the vindication of her mother's death. and above all, she wished for a special someone, a man, to lean on, when the night is cold and the loneliness plague her soul.

A/N: Thanks a lot for reading, hope you enjoyed this chapter, cuz I didn't, we didn't get to find out what specimen X is, maybe in the next chapter just stay in touch.
Lots of love and happy new year!!