The Affair

5. Something New

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: - 1 Peter 5:8

'Don't forget to bring out the Onugbu soup in the freezer!'

Eva shouted from the parlour as she rushed to the door. She needed to be in court at 9:00am and it was already 8:45am. Their little midnight 'adventure' had caused her to sleep through her discarded phone's alarm. The thought of last night made her smile.

'Don't worry, I won't forget. Now go. I swear, you fret over the littlest thing.'

Kosi said as he joined her in the parlour, a towel around his waist, body glistening. Eva looked Kosi up and down, a slow predatory look on her face. Kosi leaned on the chair and laughed.

'You're insatiable you know that?'

But even Kosi couldn't hide the dark gleam in his eyes as he looked at her. Eva checked the time on her watch, it was 8:50 am.

'I... I really need to... Uhm...'

'Yeah... you need to...'

Within seconds they were in each other's arms.

'I can't believe how super lucky I am that court didn't sit today!'

Eva told Kosi over the phone as she left the court building.

'By the time I got to court it was 10:15 am and then...'

Eva was still talking excitedly over the phone, about to cross the road when she felt a hand pull her away.

'What the...?'

Almost immediately, a bus crossed the spot she was about to step into. Fear gripped her at the thought of what would have happened. She turned to thank the person who had just saved her life.

'You?!'

Her eyes went wide.

'We need to stop meeting this way.' Chukwuebuka laughed.

He was still holding her to himself.

'Where's my phone?' Eva asked, pulling herself away from him, looking around. She finally found it in the gutter.

'Damn!' Eva scratched her head. 'What am I going to do now?'

Ebuka studied her face. 'You know, when someone saves your life the expected reaction is "Thank you" and not "Where's my phone".'

Eva's attention turned back to him.

'Oh... I'm sorry. Thank you so much. It's just, I have so many numbers of clients stored on my phone and getting them all back is going to be really stressful.' She sighed.

Ebuka looked at her phone in the gutter.

'I can't do anything about your clients phone numbers but I can at least help you with a new phone.'

'Oh, no you don't have to...'

'I know I don't have to but I want to.' Eva didn't know what to say.

'I'll take that as a yes. Come, my car isn't parked far away from here.'

'Where are we going to?' Eva asked, allowing herself to be pulled by him.

'Do you need to ask? To get you a new and better phone.'

'What brought you to the court? Did someone sue you for assault? Since you've been bumping into people lately.' Eva asked, a twinkle in her eyes as he drove. Ed Sheeran's Perfect was playing, volume low through the car speakers.

'No, not people. Just you.' He said so sparing a glance at her.

The rest of the way to Slot was spent in silence.

'We are here.' Ebuka said when he finally parked. They both exited the car and climbed the stairs to the shop. 'Pick whatever phone you want, I'll pay.'

'Do you know what you're saying? What if I pick the most expensive phone here? Like say... the Samsung Galaxy S10 maybe?'

There was a playful smile on her face as she said this. Ebuka walked straight to the counter, 'Give her the Samsung Galaxy S10.'

'What?! I'm joking! Stop.'

'Why?'

'It's too expensive! I can't allow you to buy it for me.'

'Am I complaining?' He said bringing out his Master Card to pay. 'Besides, you're worth so much more. To me, you're priceless.'

She just stared at him. Ebuka collected the phone which was now wrapped and packaged and handed it to Eva. Her hands mechanically collected the package from him while her mind kept wondering how she would explain this to Kosi.