FIRE {Completed}

PRINCE

AFTER breakfast and a little cartoon spree we embark on our shopping spree blasting Nigeria musics loudly from the car speakers. Her sound system was top notch and the seats were really comfortable like it molds into the shape of your body.

  "How much is your car worth?" I just had to ask.

  "140 something mil naira." She responds nonchalantly shocking me into silence and looking at her like she had two heads.

  She starts laughing when she risked a glance I'm my direction.

  "Close your mouth before you catch flies." She informs me. "You should see the car I used to learn how to drive. One of my sponsors then in Abuja let me use his 250 mil car to teach me how to drive a stick. On learning about the price of the car I had to drive with care whenever I was on the wheels. I could teach you if you wanted you know." She tells me.

  "Teach me what?" I ask her.

  "Teach you to drive of course." She replies looking at me like I was brain slow.

  "No way am I going to learn with your car I'm not that crazy. Besides there's no need to learn how to drive when I don't have a car or have plans to have one soon." I tell her.

  "You never know when a car could be gifted to you!" She says in passing not being serious about it.

  I don't bother with a reply. I know she can afford to gift me a car but I wasn't going to press the issue. I dont even know if a car is what I need right now. Because getting the car is not the problem but the subsequent repairs and maintenance. 

    As she drives I study her profile and try to find a flaw. I'm not surprised she has none. She is like a magnet drawing a metallic me to her. Its really crazy how beautiful she is. I know I'm not the only one she is attracting and I'm elated because I closed someone so special and one of a kind. I'm also sad because it means she gets to attract others too.

  "Who was Vince who called you non-stop all morning?" I enquired.

  "He a guest at the Grand. We were so in need of patronage that I got used as bait to lure him and his crew here. He has a large fan base so in exchange for my number he let it known on social media that he would be at the Grand with Mystique. He knows I have a boyfriend though so he's not going to try anything funny. He is the son of one of the governors so he is used to being under the public eye. Another reason I need him close is so that when the press arrive prodding and fluffing their media rights and privilege he would take the heat and attention off you so you and your family won't go under the bus." She explains.

  "This is the first time in a long time that you've bothered to give me a thorough explanation of any situation." I inform her smiling contentedly.

  Hahahahahahah! She laughs. "Don't get used to it. Besides I only explain myself when its necessary and it's important or actually concerns you." She tells me with a smile too.

  "How does your family look at you now considering your level of success and how you turned out?" He asks.

  She ponders for a moment and a sad expression flits her face and she quickly schools it.

  "First I need to remind you that I'm not perfect in anyway. When I was younger I was a terror, there was just a few things I didn't do. I was so far gone in some bad habits that took me being matured to break. I caused my parents, friends and sisters a few tears and pain. This success is me trying to apologise and try to make amends. They might not remember or feel that what I did back then was wrong but now that I'm older and wiser I know that I could have made things a little easier if I didn't focus on being selfish and sought popularity among my cliques. Back to your question, my family is happy with where we all are now. Its a thing of pride to go from grass to grace. Yes I might have brought the starter but as a family we all grew it out of proportion. A win for me is a win for the family." She replies.

  "You are just a wealth of information today." I reply her.

  "I have my times. When I feel like talking I talk and when I don't nothing can be forced out of me." She tells me.

  "You keep shocking me, that's all" I tell her.

  She doesn't reply, just smiles. Her smile is something I would like to record and keep for future viewing but I know she wouldn't like that because she is always self conscious like that.

  I'm still wowed by the fact that I met her online and she responded to me with sincerity and simplicity. I get her being down to earth was what made me not to notice that she was hiding another glamorous world beneath her facade.

  We've video called a lot of times and she was always careful not to allow too much of her environment show on the screen. She was always positioned weirdly that I often thought she had a disability and was stuck to one place. Because she was always in her room whenever we called or chatted.

  She always told me she was honest and expected me to be too but I had my doubt. Nobody could be so perfect that they would be honest all the time. Guess in her twisted head underplaying some fact wasn't being dishonest.

  I remember the first time I almost caught her was the one time she told me she was on her way home. I could hear a lot of noise and commotion when I called that day to ask her for a favour. My mum had been in a bind and the landlord kept coming to embarrass her and she would knee to beg him to give her some extension. The first time I saw her in the act I walked up to her and told her to stand. He was just the landlord and not God. I had lost my cool and exchanged words with the landlord making him give us a three days notice to pay the rent or pack out. In that despair and broken heart I had called Mystique who didn't bother to ask what I needed the 300k for when I mentioned it was real urgent and for my mum. She had asked that I immediately sent her an account number and within minutes a 500k transfer was made.

  When I closed from work and saw my mum flustered about getting an alert that wasn't hers. I laughs and told her it was a friend of mine who wanted to help out. I had asked her for help and she had. On finding out that she added 200k to the money we had tried to get a hold of her for days unsuccessfully making my mum worried and concerned. I hadn't been too bothered because she was always appearing and disappearing so I left her a message on WhatsApp and got a reply a week later.

  As usual she was apologetic and gave her normal excuse of being busy not explaining with what. When I told her my mum wanted to speak to her she declined saying there was no need and she should just be grateful to God.

  She doesn't like appreciations and compliments, I learned those facts the hard way. When she sent a picture and I complimented her she would always sweep it under the rug like it wasn't important. One day I had gotten mad and told her that her shoving my compliments under the rug was making me feel like a fool and she had informed me that she wasn't comfortable with them. Since then try as I may to avoid giving her compliments I always fail and she always responds coldly but I don't get offended by her response any longer. I'm used to it like I'm used to her eccentrities.