Evil Plot

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

At about 9:00am the next morning, Joan dressed up for work and just then her cell phone buzzed.

She looked at it but it was an unknown caller, she ignored the call and continued with what she was doing.

The call persisted. She picked up the phone and answered.

"Hello...Who is calling please?" Joan said as she put the call on loudspeaker so as to continue her makeup.

The voice over the phone responded and Joan sprung up like she was stung by a bee.

"Oh! Wow! Mrs Angela! This is so surprising. How is Papa doing?" Joan asked with smiles. They engaged in a nice and friendly conversation.

"By 4:00pm?" Joan asked and waited for an answer.

"Ok Mama expect me by 4:00pm... I will take the available flight by 2:00pm to Owerri Airport... Hope that is fine by you?" Joan asked.

"Okay great. Once again Ma I'm so happy you called...sooo happy you called...alright bye now" Joan said with a smile on her face.

****

When she arrived at her office, she walked directly to her telephone and dialed her secretary's number.

"Hello.... Janet, I want you to call Jim for me now" Joan instructed and ended the call.

After about five minutes, her telephone rang, it was Janet.

"Ma, I was told that the Admin Manager isn't in yet" The secretary, Janet said.

"Ok no problem... Erhm contact my travel agent and tell him to prepare me a flight in the next five hours at least" Joan instructed and ended the call.

"Where is Jim? "Joan asked as picked up her mobile phone. She dialled Jim's number and he picked.

"Hello, good morning dear" Jim said.

"Good morning... You sound down and you are not here too, any problem?" Joan said with concern.

"You can't believe the traffic today. I'm stuck on the road... A particular truck fell on the road and it caused traffic gridlock. We are not even allowed to make calls here now. I think a Police man is coming towards this direction, I will talk to you when I'm out of this mess okay" Jim whispered and ended the call immediately.

"Wow that bad! Well I know you will be as happy as I am to hear that I visited your parents" Joan said and picked up a cup of coffee.

****

At about 12:30pm, Jim came into Joan's office looking totally worn-out and sweaty.

"Yo! You sweat like you came out from hell. I seriously think you need a chilled drink or water" Joan said.

"Chilled water will be fine" Jim said and Joan took out a chilled bottled water from her fridge and handed it to Jim who gulped down the whole water in the bottle.

"Thank you. That's a relief. It was hell today. God! Pheww!" Jim said.

"You have to go start off your work okay... Oh and yes! Guess who called me today? Your mother" Joan said and Jim looked at her and smiled.

"A joke to cheer up my mood" Jim said and smiled.

"You succeeded" Jim continued.

"I was surprised too when she called. She asked me to come over for some chit chat by 4pm today" Joan said and Jim smiled again.

"Okay let me go back to work now" Jim said, stood up and walked out of Joan's office.

Joan continued with work thinking that Jim had believed what she said, not knowing that he didn't believe that his mom could call Joan.

****

At about 1:30pm, Joan rounded up, shut her office door and called her driver to drive her to the Airport, her flight was by 2:30pm.

The journey was a little bit strange, the car stopped halfway to the Airport. The driver packed beside the road and went to check the engine to know what was wrong.

The driver was working on the engine but Joan was impatient, she came out of the car but just then a mentally deranged man from absolutely nowhere showed up and pushed Joan.

Joan and the driver was shocked and scared.

"Don't go anywhere! Stupid woman! I dare you to go! I will block the road you will not go anywhere! Go back! You can't...Come and pass let me see" The Mad Man said as he stood in front of Joan's car.

Joan's driver rushed for a thick stick near the road and chased the Mad Man out from the scene.

"What was the meaning of that? Whatever that means I need to be at the Airport in the next thirty minutes" Joan said, paying less attention to the whole drama that just happened.

"Sorry for the embarrassment Ma" The driver said.

"It's ok. Please go back to the car and check the engine" Joan said.

The driver went back to fixing the car and in few minutes, the car came back to normal. They drove off again.

****

When Joan finally got to Jim's hometown, Mrs Angela hugged and welcomed her happily.

"What happened, you came a little bit late?" Mrs Angela asked with much concern.

"Yes it was my car, it developed some mechanical fault on the road... I'm sorry"Joan apologized.

"It doesn't matter my dear, you are here now...how is my son?" Mr Bennett asked.

"He is fine. He was so surprised when I told him that you guys called me... Mama I'm so happy you called me to see you I mean thank you so much and to you Papa. I love you people" Joan said and hugged Mrs Angela once again.

"I need to call Jim and tell him that I got here safely" Joan said.

"Don't worry, we are his parents so he will not scold you when he realizes that you are here" Mr Bennett said.

"Ok Sir...how are you people?" Joan asked with genuine smiles.

"We are fine my beautiful daughter. See how pretty you look" Mrs Angela said.

"Mama I'm starving, please did you cook anything?" Joan asked.

"How can my own daughter starve when I prepared a nice Egusi soup? Let me go and bring it for you" Mrs Angela said and rushed inside.

"My dear how is your Father?" Mr Bennett asked and Joan answered nicely.

They chatted for about ten minutes before Mrs Angela came out with the food.

"My dear food is served" Mrs Angela said as she kept the food on the dinning table. Joan came to the dinning table and did justice to the food.

After eating the food,Joan took the plates to the kitchen and washed them.

Later, she came out to the sitting room and sat with Jim's parents.

"Thank you. The food was sweet as nothing could compare a home-made delicious meal made with love" Joan said.

"Indeed Joan you are a good woman of pure heart. We know you might be wondering why we invited you over. Well, we sincerely regret the way we treated you the last time you came. We are so sorry please forgive us" Mr Bennett apologized and Mrs Angela nodded in agreement.

"No Sir I'm not holding anything against you people. I understand why you acted the way you did" Joan said.

"Beg our son for us please. We know how he gets angry" Mrs Angela begged.

"I will Ma. The bottom line is that there's peace now. I'm sure he will be happy you changed your mind. My life as a HIV carrier has been challenging...it's a long story but in all, I have top medical practitioners who are helping me manage it the best way available so you don't have to worry. Our future is safe" Joan smiled and held Mrs Angela's hands.

"We are not bothered anymore my dear. We love our son, Jim, and that love extends to you, Joan" Mr Bennett said.

The chit chat flowed smoothly with lots of laughter and lasted for about an hour or two then Joan glanced at the clock hung up on the wall.

"Ma I have a flight by 7:30pm to catch up please don't be offended... Next time I will spend much time with you people" Joan said.

"That's if it will be possible" Mrs Angela said with a smile.

"No I promise I will Ma, I love you" Joan said and hugged the both of them.

They waved her bye and heaved a sign of relief.