Chapter 73

All communications that happened between Olivia and Mike were more of written, the other few were based on gestures and body language. Mary also had a little chat but basically to sympathize with him. Olivia did not feel the way she used to because what would have been expressed naturally were being carefully written to avoid mistakes and wrong interpretation. Moreover she hadn't experienced such, and it seemed boring to her. Be it as it may, she had to anchor her consolation on the fact that he was alive and getting stronger. She noticed he was limping one of his legs while he came out from the bathroom, she asked, and the nurse said he sustained an injury during the accident. What Olivia never knew was that at the point when they were to be hit by the other cars, Mike was the first to spot the car coming with high speed, he was able to see it before the driver, so he quickly rushed Olivia, bent her and covered her. At that point, he exposed one of her leg and the pressure of the collision had effect on him. The good news was that a lot of work had been put in place and hope was also on the high side that he would walk normal again. Mike could not help but smile all through their stay, an indication that he was happy and had missed Olivia. He would at intervals, scribble something on a paper and hand it over to Olivia, when she opened it, she would see either ' I love you' or ' You look beautiful'. Then Olivia will do same and hand over in response to what he had written. They kept communicating that way, but Olivia was getting tired of the whole thing, but each time she wanted to leave, she would have this feeling that she couldn't explain, as if she was going to meet something or someone unexpected. She had tried fighting that by wasting much time, but at a point, she felt it was time to head back to he hotel. She wrote to Mike that she would be back the next day and kissed him on his lips before leaving with Mary. When they came down, the driver was already in the car playing music. They got in and he drove them back to the Hotel. As soon as they got to the hotel, she came down from the car, and called Lucy. Her plans was to ask her to come down so they sit together and have fun. While Lucy was trying to pass information to her on where she was, Pat's call came on the other line. She quickly dropped Lucy's call and answered Pat's. It was Pat's call she was answering, that made her forget her previous plan of hanging out and the next place she found herself was in her room. Pat gave her information on the arrest of Senator Crusoe, and she shouted. This made Mary rush out of the bathroom to know what the problem was. She waved at her to wait till after the call when she would tell her what happened. She asked Pat for more details, but Pat told her she was on her way to Mira, and would let her know everything when she got there. After the call, she knew she had missed much news, and need a lot of catching up. She then turned to Mary who was eagerly waiting to hear what prompted the shout. When she told her Crusoe had been arrested, Mary was excited, she had a sigh of relief which surprised Olivia. She asked her why she felt the way she did, Mary decided to tell her a little about Ben and Crusoe.  "...They had been friends from school days, in fact the both families had a lot in common, Ben's father and Crusoe's father had planned to train their children, especially their sons to the highest of education, but things started going wrong when after a while Ben began to do exceedingly better than Crusoe. The gap in their results became so obvious that the scholarship that was for the best student was given to Ben. This was how Ben left for Oxford University, while Crusoe settled for a state university. Ben kept trying to bridge the gap of their friendship, thinking distance was the problem, but we the sisters knew there was a problem of envy. We kept warning Ben but all fell to deaf ears. In fact I am happy that this happened so Ben would learn his lessons..." Olivia thought of all those plan to have intermarriage between both families, and it made sense to her that they were plot to get to their Dad. If every other thing Mary had said in that story was lie, the truth remained that her Dad was and remained a stubborn man. He would always like to see things or have evidence before he believed. She told Mary, her happiness was that their Dad was safe and alive amidst all that happened. Her phone rang, when she checked, it was Lucy. She allowed it ring until it ended before she called back. When Lucy picked, she apologized for what happened earlier when she dropped her call and forgot to call back. Lucy accepted the apology and asked why she had called, Olivia answered but added that she wouldn't mind their hanging out that evening. When Lucy heard that, she happily told her she was already at the pool side waiting. She added that their was someone she would love her to meet. Olivia dropped the call, she smiled, knowing the kind of person Lucy was, she felt that possibly she had met a guy who tickled her fancy, and led to her over excitement. It wasn't worth bothering herself she thought, when she gets there, she would see and hear her introduce the person. She asked Mary if she would love to join her Mary rejected the offer, stating that she would love to stay and rest. So Olivia prepared herself for the outing. When she had dressed up, Mary helped to confirm her outlook and that gave her confidence. She the told Mary not to miss her, both of them laughed and she left.

When Brains had rested for a while, he felt the need to see Lucy, at least to get a detailed one on one story on how it all happened and Mike's condition. He had to call the reception who after few questions, told him to hold on a little while they connect him to the said room. While he waited, they had to reach out to Lucy to know if she knew the caller and would want to take the call. After the confirmation, they connected him. They chatted a little, then Brains proposed that they had dinner together. Lucy thought for a while before accepting. She was being careful with Brains, his attitude since he came in had been strange to her, also she was considering how he or James would feel assuming they met each other. That she hadn't been able to figure out how she would do the introduction. She had been most fortunate all these whole, being that James was in duty and hadn't been in the hotel. He always called and asked after Mike and to know how she was fairing. From the look of things, Lucy had the feeling that James wanted something more than mere sexual relationship. Her position had changed, and it had affected so many things including her financial status, but there was only one thing that needed extra effort to change, though she felt it was a tough job, that would be her desire for sex. Her libidos and sexual hormones are hyper active, making her mom resistance to approach from handsome men, especially when they were alone on a closet. She had given it a thought many times and felt it might ruin her chances of settling down if she refused to do something about it. Brains had proposed they meet at the pool side exactly at the barbecue stand. So long as she was concerned, she would love to have fun as usual and possibly he might raise up issues that has to do with their relationship. She stood up from her bed, went in for a shower. When she came out, she selected a decent wear which presented her in a formal and responsible way. Then she proceeded to the pool side. By the time she arrived there, Brains was already making orders. They hugged each other and he offered her a seat. If there was one thing that Lucy had learnt about Brains, that would be his gentle man attitude towards women. He has a way of getting into not only the woman's psyche, but also their heart. It is either he opened the car door for her to get in first, before taking a turn to the other side and get in himself, or he was holding the door for her get into the room or lobby, when they went out for outing. He was used to the one he just did, which was to draw out a seat gently and offer it to her. It was always a memorable sight to remember, and for Lucy it differentiated him from all other men she has met. Brains went ahead to ask her what she would love to have, from the menu that was placed on the table. She looked at it and took time to go through the entire list. She resolved that a fish barbecue would be fine. Brains was happy he guessed right, he had earlier told the young man in charge that he would love to have the fish barbecue with his guest, but that he was yet to confirm her guests choice. While they were waiting for the fish, they sipped their drink and discussed. Brains asked her how the accident happened, how Mike was fairing and when she would be taking him to the hospital. Lucy first of all made him to know she wasn't with Mike when the accident happened, so she wouldn't know how it happened, but all she knew was based on what the news have and the effect on the victims. At that Brains asked her how many they were, and she told him three, the driver, Mike and another lady. She didn't mention her name because she felt it wasn't necessary since Brains wouldn't know her. She continued by telling him Mike's condition and how he was getting better. As for going to see him, she told him it wouldn't be a problem, even if she hadn't the time, the driver on the hotel who took them there would do same. This she did to get back at him for she was yet to get over his decision to stay in a different room. The discussion changed to other general matters, including what she was doing in the US, Brains was shocked when she told him where she works, and showed him her platinum card. With that Brains knew she wasn't joking. He recalled that he had misjudged her when he was weighing his options, he was still seeing her from the perspective of a hooker, not knowing she has upgraded to the status of a director in an internationally recognized firm, to the level of representing the said firm in a multi billion dollar business. He had read and watch people's life turn around dramatically in books and movies respectively, but this was a reality too close to doubt. He didn't know where to start, as confusion seemed to have set in. Immediately he recalled the dream while on-board they airplane on his way to the US, and it dawn on him that the confusion he experienced in the dream was coming to reality. What he didn't know was that the main shocker was waiting for him. By the time Olivia was coming down from her room to the pool side, Brains had excused himself from Lucy to get something from the room. So Olivia arrived the poolside and met Lucy alone. Lucy welcomed her and they did not waste time to order some mora drinks while waiting for the barbecued fish which Olivia saw and had interest. Both ladies sat and drank while charging and gossiping. Olivia asked her the person she said she wanted her to meet, as it was obvious to her Lucy was all alone. Lucy told her not to be too fast, as the person would soon be back to the table. For Olivia, she took it as a prank, probably Lucy may have felt she might not want to be with her, so she decided to pull her down with that line. Meanwhile Lucy was feeling embarrassed that Brains had taken too long to get back, she had wanted it to be fun but she had lost it. She kept looking out for him at every sight of a man that passes, to no avail. She decided to let it go, and continued with the chatting and gossiping. What she did not know was that when Brains got back to his room, opened the door and stepped in, he succeeded in doing why he went inside to do, but to open the door became a problem. He tried all he could but it wouldn't work. So he called the help desk, who immediately got in touch with the man in charge. He came and figured out it was a system error. The door was an built to operate with sensor and from the observation, the sensor had failed so the only way out was to lose the door so that Brian's would come out and move into another room while they take time to work on that. Hence the long delay.

When Pat heard Senator Crusoe has been arrested, she couldn't believe it. She made effort to reach out to Me Ben or Mira, but their phones were not reachable. She tried Nelly, but the way she sounded baffled her. She was sounding scared and in a hurry at same time. She didn't allow her to say anything, all she could hear, was that she would get back to her, then the call dropped. She guessed, the call may have been cut off by her. It was after few hours, that she saw in the news the arrest of Senator Crusoe and Tim, there was also a picture of Nelly as being wanted by the police authority for questioning. Pat's entire body was filled with goosebumps, she came to the realization that she was in the midst of powerful people and it calls for caution. She also knew that her friend and her family were not to be joked with. She made up her mind to leave Paris back to Africa and began arrangement for her trip back. She had packed all she came with, before a return call came from Mira. When she picked, Mira asked her to get ready, as a driver was coming to pick her from the hotel, she was to gather all her belongings because she wouldn't be coming back to the hotel. That was when she called Olivia and informed him on the breaking news. She was just getting of the phone before the waitress knocked on her door, she opened and she told her the driver was waiting downstairs, she handed one her luggage to her and they moved out of the room, into the lift and way down to the car park. At first Pat was a little bit scared at the silence of the driver and the way he drove very fast, she suspected she has entered the wrong car, she felt she would have confirmed from the driver who sent him before getting into the car. She gathered her elf together and with confidence, asked the driver where they were headed. Immediately, the driver's phone rang, and he picked, then handed it over to Pat. When Pat said hello, the voice she heard was a female voice and it was Mira's, so she got relieved and calm. Mira told her to relax, as she was safe with the driver, and that she was being taking to the guest house for her safety. She informed her that she was waiting for her there.