CHAPTER 8

JABARI

“Look into the camera for me.”

“You're still this city's top bachelor, no new dates?”

“What are you wearing tonight?”

“Sir, whom are you seeing now?”

“Questions will be answered later. Thank you.” Joshua replied.

Joshua took his place beside me, making sure the paparazzi moved aside.

2 WEEKS AGO

“Hello! Joshua's line, who's speaking?” I heard Joshua on the line with someone.

___

“When exactly?”

___

“I'll let him know and get back to you. Yes, you're welcome.”

After a while, he came to me, busily looking at his tablet.

“There was a call from Benny Winfrey, the hostess of the Me Show, and she wanted to know if you could be her guest on 24th June.”

“24th?” I asked.

“Yes, that's the next 2 weeks Friday. Should I put it on the schedule?”

“Are you sure I don't have any meetings on that day?”

“No, you don't. If you don't want to go, I can cancel it.”

“It's alright. Put me on the schedule, it should be fun.”

PRESENT DAY

Backstage, I listened quietly as Benny Winfrey was starting her show.

“Hello! Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Me Show. I'm your hostess, Benny Winfrey.” She winked. “I promised y'all an interesting episode tonight and I'm here to deliver, but first off, how many of you were able to guess our guest for tonight?” She asked the audience in the studio, earning answers which were muffled with noise. “Okay, okay,” she laughed. “I can't tell how many of you are correct but after this brief break, I’ll be introducing you all to our guest for tonight. Stay tuned.”

AT THE DRESSING ROOM

“Are you ready?” The director asked me.

“Yeah! I am.” I answered, brushing off an invisible dust off my coat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on stage, the exclusive, elegant, and handsome bachelor of the year, Jabari Tejada!” I heard Benny announce my entry and with my head high, I walked into the showroom, kissing Benny on both cheeks when we hugged.

“You look breathtaking tonight, Benny.” I complimented her.

“Oh! Stop it. I see why all the young ladies out there are all over you.”

“Well, I can not say much.”

We took our seats.

“You're welcome to the Me Show, and it's a pleasure to have you here.” Benny smiled and straightened herself well on her seat.

“Thank you, Benny,” I replied with a smile.

“First of all, I would like us to talk about your new project. In your recent interview, you spoke about a new hotel, and it’s been the number one topic on social media and news websites, let's talk about that.”

“Thank you for having me on your show, Benny. Well, my company just made a deal with the Silver-struck company to get their realty at East Maria to start new apartments there. Hopefully, a bigger hotel and some other useful stuff we could use the space for; like a family suite, private pools for those who want their privacy, meeting halls, and others.”

“That's amazing. But why East Maria?” She asked.

“East Maria because my mum used to live there when it was the old East Maria. And that site is a really good place for my project.' I replied.

“Interesting. So, let's get personal. Let's talk about you Jabari.”

“What about me, Benny.” I giggled, making her and the audience chuckle.

“I’m sure my audience here would love to know more about you, isn’t that right?” She asked her audience and they replied with a chorused yes. “Pick a card.” She gestured for me to pick a card from a jar on my left side. I did so and passed the card to her.

“How long have you been single, Jabari?”

“Five years,” I answered and relaxed in my seat. “I've been single for five years now.”

“Mm.. is there anyone you're seeing on the low now? Any new girl you're giving special attention to?” She asked.

At that moment, my mind raced to Morgan June. I have been with a lot of girls, but something about her attracted me more, I just couldn't put my finger on what exactly it was.

“No. There's no one like that. But I could give you that attention if Mr. Winfrey wouldn't mind.”

“Oh my God!” She burst into laughter, along with giggles from the audience. “Is this how you get the young girls to fall for you? You're just great.” She spoke amidst laughing.

“It depends on who's catching my attention, I can do anything.” I winked.

“So, Jabari, do you have any dreams of walking in your father's footsteps?”

“Well… Not at all. No offense, papa.” I looked into the camera and spoke, more like joked about it because I knew how much my dad would die to see me in his position. “My father is an amazing leader, but I will not be able to handle all this load of work.”

“I understand that perfectly well. Before we end tonight, do you have any words of advice for the youth out there?” Benny asked.

“I usually don't know how to do this but there's one thing I always say, hard work surely pays off. What your family has, does not belong to you until you work for yours.” I replied. The audience clapped and later settled down as Benny brought the show to an end.

THE NEXT DAY

JABARI

I tried so hard to sleep but I couldn't. I avoided going out after the show because I was drained.

What is happening to me? I was not one to be stuck up in bed, thinking about a woman, but look at me now. My bedside clock read 4:45 a.m.

Morgan was just a dancer at, nothing else. But why have I begun to care so much about her? I knew that something would happen between us for sure the very first day I saw her, it was supposed to be a one-night stand, but even after that night we had, I couldn't get her out of my mind.

I just can't stand the way those aimless men ogle her, it makes me want to claw their eyes out.

This did not even make sense to me. I could get any woman I wanted at any time but it had to be Morgan.

I groaned and got out of bed at 5 a.m., walking straight to my gym that was in my basement. With force, I began to raise the barbell, and I guess it was working.

My thoughts raced to my father and how he still wanted to be a senator. The stress of it all, it was good I didn't choose that path.

“Jabari!” I heard my name being screamed. “Jabari!” It came again.

“Where are you, man?” I tutted. Joshua would stop at nothing to disturb my peace.

“At the gym,” I shouted back, and in no time, he was by me.

“You're up extra early today. What's up? Is anything on your mind?” He asked.

“No, not at all.” I quickly replied and sipped a little bit of water from my bottle.

“I know you, Bari. You're like my own brother, and I know when something is on your mind. Is it your dad?”

“I hate the fact that you know me too much.” I scoffed. “It's not my dad. It's just something about this girl I've been seeing at —”

“Wait, wait a minute. You've been seeing a girl? The whole Jabari is seeing a girl?”

“I don't mean we're dating or something. I've been seeing her at Aphrodite all the time. And she's very, very, pretty and attractive to be precise.” I spoke with a frown on my face.

“Okay, so what's the big deal about this? You never stress about a woman.”

“I don't know. She's a dancer at the club and I asked her to be my private dancer, I had Kyle change my other private dancers for her. I just... can't stand all those eyes that roam her body. I want her to be mine.” The scowl on my face deepened.

“Pfft, just hold on,” he let out his long-held laughter and I just sat there in disbelief. Very good. I decide to share my problem and all he does is laugh.

“Wow! This is getting interesting. I bet you got an itch that needs to be scratched eh?” He wiggled his brows and smirked.

“Well, we had sex. I wanted her so badly and it seemed she also wanted me. She made no effort to stop me, and since then, I've been thinking about her like crazy. She's got the body of a goddess.”

“Interesting. Bari has taken a liking to a pretty girl. You had sex and now you can't stop thinking about her. This is wild.”

“Just stop it, Joshua. I hate this feeling.” I admitted the truth and climbed back upwards to take a shower, with Joshua still following me.

Some minutes later when I had finished taking my bath and had dressed up, I went to meet Joshua at the dining table, he had already made breakfast.

“I thought I would give you a treat this morning. Boy, you look like you could use some real meal to start your day.”

“Why haven't I fired you already? You're so annoying and I can't stand you.”

“That's a lie. I'm good at my work, I'm next to family to you, and oh, did I forget to mention that you love me?”

“Ew, dude.” I chuckled and dug into my food.

Mm, I've got to send Morgan's money. I thought and then picked up my phone to call Kyle.

“To what do I owe this pleasant call?” He asked and I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I wonder how Joshua and Kyle are still my friends because they drive me nuts. I put him on speaker.

“What's good, Kyle?” Joshua asked.

“Yo! Man. Has Jabari told you about the precious jewel he has found?'

“You mean Morgan? I've seen the way he looks at her. He's told you already?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, just now,” Joshua replied.

“You guys are the worst. Kyle, I need you to send the money into her account.”

“Yeah, I will. Times three of the amount, you weren't joking at all.” He laughed.

“Whoah! Times three!” Joshua exclaimed.

The two kept talking and laughing about me like I didn't exist whilst I kept thinking about Morgan. And then, I had the craziest idea.