Engaged (Challenge series, #2)

by Kiru Taye

  The lines around his mouth hardened. A muscle ticked on his forehead. He tapped his fingers on the steel table top, making a rat-tat-tat sound that drew her attention to his long fingers and short buffed nails. She remembered how he’d licked those glistening fingers the previous night.

  Ijay!

  She bit the inside of her lower lip hard, drawing salty metallic tasting blood. Shifting her stare away from his finger, she looked up into his eyes. They hardened to dark glinting rocks. He looked like he was going to disagree. Her heart sank thinking he’d call her bluff. She really didn’t want to go home without completing this project.

  “Okay.”

  Flabbergasted, she almost staggered backward, not sure she heard right. “Sorry?”

  “I said fine. Whatever you want to do is fine by me,” he said, holding her gaze intently while lifting his shoulders in a dismissive shrug.

  Still amazed, Ijay tried not to gawp at him. He couldn’t really be giving in so easily. This had to be another game. He had to be toying with her, letting her take her guard down before he pounced again.

  “You mean that. No more insinuations. No toying with the tie?”

  He nodded. “No more. In fact, I wish you the best with Vincent. I hope you’re both very happy together.” For someone who was wishing her well, Paul’s expression was harsh. He didn’t look too pleased about it. Why? When a minute ago he was telling her he was fine with her decision to keep everything professional.

  “Erm, Thank you...I appreciate it,” she said feeling a mix of melancholy and relief, as all the initial steam she had evaporated. “So will you explain why you reacted so badly about Vincent last night?”

  A pained look passed over Paul’s darkened eyes. He looked away from her briefly and inhaled deeply, his chest rising and falling. Her heart clenched at his tortured expression.

  Suppressing the urge to walk over to him, to touch him and reassure him, she balled her fists and stood still. Something had upset him. Something about Vincent. She was sure of that. She wished Paul would tell her what bothered him. She really wanted to understand him better.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t help you with that. You’ll have to talk to your fiancé about it,” he said and turned to his laptop as if dismissing her.

  Ijay wasn’t ready to go yet without trying. She leaned closer to him. “Paul, talk to me please.” She really wanted to help him. She cared about him way too much not to help, if she could.

  He moved backward, as if avoiding her touch. Ijay frowned. Was he now avoiding physical contact with her?

  “Ijay, I’ve conceded the things in my power to concede. You say you don’t want any personal involvement with me, I grant it. But don’t push you luck.” His eyes were now back to being cold, uncompromising black rocks, his lips drawn out in a straight line. He was definitely not going to tell her anything.

  “Fine,” she bit out angrily finally giving up. If he wouldn’t tell her then Vincent surely would. She turned to depart.

  Paul stood abruptly. His chair scraped the hard carpet emitting a dull scuffing sound. He came round the table but stopped short of touching her. She held her breath, not sure of what he’d do.

  “Ijay wait...If you ever need anything. I mean anything. Call me.”

  Where did that come from?

  She narrowed her eyes into squints, her face pulled in a frown. His body radiated his tension as he held her gaze intensely. When she nodded, he relaxed, his shoulders loosening up.

  “Thanks,” she said and walked out of his office before exhaling.

  She returned to her desk. Something in Paul demeanour had her confused. Something was definitely off with him. He had the same kind of haunted look he’d had when he‘d woken up that night to a nightmare. Her heart ached for him.

  She couldn’t do anything about it. Going to him would have cancelled out all the agreement she’d just had with him. She’d decided to stick with Vincent, if he’d have her. That’s what she was going to do.

  Although, Paul had given in to her demands way too easily. She’d gone into his office prepared for an argument. Paul was demanding...in control...unyielding. Yet he’d capitulated without retorting.

  Perhaps, he’d lost interest in her. So why did her heart clench painfully? Why didn’t she feel relieved? He didn’t mean anything to her apart from as the man she’d slept with once.

  Liar!

  Okay. She liked him, more than she should. She wanted more from him. Still, it was never going to happen. He’d moved on. It was much better this way. She had to get through the next few days and face up to Vincent when she eventually saw him.

  Thankfully now that she’d settled the matter with Paul, she concentrated on her work for the rest of the day.

  ***

  Ijay was at the airport on the way down to Lagos when Vincent finally called her. She took a deep gulp of air before she answered the ringing phone.

  “Hi Vincent, where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you for the past day.” She couldn’t hide the exasperation in her voice.

  “Sorry, baby. I had to work and I forgot my phone at home. I’m here now. What’s up?” he replied nonchalantly which wound her up even more.

  “Really? You were working last night? You don’t usually work at night.”

  “Of course I was working. I had to cover an emergency shift. What did you think I was doing?” He sounded annoyed.

  She took a deep breath and told herself to back off. She didn’t want him wound up before she told him the bad news. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve been so stressed out and when I couldn’t reach you I started wondering what was going on.”

  “Well, I’m here now. So what’s on your mind?” he asked in a calmer tone.

  “It’s just that I miss you.”

  “Oh, I miss you too, baby. I really have to go shortly. Was that it?”

  “Vincent, do you not even care that I’m here on my own,” she exploded at him. She glanced around her, grateful there was no one standing close enough to hear her rant.

  “Ijay, you were the one that insisted that you wanted to go to Abuja, remember,” he came back at her. His words might be true but his shoving them back in her face didn’t make her feel any better.

  She groaned in anger at his offhand attitude and just blurted out the words. “I had dinner with a man last night—”

  “Wait a minute! What man?”

  That got his attention, she smirked silently. She could see him frozen on the spot in her mind’s eye.

  “He’s the client, the owner of POD Foods. We’d met initially in London months ago before I met you and we had an affair. Well, last night while having dinner I let him touch me but—”

  “Bitch!”

  Stunned, she opened her mouth silently for a few seconds and closed them again. “Pardon?”

  “So that’s why you wanted to go to Abuja. So you can go fuck around,” his voice was so loud, she wondered if his neighbours could hear him over in London. She cringed, her guilt making her body heat up.

  “It wasn’t like that at all. He started to touch me but stopped,” she explained.

  “You let my bastard of a brother touch you?” He yelled into the phone in agitation and let out a few more curse words. Ijay sensed he was moving around because his voice kept trailing out.

  “Paul is your brother?”

  “Didn’t he tell you? Well, he won’t be for much longer when I finish dealing with him.”

  The line disconnected. Still in shock, Ijay stood on the spot for several minutes without moving, as she tried to process what had just happened. When her flight was called, she slowly dragged her hand luggage to the departure gate. She boarded the flight still confused and finally settled in her seat, staring blankly at the back of the seat in front of her.

  What just happened?

  Vincent was enraged. That he’d used the b word was like a neon sign announcing: Look, I’m pissed off. It was the first time he’d ever sworn with
in hearing distance. He was usually such a gentleman that she’d never thought he could use expletives. He’d used several all within a few minutes.

  She could understand all that. He was angry at her. Did that mean their relationship was over? He’d simply cut off the phone. She’d have to hang on to the hope that he’d reacted in anger. When he calmed down, perhaps they could talk more rationally.

  He was furious at Paul too. He’d threatened Paul. Confused and worried, she bit her lower lip as she tried to figure out what was going on. Vincent had never told her that he had a brother. He’d said specifically that he only had one sister. He’d referred to Paul as ‘...my bastard of a brother...’

  Maybe Paul had a different mother.

  Suppressing a frustrated moan, she picked up the in-flight magazine and tried to concentrate on the words without much success. Her mind kept going back to Vincent’s words.

  Maybe they were just words said in anger but something about them still sent a disturbing cold shiver down her spine. Since Vincent was in London and Paul in Abuja, she hoped Vincent’s anger would cool off by the time he saw Paul again.

  She was glad she was on her way to her family home in Lagos instead of sitting on her own without anyone for support in a hotel room. Luckily her flight was only an hour, so they were taxing down to the arrival terminal at Murtala Mohammed Airport in no time. When she disembarked and picked up her luggage she found her mother waiting at the arrival lounge.

  Her mother, whom she always thought was a twin sister to Annette Benning, looked so elegant in her long body-skimming blue linen boubou, her brunette hair cut in a short layered style. Her mother always looked at ease in African attire. If it wasn’t for her tanned skin tone, you’d forget she was born in Loughton to Caucasian parents. She looked like any other African mother.

  When she saw Ijay, her face beamed with a smile. Ijay couldn’t help the tinge of sadness that swept through her mind. She’d have to deliver news that would wipe the smile off her mother’s face. She planted a smile on her face and hurried toward her mother.

  “Hello, darling,” her mother cheered when Ijay hugged her.

  Ijay held on tight for a brief moment as tears stung her eyes. After the stresses of the past few days, it was nice to see someone who loved and cared about her regardless. Someone whose arms were always comforting.

  “It’s great to see you again, mum,” she said when she finally leaned back.

  Her mother gave her a scrutinising look. “It’s great to see you too, dear. Come on, let’s get you home.”

  Their family driver, who’d been with them for years, took Ijay’s suitcase when she said hello to him. They all walked down to the car park.

  “How was the flight?” her mother asked.

  “Uneventful.” Ijay shrugged defensively.

  “And Abuja?” Her mother gave her another examining look. Ijay tried not to blush under her stare. Her mother knew her children very well and rarely missed a thing.

  “It’s a great city. I haven’t seen much of it yet. What I’ve see is good.”

  “Good,” her mum nodded as the driver loaded the boot with Ijay’s luggage and they got into the car.

  The car left the airport headed in the slow evening traffic for Victoria Garden City where her parents lived. Sitting next to each other in the back seats, her mother took Ijay’s hand.

  “Ijeoma Clarissa Amadi, what is the matter?”

  Her mother rarely ever addressed her using her full name. Whenever she did it was either as a reprimand or to get her attention.

  She looked at her mum. The concerned expression on her mother face made Ijay blink while fighting the tears clogging her throat.

  “Talk to me. I know something’s wrong. You are usually more enthusiastic about coming home. You look pale, like you’re dreading being here. What’s going on?”

  “Oh mum, it’s a long story.”

  “Well, it’s a long drive to VGC. Is it work?”

  “Yes and no. I messed up. I cheated on Vincent with Paul. Now Vincent is angry and I think the wedding is off.”

  “Wow, wow. You did what? Who is Paul and what exactly did you do?”

  Taking a deep breath and releasing it, Ijay told her mother everything. Well, almost everything.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Are you sure Paul is Vincent’s brother?” her mother asked, the look of unmistakable surprise on the older woman’s face.

  Ijay found that discussing her dilemma with her mother turned out to be therapeutic. She didn’t go into the full details of her one-night stand with Paul who had been practically a stranger at the time.

  No mother wanted to hear about the sexual exploits of their children, no matter how liberal their own outlook. Moreover, it was bad enough telling her mother she would’ve cheated on her fiancé and having to deal with the embarrassment factor too.

  Luckily her mother was more interested in the fact that Paul was Vincent brother and Ijay hadn’t known until today.

  “Yes, definitely. As soon as I mentioned Vincent’s name last night, Paul shut down faster than the Nigerian national grid cuts the power. And this afternoon, when I told Vincent about Paul, he said Paul was his brother.”

  “Hmmm. This is quite peculiar.” The crease on her mother’s face deepened.

  “You can say that again. Now that I think of it, I never even mentioned Paul’s name to Vincent but he knew straight away whom I was referring to. How is that possible?” Ijay lifted her hand and rubbed it against her lips as she thought about her conversation with Vincent again.

  “I really think it’s odd that Vincent has a brother whom he’s never mentioned to you. You are supposed to be getting married in a few weeks.” Her mother looked at her again with an unbelieving look.

  “I’ve been in shock trying to process everything. Even though I can’t remember mentioning Paul’s name, Vincent obviously knows about him.” Ijay shook her head and stared at the road through the windshield, barely seeing the traffic in front.

  “You must have said something to him. Maybe when you were discussing working in Abuja,” her mother persisted.

  “I mentioned Havers & Child had won a bid to work for a company in Abuja but I’m not sure I mentioned the company name or the owner. I don’t know. Maybe I did,” Ijay conceded.

  “Well, don’t worry about that for now. I’m sure it’ll all be sorted out when you speak to Vincent again.”

  “Mum, do you really think he’ll ever speak to me? I’m afraid he’s going to call the wedding off.”

  “Listen there’s no need to panic. He’s a man. His ego has been hurt. He probably just needs a few days to cool off, and then you both can talk again more rationally next time.”

  “I hope so, mum.”

  “So tell me about Paul. What’s he like?”

  “Mum?”

  “Come on. I want to know about the man who lured my daughter away from her fiancé. I know you. You are as loyal as anyone I know. Once you get into something you never give up on it. As a child, once you were given a toy, you would play with that one toy until it was ragged and broken before you would turn your attention to another toy. No amount of cajoling ever made you look at another toy.”

  “This is different.”

  “No, it’s not. You’ve carried the same attribute throughout your life. I know you would never cheat on Vincent unless Paul was more than a passing fancy. You care about this Paul, don’t you?”

  She let out a sigh. “I do. A lot. I never planned to,” Ijay said, finally admitting it out loud. A sense of relief swept over her. “I didn’t know how much I cared about him, until I saw him again. But I told myself it’s too late. I’ve already made the commitment to Vincent. I can’t back out of it now. Moreover, Paul doesn’t want anything permanent with me. So why even bother?”

  “How do you know he doesn’t want anything more? Neither of you have given it a chance,” her mother replied.

  “Mum, are you saying I should’ve given Paul
another chance?” she asked in shock. Was her mother condoning her cheating on Vincent?

  “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m simply trying to tell you not to beat yourself up. Vincent didn’t handle things too well with you. There are ways the two of you could have explored intimacy that would’ve set your mind at ease and helped you resist Paul more. So Vincent is not innocent in this. That’s what I’m saying.”

  “I feel so guilty, though.”

  “That’s only natural. So tell me about him.”

  “The truth is Paul is still an enigma. I know very little about him. However, I do know that he’s an astute businessman and natural leader. Working with him so far has been great. He’s very attentive and encouraging. He’s passionate about his business and the people that work for him. That passion also translates into his personal dealings with me. He makes me feel protected and wanted. When he looks at me, I feel like I’m the only woman on earth. Does that make sense?”

  “It does, my dear. How does that compare to Vincent?” her mother probed further.

  “I don’t know what Vincent is like at work,” Ijay explained.

  “I’ve never really been to see him there. Recently things haven’t been so great with us. He’s been very busy with work. I didn’t feel I was getting the attention I deserved from him. Okay, so there isn’t the kind of sizzling passion I feel with Paul. But Vincent is consistent and stable. He’s a doctor, so obviously he cares about people. And if it wasn’t for my mess up, he’d still be here tomorrow. This is something I cannot guarantee with Paul.”

  “My dear, in life, you cannot guarantee anything. I know that naturally humans want to settle for the safe and comfortable. Sometimes to get the best of life, you have to take a leap into the unknown.”

  “Paul is such an unknown, mum. He won’t even talk to me. Sometimes when I look into his eyes he looks so lost and tormented. Like there is something inside him eating him up. I hate that he won’t let me close enough to help him.”