Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) (13 page)

Sophie burst out laughing again.

“It’s been a while we really talked.”
Sophie observed when the mirth had passed.

“Well, you’re still on your honeymoon.” Ada
replied teasingly. It had been more than a year since Sophie got married.
“Maybe that’s why.”

Sophie raised a brow. “If that’s it, then
I’m afraid we’ll never get to talk.” She smiled. “My honeymoon is going to last
forever.”

“Amen somebody!” Ada quipped. They both
burst into laughter again.

“But seriously.” Sophie said. “Are you
really not going to tell me what’s going on between you and Eddie?” She sounded
hurt.

Ada sighed. She realized that this was why
she had come to Sophie’s office in the first place. She wanted an excuse to
talk about him.

Sophie mistook her pause for reticence.
“You really don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” She said. “But I can’t
help being curious.”

“No, it’s fine.” Ada said. “I want to talk
about it.” She paused. “It’s just… nothing happened really.”

Sophie scoffed. “I’m not blind, you know?”
She gave Ada a speculative look. “Did you guys have some sort of fling?”

“No!” Ada exclaimed.  “No.” She
frowned. “It was nothing like that. He came over to my house a couple of times,
he said he liked me, we went out once, and we had a fight….” She shrugged.
“that’s about it.”

“That’s can’t be all.” Sophie’s face was a
study in disbelief. She leaned forward. “You know when I said Eddie always
wants to talk about you?” She asked.

Ada nodded.

“Well now the mention of your name is
enough to make him change the subject.” She said, leaning back. “So I know that
whatever happened between you two, it must have been serious.”

He didn’t want to talk about her at all! Or
even hear her name mentioned! Ada tried not to feel hurt at that, but it was
impossible.

Sophie was still looking at her. “You know
what?” She said. “Tell me from the beginning.” She narrowed her eyes, “and
don’t leave anything out.”

It took almost an hour. Sophie listened without
interrupting as everything spilled out. It was pleasurable to talk about Eddie,
Ada realized. It was pleasurable to remember how she had enjoyed herself in his
company. When Ada got to the part about the fight, she saw the first frown
appear on Sophie’s face. She faltered as she told Sophie about the things she
had said to him. They sounded mean now, as she said them again, mean and
childish and silly.

When she was done, Sophie was silent for a
while, as if deep in thought. Ada waited for her to say something, the silence
weighing on her. How bad had she messed up? She wondered. Eddie had been
Sophie’s friend far longer than she had. Sophie was bound to feel more sympathy
for him, and to be miffed that Ada had insulted him. She waited.

“How do you feel about him?” Sophie asked
finally. “I mean deep down, besides the ‘trying to interfere in your career’
and ‘embezzled money’ issues…” She gave Ada a measuring look. “How do you
really feel about him?”

“I don’t know?” Ada sighed. “I don’t want
to like him.”

“But you do.” Sophie stated.

Ada nodded. “I do.” She accepted. “But this
is Eddie!” She exclaimed. “He is a flirt, isn’t he? It’s always either one
woman or another!” She sighed. “And not just any women, those popular girls
back in school, these socialites in Lagos.”

Sophie frowned. “Do you think he’s out of
your league?” She asked. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid that he’s better than
you.”

Ada bristled at the words, but only because
they were so true. She had been afraid, she couldn’t lie to herself, or to
Sophie.

Sophie didn’t wait for an answer. “Because
that’s not the case at all, you are beautiful, intelligent and unusual, not the
typical Lagos fare.” She smiled. “Kind of exotic if you ask me.” She paused. “I
think he really likes you, you know, and contrary to what you think, Eddie is
not a womanizer, it’s not his fault that women like him, but he’s never led
anybody on that I know of. He’s a good sort of guy.”

Ada looked out of the window. Outside, the
sun had risen very high, and was now bright, yellow and glaring. She frowned.
It would have been so much better, if Sophie had told her she was better off
without Eddie, called him a flirt who didn’t deserve her or something like
that. Now she just felt like she had messed up really, bad.

Sophie wasn’t done. “I don’t understand why
you’re so concerned about Dele Solanke, or Eddie wanting to know about
publishing your book. First and foremost Eddie is a business man, He wouldn’t
go all out if he didn’t think you had a good product.” She paused. “I understand
how you feel about the money, Ada, but be realistic, If you’re going to cut
everybody who has ever benefited in any way, directly or indirectly, from
Nigeria’s corruption from your life, you’ll have to cut out everybody,
including yourself.”

Ada sighed. Sophie was right, of course.
Things had only seemed black and white while she had been throwing the words at
Eddie. Thinking about it now, there were so many shades of grey.

“Don’t judge him, he’s not the same as
those children of corrupt politicians living in million dollar apartments
abroad and popping bottles of champagne at different clubs every night.” Sophie
said. “Eddie’s not like that, he’s really responsible, and along with his
family he has given a whole lot of that money away, and helped a lot of
people.”

Like Sophie. Ada thought. There would be no
Living Lagos, if it hadn’t been for Eddie’s money.

“Maybe you should ask yourself this.”
Sophie said finally. “Do you think Eddie would do the same thing his
grandfather did, if he were in such a position today?” Her voice was serious.
“Or do you think he would do better?”

Ada was prevented from replying by the
sound of Fadeke squealing excitedly in the outer office. Sophie rolled her eyes
and sighed.

“I think your car has come.” She said. “Or
else Fadeke is going to have a lot to answer for.”

It was the car, delivered straight from the
car dealership. They all thronged downstairs to see it. Mr. Festus, the floor
security man, looked up from his issue of Complete Sports to look at them
curiously as they piled into the elevator.

The car had come in one of those
complicated looking trucks for delivering cars, with a ramp and everything. It
was a brand new Honda City, dark red and gleaming in the sun. The seats were
all covered up in transparent polyester, as was most of the car.

It was beautiful, Ada thought. It was
exactly what she would have chosen. She smiled and whooped along with everybody
else, as everybody expected her to. Sophie stood back arms folded, a smile on
her face. Fadeke was clapping excitedly. “iwannanewcartoo! iwannanewcartoo!”
Oliver was saying in a voice that was both dejected and comical at the same
time.

Later, after Ada had made a great show of
peeling off the polyester, they went back to the office. The rest of the day passed
rather quickly, Ada kept herself busy with work and showed Clive some of the
things she expected him to do. Whenever her phone rang she still broke into a
sweat, but it was never Eddie. Obviously, he had truly decided to leave her
alone this time. It hurt.

She didn’t get a chance to speak to Sophie
again for the rest of the day. Not until she was leaving in the evening. She
walked up to Ada’s desk “Think about what I said, okay?” She said meaningfully.
Ada nodded. She was already thinking about it, she thought, frustrated, but
what would thinking achieve, when she had already ruined everything.

The whole office was buzzing with
excitement about the TRANSCEND awards. Sophie printed every online article
where either her name or Living Lagos was mentioned. She cut out more of the
same from newspapers and magazines and pinned them on the notice board.

Ada tried to join in the excitement, but it
was hard. She hadn’t heard from or seen Eddie since the night outside her
apartment, she wanted to call and apologize, she had thought and thought about
everything that happened and the more she thought about it, the more convinced
she was that she had been wrong.

She missed him too, that was the hardest thing,
how much she missed him. Many times, she almost dialed his number, in her mind
she made up excuses to call him, but pride always stopped her. What would she
say to him anyway, after everything she had already said?

Sophie advised her to call him. “Contrary
to popular opinion guys have feelings too” She told Ada. “You hurt his
feelings, you should call him.”

But she didn’t. She was too afraid. What if
he had moved on, what if he had decided that she was just a silly girl, a
complication he didn’t need in his life. What if right at that moment he was
already happily in a relationship with one of those society girls, the ones
with smooth British accents and smoother skin.

So she worked, and worked, and worked some
more. She took a lot of pictures. That was the only thing that helped her not
to think, and not to think of Eddie.

The day of the awards finally came. It was
a Saturday evening. Sophie had cajoled Ada into a shopping trip for new
outfits, during which they scoured the boutiques of Allen Avenue for a whole
afternoon. Ada finally decided on a black gown, it was short with tiny sleeves,
a subtly shimmering texture and a daring neckline.  It wasn’t too fussy,
and set off her complexion really well. 

She arrived early at the Radisson Blu,
where the event was taking place, so she was able to park without much problem.
She was inwardly glad that the organizers had chosen the new hotel as the
venue, instead of one of the others where parking was always a problem.

There were many people milling about the
car park and the entrance. She didn’t see anybody she knew. At the lobby, there
were ushers to show her the way to the banquet hall and to their table.

Fadeke was already at the table, eyes
shining with excitement, as was Clive, Oliver, and a nice looking girl seated
next to Oliver, who appeared to be his date. They waved her over as soon as
they saw her. As she walked to the table, she admired the hall. It was large
and spacious, and the decorations were superb. Even inside, there was the sound
of running water that seemed to be everywhere in the hotel, it was relaxing.

There were already several people inside
the hall, and conversations were going on, lending a buzz to the atmosphere.
Sophie and Michael arrived just as the MC took the mike to start the event.
They were holding hands, like newlyweds, their faces full of smiles. Lola
couldn’t come. She had to travel to Ibadan to see her parents.

They hugged and greeted each other as the
MC talked, chatting and whispering amongst themselves. Michael was charming,
and Ada could see the pride and love shining out of Sophie’s face as she
watched him converse without reservation with everyone on the table.

Ada’s eyes kept going to the empty seat on
the table. Would Eddie come? She had been fretting about it all week. She dared
not ask Sophie. The seat was right beside her, so if he came, he would be
seated right next to her.

At one point Sophie became aware of her
distress. She totally misinterpreted it. “Don’t worry, he’s going to come.” She
whispered to Ada. “He’s just running a little late.”

She nodded, suddenly sick with tension, or
fright. She couldn’t pay attention to the conversations going on around her. It
took immense self-control for her not to crane her neck towards the door. She
was excited, she was frightened, she was a mess!

A comedian came on stage and started to
crack some jokes. They were funny, but Ada couldn’t laugh. She tried to
distract herself by identifying the powerful and the famous in the crowd. There
were some ministers, she noted, a governor even and a scattering of Nollywood
actors and actresses. I should be taking pictures, she thought, then I wouldn’t
feel so nervous. Sophie had been determined that they should all enjoy
themselves so she hired a freelance photographer, to be the Living Lagos press
for the day.

Ada felt it when he arrived. All the hairs
on her arms and neck rose as he slid unannounced into the seat beside her. She
didn’t dare to look up, she stifled the urge to get up and bolt from the room, to
devour him with her eyes, to take hold of his hand and hold on tight. She had
never been so confused. Her emotions had never been in such turmoil. She
studied her sweating fingers while the cool fragrance of his cologne washed
over her.

Greetings were being exchanged around the
table. Her ears drank in the sound of his voice as he spoke to the others. How
she had missed that voice! She knew she should look up, say hello to him, but
she couldn’t. Now everyone would think she was an imbecile, she thought deploringly.
She took a deep breath.

“Hello Ada.” His words were almost a
whisper, right by her ear. She swallowed, her heart was palpitating, she turned
to look at him, her eyes greedily devouring the sight of his perfect face, his
beautiful eyes, those lips, right in front of her. How could she have gone for
so long without seeing him?