Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) (2 page)

“I... yes... I…um...” Fadeke started to
stutter.

“She knows.” Eddie interrupted smoothly.
“She’s been on a long phone call for a while, probably with Michael.” He
smiled, his eyes teasing. Sophie had recently gotten married to Michael
Ade-Cole, the man she had been in love with for as long as Ada had known her.

Ada shrugged and turned her attention back
to her computer, hoping that he would go back to flirting with Fadeke and not
talk to her until Sophie finished with her phone call.

As if Sophie had somehow heard her
thoughts, the door to her office opened just then, and she appeared, her face
all aglow, showing that she had indeed been talking with her husband. Ada
smiled. It was a testament to the strength of Sophie and Eddie’s friendship
that she could keep him waiting while she took a personal call, despite the
fact that he owned a large stake in her business. Eddie would never mind
though, Ada thought, sometimes he and Sophie seemed more like brother and
sister, than business partners and friends. Then again, Eddie had introduced
Sophie and Michael all those years ago.

“What’s up?” Sophie said, addressing all of
them at the same time. Dressed in one of those stylish chiffon blouses, a
pencil skirt and fashionable high heels, she looked totally on point, Ada
thought. She looked down at her own jeans and T-Shirt and sighed. Oh well, she
thought, not everybody had to wear chiffon.

“Young man!” Sophie exclaimed playfully,
wagging a finger at Eddie. “Stop flirting with Fadeke I beg you! Before you
turn her head upside down, I cannot explain anything to her mother!”

“Hey.” Eddie protested as Fadeke dissolved
into a pool of embarrassed giggles. “I’m only having an innocent conversation
with her.”

“Ada, when did you get back?” Sophie
continued, looking over at Ada who was quietly working at her computer. “You
weren’t here when I came out a moment ago.” She paused, leaving Ada wondering
if she actually wanted an answer, then she went right on talking to Eddie. “I’m
sorry I kept you waiting.” She told him, a mischievous look on her face. “You
can come inside now.” She turned back to Ada. “You too, Ada”

Ada watched with a small frown as they both
disappeared into Sophie’s office, she wondered how long she could stall, now
that she was rid of Eddie she wasn’t terribly eager to be back in his company,
especially in Sophie’s tiny office.

Fadeke was still staring after Eddie with
an enraptured expression. “Close your mouth before you eat a mosquito.” Ada
said to her.

Fadeke gave her a self-conscious smile, and
then because she couldn’t help it, as all girls with crushes love to gush about
the object of their desires, she whispered. “But he is so hot!”

‘Of course’ Ada thought sarcastically.
‘Let’s talk about Eddie Bakare’s body temperature by all means.’

“He asked me if I had done something new
with my hair.” Fadeke continued, oblivious to Ada’s lack of interest, “He said
that I looked prettier than usual.”

Ada rolled her eyes. Seriously! Of course,
that was exactly the sort of thing Eddie would say! Guys like him tossed
compliments around and just waited while girls dropped on their laps, or beds,
like ripe fruit.

“He’s so handsome!” Fadeke continued dreamily,
her eyes wide in her pretty, little, pixie face. How old was she again? Ada
wondered, getting rather annoyed. Didn’t the fact that she was old enough to
have a job also mean that she was too old to indulge in silly fantasies about
men she didn’t know?

As Fadeke started to say something else,
Ada decided that she had heard enough. “You know he can hear you across the
partition.” She said bluntly.

Fadeke squealed and clapped a hand over her
mouth. “Oh my God!” She exclaimed. “Do you think he heard? Oh my God!” When Ada
didn’t bother to reply, she deflated into a self-conscious silence.

A few minutes of quiet followed for which
Ada was immensely grateful. Fadeke could be such a chatterbox sometimes. She
turned back to her computer and continued stalling, checking a photo spread she
had done the night before. Hopefully, Sophie would forget that she had asked
her into her office and only remember after Eddie left.”

Her hope proved futile as Sophie soon poked
her head out of her office, “Ada.” She said with a slight frown, “I meant this
year, not next year. Come on.”

Ada got up reluctantly, wondering why Eddie
was not at his own office. He worked in an oil-marketing firm that belonged to
his father, and from what she’d heard, he had proved to be a shrewd oil
marketer in the past two years, earning his place in the top management. He
hardly ever bothered with Living Lagos anymore, Sophie was the boss now, and
anyway, he had other investments. Ada supposed he still came around
occasionally when he found himself in the area because he was such good friends
with Sophie.

He was sitting on one of the chairs
opposite Sophie’s tiny desk, with his body stretched out and relaxed as if he
had no care in the world. He would look relaxed even if he were stuck in a market
place under the hot sun, surrounded by thousands of sweaty people, Ada thought
enviously. That was just the way he was. She took the seat beside him, placing
her hands demurely on her lap. He turned and gave her a conspiratorial wink and
a smile as if to say - let’s hear what Sophie has to say this time - Ada turned
away and gave all her attention Sophie.

“I wasn’t expecting you today Eddie.”
Sophie said, as she gestured with one hand, the one with the rings, creating a
light diamond and platinum sparkle. “But it’s good that you stopped by. I have
wonderful news.”

Eddie raised a perfect brow. “Better than,
I’m
getting married!
” He teased, affecting a high pseudo feminine voice, which
sounded nothing like Sophie's own.

Sophie gave him a warning look, and then
her face softened into a smile. “No, actually, nothing’s better than that.” She
paused, the light of excitement dancing in her eyes. “The good news is…We’ve
been nominated for the TRANSCEND awards for Entertainment in Print…”

“Well done!” Eddie looked very pleased.
“Congratulations.”

“I'm not done yet.” Sophie continued,
“We've also been nominated for Best use of new media, for our website.” She
smiled sweetly as she took in their reactions. “And that’s not the best part at
all.” She added. “Yours truly, Moi, Sophie Aliu Ade-Cole was nominated for the
Young Person of the Year award.” Her announcement ended in an excited squeal.

“Oh wow!” Ada exclaimed, rushing up from
her chair to give Sophie a hug. “Congratulations!”

Eddie got up and hugged Sophie too. “This
is a big deal.” He said. “We should celebrate!”

“We will.” Sophie nodded in agreement, her
eyes shining with pleasure. “We can all go out for a celebratory dinner, I
think.” She paused, thinking. “I’ll arrange it”

“And when we win.” Eddie continued with a
smile. “We’ll have a bigger party.”

“You bet.” Sophie said, grinning happily.

“This will be great for sales and
advertising.” Eddie said to Sophie, the businessman in him seeing the
opportunity.

“I know.” Sophie agreed. “We may have to
increase the number of features as well as the number of pages to accommodate
all the new the advertising we’ll be getting from now on.”

Ada sighed inwardly. This was her cue to
leave. When these two started discussing business, there was nothing for the
creative in her to do but to leave them alone to it. She stood up.

“Hey! Where are you going?” Sophie asked.

“I have to finish editing the fashion
spread for next week.” Ada replied. It was true, anyway.

Sophie chuckled. “Ada is allergic to
discussions about money and business.” She told Eddie. She turned back to Ada.
“How far about the apartment you were looking for?” She asked. “Have you paid
for that one you liked?”

“Yes, I have.” Ada could barely keep the exasperation
out of her voice. Couldn’t Sophie tell that the last thing she wanted was to
discuss her personal issues in Eddie’s presence?

“You were looking for an apartment?” Eddie
asked. He was back in his seat, but now he swiveled towards Ada. “Why wasn’t I
told?” He asked. “I could have gotten you something nice.”

“Like your spare bedroom?” Sophie quipped
playfully.

He looked hurt, “No, no! I know many
agents, the best actually, not these dubious ones all over the place. The ones
I know can get you anything from a one-bedroom flat to a duplex in Victoria
Island.”

It was true. Ada knew that for a while,
after his graduation, Eddie had a sort of career as a facilitator of housing
deals. According to Sophie, he had made a lot of money connecting people to the
properties they wanted to own. It was intimidating in a way, how easily he
seemed to find and take advantage of opportunities to make money, even though
he already had more than he could ever spend.

“I would never ask you to move into my
spare bedroom.” He said earnestly. “Except if you really wanted to.” He gave
her that dimpled smile again.

Sophie was trying not to laugh. “Eddie!
Stop flirting with Ada, she’s not interested.”

One of his eyebrows went up, in what, to
Ada, looked like cocksure disbelief. His eyes did not leave her face.

Ada met his stare. He probably believed
there was no girl in the world who wasn’t interested in him, well she wasn’t.
“I don’t believe your spare bedroom is big enough for me.” She said
dismissively, even though the look on his face was doing things to her
equilibrium.

“You haven’t seen it.” He informed her.

“I don’t need to.” Ada replied with a small
smile.

He shrugged, apparently deciding to let it
rest. “So where’s your new apartment?” He asked.

Why did he want to know? Reluctantly, she
told him.

“Really!” His face lit up. “That’s very
close to my house,” he said. “We’re neighbors!”

“You don’t live on the island?” Ada blurted
before she could stop herself.

He gave her a slight frown. “No, must I?”

She kept quiet, feeling slightly taken
aback. She had assumed that someone with his money and connections would surely
live on the Island, free from the relentless Lagos traffic, bridges, and all
the other headaches that came with living on the mainland.”

“He took a house on the mainland to escape
all those girls who don’t do bridges.” Sophie said, laughing.

Eddie nodded seriously. “I had to find a
way to trim the numbers.”

Ada rolled her eyes.

“Anyway now that we’re neighbors,” He
continued, turning his one million megawatt smile on her again, “maybe we
should hang out more, I could show you all the local joints.”

Ada gave him her sweet smile again “Maybe.”
She said noncommittally before turning back to Sophie. “I’m going to finish
that photo spread now. Bye Eddie.” She said without looking at him.

“Did I say something?” She heard Eddie say
as she closed the door behind her.

“I don’t know what you mean.” She heard
Sophie’s  response through the partition as she went back to her seat. She
tried to concentrate on her photo spread, but it wasn’t until about fifteen
minutes later, when Eddie finally left that she was able to breathe easier.

“I still don’t know why you couldn’t come
to live with us.”

Ada looked up from the kitchen counters she
was busy cleaning at her brother, Zubi. He was her only sibling, if you didn’t
include her father’s children with his second wife, whom she didn’t know at
all. He was sitting on the tiny kitchen counter, swinging his legs like a small
boy, with a slight frown on his face. Ada shook her head.

“Seriously?” She asked, getting up and
moving to the gas cooker, to wipe the oven clean with a rag. She had moved in
two days before, and since it was Saturday, Zubi had finally been able to come
over to see what the place looked like. “You think the best thing is for me to
move in with you and crowd your three bedroom apartment that already contains a
wife, two children and a maid?”

“Why not?” He challenged with a frown that was
so like hers. They looked so alike that it would have been safe to call him the
taller, more masculine, version of her. “Some families of seven in this same
city of Lagos live in just one room.” He continued. “Go to Ajegunle if you
don’t believe me.”

Ada snorted in disbelief. “You’re just
talking.” She said. “Have you ever been to Ajegunle?”

He ignored her. “I still don’t see why not
though. Ify loves you, and the children adore you.”

“I am twenty four years old!” Ada told him.
“I’m not too young to live alone. Anyway it’s too late because I’ve already
paid for this place.” She was glad she had. She loved her new apartment. For a
Lagos mini–flat, it was surprisingly large and spacious, the ceilings were
high, the bedroom was large, and the fittings in the kitchen and the bathroom
were still new and shiny. Even the fenced compound was great, there were just
four flats, two large ones and two mini-flats including hers. There was a lot
of space, enough for her to park a car if she finally bought one. She could see
herself living here for years.