Chapter 13 - I adore you

One week had passed since the accident that placed Chief Uche Odenigbo and his wife in a state of coma. Chimamanda and her sisters have been restless. 

All their efforts to get the people behind the accident proved abortive. 

The family of Chuka, Chief Uche's driver who died in the accident, were consoled and settled appropriately by the Odenigbo group. 

The experts were brought in to check the car if it indeed had a break issue according to what the eye witnesses testified to, but the experts confirmed it was negative.

According to them, they stated that someone wanted Chief Uche and his wife dead because the brakes of the car were tampered with, which resulted in the accident. 

The people who tampered with the brake were smart. 

They knew the angles where the CCTV was installed and hid well without the CCTV capturing them while tampering with the brake.

The security men at the Odenigbo's Mansion were changed; more CCTV cameras were installed at strategic positions in every direction.

Chimamanda worked tirelessly, staying up all night to unravel the mystery behind her parents' accident.

Everyone in the Odenigbo group had a share of Chimamanda's temperament. She was scared to lose them to death. 

She yelled and acted cold towards everyone at her office. 

Chinyere always came around to make sure her nieces were doing okay.

Ryan visited frequently to check up on Chimamanda and her sisters. He always looked worried.

Everyone in the country had their own version of the story about the accident. Every blog carried the story, but the girls remained silent on the issue and did not address the press yet.

Chidinma did not want the coma issue to affect her as she started working on a project to host a fashion week for the latest clothing line she was working on.

The event was slated to be held in France in the next two months. She wanted to make her parents proud when they wake up from their coma state.

Chisom has been crying since the incident and has not picked up her camera to work since then.

Ryan asked Chimamanda out on another date, and she accepted. 

Chidinma was there to pick a dress for Chimamanda for her date. She picked a blue strapless dress, a black heel, and a small black hand bag. 

Chisom reluctantly stayed in the room while Chimamanda was dressing up just to please her sisters. 

When she was done dressing up, Chimamanda went downstairs in the company of her sisters to meet Ryan.

Ryan grinned the moment he saw Chimamanda coming down from the staircase. "Wow, she is beautiful." "I'm lucky to have met her," he said to himself. 

Ryan took her hands in his, the moment she got to the last flight of stairs. "You look stunning, Princess," Ryan admitted, and kissed her hands, which were in his hands. 

"Thank you," Chimamanda said, blushing. "You are always handsome in my eyes," she added.

"I will leave my sister in your hands, Ryan." "Bring her back early and safely," Chidinma said. 

They left in a Mercedes-Benz C-class car with a Hilux filled with security operatives tailing behind because of the situation in the Odenigbo family. 

"We are definitely going to his house again," Chimamanda said to herself.  

As if on cue, with her thoughts.

"Princess, we are going to a fancy restaurant." "As a matter of fact, you'll have to get ready because I made an announcement on my social media story that I have a surprise for everyone in the evening at the restaurant," he chuckled. 

Chimamanda looked at him intently to understand the situation, but she was still confused. "What is the surprise?" she probed.

"You'll see soon enough, so all you have to do is get ready for the paparazzi as I'm going to give them the shock of their life," he smirked. 

"The internet is going to have us as the headline today," he added.

Chimamanda chuckled, "I'm used to the spotlight." "I hope you are ready because I'm certainly ready for anything," she announced with a sense of pride. 

When they got to the restaurant premises, they parked in a good space.

Ryan held Chimamanda's hand, giving it a little squeeze. "Are you ready, princess?" he asked. 

Chimamanda looked at him with a cocky smile, "I was born ready." "Let's do this. " 

He nodded with a grin. "I'll get your door. Stay in and wait," he instructed. He opened his door and headed for her door, ignoring the different flashlight from the camera.

As Chimamanda stepped out of the car, she was greeted with the same flashlights from different cameras. 

Ryan held her hands as they walked to the restaurant. 

The pressmen had different questions like "Mr. Ikeagwu, is Miss. Odenigbo your girlfriend?" or "Are you two here for a business deal?" "If it's indeed a business meeting, why are you both not dressed in formal business attire and why is it a late evening meeting?" "Finally, he has proven to us that he is into women, but are you both here on a date?" 

They ignored everyone and entered the restaurant. As they got in, all eyes were on them. 

The manager of the restaurant came to meet them. "Good evening, Mr. Ikeagwu and Miss. Odenigbo," he greeted with a cheeky grin. "I have a table reserved in my name," Ryan informed the manager.

"Yes, please come with me," he said, and walked to the table with his guests following him behind. 

As they got to their table, Ryan pulled out a seat for Chimamanda and took a seat opposite her own. 

A waitress came to meet them to take their orders. "Princess, what would you like to eat?" Ryan asked in a sweet voice. 

"Moi moi with salad and fried plantain," she ordered, while still looking at the menu book. "Add a bottle of Larvish Red wine," she said with a death glare to the waitress, as she saw her trying to flirt with Ryan, batting her eyelashes seductively with a coquettish smile. 

"Are we jealous now?" Her mind quipped. "Not jealous, but she's trying to flirt with my man and I can't be comfortable with that. It is disrespectful to me." She defended 

"Your man?" Her mind accused, "he is definitely not yet my man, but soon he will be because I'll make it happen." She retorted.

The waitress ignored the glare Chimamanda was sending her way and wrote down Chimamanda's orders. 

"What would you like to order, sir?" She asked in a sweet, charming, feminine voice. "I will go with her order," Ryan replied. She wrote it down and left their table.

"Is someone jealous?" Ryan asked with a sardonic smile. "I'm not." "Why should I even be? " Chimamanda frowned.

"I saw someone giving the waitress a death glare when she was flirting with me," Ryan retorted, his face smug. " Chimamanda rolled her eyes as she saw his facial expression.

"Nevertheless, I'm here for you, Princess." "No one is snatching me." His tone was serious. 

Chimamanda's cheeks turned pink; she quickly used the menu book to cover her face before Ryan would notice. 

The evil waitress came back to the table with their food in a food trolley behind her. 

She flashed a bright smile at Ryan as she dropped his food on the table. She gave a white piece of paper to Ryan. She passed it in a smart way so Chimamanda wouldn't notice, but she was smart enough to see it. 

"I'll get the bottle of wine next," the waitress announced, and turned to go back and get the bottle of wine. Chimamanda called her back. "One more thing, dear," Chimamanda said, and the waitress came back to the table, "yes ma'am." 

Chimamanda looked at her fiercely. "Next time you want to flirt, flirt with a single guy who might look at your miserable self." 

"Don't ever flirt with a guy who has a pretty lady like me with him." "I hate snatchers the most and can do something drastic to greedy girls like you." She sized her from her head down to her toes." 

The waitress was already shaking in fear.

"You may go and make sure someone else brings our wine to us if you don't want to get fired by just a word." "I will tell your manager," she smirked.

"I don't want to see your face appear at my table again, so you won't ruin our evening." 

The waitress left the table speedily in fright as Chimamanda finished talking to her. "You scared her." "I am sure she will never want to offend you again." Ryan laughed in amusement at what transpired before him. Chimamanda laughed.

Another waitress came back with their wine. They ate together in mirth and talked about so many things. 

Ryan paid for the meal after they had an argument about who wanted to foot the bill. 

When they got into the car, Chimamanda fastened her seat belt while Ryan roared the engine to life.

"Thanks for today, I'm grateful," Chimamanda told Ryan. "You are most welcome, Princess, but our date is not over yet," he winked. 

She was puzzled at what he said, "Where else are we going to?" "I am already tired." "I need my bed right now," she whined. 

"Can't we do this some other time?" Chimamanda asked, groaning. 

Ryan shook his head dramatically

"Come on babe, it won't take long, I promise," he reassured her, grabbing her hands in his as he was driving with his free hand.

"I hope it's worth the time," Chimamanda inquired. 

"Yes, it's depending on you, but I assure you, you are going to like where we are going to trust me." 

 Chimamanda wondered in her heart where Ryan was taking her, but she was blank. She was so deep in thought that she didn't notice they had gotten to their destination. 

Ryan opened the door for her and noticed that she was deep in thought. He wondered what she was thinking of that distracted her this much.

"Princess" he called "Princess" "Chimamanda" "Chimamanda". He nudged her. 

"Yes," Chimamanda answered, jolting away from her thoughts.

 "Are you okay?" he asked, his face switching to worry. 

"Yes, I am," she answered, laughing lightly

Until Ryan was convinced that everything was okay. He finally breathed out in excitement, "We are here." He took her hands and helped her out of the car.

"Now Princess, close your eyes." Ryan spoke up.

"Why, is there anything special that you want to show me?" She probed. 

"Relax Babe, you'll find out soon." He blind folded her eyes and directed her like a blind person as they kept on moving.

"We are here," he announced in excitement. He removed the blindfold.

As he removed the blindfold from her eyes, she rubbed it and opened them to behold the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.

"Wow!" she exclaimed. "You like it?" He asked. "No, I don't like it." Ryan's face morphed to sadness. Chimamanda couldn't help but laugh. "I love it!" she screamed like a child who has won a prize. 

Ryan grinned toothlessly, "I'm glad you love it." "Let's explore." He grabbed her hands. 

"You own this?" Chimamanda asked. "Yeah, but it's managed by my mum."

"She has a florist who takes care of it." "Their house is by the corner over there," he said, pointing to a distant location.

As they kept on walking, a small light skinned girl approached them, smiling at Chimamanda, and gave her a rose flower. "This is for you, Barrister Chimamanda," she said sweetly.

Chimamanda was surprised the little girl knew her name. She looked at Ryan, but he shrugged. 

Chimamanda took the flower from the little girl and thanked her with a kiss on her cheek. She giggled and ran off.

Different children kept coming, till Chimamanda had a bouquet with her. 

"Now something is fishy," Chimamanda said to herself.

When they got to the centre of the garden, Ryan stopped. It had a beautiful water fountain with different lights on it. 

Chimamanda was amazed at the sight. "Princess" Ryan called out. "Yes," she answered.

"I don't know if you are going to take this seriously or not, but I have to let you know that I love you and I would want to make us official." 

"You are the first woman who has ever piqued my interest, the first woman I have ever fallen for, and the first woman I want to date." 

"I hope and pray that you are the one I will wait for to walk down the aisle." 

"I adore you." 

"I want you to be my own, my priceless." "I want you to be that special woman in my life."

He paused but continued. "I know I'm not meant to be telling you this now because we have to catch the person that hurt your parents, but I can't help my feelings anymore." 

"I want us to get the person together." "I want it to be you and I against the world." 

"I would never hurt you or think of replacing you." 

He held her hands and knelt down. "Will you accept this poor boy that is begging to be your boyfriend?"