Chapter Twenty Five

"That's how she is. She enjoys it when we eat her food and tell her it was great." Christopher said with a chuckle and added, "but, she doesn't know that you are a great cook also. Wait till everyone taste your food and starts picking favorite."

"Am not as good and you make me sound. Don't flatter me..." Rose said but she couldn't hide the smile that was growing on her face.

"Mommy is the best cook in the whole wide world!..." Princess added making a wide gesture with her hand to show how wide the world is.

"Did you hear that?" Christopher asked. "She just pronounced you the best cook in the whole wide world. How about you reward us by making dinner?" Christopher asked.

"Yes... That will be great. I'll help mommy Out in the kitchen." Princess agreed with her father.

"No, I don't want to disappoint Mrs. Rita AGAIN," Rose said emphasizing on the again. "We'll eat whatever she prepares for dinner," Rose said and sat down on one of the couches that are gradually becoming her favorite.

Christopher sat down across Rose and carried Princess on his laps before saying, "this is a big fuck up..."

"Hey, Mr man... Don't say such words in front of my daughter." Rose cautioned Christopher.

"Sorry, your royal majesty..." Christopher said. "What I meant to say was, I am heartbroken because I won't get the opportunity to taste the delicious food that is made by your royal hands today," Christopher added.

"Hahaha, daddy is very cute," Princess said and laughed at her dad's drama.

At the mention, of being cute, Rose burst into fits of laughter while Christopher relished the sound of her laughter. "If me being called CUTE by our daughter makes you laugh so much then, I'll have to accept that I am CUTE..." Christopher said.

"Wow!! That means I can call you cutie anytime. Right?" Rose asked.

"No... You can't call me that every time. If Uzo gets to hear that then, the name sticks for life!!" Christopher said. While they were both talking. Rose noticed Princess dozing off. She gestures at Christopher and when he also saw her, he couldn't believe how beautiful His daughter was. He placed her to be more comfortable and stroked her short hair gently. "She looks so much like you..." Christopher said after some time.

Rose who had not taken her eyes off him since said, "she doesn't look exactly like me. She has more of your features thank I can say," Rose said.

"You just don't see it yet. She has your beautiful smile and she has your nose, your small kissable and beautiful mouth, she also has your walking steps." Christopher pointed out.

Rose shook her head and said, "I don't think you see clearly. She has more of your features. I see more of you in her than I see of myself."

"Well, the only difference that I have been able to point out is that she talks more. You are mostly quiet but when it comes to Princess, she is like a chatterbox." Christopher said and smiled lovingly at Princess who has fallen asleep on his laps.

"Well, I guess she got that from you as well," Rose said. "Why don't you take her to her room?"

"I will but, I love how she fits into my hand. She looks so beautiful and peaceful it's making me reluctant." Christopher said.

"Well," Rose started to say. "You can't hold her till she wakes up. Do you want her to get used to that?"

"What's wrong with her getting used to sleeping in my arms? If she wants then who am I to disagree?" Christopher said with seriousness.

"I can see the future already," Rose said and relaxed her back.

"What can you see in the future?" Christopher asked her.

"I can see how you will spoil this girl. I am sure you'll be ready to do anything as long as she asks for it..." Rose said.

"If that's what you see then, you are correct. I can even give her the world if she asks for it." Christopher said. "I never got the opportunity to enjoy love from my parents and thanks to you, I get to give someone that opportunity. I'll make sure she never misses out on what we both missed out on." Christopher promised.

"It's good to give her love but, don't spoil her," Rose said. "Uhm, please take her to her room and put her to bed. I'll be in my room if you need me. I haven't heard from Ada and I need to check how she is coping." Rose said and got up.

"Wait, why did you refuse to go out to get the ice cream together when Princess suggested it?" Christopher asked. He knew she had a reason but, he has been wondering what that reason is.

"Oh, that... I didn't want to risk our picture being taken. You might not know but, you are as popular as Tiwa savage and Don jazzy. The moment someone sees you with a woman and child..." Rose said.

"I won't mind tho. I want to show everyone that I have you and our daughter in my life. Is that wrong?" Christopher asked.

"It's not wrong but, there is time for everything. This is the time to develop our family bond. And I don't want to expose Princess to gossip just yet." Rose said.

"Ok ma'am," Christopher said.

"So, excuse me. I need to check on my business. I wouldn't want to be seen as a broke wife." Rose said and walked towards the stairs.

Christopher got up and walked after her with Princess in his arms. "You can't be considered a broke wife. You run grocery stores and it's growing." Christopher said to her.

"Am sure a lot of people see it as small. You don't need to make my head swell." Rose said as they got to the top of the stairs.

"Can I come to your room after putting Princess to bed?" Christopher asked.

"Sure, but is there a problem?... I mean do you want to talk about something?" Rose asked.

"I just want to spend time with you but, so as not to disturb you, I'll come with .y laptop so that when you work, I'll be working as well," Christopher said quickly.

"Ok. I'll be in my room. Just come over when you are ready." Rose said and walked away.

Christopher watched her walk till she got to her room. He smiled to himself and said, "your mom drives me crazy," he whispered because he didn't want to wake Princess up neither did he want her to hear what he was saying. He opened her room door, placed her on the bed very gently, and covered her with the duvet cover. "I promise to do all I can to win your mom. I don't want to lose any of you. I love you, baby..." He kissed her round cheeks and walked out of the room. He went into his room, took his laptop, and went back into Rose's room.

Rose got into her room and leaned her back on the closed door. It took all her self-control to walk slowly and as normally as possible else out of Christopher's presence. She tried to calm her beating heart and when she felt calm enough, she walked to the bedside table and picked up her phone. There were couches in the room so, she took her laptop as well and sat down on one of them. Immediately she sat down, she felt herself sinking into it and it felt comfortable but she still loved the ones in the sitting room more. She dialed Ada's number and she don't pick up till it stopped ringing. It was after the second trial that Ada picked the call.

"Good afternoon sis," Ada greeted.

"Good afternoon Ada. How are you?" Rose responded with a smile. She loved the sound of someone calling her sis.

"Am fine. I just finished setting up my room, how is Princess? I am sure she would be killing everyone there with her talk." Ada said.

"She Is sleeping at the moment. She woke up very early and you are right. Everyone knows her already..." Rose answered.

"That's good. I know you might be calling to check on the stores, don't bother yourself and concentrate on enjoying yourself till the time you start working there." Ada said.

"Thank you, Ada. How are you coping?" Rose still had to ask.

"This is not the first time you will travel and leave me in charge so, I am coping just fine. The only difference is that you would only come here to visit and not stay. All in all, this place is fine." Ada assured her.

"Thank you, Ada. Is there anything you need me to check?" Rose asked her.

"Hmm, nothing. If something important comes up or, we have a big delivery to make, I will let you know." Ada said.

"Ok. I'll talk to you later," Rose said. It was at that moment that Christopher knocked gently on her door and she ushered him in.

"Ok, sis. I hope I'll get to come to Lagos for the opening of the mall..." Ada said hopefully.

"Of course, you'll have to come because you are my general manager. In fact, you be general manager for mouth. Nah PA you deserve." Rose said.

"Thank you, sis. I can't wait. Bye!!" Ada said and ended the call herself.

"How is she doing?" Christopher asked when she dropped the phone.

"She asked me to relax and not bother myself about work pending the time I'll start going to work here," Rose said and smiled.

"I knew she could handle it. Speaking of working, I will go to the office tomorrow and then, I'll be at home all through the weekend." Christopher said.

"It's ok. We'll be fine. Just do what you have to do and besides, you need to make money so that you can take care of us." Rose said.

"Why do I need to work so hard when my wife can also feed us?" Christopher asked.

"I can't feed us. You need to work harder now. Besides you need to take me out on dates and buy me a big diamond ring." Rose said.

"Oh, that's true, don't worry. I will work harder from now onwards so that I can buy my wife a very big diamond ring." Christopher said with a very serious expression.

"No wonder Princess calls you cute. You act so cutely." Rose said and smiled brightly at him.

"Oh my God, you just blinded me with your smile. I wonder why you don't smile like this all the time." Christopher said.

"What are you here to do?" Rose asked him.

"I came to spend time with you and work. Why?" Christopher asked.

"Good, concentrate on your work or else, I will send you out of my room. Stop flirting with me." Rose said.

"Oh," Christopher said as if realizing something and continued. "Sorry but, I can't help myself when am around you. It comes naturally."

"It seems you really want to take your work out of my room," Rose said and forced herself to erase the smile that was threatening to spread on her face.

"Ok, ma'am. But please don't hide your smile. It fits your beautiful face." Christopher said and when Rose glared at him, he made a sign of zipping his lips and throwing the keys away.

Rose finally smiled at his drama but didn't say anything. He opened his laptop and started to answer some important mail while Rose just sat there and browsed the internet. This is one of the rare times when she gets to use her phone and surprisingly, she was checking for updates about Christopher. She saw that there was a new picture trending of him when he went to get ice cream in the morning. She stole a glance at him and he was working with a scowl on his face. She read the caption which read, 'BILLIONAIRE BACHELOR CHRISTOPHER ALLEN SPOTTED WITH IN FRONT IF SWEET SENSATION FOR THE FIRST TIME AFTER HIS ENGAGEMENT WITH CINDY COKER WAS ANNOUNCED' she read what was written on it and frowned. She raised her head and saw Christopher staring at her. "What?" She asked him.

"If you are reading things about me then, I suggest you take your own advice and stop paying attention to gossips," Christopher said to her.

Rose was surprised that he was able to guess what she was doing so, she tried to deny it and said, "why would I read about you?"

"Hahaha," he laughed at her and said, "peeked at what you were doing when I saw how you were frowning." He said.

"So, you are not just a cutie but also a peeping Tom?" Rose asked.

"You can call me whatever you like and it will not change the fact that you were reading about your cute husband," Christopher said with a smirk.

"So, you know you are cute and not handsome?" Rose said.

"I am handsomely cute..." Christopher said.

"That's your headache so it doesn't concern me," Rose said and stood up from where she was sitting

"I just remembered something!" Christopher said and Rose turned to him. "I heard you speaking pidgin English with Ada when you were speaking to her," Christopher said.

"So?" Rose asked because she didn't understand why he was saying that.

"So, I want you to teach me. It's funny how it sounds. I want to learn how to speak it. Whenever I hear people speaking it, it feels like they are speaking a different language." Christopher explained.

"You must be joking right? You have been in Nigeria for four years and you still don't know how to speak it? How will it even sound when you speak it?" Rose asked with a smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Christopher asked.

"What I mean Is that your accent is going to give it a funny sound. Just imagine how it will sound if one starts to speak pidgin English with your voice. For example," Rose said and clears her throat. "Try saying, I wan chop abeg..." Rose said with a smile.

"I want shop abeg... Is that not it?" He said.

Rose was already giggling after he said it. "You tried but it's chop and not shop. So you see, it sound funny coming from you. Don't spoil our vibe abeg."

"Come on... How am I spoiling the vibe? You'll don't even want to give me a trial. I tried taking the public bus one day and Uzo who went with me kept laughing all through." Christopher complained.

"Why would you take a public bus? To where sef?" Rose asked him.

"Well, he told me that I wouldn't be able to survive in the streets of Lagos and we decided to give it a try. We went to Oshodi, parked my car somewhere, and entered public bus going to Ikeja." Christopher said making a face as he remembered that day. "When we entered, there were about six people in the bus already and before the end of the journey, the conductor almost slapped me," Christopher explained with a bitter expression.

"What did you do?" Rose asked but Ine could tell she was on the verge of bursting into a peal of laughter.

"I can tell that you are already laughing at me you know?" Christopher said and Rose started laughing.

"Am, so sorry. It's just that the face you are making is giving me different scenarios.." Rose said in between giggles.

"No... I am not saying anymore. If you can laugh at me when I haven't said anything then, how will it be when I tell you what happened?" Christopher asked.

"Ok. Don't tell me but, I will ask your friend anytime I meet him. I am sure he will not keep it." Rose said.

"I go kill him myself. If he talk." Christopher said making an attempt at speaking Pidgin English.

"Ok, Mr killer," Rose said smiling.

"So, you won't ask him right?" Christopher asked.

"Let's see... Till I meet with him first." Christopher said.

"Hmm, can we talk about something else?" Christopher asked trying to make her forget about asking about one of his most embarrassing moments in Nigeria.