The millisecond Jeffrey set his eyes on Cynthia, a switch went off in his mental circuit. He fixed his gaze so intently at her as though he'd return from the trance if he blinked. This can't be real. Human beings like this don't exist, he thought to himself. Or maybe she's not human he thought. Maybe she's an angel. My angel. With that last thought, the dauntless, will-do-anything-to-get-what-i-want-jeffrey came back to life.
Cynthia was a stunning girl with a white-chocolate complexion and a touch of princess. To say she was beautiful was a gross understatement, even somewhat condescending. Cynthia’s face was obviously tenderly and painstakingly sculpted by a supreme being. Her caramel brown eyes and tarnished red lips highlighted her rich skin tone. Her petite nose sat gracefully between her high cheekbones and she wore her deep brunette Russian human hair long and dead straight over her breasts. Cynthia was sporting a white lycra fitted gown that revealed adequate portion of her continuous long legs with tassels hanging down either sides of her waist to further accentuate her waistline. Her neatly manicured nails were painted noir. She was definitely not thin, just elegantly proportional. Cynthia's body was one of those one flips through magazines in search of but rarely finds. She was almost ethereal. She was aware people stared at her. Always. That knowledge went a long way to mould her into who she became. She moved and related as though she wasn't at liberty to live and breath like mere mortals. Everything about her gestures were calculated and scripted.
She noticed the way Jeffrey gazed at her fixedly. Granted everyone stares at her. But his gape… it came from beyond his eyes, it stemmed from his soul. It made her feel it was more than her physical appearance. So she smiled. And with that smile the cupid arrow met target.
Jeffrey was in the company of his all-villain squad at a Lagos society wedding that day he met Cynthia. Two of his friends Tunde young-money and Uche Caesar doubled as PAs and hitmen for the CEO of Marine Access Oils. Naturally they were to attend the wedding and guard their boss from a safe distance, thus they invited their close friends including Jeffrey to accompany them. Jeffrey had attended many of these society events with his friends and thoroughly enjoyed the food and the music. Today however, he barely ingested the food, he could have been chewing paper for all he knew. And the only music that played in his head was the sound of Cynthia's laughter as she chatted with her friends.
Several hours had gone by in the party and several eye contacts and smiles had been exchanged between Cynthia and Jeffrey, so he beckoned on her to come over to their table. Queenlike Cynthia would not normally consent but that day was different. Maybe it was his air of confidence or the fact that he looked like a handsome rich boy with an interesting dark side, she wasn't sure which. Whatever it was certainly worked like charm, because she saw herself stand from her table and walked over to his.
Upon her arrival at Jeffrey's table, his friends exchanged glances amongst themselves that revealed they were beyond amazed Jeffrey was making advances towards a girl, a gorgeous elite girl at that. However they had strict unspoken brotherhood codes that implied they never belittled each other in public, thus they acknowledged Cynthia courteously and carried on as if this wasn't a cold day in hell occurrence.
Jeffrey and Cynthia chatted smiled and laughed endlessly. With each word she spoke she claimed more and more territories in his heart and engraved her persona in areas no one had ever gained access. She willingly and honestly divulged information about her life, experiences and background. Jeffrey discovered they were from two contrasting worlds; parallel worlds that were drawn never to meet. This would have been his cue to back down but he wasn't blessed with cowardice and the fact that her spell had eaten deep into his heart didn't help matters. Eventually Uche Caesar's usual signal that meant the exit of ‘The Boss’ invaded his dreamland. He sadly exchanged contacts with Cynthia and left with his friends.
He had barely sat down in Tunde young money’s sleek, spotless Range Rover Envogue before all his friends began barking at once. “E be like say they don they do you abi”; “You know who be that girl papa”; “you wan begin something u no go ask question”; “10 yars salary for dat your work no reach”. Jeffrey tuned out their words and zoned off to his dreamland where only Cynthia and him existed. He replayed her beauteous smile, her soft words and her contagious laughter. They can never understand he thought to himself so why should I bother to explain?
Their love affair caught on faster than an Australian bushfire. It kicked off into full gear as soon as it started. Perhaps because it was felt on both sides. Jeffrey eagerly spent all his livelihood on recharge cards to make calls and chat on whatsApp. He had very little time for anything and anyone asides from Cynthia. Every minute that he wasn't conversing with Cynthia seemed like precious time wasted meanwhile while speaking with her hours flew past as seconds. Everything about their love story seemed perfect to Jeffrey. Everything but the lies.
Their love was built on a wobbly foundation of lies. Jeffrey lied about everything, from what he did to who he was. The only truth she knew was perhaps his name. The lies flowed so easily and sincerely that Jeffrey began believing them. Probably because the lies were neither too creative nor farfetched; he only had to narrate the life of his friends. It was a life he knew in as much details as he knew his. A life he had an insider view of. Thus the lies flowed effortlessly and naturally. Every figment fitted so neatly that it almost seemed like the truth. Almost.
To Cynthia, Jeffrey was everything she had imagined he would be. He was calm, cold and spoke only when extremely mandatory. knowing she was the only one capable of eliciting emotions from him had a mesmerising way of putting her at ease in her own skin. He was a ‘boy’ to the minister of petroleum, the person that took care of special unspoken tasks that others feared to do. He was highly rewarded and regarded for the dangerous and discreet assignments he undertook and so possessed variety of luxurious vehicles, houses in the highbrow areas of Lagos and rare ammunitions. Being the daughter of a military General, she wasn't particularly afraid of people that performed the sort of tasks Jeffrey performed. In fact she was intrigued by them and considered them heroes of some sorts. She never let her phone out of her sight, for fear she might miss his call or leave his whatsApp messages unread. The only thing that she found confusing was his evident lack of interest in physically meeting her after they met for the first time at the Senate President’s daughter’s wedding. She was perplexed because she was sure he had nothing to hide, she already knew all there was to know about him. The passion that oozed from his voice and messages didn't tally with the flippant excuses he gave for turning down countless date opportunities with her. It was already 3 months and 11 days since they met and she was getting anxious. Had it not been ingrained in her psych early enough and reiterated daily that she was more beautiful than goddesses, she would had felt she wasn't pretty enough for Jeffrey. His ability to restrain his emotion as intense as it was initially added to the mystery and excitement about him. But that excitement was soon replaced by acute impatience. She wanted to meet Jeffrey and relive that dreamy experience at the event. Consequently she decided to stop picking his calls and replying his messages till he accepts to meet her, even if it will kill her. ‘Desperate situations call for desperate measures’ she monologued.
Jeffrey's moods were becoming puzzling to everyone including himself. He had been given a query at work for beating up a subordinate for no substantial reason. He supposed it had something to do with the pressures Cynthia was mounting to meet her. Of course everything in him wanted to. But how could he? Knowing he would lose her when she found out who he was and even worse who he wasn't . He realised he had burrowed into a webbed hole that only sunk deeper and deeper. The other night when he told her he loved her, he was met with silence that spoke volumes- doubt, unbelief, fed up... The thought of possibly losing her made him feel like hurting someone to ease the excruciating pain he felt inside. He had never been one to explain his actions so it was understandable he was running out of excuses to keep her calm. Jeffrey sat up from his bed and picked his phone to call Cynthia, he was going to tell her he understood she was beginning to doubt his love but she had no reason to. ”The number you dialled is not responding” the female robotic voice told him for the umpteenth time. Frantically Jeffrey kept redialing. “Cynthia always picks my call“ he murmured. He desperately tried to picture any circumstance that could prevent her from picking his call, instead he only recalled really odd scenarios where Cynthia still picked his call. He remembered when she went scuba diving with the Kwara state Governor's daughter; when she accompanied her Dad to welcome the President from his trip to India and even when her mom was receiving chemotherapy treatment for her breast cancer. ‘This can only mean one thing’ fretted Jeffrey. He slammed his phone hard on his bed and despondently ran his fingers through his clean shaven head as he paced his poorly lighted room. Jeffrey felt as though his worst nightmares were creeping into reality.(To be continued... (Very very soon))
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