4

Her eyes were lit the moment we walked into the hotel, but the moment the door to the room swung open, her eyes were as bright as fire flies.

Her eyes wandered all around the room, from the ceilings to the walls and then the furniture.

The room had a common area which we currently stood in, and two rooms.

It wasn’t the best hotel I had ever been in but the look on her face made me glad I chose this one.

“You should get some rest”, I proposed. I could tell my voice pulled her out of her thoughts. Like she remembered I stood next to her and she still had a grip on my arm.

I led her to her room and she followed obediently. I wondered how obedient she could be.

Cheta’s POV

He didn’t give me any time to react or thank him after dropping off at my room.

The room was covered with shopping bags, with clothes and there were trays of food. Different food of all kinds.

Swallow, with 4 different soups, fried rice, jollof, rice and stew, rice and vegetable, yam and egg sauce and some pastries as well.

I didn’t know what to focus my attention on first, on the shopping bags that covered the floor of the room? Or the excess food that I couldn’t dream of finishing or the various drinks that I couldn’t even finish today.

Most importantly where did he run to?

I didn’t hear the door so he was still around.

I decided on finding him.

I closed the door behind me and wandered around, looking for a second room. If there was any.

“Ramiel”, I called out hoping for a response.

I finally was met with his back.

He had a phone to his ear and was listening to the person on the other side.

He turned around to face me and held out a finger for me to hold on.

“Alright.

Expect me by next Monday, for now speak to my Ms Gregory, she will give you all the information you need”, his face serious and his voice even sounded more serious than it usually did. How was that even possible?

It was obviously a business call.

“Thank you for your cooperation.

Yes, see you soon”, he said.

He dropped his phone and now I could feel his full attention on me, which made me lose a lot of my composure.

“Do you like the food?

I wasn’t sure what you liked so I ordered everything.

Is it still hot?

I told them to make sure it was still hot”, he said, casually.

His hands were now in his pockets as he looked at me.

“There are______”, I stammered trying to say the words and choose what I wanted to say at the same time.

His intimidating gaze didn’t help me feel less anxious.

“Mma '', he said, calling me by what seemed to be his nickname for me. I wondered how he skipped Cheta and chose Mma as my name.

“ Kedu ihe ọ bụ Mma (What is it Mma)”, he said calmly, taking steps towards me.

I looked down avoiding him, hoping that would help. But from past experiences looking down didn’t help.

I looked back up at him, he was at a safe distance but still closer.

My husband.

“Why me?”, I asked.

I didn’t know that was the question I wanted the answer to most until the words came out of my mouth.

He could have chosen anybody, anybody from America and anybody from here. Yet he chose the careless girl that wore rags and carried Cassava.

It was definitely a reasonable question that I was entitled to an answer from him.

“Because I want you”, he said.

His voice sounded serious and his eyes were set on mine. Like I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to.

How could he look at me, unbothered and say those words?

Although his answer only made me more curious.

What was it he ‘wanted’ with me?

Why did he ‘want’ me?

“What_____do you mean?”.

“When I set my eyes on something I like, I have no choice but to make it mine”, he said with the most charming smirk.

He probably found me silly.

A girl like me, questioning his decision to marry me. I knew every other woman would count themselves lucky.

He was obviously wealthy, handsome and as well a perfect gentleman.

But I couldn’t help feeling confused as to why he chose me.

“My room is________”, I hesitated.

“I’ll get someone to clean the up, we can eat here if you would like”.

I smiled at his offer feeling relieved that I didn’t have to eat alone.

I detested the idea of eating alone, all by yourself. Especially when someone else was around.

“Thank you”, I said then went back to the room to get the trays of food.

I took one tray and just when I was leaving the room I saw Ramiel walk into the room, I watched him and he took a tray of food as well.

“No no”, I interjected.

“What’s wrong?”, Ramiel asked with confusion painted on his face at my sudden outburst.

“I will serve the food, you can go freshen up”, I proposed with a tight lipped smile.

“No, I can serve too”, he said and made his way out the room, reaching the small dinner table before me.

I rushed of to the table and stopped his hand when he tried to place the platters.

“I will take care of that, you can go wash your hands”.

“No the food is covered, I won't contaminate them, Mma”,he said as he continued.

“No let me, please”, I pleaded with him, stopping his hand again.

He looked at me with that same confused look.

“Okay, I will go wash my hands”, he said, giving in.

I rushed into the room and grabbed the last tray, then arranged all the plates on the table, making sure there was nothing on the table that would warrant him fixing or changing when he came back.

Finally satisfied I looked around for a sink to fill a bowl with water in case he was going to eat swallow.

After placing the bowl of water on the table I heard him walk in.

He walked over to the table and held out a chair for me and I smiled before taking a seat.

I gave him a tight lipped smile before bowing my head in prayer. Thank you for this meal, thank you for both our lives and the lives of our family. Thank you for a safe trip. May your name always be glorified in Jesus name. Amen.

I looked up after my prayer and finally got a good look of the food. They were different things I had never seen before, although overall they smelt delicious.

There were red whitish things that look like crayfish but less dried, the looked a bit cooked and a bit fried at the same time.

There were even noodles.

I barely ate noodles, even though I loved them.

These noodles had more things inside, green, red, yellow and onions.

I looked at them curiously, wanting a bite but not really knowing if I would like them.

“Come”, I heard him say making me look over at him. That didn’t feel like an order.

I stood and walked over to him.

He tapped on his left thigh while he was mindlessly taking an empty plate. I swallowed not sure if I should declin his offer.

“Mma”, he said.

His voice sounded like a warning, making me take an awkward sit on his thigh.

I felt stiff to the bone as I sat, I felt even more stiff as I felt his hand on my back.

He placed a plate in front of me and took some noodles and the mystery cray fish things putting them on the same plate.

Before I could do anything, there was already a fork in his hand, with one of the mystery things.

“They’re shrimps.

You’ll like them”.

I took a bite of the shrimp and thankfully it wasn’t bad.

Soon after chewing my food mindlessly, another fork full of noodles followed. I gladly took it and thankfully it was delicious as well.

As I chewed I moaned quietly, the food was rich with fresh fried vegetables they normally add to fried rice and some vegetables I couldn’t quite name.

I opened my eyes to see Ramiel looking very closely at me.

“Tried samosas?”, he asked.

He reached for the triangular shaped snacks on a plate.

I opened my mouth and took a bite of the crunchy moist interior.

The inside was filled with meat and green beans and perfectly cooked fresh peppers.

I closed my eyes in pure satisfaction as I savored the taste.

How could I make these?

I took the rest of the snack from Ramiel’s hand and took it whole.

I pointed at the other snack that looked like rolls, but had the same exterior as the samosas.

Ramiel grabbed them for me and I took a bite.

These were just as delicious but was a little less moist and was filled with chicken and cabbages.

“kedu ka ha si eme ihe ndị a (How do they make these?)”, I asked absentmindedly with a mouth full of the fried snacks.

“I’ll teach you one day”, Ramiel said.

Ramiel finally settled on eating some rice and vegetable which I wondered how it tasted but, I decided against it and focused on my noodle and shrimp.

“were (Take)”, he said, dragging my attention. His spoonful was close to my mouth, offering me a taste.

Shyly yet gratefully I took it.

It was delicious.

All this food made me want to find who made them and force her to tell me how.

“Ummm, it’s good”, I said after chewing.

“Have you tried the sausage?”, Ramiel asked.

He took the long red things and put it close to my mouth, urging me to take a bite.

I wasn’t too keen on it, for some reason I felt I wouldn’t like it, my gut feeling was mostly right, most times.

I took a small bite and the moment I started chewing I knew I was right.

Not wanting to look wasteful I tried to swallow but it definitely wasn’t for me.

“You can throw it out”, Ramiel said as he handed me a salviet.

He handed me a cup of juice he poured, it looked like orange juice and I was right.

Our lunch went great and I felt full by the time I was done.

Ramiel was on a mission to get me to taste anything my eyes glanced over in a wanting manner. I tried everything he offered and enjoyed most then had some cake after wards and then we both had and apple.

We were both still at the table.

I was feeling way too heavy to stand but knew I couldn’t sit on his thigh forever. So I was mustering the strength to stand.

Just before I could try stand up I felt Ramiel’s hand grip me closer.

“Tired?”, he asked.

His thumb was currently brushing on my cheek so delicately, his touch made me warm and I was sure my skin betrayed me.

I nodded.

Before I could say I word I felt myself being lifted up and being quite a height from the floor.

I was in his hands.

I gripped him, scared of falling.

“Ramiel”, I tried to to interject although he was already moving towards my room.

He got me to the room and then gently placed me on the bed, leaving me speechless.

“You should rest”, was all he said.

I obeyed him and rested my head on the overly soft pillow.

Laying on the very comfortable bed made me realize just how tired I was.

I closed my eyes, ready to be swept off my feet by another man called sleep.

Just before I drifted off I felt something on my cheek which could have been a kiss.

“My beauty”, I heard Ramiel say before I finally let myself be pulled into darkness by sleep.