Thirty
year old Wumi Osoba settled deeper into the swivel chair, winding her arms over
her ample breasts barely covered by the white bathrobe she wore. Her braided
hair was piled up on the top of her head and secured with pins. One leg was
crossed over the other and her left slippered foot danced nervously. She wound
her gold and diamond engagement ring round and round the third finger of her
right hand.
The
man standing beside her tilted down and wrapped his arms around her. Nuzzling
her neck, he whispered, “Stop worrying, Wumi. It’ll be okay.”
She
stared up into her fiancé’s dark chocolate, love-filled eyes. Stroking his lean
face with one hand, she said, “Babe, I’m trying. But I can’t help it.”
Dare
DaSilva said, “We will get through this show and it will be the best you’ve
ever done.”
“I
really hope you’re right. But this terrorist threat…”
“It
may be only a threat, nothing more. Would the organizers have allowed the show
to go on if they were sure of a definite attack?”
She
gasped. Her eyes widened. “Of course they won’t. You’re right. And Kema didn’t
give us a lot of information. So maybe… it really isn’t such a big deal. After
all there are lots of police officers here.”
“Exactly.”
***
After
displaying her backstage pass to the tree-trunk bouncer standing guard at the
entrance, Kema stepped in and then stopped.
The
whole place was a hub of frenzied activity. Make-up artists and hairstylists
worked on some of the models, leaving the others to roam the room, looking
bored. Press people and photographers scuttled about, taking pictures and doing
on-the-spot interviews.
Kema’s
eyes zipped across the room.
Ah,
there they were. Wumi and her fiancé, Dare.
As
Kema watched, they moved apart.
He
straightened up, tall and built like a bodyguard, clothed in a sky-blue
native-style linen shirt and trousers.
And
then Wumi glanced down at her lap, one hand tugging her right ear.
Kema
frowned.
They
had been best friends for over ten years and knew almost everything about each
other. Kema could tell that her friend was feeling stressed. She did that thing
with her ear whenever she was anxious. And, OMG,
Wumi did not do pressure – at all.
About
two years ago, her father, the billionaire Chief Osoba, and the rest of her
family had pressured her to marry another guy and dump Dare. Her stepmother had
even gone so far as to have Dare demoted from his position as a Senior Producer
in Glow Force Media in Lagos and then relocated to the Abuja office.
To
put it mildly, Wumi had not taken it well.
***
“Hello, beautiful people.” Kema said as she
advanced on both Wumi and Dare.
Wumi
glanced up and grinned. Kema had arrived. Thank God. She sprang up and grabbed
her friend, enveloping the smaller woman in a hug.
“I’m
glad you’re here. I was going crazy.”
“I
know.” Kema muttered dryly, rolling her eyes at Wumi.
Wumi
drew back, smiling down at her friend. “I’m not as fearless as you.”
“Right. Sometimes…”
“Kema…”
Dare came closer, holding out his arms.
She
smiled at him, extricating herself from her friend’s grip and then went to him.
They embraced.
“Dare,
how are you doing?”
“I’m
fine, Kema. Nice to see you again. It’s been a while.”
“I
know… I’ve been busy with Oliver, with Olympus Security-”
“Are
the rest here?” Wumi cut in. She had invited all her friends to this show two
weeks ago and they had all promised to attend. Then only two hours ago, Kema
had called saying something about receiving a tip-off about a security threat
concerning the show. What horrible, horrible
luck. Argh. This better not happen on
her wedding day. Better not.
Kema
left Dare and turned to her friend. “Well, I’m here with Oliver. And I guess
Steven and Tari are close by.”
“You
can’t expect bad boy Steven to ever be punctual.” Dare muttered. He really
didn’t like Steven that much. Every
time the two of them met, Steven always made sure to refer to Dare as ‘kid’
even though there was only a seven year age difference between them. Why did he
have to keep harping on it? Was he subtly trying to remind Dare that at thirty,
Wumi was three years older?
Smiling
slightly, Dare remembered what he had heard some time ago that long before he
and Tari came into the picture, Steven had once asked Wumi out and she had
rejected him. Bet he didn’t like that!
Wumi
chuckled at Dare’s comment.
Kema said, “He’s not that
bad. Tari has been a stabilizing influence. Anyway… I’ve got to go. I have to
return to Oliver.”Share this post on social media if you enjoyed it.
Learn about the heroes and heroines in the Character Profile page
The Unhinged Book Series; Book 1, 2, and 3 will be out this 2016. Find out more at the Unhinged Books page
