Two weeks had gone past and it was safe to say I was doing well. I had even been cleared by my therapist. My mother flew in four days ago for the 'Omugwo'. The moment she stepped foot into the house, I wasn't allowed to do anything. I got the full postnatal care package. She changed, bathed and fed Kosiso without complaints. All I had to do was relax and keep my feet up.

I knew she was making so much fuss over me because of the traumatic early delivery. I could still remember how hysterical she had been when I gave her the abridged version of the labour and delivery story. She converted our phone call into a long prayer session. My father called later that day to ask about my well-being. We were finally back on speaking terms.

It was a Saturday. Nicholas may not have gone to work but he definitely brought work home. After breakfast, he went into his office and hadn't come out since. It was past twelve now.

I stood before the office and placed two rapt knocks on the door then awaited a response before pushing the door open. Nicholas looked up from his laptop, behind his fine polished desk. I rubbed my palms against the jean material on my thighs as I advanced forward.

I tried not to look around the office and focused solely on his desk. I hadn't been in this room since the big fall out between us and from I tried not to see, not much had changed. I came to stand in front of his desk.

"Sorry to disturb," I clasped my hands down, in front of my thighs.

He shook his head and pushed his laptop to the side. "No, not at all. What's up?"

"Uhm, I was thinking about moving back, to my place –" I began

"Why?" His forehead creased and his brows took a downward dip. He stood to his feet and crossed the distance to stand a few feet away from me.

I hooked my thumbs into the pockets of my jeans and rocked forward to my toes. "Well, with my mother around, it kind of feels like we're taking advantage. I'm not sure she feels comfortable being here . . . you know, given that we're just co-parents"

His frown deepened as he shook his head. "You're not taking advantage of anything . . . I-I don't mind any of you staying here"

I gave him a small smile. "Thank you, but this decision is for me as well. It has been weeks and I'm much better now. I can't keep living here forever . . . it sends a confusing message to people."

His brows furrowed as he shifted his weight to one foot. "What people?"

I rubbed my hand against my forehead and dropped it against my thigh. "People. Me, my family, your family . . . I don't want to send the message that we're back together when we're not. Plus, I don't want to keep depending on you"

He released a deep sigh. "Have you been to your apartment since that incident? D-do you think you can handle being in that environment?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, but I wouldn't ever find out if I'm here"

"Okay, how about you wait awhile before you go back? Just a little while" he said

I folded my arms over my chest. "Why?"

He ran a hand over his face and rested his hands on the band of his jeans. "Just to be safe. Until we can confirm that it's safe to be back at that apartment"

I narrowed my eyes at him and lifted a brow. "Why wouldn't it be safe? What's going on?"

He released a sharp breath and raked his hand through his hair. "I don't want you to worry about it. Just trust me,"

I scoffed. "It's too late for that," The hurt expression that flashed across his face made me feel bad. I cleared my throat and dropped my hands down. "Just tell me, what is going on?"

He stepped aside and gestured to the two-seater behind him. "I'm going to need you to sit down."

I gave him a wary look before taking hesitant steps towards the chair.

He began as soon as I was seated. "After the elevator incident, I spoke with your landlord and he told me that he had a maintenance check two weeks prior and the elevator was fine. I knew something didn't seem right so I hired a private investigator to check things out"

He paused and gauged my expression before going ahead. "It turned out, someone tampered with the elevator main panel. They made it look like a malfunction but it wasn't"

I felt a shiver run down my spine and goosebumps climb up my skin. What? I reared my head back with disbelief and blinked. I waved a hand in front of me as if trying to clear the air. "Wait, wait . . . are you trying to say that someone is after me?"

He moistened his lips and sighed. "It looks that way from what the P.I. has gathered"

My brain went into a lag. I didn't know what to do with my hands or where to place them. They moved from over my lips, to my laps, tugged at the neckline of my sky blue top, and then found its way back, over my lips.

Nicholas reduced himself to a squat and took my hands in his. "Calm down. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Nothing is going to happen to you, or the baby"

I pulled in a deep breath and focused on his eyes as I nodded. When the shock passed, I pulled my hands away and leaned against the chair. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

He straightened up and dug a hand into his pocket. "I didn't want you to worry. You already had so much going on, you know, with the postpartum"

"I know the postpartum was rough on both of us but I'm fine now," I said, sitting straight up. "You say you're handling it but you're not with me all of the time. I need to know if I have to arm myself, everywhere I go"

I stood to my feet and paced forward. "What if whoever it is, tries to strike again? We have a child for God's sake and you need to keep me in the loop on whatever that's going on, so I'll be alert"

He nodded. "Okay,"

"I need you to give me your word, even with the ugly details you'll tell me everything" I pressed on.

"I will" he affirmed

"Okay," I gave him a firm nod. "I'm going to go now"

I turned away and walked out of his office. My head swirled with terrifying thoughts. What if I wasn't alone in the elevator, would they still have tampered with it? What if I had decided to take the stairs that day? What would have happened then? Would they have followed all the way to my apartment? Another shiver went down my spine at that thought.

Who would want to harm me? I pressed down on my forehead with the pad of my fingers. When did my life get so complicated?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I turned out my bedroom lights, leaving just the night lamp. I moved towards the curtain and made to shut them. I froze in action when I noticed a swift movement outside the house, from the corner of my eye. I dropped my hands to my side and peered at the small hedge around the house. Nothing out of the ordinary stood out. I moved my eyes down to the dark empty street and then towards the neighbour's hedge. There was nothing.

I exhaled a deep sigh and pulled the curtains together. I was being paranoid. There was no one coming to attack me. I'm safe here. Don't worry.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder from behind. I jumped out of my skin and spun around, emitting a small scream from my lips. My mother stared at me with wide eyes, her mouth agape and hand slightly drawn back. I slapped a hand over my racing heart and breathed out in relief.

I swallowed hard and moved my hand up to my throat. "I'm sorry. Y-you scared me."

She narrowed her eyes at me as she dropped her hand to her side. "Why? Who were you expecting?"

"Nobody," I shook my head and let out a nervous chuckle. "I-I was lost in thoughts. I didn't hear you come in, that's all"

She tilted her head to the side. She didn't buy a word I was saying, that much was clear.

I moved towards the bed and sat on the edge. "Did you want something?"

She shook her head and came to sit beside me. "I wanted to ask if you're ready for your massage"

"Oh," I nodded and stood to my feet. "Yeah, sure. Let's do it"

Every night, my mom would massage my stomach with hot water. According to her, it would help my stomach return to its previous state before the pregnancy. She also went out of her way to prepare the traditional pepper soup, to loosen and flush out blood clots from my body, a result of labour.

I walked to the bathroom and switched on its lights. My mother sat rooted in her spot, watching me with a wary expression. I pulled on a fake smile and beckoned her over. "Why are you looking at me like that? Let's do this thing"

Her brows lifted slightly as she dismissed whatever thoughts had built up in her head. She rose from the bed and came to join me in the bathroom.

That was close.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I stepped out of the hair salon feeling like a different person. I had my hair done in golden brown box braids. The curled tips of the braids brushed against the curve of my bum. I usually didn't go for such a length but this time around, I wanted to do something different. I would be resuming work in a week and I wanted to make a nice reappearance on the work front.

Due to the length of the braids, it took a while to finish up and much to my dismay, the dark night had taken over the sky. I glanced over both shoulders as I walked up to my car. The parking lot didn't have good lighting so I couldn't see so far into the distance. I dipped my hands into my purse and fished for my car keys.

It had been two months since Nicholas told me about the planned elevator mishap. Two months of being on high alert and constantly looking over my shoulder. I didn't know the attacker's game plan but if it was to wear me out, then they were succeeding. I was exhausted with having to watch my back every second, being paranoid and acting like a crazy person.

All we had discovered in that time frame, was video footage of a man in a black hoodie walking away from the ground floor control panels. We couldn't get a face because his head was bent to the ground the whole time. The P.I. had been working along with a few officers to identify the guy. We had been through various security cameras around the vicinity and came up short. It was exhausting.

At this point, I was going to leave everything to God's hands because at the end of the day, there's only so much I could do.

My mother had long since returned back to Nigeria and in a way, I felt relieved. It meant one less person to worry about. Nicholas had Whitney move away from the apartment and into one of his company guest houses. We couldn't predict the assailant's motives, so we had to protect everyone around us.

Finally, I fished out my keys. I lifted the keys to unlock the car when a rough hand clamped over my mouth. A muffled scream escaped my lips as I tipped backwards into the firm chest of a man. My heart raced and banged against my ribcage as I struggled against the stronghold of the man. A wide distance was created between me and my car as I was dragged into the dark alleyway beside the hair salon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE