Song of the chapter: Shape of you by Ed Sheeran

...

"You're distracting me."

"Hm?" Abena looked up at Tobi. They were both sitting on the three seater couch; he was working, as usual, on his laptop, while she was trying to focus on the movie she was watching. But she kept on sneaking glances at Tobi, imagining things she would never admit to. She shook the thoughts away from her head.

Pregnancy hormones.

"I said, you're distracting me." He said again.

"How?"

"Well you can't sit there wearing a pair of shorts and showing off your sexy looking legs and expect me to concentrate on the work I'm doing." He said. His eyes flickered towards her and back to the laptop screen.

With a smirk plastered across her face, and a sudden boost of confidence, she removed his laptop carefully from his lap, and placed it on the centre table.

He opened his mouth to protest, but before he could utter a word, she sat on his lap, straddling him.

Their bodies were dangerously close, and the only thing separating them, was her baby bump.

"Abena." He whispered in a husky voice that caused her confidence to falter. She was afraid that her voice would fail her, so she hummed in reply instead.

"You have no idea how much I've wanted this." He leaned closer to her, his lips on her ear, and her body shivered in excitement.

He placed a kiss on her neck, and trailed down, placing feather like kisses as he went. He looked up and smirked at her. Her gaze dropped to his lips and she licked her lips in anticipation.

"You drive me crazy." He said and before she could get her brain to work again, he leaned in and kissed her. Softly at first, teasing her, enjoying the feeling that came with each second.

She groaned at how slow he was, and felt him smile against her lips. His tongue went deeper, caressing hers, and all her defences broke down one by one. She couldn't deny that she was enjoying it. He nibbled on her lower lip gently, and earned a small moan, and then he went on to kiss her again.

"Abena."

Abena tried to focus on the kiss, but how was he kissing her and talking at the same time?

"Abena."

The voice was more impatient, and a hand tapped hers, trying to bring her back into reality.

She grumbled some incoherent words and went back to her kiss.

"For the love of God, wake up." She heard the voice again, and the hand tapped her harder.

"Go away, you're interrupting the kiss." She snapped and heard Tobi chuckle beside her. Her eyes widened in realization and she turned around slowly, and saw the Greek god himself, laughing at her, mocking her with his eyes no doubt.

"The kiss huh? And who was the lucky guy?" He said in between his laughter.

"Definitely not you. Go away Tobi." She said throwing a pillow at him.

He dodged it and laughed harder.

"What do you want?" She sat up from her bed and looked at him, folding her arms against her chest and trying not to ogle the sight that was before her.

"You've missed your appointment with the doctor today." He smiled.

"Oh my God! Why didn't you wake me up?" She jumped out of her bed and towards her closet, looking for something to wear.

"Calm down jare. I own the hospital, remember?" He boasted cockily.

"How can I ever forget? You never fail to remind me every time something like this comes up." She said, with a hint of sarcasm.

"Anyway." He rolled his eyes at her and continued. "We moved it to one p.m. So get ready and come and have breakfast. I got the cook to come in and make us akara and ogi. I'll be waiting." He said before standing up and walking out of her room.

...

Abena walked down the stairs, her stomach grumbling at the sight of the akara. She could smell the aroma from her room.

"Are you ogling me or the food?" Tobi said, breaking her thoughts.

Both, she wanted to say, but instead, she rolled her eyes and walked towards the table, stuffing her mouth with one.

"Good to know you observe table manners." Tobi said sarcastically, his nose scrunched in irritation.

"Whatever." She said while eating another one and then she added sugar and milk to her ogi. She sat down and continued eating.

"What happened to you this morning?" He asked.

Abena's mind went to the dream she had, and the butterflies returned. Trying not to appear nervous, she lifted an eyebrow at him with the best poker face she could manage. "What are you talking about?"

"You woke up late. You never wake up late." He pointed out, obviously oblivious to her nervousness.

"Oh." Memories of last night flooded her mind. The sounds they made in the other room. She had cried until she couldn't cry anymore, then she slept off, hugging her pillow and whimpering.

"You were too loud." She snapped, suddenly angry at him, and that lucky model he brought home the previous night.

"Who?" He gave an amused smirk, he obviously knew what she was referring to.

"You and that bimbo of yours. You guys were too loud." She looked down at her food, trying to control the anger that burned in her.

Why was she angry anyway? They weren't together, he didn't mean anything to her.

At least that was what she told herself.

"Sorry. I should have taken it to another room far from yours." He said, his expression softening a little.

"You think? I mean, this house is huge. And you own hotels everywhere. Why did you have to do it right beside my room?" She said, raising her voice.

"I apologized, gosh. Besides, it's my house. I'll do what I want to do with it. If I want to throw a damn party, then I'll do it." He snapped, his patience quickly running thin.

"Well then let me leave somewhere else. You control a large part of real estate. Get me another place. I never said I wanted to live with you." She complained.

"Abena. I'm not letting you out of my sight." He said.

"Why?" She screamed. "You could hardly stand me, yet now you won't let me go anywhere else. Why? So you could keep me awake while you bring girls over and fuck them loud, not bothering about the fact that I'm in the room beside you."

He winced at her words and decided to choose his words carefully. She was already so angry, although that didn't stop her from angrily chomping on the akara.

"I'm just trying to look out for you. I don't want anything to happen to you." He said slowly.

"No. You don't want anything to happen to your baby." She hissed, her tone was ice cold.

"Well the baby is part of you, isn't it? So looking out for you is the same thing as looking out for my baby." He said softly.

His words felt like a blow to her heart. She always knew that every iota of care he showered on her was because of the baby, but a small part of her hoped he cared about her too.

"Whatever. Take your sex life far away from me, or else next time, I would walk in and totally embarrass you. Maybe act like your wife or something." She threatened, although he could hear a hint of humor in her tone.

"Hm. So you're jealous ehn? Thats why you now vexed like that. You want to be the one in that room." He teased, smirking confidently at her.

Her heartbeat increased, hammering against her chest and she suddenly had to leave the room. If she didn't leave, she had a feeling she might just grab him and start kissing the life out of him.

Stupid hormones.

She let out a nervous laugh and rolled her eyes.

"In your wildest dreams."

She stood up and took her plate to the sink, washing it so she could start going to the hospital.

She felt him come beside her, and dangerously close too. "What are you doing?" She asked in a shaky voice.

He was standing behind her, his hands on the sink at both sides of her body. His lips were right in front of her ear.

"I heard you, when you were sleeping. You whispered my name."

...

After her doctors appointment, Abena couldn't get Tobi's words out of her head.

She would have to start locking her room door.

She decided to get a job to do. Something simple that would take her mind off Tobi and all the feelings that was annoyingly developing in her.

She walked down a a street for a while, trying to clear her head while walking towards the taxi park.

That was when she saw the vacancy in front of a large building. It was a modelling Agency. She looked down at her big belly and laughed to herself. She decided to walk in front of it and see. Then she saw the sign clearly.

They needed a pregnant woman!

With a broad smile on her face, she walked into the building, happy for the first time about her pregnancy.

...

"You know, every time you come to visit me, you always start talking about Abena. As entertaining as the stories are..." Joseph started with a laugh. "I'm beginning to think the invisible Tobi Ademi is falling."

"Why do always do this thing? I talk to you about something and then you'll start saying rubbish about what me liking her. Did I tell you I like her. Abeg, free me." Tobi said, annoyed at his friend.

Joseph was sitting down on his hospital bed, his injured leg was propped on a cushion, and he was eating Maltesers that Tobi snuck in for him.

Dera had forbade chocolates. Said it wasn't good for his 'age.'

"I'm just saying. You always talk about her. And you give her 'the look'." Joseph teased.

"Which look?" Tobi glared at him.

"You know, 'the look'."

"You think this is one American movie shay. That's why you're saying rubbish." Tobi huffed out with made Joseph laugh harder.

"But seriously. You had sex with Aisha while Abena was in the next room?" Joseph asked.

Tobi nodded. "I wasn't thinking."

"Says the man who makes billions everyday."

"I just... I don't even know again sef. It all felt weird. I was trying to get her out of my head but the more I kissed Aisha, the more her face appeared in my head." Tobi said truthfully.

"Well that's step one of falling in love." Joseph smiled broadly.

"And how do you get rid of it?" Tobi asked quickly.

"Kill yourself." Joseph joked and started laughing again.

"How about I kill you. Bloody idiot." Tobi snapped but that caused Joseph to laugh harder.

"Oh this is better than any African magic movie. You, falling in love, is something I've been waiting for, for like forever. And when I saw Abena, I knew you were going to fall." Joseph grinned.

"I'm not falling in love. It's just lust. She's an attractive woman. Its normal for me to want to do her." Tobi spat out.

"Let's see what you'll be saying as the weeks go by." Joseph said.

"Why can't I just allow her to move into another house?" Tobi asked quietly.

"Because you don't want her out of your life. Your house is the most sacred place to you, because it's the first building you ever worked on successfully. And now you want to share it with someone." Joseph said thoughtfully. "Make it a home."

...

Abena walked into the house at around past eight, bursting with excitement.

"Why are you coming home at this time?" Tobi asked sharply. He was seated on the couch in the sitting room, obviously waiting up for her. He stood up to assess her, looking out for any possible cuts or injuries. Her body warmed up at his gaze.

"I was somewhere." She grinned at him, and he was surprised that she didn't lash back.

"And why are you so happy? Are you high? I swear to God if you got high with my child inside you, I would slaughter you." He raised his voice but she just laughed.

"No. I'm not high Tobi. I'm perfectly low." She laughed at her stupid joke and he just raised an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"I got a job!" She squealed.

"Abena. You're not supposed to get a job. It says so in the contract that-"

"I'm not allowed to get a strenuous job. But I don't think posing for the camera is something difficult." She smiled broadly at him.

"Well what's the job about?" He asked, trying to share in her excitement.

"Its for a clothing line that works with maternity wear. The man said I'm perfect for the job. And that my husband is such a lucky man." She grinned.

"Husband?"

She wiggled her fingers in his face and then he noticed the golden wedding band around her finger. He gave her a questioning look but she just shrugged.

"What? I told you, people stare."

"So what going to happen?"

"I'm going in two days for a photo shoot. Then I'll get paid. It's just a one time thing. I'm not looking into modelling as a career, trust me."

She said with a laugh and proceeded to walk to the kitchen.

"What are you looking for?" He called after hearing cupboards and the fridge opening and closing.

"Food!" She shouted and earned a light chuckle from him.

...

"A model hm?"

Tobi was driving to work, and he had called Joseph, eager to get information about the modelling agency Abena had told him about.

"Yeah. Just help me get information about it before she goes tomorrow." He said.

"Why do you want to get information about it so bad though? Afraid that those male models would steal her from you?" Joseph teased.

"Nope. She wears a wedding ring when she goes out. Says that 'people stare'." Tobi said with a smirk though he knew Joseph couldn't see him.

"Wow. Eya for her. Okay, I'll make some calls. Mail you whatever I find." Joseph said.

"Thanks."

...

Before Tobi went for lunch, he checked his mail and saw the message from Joseph about the modelling agency.

His stomach clenched in fear as he read what Joseph sent to him. At that second, his phone rang.

"Yeah." He said after looking at the caller ID. It was Joseph.

"Have you seen it?" Joseph asked, fear also evident in his voice.

"Yeah. Thank God she's going tomorrow. I'll show it to her when I get home. But let me call her first." Tobi said.

"Okay. It's a good thing you checked." Joseph said.

"Yeah. Let me call her."

He hung up and dialled Abena's number, still staring at the email.

Her phone was switched off. He tried the house phone but it just rang repeatedly.

A wave of fear swept through him. He grabbed his blazer, and phone and rushed out of the office.

...

Abena walked into the modelling agency. The manager had called her that her appointment had been moved back because they were in a hurry.

She didn't mind anyway, she had nothing to do at home. She had switched off her phone so she could concentrate. She sat comfortably in the office and the man came inside, and handed her a cup of Orange juice.

"How are you doing Mrs. Omotosho?" He gave her a warm smile and sat down in the chair opposite her.

"Excited." She beamed at him.

"Good. The photographer is setting up, and the make up artist would be here soon to touch you up." He explained.

"Okay. Thank you." She blinked and shook her head. She was feeling dizzy. The man kept on smiling at her, and her gaze flickered to the glass of Orange juice.

"What did you do?" Her voice slurred. She shook her head vehemently, hoping to get rid of the dizziness, but it was just worse.

"The thing about you Nigerian girls is that when you have a chance to be famous, you don't think twice before saying yes." He said, giving her a sinister smile.

Her eyes felt heavy and before she fell into an uncertain slumber, she heard his sinister chuckle.

She felt tired of struggling, and hesitantly gave in into the darkness.

...

Uh-oh.

Okay before I start, the funniest thing happened and I just have to type it. My little sister wanted to tell my brother that she would stab him with a fork, but she didn't know how to say, "I'll stab you with a fork."

Instead, she said: "I'll fork you." And trust me, the 'fork' didn't sound like 'fork' at all. I almost died of laughter 😂.

*sigh*

I miss my innocence.

Okayyyyy

Akara and ogi is food (obviously)

Akara is made from beans and ogi is pap, made from millet, maize or sorghum. It's the perfect breakfast in Nigeria. There's a picture above specially labelled for you 😊

'Eya' is what you say when you feel bad for someone.

'Free me' is like saying leave me alone. Especially when someone is teasing you.

What do you guys think about the dream in the beginning of the chapter? 😉

And Tobi is finally admitting to a little of his feelings 😆

What do you guys think is going on with the whole modelling agency? Any thoughts?

Still waiting for banners and ship names please. ☺

Thank you soooooooo much for over 200 reads and your votes. They make me smile ☺.

Advice, suggestions, criticism, they are welcome. Let me know what I'm doing wrong or right.

Don't forget to:

Vote - You! Don't leave here without pressing that star button 😉

Comment - Let me know what you think. I'm a writer in training.

Follow - i'll follow back. I promise

Share - tell your friends and tell them to tell their friends.

Till next time my lovely bananas,

☺

- Timi

P.S.

I just entered The Contract into the Nigerian Watty Awards.

You guys should check it out.

Search for Nigerian Watty Awards, it's like a book.

Please nominate the characters for the different categories.

Thanks

☺