“Well I‘ve never seen you like this.”
“I‘ve not been the same since I saw that girl for the first time. She is always in my thoughts, and seeing her here has just made it even worse.”
“Wow! You mean a girl is the reason you‘re like this?”
“You‘re right about that.” Sweat beaded his forehead as they stepped out into the burning hot sunshine. His driver soon drove around the corner from the car park.
“Edward, you are Mr. Ice. You have a heart of stone. I can‘t believe it. This is impossible.”
“Impossible is nothing, Kanayo. I want that girl.”
Kanayo laughed easily and turned back towards his spanking new branch. “Now that sounds more like you. Know what you want and go for it. Valentine may be groovy after all.”
Edward folded his length into the cool interior of the Honda Accord, glad to get out of the heat. He must call Kanayo after his next meeting to get some information on that girl.
**********
Edward relaxed against the high-backed executive chair admiring a spectacular view of the sunset over the Five Cowries Creek and Lagos Harbor from his twentieth storey office on the Marina. His gaze fixed on the wood paneled wall across the office, but it did not take in the large painting of dancing maidens on it.
Seeing that girl again was a strange coincidence; Lagos was a very large city. This could mean she stayed on with the aunt she mentioned when he‘d dropped her off that first time. If Kanayo confirmed the address, he would plan to drive by the area again. Since it might take some time to run into her, should he go up to the house?
His secretary chose that moment to enter the office and drop some files on his desk. Edward feigned an interest in his computer, and refused to meet her curious eyes. They were not yet familiar with each other; she‘d been with his company for less than a month.
“Sir, Mr. Odusote is here to see you.”
“Let him in.”
Edward was the chairman and managing director of Bestman Group Plc which was quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The relatively young company was formed by his Bestman Properties Limited doing a reverse take-over of Capital Investment Fund, a publicly listed business. On completion of the acquisition, he held fifty-one percent stock of the umbrella company. It had cost him all he owned but was worth it; a dream come true.