AMBER ROMANCE, EVERY WAKING MOMENT

AMBER ROMANCE

EVERY WAKING MOMENT

CHAPTER THREE


Helen stepped into the fresh cool morning air. It was a bit chilly because it rained the night before. It was still dark and there were flashes of lightening every now and then. She wondered why she thought of a sun glasses and not a jacket. Then again the weather was hardly predictable these days; it might just become sunny in few hours.
She took measure of her surrounding, usually that was the first thing she did whenever she entered a place or came outside.  She had taught herself to stop looking over her back but habits were hard to break, especially when you didn’t have your memories and felt constantly in danger. It didn’t help that her earliest memory was waking up in the streets beaten to half inch of her life.  Someone was after her but she also knew that but if the person hadn’t made a move on her after almost three years she doubted if the person would. That was if there was really someone after her. She shivered again but this time not out of cold but out dread. The constant feeling of being watched or being followed was always there. Without waiting another second she docked into the first taxi that stopped in front her and gave the driver directions.
Unlike her friend Nma she didn’t own a car. At first she couldn’t afford it, now that she could, she suspected almost every man she met as the imaginary person after her, so she couldn’t face car dealers and their over enthusiastic smiles.  She had taught herself to stop being afraid. She also wasn’t sure she could drive and she didn’t want to find out. She might wreck the car or get killed or kill someone.
“You could just learn to drive” she told herself, of course she could. She heaved a sigh, maybe somewhere in her past she was afraid of driving and probably there was a good reason for it. She sat back and relaxed, trying to shut off her busy mind. She needed all her wits about her if she was going to survive facing Chucks Obi.

Helen watched terrified as the taxi drew to a stop in font of the mansion that was Chuck's house. Her heart dropped to her feet when she saw the giant of a gate with a two uniformed guards stationed there. She never thought of a gate and guards, she never gave a thought of how she was going to get inside the building. She should be glad that the charade was not going to happen after all but she found that she was disappointed and she became quite confused about that. Shouldn’t she be happy that she might not have to face Chuck anymore? Helen sat back transfixed not knowing what to do. The more she thought about it the more she realized that she couldn’t go back. The purse was the only connection she had to her past and that made it more important than anything she had and would ever have at least until she remembered. What she needed was a believable fib to get herself past those guards. She could tell them she was a relative that would explain her coming this early. She discounted that when she remembered that Nma told her Chuck more or less an orphan his only living relative was his rascal younger brother. Okay she got it she told herself; she would say she was sent by Nma to give him an important message. What message she asked herself. What could be so important and urgent that Nma would send her instead of just calling, which saves time and energy?
She heaved a sigh. She should face it, it would not work, Chuck would be at Nma’s party later in the day, and she could cease that opportunity to ask him for it. The only thing wrong with that plan was that she might never get the chance to ask him, his super model white girlfriend would glue to him like poison ivy shooting eye daggers at any girl who came close.
“We are here madam?” the taxi man said to her impatiently cutting into her thoughts.
Helen took a deep breath. It was now or never. She was going to do it. There was no going back; this might be a beginning of a good thing for her. Maybe what the guy needed was to see her like this, dressed up, sophisticated and alone to fall for her. Shocked at herself, she grabbed her bag and began to rummage inside for money to pay the driver. Where had that thought come from?  She would not deny that a part of her wished for that but the reality was, she wasn’t his type. Chuck dated voluptuous beauties. How is it possible that a man who is used to the most beautiful woman there are in the world would fall her? She laughed aloud but stopped when the driver gave her a look that suggested she wasn’t normal.
She quickly paid the man and came down on shaky legs and let out her breath as she walked towards the mansion. She stilled her thoughts as she stood and face one of the guards. Helen flashed him her million dollar smile hoping to soften the ground but the man didn’t bulge one bit, she decided to try the straight forward way.
“Good morning, I am here to see Mr. Chuck Obi”
“Who are you?” the asked her harshly
Helen almost forgot her name “I am Helen, from Nma”
“Is he expecting you?”
“Not exactly but Nma that is Mrs. Okoha said she will call ahead”
“Wait here”
The man went inside and Helen released her pent up breath. That was easy she thought. The lie made it all easy. Then she began to feel guilty. She shouldn’t have brought Nma into her scheme, what if Chuck called Nma to verify her story. Geez good work Helen, she said to herself in disgust. That would surely endear the man to her. She stopped; she wasn’t here to endear the man to herself.  She was here to get her purse simple and nothing more.
The man came out at that precise moment. Okay here comes the verdict, Helen prepared herself to enter the world of Chuck Obi.
“I am sorry miss but Mr. Obi is still sleeping and cannot be woken. You will have to come back”
The blow was surprising and disappointing, after all the trouble she had gone through to get here. She couldn’t just go back empty handed.
“No! I cant I have to get to work now”
“You can come after work”
“After work is Uche and Nma’s party”
“I am sure Mr. Obi would be there, that will solve the problem, good day miss”
The man began to turn around
“Hey come back, can’t I just wait for him I am sure he will soon be up, it is almost eight, who sleeps that long anyway”
The man gave her dismissal look. Helen couldn’t believe it for a moment, to be so close and yet…. A horn blared behind her and she turned in time to see low slung sport car drive towards her.
Please don’t let it be Uche or Stanley or Eva, she prayed. It would be the most embarrassing thing that would ever happen to her. Whoever was driving the car wound down the window and Helen’s heart skipped several beats.
“Hi” the driver said. He turned out to be a very handsome young man in his twenties.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
Helen was too busy thanking God that it wasn’t anybody she knew to answer the man. Then she heard the guard answering the question.
“She is looking for your brother; she is from Mr. Uche’s wife but your brother is still sleeping”
Helen couldn’t believe it, this handsome man is Chuck’s brother, Chuck is half caste and this man here is full black.
“From Nma right” the man asked
Helen nodded because she couldn’t bring herself to speak. He opened the passenger door for her. “Come in, I will take you to him”
Helen entered the car and suddenly she had the feeling that entering this kind of car wasn’t new to her. The nostalgic feeling was very strong. She had to say something to shake herself out of it.
“You know maybe I should take the guard’s advice and come back”
“Why” he smiled at her “when you can see him now”
“Are you just going to wake him for me?” Helen asked
“I bet he is not still sleeping. By the way I am Collins, he is my brother but you already know that”
“Yes I do and I am Helen I work for Nma but you already know that”
Collins laughed “That’s new”
“What’s new?”
“You just accept I am his brother, no questions asked”
Helen chuckled “I bet you get a lot of that”
Collins gave her a full lusty look and Helen cringed with the feeling of falling. What’s happening here? Please she prayed; don’t let this brother have a crush on her when she had her sights on his older brother. That would be a complication she was not be ready to face.
“Here we are beautiful” Helen got out of the car and looked around the house with awe.
“It is beautiful”
“Not as much as you are”
She decided to keep quiet as Collins led her inside.
“That was a compliment”
“Was it? I thought I was being compared to house”
He laughed again and opened the door and she was led into the most exquisite living room she had ever seen.
“Wow!” she couldn’t help the exclamation. The room was furnished with white and glass that was the best way she could describe it, and it was very airy, with a vast French window on one side. A light breeze lifted the white cottons hanging at the windows. Helen shook her head in wonder of it.
“You really want to see my brother”
Helen turned to face him with a smile
“That is why I am here”
“I have got to change my clothes, take a bath, so take the stairs to the first floor and open the first door you come to, you will see him”
“Helen frowned “just like that, I mean that is more like barging in on him”
“It is a suite, so you are not like barging in”
Helen wasn’t still convinced
“Do you want to see him or not, since you are already here I guess you want to see him”
He smiled
‘I do but I don’t think his girlfriend will appreciate it if I just showed up in their bedroom’
Collin chuckled ‘He is alone’
‘He is? I got it on good authority that the super model came back with him’
‘Well there is no authority more authentic than mine when it comes to my brother. I am telling you on better authority that his girlfriend is not here’
“Okay, first door, first floor”
“Right” he said leaving to disappear through of one the doors. Helen turned and began the climb the stairs she was told led to Chuck’s suite on legs that were shaky. Was she doing the right thing? Shouldn’t she insist that they announce her to him and maybe he would come to see her in the living room? Collins is his brother and knows the best way to approach the brother, she assured herself. or not she thought suddenly afraid. Maybe he was setting her up, he looked the kind to do that sort of thing and he certainly looked young enough to play that kind of prank on his big brother or on any unsuspecting female. Helen smiled trying to get a firm hold on her straying mind. It was very obvious the boy was used to girls falling at his feet and it didn’t help that he’s Chuck Obi’s only brother. She shook her head and knocked on the door before she could panic and turn tails. No one opened the door after her third knock so she turned the knob and walked into a smaller living room. It was empty save for the exquisite and masculine furniture so she came in and looked around. There were two large boxes on the floor yet to be opened. She then recalled that he came in last night. The room was too masculine for her taste. So where was he? She asked. She didn’t have time to wait until he appeared from where ever. All of a sudden she wanted the whole charade to be over and done with.
There was another door at the opposite end of the room so she walked to it and opened the door. It was a bedroom and her eyes connected with the bed.
And what she saw took her breath away with that went also her reasoning ability.
On the bed was six feet four of her every desire. He was lying on top of the bed spread; bare chest wearing only his jeans, the top button was undone. His long hair was unbound and spread all over the pillow. She swallowed hard. No one had the right to be this beautiful in sleep. One muscular hand was beneath his head and the other on his flat and hard stomach. She took a step forward, she couldn’t help herself. She could see herself leaning down to kiss those lips that usually appeared hard and stubborn but in sleep looked soft and beckoned on her to lean over. She took a step backwards, breathing hard. What was she doing? She should leave…at that particular time, she knew as she was sure  of the existence of a supreme being governing the whole universe that he was the only man for her.
Should she wake him? She thought against it. She didn’t have the heart to wake him, he looked so peaceful, and ruggedly sexy that she was afraid of what she would happen if she touched him, she knew that she wouldn’t stop at a mere touch. She would want to explore that beautiful body. What wouldn’t she do to have him open those metallic green eyes and smile her welcome? She shook her head. The reality was if he woke up he would be mad at her for intruding on his privacy. Geez his girlfriend could have been here! The best thing to do she thought was look around for the purse and leave before he woke up. With her mind made up, she walked to the first drawer and opened it and began to search them one after the other. So she didn’t notice him stir and wake.

Chucks woke to the feeling that he was not alone. he couldn’t remember coming into the room let alone falling asleep. What a day, he had a lot planned, first he wanted drop in on Stanley and see which of his friends was up to some exercise, these days Stanley was almost his only pal he could hang with, Uche and Charles having succumbed to married lives. Still he hated going to Stanley’s house because he didn’t like his gold digger live in girlfriend. He looked at his watch and knew that going over to Stanley’s house was out question. Stanley would be at work. That was when he heard the noise. He slowly looked and saw a girl going through his drawer. Chuck couldn’t believe it, maybe he was still dreaming, so he closed his eyes and opened them again but the girl was still there. How did she get in. slowly he sat up
“Found what you are looking for?”


If this is your first time of reading this story, catch up on chapter one and two by searching for them on the blog. Or read the first story of this series WHEN THE HEART KNOWS By searching for it.
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Yours Ever

Chioma.