AMBER ROMANCE

WHEN THE HEART KNOWS


CHAPTER SIX 

Nma heart flipped with fear as she heard the anger in his voice. She grasped about for what to say or do to make him go away.

“Ah! But we need privacy, don’t you agree?” she glared at him and feigned anger to convince him to go away.

“You already know the answer to that honey, are you going to move out of the way do I have to carry you inside. On a second thought I think I would prefer that, it would kill any illusion Ken might have left”.

Horrified Nma reluctantly led the way into the living room. He sounded as if he would rather carry out his threat and she had no doubt he would. By the time they came into the living room, Ken was already standing, judging from the expression on his face, she guessed he must have seen Uche kiss her and probably heard their conversation. The first thing that hit her was the difference between the two men, while Uche exuded an effortlessly aura of class and wealth in his white attire, Ken looked pitiful in his brown caftan, ridiculously small compared to Uche and she wondered at that moment how she had endured his company all these while. But she smiled at him as she entered with Uche.

“Ken I want you to meet someone” she began “Uche, a friend of mine and Uche this is Ken.” she stopped at that because if called Ken her fiancé he would capitalize on that.

She watched as the two men shook hands. They reminded her of two fighters circling and weighing each other in an areana.

“Okoha right?” Ken asked maliciously

“Right” he answered jovially

“I’ve heard so much about you” Ken said eyeing Nma hardly

“It is quite difficult to meet someone who hasn’t heard so much about me”

“And I’ve heard so much about you from Nma” Uche said indirectly

“I know you would, we’re kind of a kindred spirit, right honey?” Ken said and Uche laughed. He was sure going to enjoy himself.  The guy was dumber than he thought if he didn’t recognize that he was mocking him.

“So Uche” Ken began “How long have you known my fiancée?”

Uche eyed him lazily and sat down “Just a couple of weeks but it feels like years already, doesn’t it?” he asked Nma.

Nma frowned at him; he shouldn’t bring her into this game. She was not going to be a part of it. If they wanted to fight, fine by her but she wasn’t going to play referee.

“Well I don’t know about that Uche but it doesn’t feel like years to me yet” she told him meaning to wipe the smug look from his face.

“I guess it doesn’t, years sounds boring, forgive my exaggeration” he laughed easily.

“I see” Ken muttered and turned to Nma with a glare. “I take it he was the one you spent the whole of your night with”

Nma’s shock was evident but she pitied Ken, she wished she could lessen the hurt but she couldn’t do that without accepting to marry him.

“Yes I was the one indeed” Uche answered for her

“I was asking my fiancée” he glared at Uche

“Calm down Ken, yes I was with Uche last night I told you I was invited…”

“…To a pre dinner drink and after wards you made your own plans, you should be ashamed of yourself falling this cheap after holding on for so long Nma, Okoha goes through women like they are Kleenex!”

Nma saw red and she was about to explode with anger but for Uche’s timely intervention.

“Contrary to what you may think Ken but had Nma spent the whole of the night with me, we would still be in bed till now and I assure you she wouldn’t have the energy to become as angry as she is right now”

Nma was surprised most men would brag about their conquest, some would brag even about women they know they would never come close to bedding even in the next life. But here he was openly admitting that he had not slept with her.

“Thank you Uche, Ken please I would appreciate this visit to be cordial. You know you have no right to act the way you are doing with me”

“Well didn’t you hear him? He has not slept with you yet doesn’t mean he is not planning to”

“I am not a kid Ken! Please I beg for the second time don’t treat me like one”

“Tell me Ken, honestly are you not planning on the same thing, you don’t have to be hypocritical about it, just be honest”

For an answer Ken glared at him.

Nma smiled nervously but kept quiet, she was thinking of what to do to get one of them to leave, because there were signs of danger antagonizing about. Ken was trying to get Uche to lose his temper but Uche was taking all his innuendos in strides that he got her confused about his utterance about taking her away from Ken. She heaved a sigh knowing that she could never get Uche to leave; already he has made himself at home by relaxing in her father’s favorite arm chair, apart from that he would never leave her alone with Ken. But Ken she could always make him leave if she applied a little bit of trickery to his senses. She thought smiling mischievously.

“Don’t you want to sit down Ken?” she smiled sweetly at him. He shrugged and sat down

“Now what do I offer you?” she asked Uche

“You know what I like” he answered smiling

“All right, I’ll be back” she smiled.

“So you know him well enough to know what he drinks” Ken’s words stopped her in her tracks and she turned.

“Ken please I told you he is a friend” she admonished mildly

“For now” Uche winked at her and she swallowed hard forgetting for an instant that they were not alone. She smiled back at him “Your confidence is irritating sir” she said to him and he laughed as she disappeared into the kitchen.

“Do you realize it’s my fiancée you are talking about or just because you are an Okoha you think that gives you the right to everything in this world, this is one thing your money is not going to buy for you” Ken flayed up.

“Actually I wouldn’t be here, if I thought my money could buy her for me, I think it’s me without the Okoha money that has single handedly won her heart” Uche said devoid of anger.

“I can see you are a mad man just like the people say, the rate you go through women I don’t think you have a heart, and Nma is not going to fall a victim, not if I can help it”

“There is absolutely nothing you can do about it Ken, you know I am already the winner here. If I were you I would bow out graciously”

“She is going to marry me”

“She is not wearing your ring yet and my guess is she would never, not after the way she responded to my kisses”

Ken glared at him “let me tell you, she could be sweet on you now because you are everything she needs to take her career further but that is what it is, she would be using you and not loving you”

“Luckily for me I have enough money to keep her interested for a long while yet” Uche smiled at him. He could see the man’s frustration and he enjoyed it.

Meanwhile back in the kitchen, Nma delayed coming out, she was still trying to devise a means of getting rid of Ken. She didn’t want to be cruel to him but she knew that she could manipulate him. Though she honestly didn’t want to do that but if she left the two men to stay antagonizing and saying heated words to each other, it might result into a fight. That was the last of her intentions, it was better to take care of things now before they got far.  She laughed softly as she loaded the tray with pineapple drink, Uche was truly an enigma. She thought he would be barks and fights and she would have to defend Ken but it turned out that he was the one at the receiving end while Ken doled out loads of indirect insults. She loved especially the way he had come clean to tell Ken that he had not slept with her, but Ken was quick to note the unspoken yet in his words. She laughed and carried the drink out, one way or the other they were going to survive today. She looked at the drink she was carrying, and smiled at Uche’s trickery. Uche’s favorite drink had alcohol in it. And he knew she would not have anything alcoholic in her house but she was sure he was going to enjoy the pineapple juice like it was his favorite for Ken’s benefit. “Men” she muttered as she walked away.

In the living room, Ken was standing again standing and pacing while Uche lazily inspected his well manicured finger. Suddenly Ken turned to him.

“Nma is mine and I am not going to let you take her away”

“Good for you that is the spirit” Uche sounded bored

“You think this is a game? You think just because I am not rich as you are I am not able to take care of my woman?”

Uche smiled and shook his head in pity for Ken. The man was totally dumb. Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Nma as she entered with the drinks.

“Nma can take care of herself” Nma put in quietly and began to pour the drink. She gave to Ken first “To be sincerely honest Ken, I don’t see what you are flaying up for, or why you see Uche as a threat, don’t forget he could become a lucrative client if you play your cards right” Nma advised and moved over to hand Uche his drink

“Your favorite” she couldn’t resist saying and he laughed but he stopped as Ken began to talk again.

“That is all you think about, money, power and business, you don’t even stop to read what’s between the line, once it has to do with money, you are all for it”

Uche became very annoyed, the woman Ken described was not the same Nma he had come to respect. Given she was ambitious but she was very reserved and hardworking and intelligent and he was not going to sit still and have that silly excuse for a man talk to her like that.

“Are we sure we are talking about the same woman? The Nma I know and has come to respect works very hard for all she has and she deserves to enjoy them” Uche said honestly

Ken looked at Uche wickedly. He knew he had been bested and he was very angry about it.

“That was not fair Ken, you know I am not what you’ve just described, that shows exactly what you think of me and how little you know me. And you know the worst part; you don’t even care to find out the kind of person I am. You are already biased on the kind of person you think I am, so maybe now you would begin to understand what I have been trying to say to you”

Jerking Ken stood up. “I don’t know why I am wasting my time here” he said stiffly, leaving.

“I am sorry Ken, please don’t take it that way, you have been a good friend…”

“I am not going to allow you to eat your cake and have it, it is everything or nothing”

He began to leave

“Ken” she tried to go after him but Uche stopped her.

“Let him be, faint hearts never won fair ladies”

“I’m not a faint heart Mr. billionaire, you haven’t seen the last of me yet, and she is still my fiancée” Ken muttered.

Nma smiled, she didn’t know Ken possessed such confidence.

“Yes for a little while Ken. You are wrong for her and you will kill her zeal for life and when you say I haven’t seen the last of you, I hope you know what you mean, I make a formidable enemy, I can ruin you Ken and you know it.” Uche said gently and seriously.

“You’re a bastard, I knew you would resort to blackmail, I guess that is what got you so far”

“Like they say, all is fair in love and war” Uche said sounding very arrogant that he was beginning to annoy Nma.

“I am not an object to be taken, I am….” Nma began to say

“That serves you right” Ken said and left banging the door behind him.

Nma heaved sigh but not one of relief, she was feeling sick and she was suddenly very angry with herself and with Uche. She hated to see Ken leave that way. She decided that she was going to apologize and hope she could make him understand why she turned him down. As for Uche, she wasn’t in the mood for his presence.

“I think you should leave too” Nma said to Uche firmly.

“Why?” he asked innocently.

“Why because, I’ve got work to do, I was working on a new design before I was disturbed by two pigheaded men.”

“I remember I promised to help you, if the work gets too much for you.”

“I don’t need your help besides you wouldn’t know where to start, I bet you never had to sew in a button or mend a tear all your life”

“You would be surprised of what I’m capable of”

“Look Uche if you want to stay here, fine, as for me I’m going to work” she said heading to her studio. She marched away from him. She was quite irritated with the man couldn’t he just leave, she thought.

She entered her studio and surveyed it. As always she was overcome with humility and gratitude and she was feeling almost better at once. She started working immediately; believing that Uche had left, somehow she wished he would come in to see her world. She would show off her world with pride but she had already chased him away she mused, working and humming to herself softly.

Uche entered her studio; her back to him meant she didn’t notice his presence immediately. He was enthralled by the vision she made. She must have forgotten to hold her hair, and she flipped it back as she worked but the hair always found its way to her face again. He wanted to flip the long braids for her, he wanted to rub her shoulders and ease the tension he was sure she would be feeling because of the position her work demanded. Without thinking he walked to her and held her hair and pushed his hands into it and rubbed. His pulse quickened when he heard her sigh of pleasure and let his hands roam from her scalp to her neck, kneading at the visible tension. He loved the way her body reacted to his touch but he wasn’t going to give in to his desire of feasting on her lips until he eased her tension.

Nma purred like a cat. Where did he learn to massage like that but it wasn’t just the massage that got her body quivering, it was him, it was the sheer joy of being cared for by a man you love so desperately. Her hands fell away from the machine and found their way to his neck; she wanted to taste him desperately. Forgotten was her earlier repulsion. She didn’t believe, couldn’t believe that heaven had more than this to offer. She sighed when he gave in to her demands and kissed her. She sighed then and deepened the kiss. She felt herself being lifted and cradled and she held on to him with abandonment she couldn’t stop any longer.

When he broke the kiss she was surprised to find out that he was now sitting on the chair and she was being cradled in his hands. She smiled. “You make forget myself” she murmured as her nervousness returned with reality.

“Would it make you feel better if I say you do the same to me” he smiled at her.

“I thought you had gone” she whispered reluctant to stand up but she knew she should get up before things got out of hands.

“Not without seeing you in your world” he smiled and looked around “This is where you create all those magnificent clothes” Uche asked.

She looked around her studio, following his eyes, it was a small place but she was mightily proud of it.

She turned to nod at him and the shock of how young she really was hit him again, without make up and sophisticated clothes she looked barely eighteen and incredibly beautiful and he felt inclined to ask.

“So how old are you really?” he asked

Nma was taken about by his quick change of mood and she wondered why her age should become important now when he had not bothered to ask before. Then she understood, today she looked her age and thus younger to him because her face was devoid of makeup. She smiled up at him  and promised herself she was not going to let age come between them. “Why do you ask? I thought you must have guessed” Nma asked, standing up, she wanted him to guess but mostly she wanted to know if he was as blind as Ken.

“Twenty three, five there or about” he guessed. “Very young, very, very young” he murmured.

“You are right, I am twenty six, and too young for you I guess” she smiled

“It’s just my luck I guess that it’s you who got under my skin of all the women I met all over the world, and come to think of it, I’m hardly cradle snatching you” he joked. “You are not a baby” he concluded.

“So how old are you?” she asked, turning to look at him.

“I’m thirty three and not too old for you” he went on to say.

Nma laughed, “If my father was alive, he wouldn’t let you anywhere near me”

“Wow, am I supposed to be happy he isn’t around or pity you for losing him at such a young age?”

“Just be truthful and honest to yourself”

“I’ll reserve my comment” he said laughing “So what is this edifice you are creating?”

“A dinner gown”

“It’s beautiful” he murmured, going to inspect the clothes that hung on the racks

“Did you sew all this alone?” he asked in wonderment

“I have assistants and apprentices they help out too. “Of course I couldn’t have done them without my head cutter and seamstress”

“So are all these for sale?”

“Kind of, those suits over there, were ordered, I have finished with them, they’re going off tomorrow, including those caftans. These other ones are for my exhibition in a couple of months” she stopped “I guess I’m boring you” she said shyly, she knew Ken would be bored to weeping.

“No, I’m fascinated, and this one you are making?”

“I have been thinking of getting into a competition, so I have to create a master piece to win”

“You know what fascinates me most is how you shoulder all these responsibilities at such a tender age, my sister is still a daddy’s pet up till now even though she is getting married.”

“Well, my father loved me so much and spoilt me to an extent, he never did for me what I could do for myself, he taught me all I know, he told me that no one on this earth would face my challenges for me”

“You were eighteen when he died, how did you cope?” Uche asked coming to stand beside her

“My father left me in Felix’s custody until I became twenty one. They took me in; at first I thought I would die of grief, but Felix and Tessy saw to it that I didn’t.”

“Did your schooling suffer too?”

“Not exactly” she said livening up.

“And you don’t have plans of furthering your education?”

“Yes I do, and I want to but it’s just the time”

“You have to make the time, there are part time and evening classes going on every where”

“Do you find me not well read for your standards?”

He was shocked at first; he had just realized that he had never dated anybody who didn’t have one qualification or the other.  He also found out that it didn’t repel him one bit. And then he looked at her in awe, the truth was one could hardly tell from the way she carried herself. Then he saw her laughing at his expression and he realized that she was just pulling his legs.

“Why you minx” Uche said and grabbed her he began kissing her. This kiss was supposed to be a punishment for Nma for what she said but both the punisher and the punished seemed oblivious of that fact. Uche broke the kiss, breathing heavily. “That was to teach you not to say something like that again”

“If this how you punish your women, then no wonder” she laughed

“No wonder what?”

“Nothing” she smiled. She didn’t try to hide that she enjoyed his company and that she was happy. She wondered how she was going to cope when he learnt that she would not have an affair with him, wouldn’t sleep with him outside marriage. She pushed the unhappy thoughts out of her mind. What mattered was now and he was with her enjoying her company like she was doing his. She was contented and tomorrow she would think but now, what mattered was now.

“Of all the women I’ve met, you dare me the most considering you are the youngest and smallest of them all, especially your waist” he said

“If you don’t know Mr. It is in vogue to have as tiny waist as you can mange”

“I like it” he said spanning her waist with one big palm” Uche said and a vision flashed through him, he could see her pregnant with his baby. That very tiny waist could thicken with his baby; he stopped shocked to his bones. What was wrong with him, what was that he just thought about? Marriage was not for him, at least not for many more years to come. This woman was more dangerous than he thought; she already got him visualizing her with his baby. He was losing his mind, he concluded and the earlier he left the better for both of them. Yes of course he was going to delay making love with her for another day. He wasn’t sure he could do that now without proposing. Just as he was thinking for the right excuse to give her, his phone rang and picked it.

“What is it Star?”

Nma remembered the very beautiful woman with an easy effortless grace and she wondered how Uche could be attracted to her after being with a woman like Star.

Try as much as she could, she couldn’t comprehend what Uche Okoha saw in her. Oh! He wanted her body and he didn’t deny that but the woman in her couldn’t help believing that there was more. She was sure he felt more for her than carnal attraction because she found it difficult to believe he went after all his women so vigorously the way he was doing her.  Then again she couldn’t be too sure. Oh! How she wished there was more to his attraction for her other than her body, only then would she begin to hope that he might date her and wait till their wedding night to sleep with her. She stopped, a wedding night. She asked herself. For a wedding night to happen, there must come first of all a wedding and Uche never for once mentioned anything concerning staying with her after he bedded her much less a wedding. She laughed silently at herself; she had just realized that she wanted to marry him as well, to be with him forever. Imagine this man belonging to her and she had the right to love and care for him the way she really wanted. Have access to every inch of his tantalizing body. How she wished, she sighed sadly and looked at him; he smiled at her over the phone. He was still on the phone with Star.

“Alright Star, I would be there shortly. You are just a kill joy” he cut the phone and walked over to her and held her.

“I need to run into the office, you want to come with me?” he asked her

She was greatly tempted to say yes but she wanted some time alone to think about her latest discovery. She couldn’t still believe she wanted to marry Uche. Where was her love for her freedom, to go and come as she pleased and with whomever she pleased? She managed a smile for him and slowly shook her head negatively.

“Thank you but I have to get back to work” she replied

“Are you sure?” he whispered a breath away from her ears and she shivered at his breath caressed her skin.

“I want to come but I can’t and moreover I would be in the way”

He smiled and kissed her.

“Then I’d better take myself off and leave you to do your work” Uche said turning towards the door.

“I will see you out” she muttered.

“Come on then” he said, drawing her to him with his arm on her tiny waist.

As soon as they came out, Nma admired his cream colored BMW. “Nice car” she complimented. “It gets me around town” he murmured.

They stood together and admired the car. “You know this is the third car I am seeing you with since I met you and if you could call a limo a car then it would be the fourth”

He laughed “I love cars, right from childhood and I am yet to be cured of that illness and besides I can afford the illness

“You know some times you sound very arrogant like just now. Money is not the answer to everything”

“But the scripture says that money answereth all things”

“Why do all rich men know that particular verse in the scripture?”

They laughed together. Just as they were laughing, a flash of something passed them. They looked up in time to see a man with a camera dash into a car and zoomed off.

“Great!” Uche muttered “I would very much have loved to get my hands on that man”

“What did he do that for?”

“Well, you better get ready; Uche Okoha in secret romance, Uche Okoha’s latest heartthrob. That’s what you are going to see in the tabloids next”

“I am sorry” she muttered “I thought you should be used to them by now” she said trying to pacify him.

“You never get used to being followed around but it’s you I’m worried about” he turned worried eyes on her.

Nma smiled nervously, she was shaking and she still hadn’t comprehended that she would be in the papers probably tomorrow alongside Uche and dubbed his latest girl friend but she would survive, she thought.

“I’ll survive” she managed to say.

“Are you sure?” he asked her, the tenderness in his eyes was her undoing and she sighed

“I will be fine Uche” she said and gave him a hug because she couldn’t resist the urge.

“Good, I’ll call you” he said giving her a quick kiss and jogged back to his car.