Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) - By Somi Ekhasomhi Page 0,1

surprisingly, she preferred it when he ignored her. She switched her thoughts to the new apartment she had found in Surulere instead. She would have to tell Zubi about it, she reminded herself, even though he was still mad at her for not being eager to ditch photography and take the job he had found for her in real estate.

Frowning, she started to look around for a commercial bike, or an Okada as they are called in Lagos. She had to wait for a while. When you didn't want one they were all over the place, she thought dryly, but as soon as you actually needed them, they became impossible to find. After some time, she saw one of them speeding towards her, the rider as dark as coal and looking as if he had bathed in dirt and grime, with his clothes on. Ada sighed and waved him over. In a few moments, they were speeding toward the offices of Living Lagos magazine.

The office wasn't very far from the square. It was located in one of the less busy streets of Lagos Island. So before long, she had paid the Okada rider and was running up the stairs of the six storey building that housed Living Lagos. By the time she got to the fourth floor, she was out of breath and could feel her thigh muscles protesting, but she didn't mind. She never took a lift for anything less than six floors.

As she entered the fourth floor lobby, the security man, Mr. Festus, looked up from the issue of Complete Sports he was reading intently, and called out a greeting to her. He was a middle-aged man whose round face was perpetually wreathed in smiles. “Aunty Ada!” He exclaimed, breaking into his characteristic smile. “Why you did not take the lift?” He asked, in his own version of good English, “Is working fine.”

He always asked her that. Ada sighed. “I’ll take it next time, Mr. Festus.” She replied, unwilling to explain for the hundredth time that she preferred to climb the stairs.

As she walked towards the double glass doors of Living Lagos, she was already mentally planning the rest of her day. Which was why, she had already started to push the doors open before she realized that the man standing over the front desk talking to Fadeke the receptionist was Eddie Bakare.

She stopped, reluctant to continue the journey inside, and trying, without much success, to control the erratic rhythm her heart had begun. If only she had seen him before she started opening the doors, she thought desperately, then she could have gone back downstairs, gone to lunch, gone shopping, anything rather than walk straight into him as he flirted with Fadeke.

It wasn’t that she had anything against Eddie, after all, he was partly responsible for the success of Living Lagos. He was the one who had made the initial financial investment in the magazine when the publisher/Editor–in–chief, Sophie Aliu conceived the idea for a weekly publication that presented the interesting aspects of living in Lagos in a humorous and entertaining way. In fact, Ada conceded, there was nothing wrong with him. He was a pleasant enough person, with wonderful manners and well, an incredibly, handsome face. He was okay, except for the fact that she never felt right when she was around him.

She wasn’t attracted to him, or anything like that, Ada reasoned. He wasn’t her type. She wasn’t crazy about tall guys with perfectly handsome faces and male model bodies. If she had to choose, she told herself, she would go for a pleasant face over a handsome one any day.

She just didn’t particularly like him. There was something about that lazy confidence, that instant friendliness, playfulness, and amiability that put her off. Everything came too easily to guys like Eddie, and somehow, she didn’t think her good regard and friendship should be one of those things.

He was saying something to Fadeke, probably something flirty, judging from the way she was giggling like a maniac. Ada snorted silently. Of course, to a girl like Fadeke, Eddie was something like a demigod. He was rich, handsome, and extremely well mannered, just the way the romance novels had told her that her Mr. Right would be.

As if somehow, he had heard Ada’s thoughts, Eddie looked up and noticed her standing at the door. His face broke into a handsome smile, as if, Ada thought cynically, she was just the person he had been waiting to see.

“Hello Ada.”