Chapter 4 The obnoxious, persistent customer

Oliver Green was dropped by at Seymour's for the umpteenth time since he came to the city.

He smiled as he caught sight of Eva, who had her head bowed as she took a customer's order.

He had a meeting in the next thirty minutes, and his personal assistant had almost blown up his phone, but he did not mind.

He watched her walk towards the service area, and his eyes trailed the back of her long legs and lingered at her behind for a while.

He had quite the playboy reputation, but he did not mind.

Some girls waltzed into the restaurant, and he could see them fangirling over him, but he pretended not to notice them from behind his shades.

He did not have their time now. For now, his interest was in five foot three slender lady with silky brown hair who worked without showing any expression but the pleasantness required.

He raised his hands to signal for a waitress.

Lala, seeing him, rushed over to him at the same time another of the waitresses rushed to him.

They both bumped into each other and shot each other glares.

Lala and Nia were not the best of friends in the restaurant, but they got along formally. Save for the rules of Seymour's, they would have torn each other apart.

They nothing held each other's gaze, hoping that the other would back down, but they were both determined.

Oliver smirked and looked past them at Eva, who about disappearing into the service area.

"Waitress," he called to her.

She sighed and turned back to him and saw him signalling her to come over, much to the annoyance of the ladies who had been battling silently to serve him.

They both walked away while Eva tried to maintain her alert courteous smile.

"Good afternoon, sir. It is quite a pleasure to see you around again", she said through gritted teeth.

Oliver smiled at her as he saw through her pleasant greetings.

"It's more than a pleasure to see you around again, Ms....", he trailed off, looking at her questioningly, but she had a pointed stare at him.

When he held her gaze for a moment, she sighed in defeat and shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "Eva"

"That's a beautiful name," he complimented with a smile, but she only had the fake smile plastered her face as she saw her manager walk past her to meet Oliver.

"Mr Oliver Green. It is so amazing to have you here in our restaurant. We are so glad to have you here", the manager said and turned to Eva. "Please treat him well, Eva. He is a highly valuable person. "

She nodded in respect and watched him leave. She wondered why his eyes shone as he talked to Oliver. Did he know him from somewhere?

"What would you like to order?", she asked without any expression, and he flashed his charming playboy smile at her.

"Just a shot of expresso please," he said, and she turned immediately to get his order after writing it down without telling him anything.

She had served him and was glad when he grabbed it and headed out quickly.

The rest of the day had gone by in a blur. She oy thought of David while nursing her heart, which was still bleeding in love with Jacob and wondering what she could do to mend their relationship that had not-so-nicely shattered the last two years after the incident that she regretted so much.

*

Alex turned white and coughed when he heard the doctor pronounce what he could only reason to be his death sentence.

"I'm sorry, Mr Alex White. You have the terminal heart failure. I am so sorry. "

Susanna let out a loud shriek. "What do you mean, doctor? Are you trying to say that my husband might not recover from this?"

The doctor gave a sad nod. "I'm afraid so, ma'am."

Alex coughed some more on the bed where he lay. He felt fine apart from the persistent coughs, the fatigue, dizziness, and the shortness of breath he felt constantly.

Susanna wept at the news while Alex sat still, looking like someone who had seen a ghost.

"Cannit not be treated, doctor?", she asked him with teary eyes but he shook his head.

"It can only be managed. I'm sorry"

It felt like cold buckets of water had been dumped on his head.

He remained speechless and watched his wife keep sobbing.

"What do I now do, doctor?"

"We have treated him to the best of our abilities. Right now, you can only take him home and follow my instructions and give him the drugs I prescribed to you."

Susanna nodded and turned to her pale husband.

She hugged him in tears while he remained expressionless.

"You will be fine," she said. "Don't worry. You will be fine"

She thought of their children and how they would react to this news but decided not to tell them yet.

This news would break Pamela and Peter's hearts.

*

Jacob was in the club. It was slowly becoming a norm for him to attend the world parties with his friends on the weekends to, in their words, loosen up.

He felt attached to his wife, and he knew he still loved her deeply, but he could not bring uimself to comprehend the love anymore or try to express his love in return.

"Take some more shots, man. You look like you could use some of its effect", Chase said, pushing some more glasses of vodka shots in his direction.

"I'm done, man," he argued, pushing it back. "We need someone over to drop y'all drunken selves back home,"

"Party pooper," Blake, another of his friends said. He had an almost naked lady on his laps. "Man, you need to loosen up. You look starved. You could use some sexual emancipation. You can't keep moping about your wife who does not even deserve it, man"

Chase nodded in agreement. "That's what I keep telling him, yo! He just is too delusional. "

"Can we not discuss this?", Jacob said, getting worked up.

"Wake up, man. This world would soon pass you by, and you'll just grow old, wasting your youth away buried in work and moping for a woman who is dead to you. "

He got pissed. "I'm out of here," he said, getting up to leave.

"Yo, mam. You can't leave now", Andre, one of his friends, chastised.

"And why not?", he retorted in annoyance.

Andrea wriggled his brows. "Maybe because Ms Hotty just got here"

Jacob turned around to see Mel, and his heart skipped a beat for a second.

She looked stunning in a yellow, glittery short body con dress that stopped mid-thigh and exposed her beautiful long legs. Her strawberry blonde hair was styled beautifully, and her makeup accentuated her natural beauty.

"Hey guys," she greeted the men who were there and turned to Jacob with a sweet smile. "Hi, Jacob."

His mouth went dry, but he quickly maintained his composture. He cleared his throat and, with a small smile, replied, "Hi Melinda."

"For the umpteenth time, you can call me Mel, Jacob," she said, shoving his shoulder playfully.

He smiled at the feeling of her small hand on his shoulder.

"Don't mind him. He's got his head too buried in work to remember, "Chase chipped in before turning back to the barman while Jacob glared daggers at the back of his head.

"I didn't think I'd see you here again," she told him while sipping on a wine served by the barman. "You seemed so eager to get out of here the first time I met you here,"

He smiled slightly, "I just.. don't want to get carried away"

She shot him a small smile. "It's okay to loosen up a bit. You know work can be really stressful. I work as a business sales rep, and I know how frustrating it gets at time"

Jacob sighed thoughtfully. "Wow. I work as a sales rep as well, and it is really a tough job, but I love it, though. "

He involuntarily took a glass or wine too and sipped, getting comfortable talking to Mel.

"So, how is work for you? Tell me about it. I have heard of the Sename's dealers, and i think they gave good prospects. What do you think?"

Jacob's interest was piqued. Business was a place to get him interested in.

As they talked, he realised she was not just a pretty face but a business and goal oriented young woman who knew what she did.

'It won't hurt to keep her around', he concluded.

Since he shut Eva out of his mind the past two years, he had made up his mind to give up women and get the bags.

He had tried love and was hurt by the one who had claimed to love him. Forgiveness was not something that came to him easily.

He had seen her efforts over the years to try to win him back, but he had just been reluctant to return his love.

Blame it on his ego, peharps, but he did not want to touch a woman who had hurt him so badly after all they had gone through together and what he had done for her.

Mel, however, was somehow beginning to weaken his resolve to not be associated with any other woman ever again.

He watched as her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks as she spoke with that same soft voice.

She is so smart, he thought.

They shared ideas and discussed business and work, much to the disappointment of his friend who were expecting some action to cause their friend to loosen up a bit.

They ended the night in high spirits.

Jacob dropped Mel over at her house, where she lived with her parents, and they had talked some more before she alighted the car and made him promise to call her for them to continue their discussion.

As Mel watched him drive away, she thought about their meeting that night.

At first, she had wanted to get laid, so she had gone to the club and hung around Jacob, who looked so much like her dream man.

She recalled how he had literally run away from the club the last time they had met.

Peharps the disiac had been too much for him to handle.

Now, she saw that he was much more than a man to give her pleasure but someone who shared her passion for business and who had a lot of potential.

"Hmmm.. Jacob", she said to herself as she walked into her house.

*

Jacob returned home to meet Eva sitting on the couch, her eyes wide open as she waited for him.

She was dressed in one of the lingerie that he liked the most.

Jacob srunched his brows. It was past twelve pm. She should have been asleep.

He ignored her and made to walk past her but she held his arms in her soft ones.

"Jacob", she called with pleading eyes.

Jacob felt his mouth go dry as he stared at his wife's luscious body that he had missed so much. One that he had derived pleasure from and given pleasure to countless times before the incident two years ago. He felt something stir in him.

"What are you doing?"

Eva knew she was making a risky moves but the comfort zone had not brought her any luck.

She had pulled on ervy ounce of courage left in her to do this

This would be the second time she was doing this in their two years of marital singleness.

The first time had been heartbreaking, but this time, she was prepared for the worst.

"I want you, Jacob!"