Golden Ville

Chapter 3

"Maria, how do I look?" Bella asked as she presented herself in front of her cousin, Maria.

"You look dazzling and fulgurant." She uttered in a flirty manner, blowing her a kiss.

"Uh! You could have just said, you look presentable. Not everyone understands your big and unnecessary grammar."Bella snorted.

"Get yourself a dictionary and start learning new words." She replied with a sarcastic gesture, moving her head dramatically.

 

"Anyway, good luck on your first day at Golden Ville."

"Thank you, I hope you will have a great day too," Bella replied as they walked out of their apartment.

 ****

 Bella headed towards the park, where she would be boarding a cab to her workplace.

 

 "Oh God, it's my first day at work I don't want to be late. I can remember how I used to scold our staff whenever they came late to work.

  Gosh! I don't want that kind of embarrassment." She murmured inwardly as she paced up and down hoping to stop a cab.

  

  The ride from her place to Golden Ville was about twenty minutes ride.

  She glanced at her wristwatch, it was 7:18 already and her resumption time is 8:00 am

  

   After a few minutes of waiting, she was able to stop one.

   "Hey, Golden Ville." She hollered.

   

   "Hop in." He nodded as he slowed down and parked by the roadside.

   "Oh Finally." She breathed out a sigh of relief as she hopped inside.

  * * * *

  

 Richard exhaled deeply as he glanced at his wristwatch. "Time to go home." He muttered to himself, with a pleasant smile spreading across his face. He always have this unexplainable joy whenever it was time to go home and meet his family.

 

  After placing each document in the right order, he picked up his briefcase and walked out of his office.

  

  As he strolled to where he parked his car in the garage, a lady approached him.

  

  "Hi, Good evening sir." She greeted him with a slight bow.

  

  "Evening," Richard replied as he stared at her, her face looks familiar but he can't recollect where they'd met.

  

  "I'm sorry for disturbing you sir, I have been staring at you for a while. Your face looks familiar or maybe you just look like someone I know." She said with uncertainty.

  

  "Oh! Your face looks familiar too."

  "Really? I don't know if you know anyone that bears the name Richard Jacob?" she asked.

  Richard stared at her weirdly, "yes, I know him and I am Richard Jacob"

  "Oh Good lord! Are you serious? You're Mr. Richard? You attended Stanford University in the United States?" She asked rushing her words.

  "Yes, wow! You must know a lot about me."

  

"Yeah, sure. So, you don't recognize me?" She queried.

He gave her a long stare and said, "I'm sorry, it's still vague, can you introduce yourself to me, ma'am?" He asked trying to sound polite.

"Please cut that off, sir.  I'm Bella Jonathan, your school Daughter. Do you remember?" She asked with a lopsided grin.

  Richard was Dumbfounded for a while.

   "Oh my goodness. My School Daughter? Bella, is this you?"

    Before he could see what was coming, Bella pulled him into a tight hug.

  "Oh! Uncle Richard, long time no see".

  "Yeah, it's a long time indeed. How have you been? I lost your contact, I couldn't even get in touch with you after I left the United States about Ten years now. 

  It's been a decade since I last heard from you."

  "Oh! Well, here we are again. I guess it's a small world indeed!"

  "Yeah, it's indeed a small world. Did you work here in Golden Ville?"Richard asked.

  "Yes, a new staff. This is my first day here".

  "Wow, are you serious? Were you part of the people that came for the interview last week?"

  "Yes," she nodded her head in reply.

  "You work here too right?"

  "Yes, My dad owns the Company."

  

  "Oh! Really?" she exclaimed.

  "Yes, and how have you been?

  

  "Well I've been struggling and at least I've not given up yet," she said with a shrug.

 

Richard was taken aback by the reply she gave and working here in Golden Ville made him sense that something was off about her.

  "Oh! I guess we have missed a lot. How about we meet up some other time? I would have suggested we go to a nearby restaurant to talk and discuss, but I'm getting late already and I did not inform my family that I will be staying out late."

 "Oh!" She exclaimed softly.

 

  "Since you work here, there is a huge chance that I will be seeing you more often."

  "Of course."

  "Good, give me your phone number. We have a lot of things to talk about."

  "Yes sir." Bella smiled as she hand over her phone to him.

  "Ok, this is my number. You can beep me with your phone so I can save your number too".

   After exchanging contact, "Okay I guess we will see tomorrow then. My office is on the second floor, Room 4. Which department did you work for?"

  "The Accounting department."

  "Oh! Yeah, you studied Accountant in school. I can remember. Anyway, it's good that we are here again."

  "Yes. Okay sir, bye."

  "Yeah, bye. Take care of yourself."

  

  "Which way are you heading to? I don't know if it's the same as mine."

  "Park view Estate." She replied.

  "Oh! That means I can still give you a lift. Mine is at Living Gold Estate."

  "Oh," She exclaimed.

  "Yeah, hop in " he signaled as they got to where he parked his car.

.

.

 They had retired to bed that night with Stella's head placed on his bare chest.

 

"Our goods has not arrived before I left for the program, I had to put everything under Shade's care but I'm glad that it was worth It because the program was lit. The outreach was super amazing and I was chanced to meet some couples who were having problems in their marriage. God performed his wonders again, I can't just express this feeling inside of me." she said with her voice enlaced with enthusiasm and zeal.

"It's written all over your face, you don't need to express it in words. I know it's what you love doing and God us strongly behind you."

"Yes, that's true. He has indeed got my back. The turn-up was massive. Some even booked an appointment with me and I hope God will take perfect control and restore the joy and happiness in each home. My greatest wish is that everyone will have a peaceful home, where no child will know what it feels like to be brought up in a broken home, where couple will enjoy the fruits of marriage without any pain and problem."

"I pray God will fulfill that dream and make it come to pass."

" A big Amen to that."

"Guess who I saw today," Richard said in a rare moment of candor.

"Who?" she questioned tilting her head in confusion.

"Just guess."

"You know I'm bad at guessing."

"Okay, fine. I saw Bella today," he said with a smile plastered on his face.

"Bella?" She asked, trying to get the Bella he was talking about.

"Yeah, Bella. My old-time friend in the United States. 

My school daughter, I used to talk about".

"Oh Good Lord!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, I was surprised. I had thought we will never get to see each other again. Only for me to see her in my company today."

"Wow!

"Yep, she's even a new staff. She was part of the people who were employed recently".

"Wow, it's indeed a small world. How is she? Is she married already?" 

"Oh! Chill woman" he mopped with a naughty look on his face.

"Feed me, sir. I'm all ears" she said taking her lips inside her mouth with a concentrated look on her face.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I don't think I have enough food today that will quench your hunger. We didn't get to talk about our personal lives."  He said shattering her expectation.

" Why?" She snorted.

"We were in a hurry, I only got to see her after office work was over. I even dropped her at her residence and we promised to meet up tomorrow and catch up with old times".

"Wow! That's good then."

"Yes. I was really surprised when I saw her. Could you believe I couldn't even recognize her until she introduced herself? She has changed a lot."

"Come on, it's been over 10 years since you last saw each other. Do you expect her to be just the exact way she was before? " She asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know but the change is tremendous. Well, we thank God for growth and life."

 After having their chit-chat, they had their nighttime prayer session.

 

"Goodnight sweetie. Sweet dreams."

"Goodnight hun," she replied as she snuggled close to him and slowly closed her eyes letting the power of sleep envelope her.

  * * * * *

Yeah, so Bella Jonathan is here already.

What did you think about our dear Bella?😁

Join me on this beautiful ride.