Chapter Five

“Lila?” Emmanuel Anderson asked looking up from the documents he had been going through. His best friend walked into his office and collapsed in the chair across from him looking exhausted.

“When was the last time you had a decent night’s rest?” he asked worry dripping from his every word.

Lila shrugged her shoulders but didn’t answer his question.

“About yesterday,” she started staring at him with hooded eyes. Emmanuel frowned realizing that she was putting up an unreadable face as if she was trying to hide something. Would she really hide anything from him especially after what they’d been through?

“It was my fault Lila, I said some mean things.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I should never have said those things to you; it was completely disrespectful of me and insentive.”

“I don’t think you were insensitive, if anything you were saying the truth.” She shrugged her shoulders again and Ema frowned.

He leaned over the table to touch her forehead.

“Are you feeling okay? What are you even saying?”

“Never mind.” She stood up from the chair and Ema got up as well. “Mum woke up yesterday and the doctors said she can stay on at the hospital.”

Ema nodded not sure about what he was supposed to do with the new piece of information.

He sighed and walked around his desk coming to meet her. Once he stood in front of her, he held her shoulders forcing her to look at him.

“Are you sure everything is okay? I’m getting some weird energy from you right now. Is Ellen okay?”

Lila avoided his gaze. “Mum is fine Ema, I told you that already.” She moved her shoulders causing his arms to fall and Ema blanched. Something was definitely wrong.

“Is Victor in? I need to talk to him about something.”

“He is in but what do you want to..? Lila.” Ema called running after her as she walked out of his office without letting him finish his speech.

“Just let him know he has a visitor.”

Emmanuel opened his mouth to protest but she cut him off.

“Please Ema, just do this for me.” Lila fought back the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks and avoided his gaze, looking down at her shoes instead. Emmanuel knew her too well so it wouldn’t be hard for him to guess that she wasn’t telling him the whole truth.

She wasn’t trying to hide anything from him, she just needed to do this right now and he might talk her out of it if she told him about her plan and the reason why she was doing it. He had been the one pushing her to do it but he would never stand for her doing it all of a sudden like this.

Emmanuel ran his hands down his face with a sigh and watched her for a while.

“I hope you know what you’re doing Lila.” He walked off leaving her standing there.

Lila blinked back the tears that were so close to falling and took a deep breath. She couldn’t break down now, she had to remain strong.

****

"Sir, you have a visitor." Ema said shifting from foot to foot and looking everywhere but at him.

Victor frowned and stood up from his chair. "Who is it?"

Why did his assistant look so tense?

He walked around his desk and met Emmanuel at the door. “Who is it?”

On cue, Lila walked into the office and Victor sucked in a breath.

"Can we talk?" She was the last person he was expecting to see and so soon after her blatant rejection of him and his offer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see her, he was just surprised to see her here.

"Close the door behind you Mr Anderson." Victor simply said and led Lila into the office. He didn't try to touch her just yet. He wanted to hear her out first.

“Why are you here Lila?”

"I accept your offer." She blurted out as the door closed behind them and Victor felt as if the air had been knocked out of him. He cleared his throat and locked around the office wondering if someone else had entered the office without his notice or if he had heard wrongly.

When he stared back at Lila, she was looking at him with unsmiling eyes.

"Why the sudden change?" he asked before he could stop himself and she ignored him rising to her feet. He watched as she walked towards the door and opened it without saying a word more. Something didn’t feel right.

"Lila?" he called as he walked around his desk heading in her direction.

"I'll be expecting your call and then my lawyer will contact you." she said and without another glance in his direction, she walked out of his office and shut the door behind her.

Victor listened to the sound of her heels clicking on the floor and waited until they had faded completely before he picked up the desk phone.

Emmanuel walked into the office not long after with a frown on his face.

"You sent for me sir?' His frown deepened when he didn’t spot Lila anywhere. “Where is Lila?”

“She left. Did something happen to Lila? Why did she change her mind like that?" Victor bombarded him with questions and Emmanuel shook his head.

"I don't know anything about that sir, I was just as shocked about her being here like you were." He ran a hand through his hair. “What did she want anyway? I hope she didn’t insult you.”

Victor laughed although Ema noticed it didn’t meet his eyes. “Insult? No actually she didn’t come to fight me. She just accepted my offer. She is ready to be my contract wife.”

***

“Ms Lila?”

Lila sniffed and brushed her tears with her hands before looking up at the doctor. “Yes, hey doc. Thanks for doing this for me.”

"I'm doing this because you promised to get the money before the end of the week." The doctor said with a sigh. "Please don't make me regret this favor I'm doing you."

"I won't, I promise."

He nodded and gave a small smile walking towards her mother's bedside. Lila stood back staring at him as fresh tears polled at her eyes. She backed then and wiped it off thoroughly annoyed at herself. Everything was going to be fine now. She had a steady source of income now and her mother’s bills would be easy to pay for mow.

Soon, she’d find a chance to send her mother abroad.

“Thanks once again for letting her stay here even though you’ve been told to let her go.”

He had a smile on hm as he turned to look at her.

“She’s a fighter dear and I believe she’ll recover. All you have to do is keep her medicated until you can send her abroad.”