V: The need for stability

"May I take your order, please?" Jasmin politely requested from the young lady who took her seat less than a minute ago and she held onto the order tablet where she would write on.

"Yes, I want a bowl of catfish pepper soup and a bottle of Malta Guinness."

She jotted the order on the electronic tablet and the preparation process and its duration pop up on the screen. "The soup would arrive in fifteen minutes, but your Malta Guinness is coming right up."

The lady smiled at her, displaying her perfectly gaped set of teeth, and compelled, Jasmin smiled back before taking her leave.

She grabbed the bottle of the soft drink and, placing it on the steel tray in her hand; she made her way out.

After her encounter with Mr Inferno three days ago, she had wondered what exactly he was planning to do. He looked mad at first, but later wasn't. And he certainly wasn't afraid of her or taken back with the fact that she was a thief. He looked weirdly amused by that fact that she was.

She thought he was strange.

She thought little about him or the fact that he knew her first name, there was so much of her he could find by searching online, she was a nobody, a common thief who just moved here a few weeks ago and she certainly wasn't the only woman in the city bearing the name Jasmin but he wasn't a nobody.

As soon as she got home that day, Jasmin pulled out her phone and searched the "Inferno" alone and though the search were all unrelated to him, her eyes spotted the name Cainan Inferno as she scrolled through and she clicked on the name and there he was, the man she had met over a week ago and three days ago. They listed him among the top ten youngest billionaires in the country, according to Forbes. He owned more than a dozen companies scattered all over the country and also had a lot out of the country as well. He owned many charities just like Mrs Richie did, according to the source she read on. And he was also a philanthropist and donated every year to an organisation called Fight Against Cancer.

Her eyes dropped and saw the marital status of which had widower written there and it stated he had lost his wife three years ago. She read as much as she could and also instead focused on who he was and if he could bring chaos and hell down on her. And he could bring hell and more upon her.

He handled her roughly and back her against the wall, but that was the most he did for someone who caught a thief. And even then he didn't look like he could harm her, he didn't look like he was interested in harming her and it made her feel safe even though she knew safety flew out of the window the day she ran into his office.

Her pregnancy was the second chance she needed to leave the life of stealing, but things weren't so easy. She ended up making a decision that might hunt her for a very long time.

"Earth to Jasmin," she heard Anita's voice call to her, and she snapped out of her thought and turned to Anita, who was standing beside her. "Are you okay?" She gave her concerned eyes.

Jasmin shrugged it off and sighed. "Tired, that's all."

"Take a break then, I noticed you haven't done that today." She informed her.

"I've got a customer to serve her order will be ready in." She glanced at her wristwatch before saying, "five minutes."

"I've got it. Go get something to eat, Jasmin," she said.

Jasmin pulled off the apron which she had on before walking away from the restaurant and outside. Anita was right, she needed to eat, her stomach was growling and thank God she pushed her to go eat. She made her way over to the fast food and ordered instant noodles because that was what she was craving and also what she could afford.

It was ready before she knew it and she paid and collected it from the chef and also bought a sachet of water before moving to the tables already set outside underneath the enormous mango tree and she took her seat to enjoy the food.

Midway into eating, her phone beeped, and she picked it up and up and stared at it and there was a message from an unknown number.

"Enjoy your meal."

She dropped her phone and turned to look around, but saw no one around or remotely looking at her. She just concluded that whoever it was probably trying to instigate fear in her, even when there was no reason to be. There was, though, a stranger had her number and the stranger also knew she was currently eating, meaning he or she was close by.

She thought barely crossed her mind when someone took the seat right across from her. Her gaze lifted, and she saw Cainan Inferno, the man who she had been trying to run away from for the last three weeks.

"You." she said through gritted teeth and her cheek burnt.

"Eat, your food is going to get cold." He pointed to the noodles before her.

"Are you stalking me now? I thought I already apologise for what I did to you weeks ago? I could have you arrested for stalking me and also how the hell did you get my number?"

"I asked your friend, Anita. She was more than happy to give it to me."

Her gaze crossed, and a scowl appeared on her face. "And why would she do that?"

"I told her we were childhood friends."

"Fuck you."

"You need to learn how to control your anger, young lady." He said with a tone brittle with annoyance.

She shrugged and bit out, "And you need to learn to stop stalking people."

"I am not stalking you, but we weren't able to talk properly last time, Jasmin. You were at work and there was a lot that was left unsaid, things we need to talk about."

"Like what?"

"Returning my Rolex which you stole." 

There was no way she could return it. She didn’t have it. "Just because I didn't stress it out three days ago doesn't mean I stole it!" She stood up to leave, more of make a run for it, even though she knew there was no place to hide anymore.

His hand shot out and grabbed her arm in an iron grip just as she made a turn.

Anger flared in his eyes as he looked up, and it attacked her. "I thought we were past the lying phase?”

She clenched her teeth in an attempt not to slap him across the face because, for a moment, she saw red. "I advise you to let me go. You might be rich and powerful, but in the last few weeks, I've worked here. I've really made friends who will fuck you up just because it's Monday." She warned him.

A few people were walking around the spot and she just had to do was lift her voice.

"They would do no such thing the minute they realise you're a thief, I think most of them would vote that you get locked up." He answered with no humour in his voice.

"You have no proof of what you claim." She said, more to herself than to him.

He silently dipped his hand into his pocket and he brought out his iPhone and scrolled through something before lifting it to her.

There she was in the picture holding the Rolex in Usman's shop while talking to the man, and that was three weeks ago.

At the revelation, she stared up at him, her heart nervously beating and, just like three days ago, he had her backed against the wall. She swallowed on nothing as she lost words to say in response to his words. 

He must have noticed it too because he let her go and "Sit," he commanded and though she didn't want to, she did.

He dropped his phone and entwined his hands on the table. "Tell me, do Anita and George know you are a thief?" When she remained silent, he continued, "I doubt that because she spoke so fondly of you. Do you steal from them too? Take advantage of their trust and take their cash or things, or do you only steal from people like me?"

She winced at his assumption and felt very much uncomfortable and in easy sitting with him. "Why didn't you just report me?" She seethed, unable to sit and have him mock her.

"I don't know," he shrugged, stretching his legs out and resting his back against the chair. "Maybe because I felt that this was better."

"This is better?" Her brow rose. "This is torture and I want it to be over, so what do you want?" 

She knew it was only a matter of time before he found out who she was and how dumb she was to have stolen from him. He saw her face and heard her voice those were two solid reasons not to steal from him but she needed the money and she was desperate and her attention was on the Rolex she wanted to steal and didn't take it to mind the man she was dealing with and now here they were. 

Jasmin was quiet, wondering what he was planning. He was unpredictable, which she already knew. 

"You made a proposal three weeks ago," he reminded her. 

"Which was?" She said a lot of things she could no longer remember, so he had to be specific about it. 

"You said you would steal my heart if I paid you to."

"I said that because I wanted to seduce you and steal your Rolex." She replied and picked up the buns wrapped in a serviette and took a bite of it. Thank God that Phillip packed her favourite and thank God she didn't leave because of anger or she would have missed the delightful buns.

Something flickered in his eyes as they stared at her. "What if I will pay you one million dollars to do what you said?"

She almost choked on the buns halfway through, and she placed her hand to her mouth and swallowed slowly. He wasn't talking about naira, the currency she was familiar with. He was talking about one million dollars. 

"Pay me to do what?" Her voice came out wrecked and shaky and she didn't know if it was because of his words or because she almost swallowed the buns wrongly.

"Steal my heart, but in your case, pretend to steal my heart. That means you will get into a relationship with me and after one year, I will pay you one million dollars."

His offer couldn't be real. There had to be a catch. They were always a catch to such things. People don't just throw one million dollars at stupid things the way this man seated across from her was doing now. "Okay, first off, I do not want to pretend to steal your heart because there is no such thing. Second, I already have a normal job. Why would I need a complicated one?"

She read enough about him, Cainan Inferno, once billionaire playboy, turned hopeless romantic, turned widower and for the last three years he hadn't had a romantic relationship with another woman. Some sources claimed he had a cursed to never find love and others said he swore to his dying wife to love no other but here. The death of his wife took a hard turn on him as he barely stepped outside for a whole year after her death and when he finally came out to the world, he was a shadow of himself and would spend countless hours at the graveyard where his wife's body laid; the source claimed he still visited her every month.

He was a strange and creepy man, handsome and somewhat nice, but strange and creepy, and that wasn't what she wanted in her life right now.

"Because you stole my Rolex and I will let it go if you do this in return."

"Is there nothing else I can do as payment, like being you PA or your secretary for those twelve months?"

"I already have people filling those positions, besides you do not have the qualifications to be my secretary, but my lover..." He trailed off, then nodded.

"I can't do it." She got up from the seat. "What other option do I have?"

“Either that or you could get me my Rolex back from Usman,” he started.

She was about to ask him how he knew the name of the man she pawned the Rolex with, then she remembers he had a picture of her with Usman and that must be how.

He continued speaking. "But the things is, Usman no longer has my Rolex, he sold it back to me," he pulled down his long sleeve and on his wrist was the Rolex she stole and sold. "So if you're going to pay back, give me back the money I paid, which is two hundred thousand naira and I've got receipt if you want to verify."

"Two hundred thousand?" She exclaimed, unable to stop herself and her eyes nearly popped out. "He gave me sixty thousand!"

"It's expected you're a thief, not a businesswoman. You don't know how the buying and selling business works."

She didn't know if she should be angry or sad at his words, but one thing was sure, she would not escape what was coming.

She sat back down again and placed her hands on the table before her. "You believe I've got what it takes to be your make-believe girlfriend. Why?"

"Yes, and that's because you were an excellent actress. I saw that in you three weeks ago in my office and also a few days ago at the dinner."

"Why?" she asked, this time asking why he needed a pretend lover, not why he was picking her and he seemed to figure that out as well.

"Because I have been told I need stability in my life, the kind only a relationship brings."

And yet here he was proposing a relationship to a thief. She thought.

"What happened to the lady with you last week? What was her name?"

"Faith." He knew who she was referring to. "Well, like I said earlier, I need a lover that will follow the rule, not an actual one. You can take twenty-four hours to think about it, but not more than that. I will be back by this time tomorrow with the agreement contract."