8 Bamz

Bamgbose stared down at Bisola and her whole smiley thing briefly gave way to a coldly calculating look - as if she had quickly contemplated then discarded the idea of just breaking her neck with a brisk heady twist, Steven Seagal style.

"But Kabiyesi has not asked it of me," she finished in English, "and it's not my place to question him".

She noticed Bisola cringing away from her, blinked and then smiled. Suddenly her aura cleared and the look was gone.

"Ah..." she exclaimed stepping away from her, "Sorry for that. About the hotel-" she suddenly stopped mid-sentence and Bisola could swear her gaze went unfocused.

Bisola frowned cringing away further. "Bamz..?"

Bamgbose gave her a startled look as if in that fraction of a second she'd actually forgotten Bisola existed.

"Uh..." she appeared distracted but her eyes, which were back in focus, brimmed with what looked to Bisola like wild excitement.

"Look, I can't force you to do anything, just know that if you change your mind, our resources are at your disposal."

Bisola frowned at her suspiciously. Why did she suddenly seem out of it?

"Sis, is everything ok?" she asked cautiously.

Bamgbose shot her a smile bright enough to light up her gloomy room. "I'm called into his presence... I've been here all day but this will be my first time going into his sanctuary!"

"You mean," Bisola was confused by the excitement, "my Granny's room?"

Bamgbose ignored her question and opened the camera on her phone so she could check her face in its selfie mode, "Have you seen him? Of course you have, you incredibly lucky woman! I caught a glimpse and..." she lowered her camera and her voice dropped to almost a whisper, "he exceeds my wildest dreams! I have never been happier to be who I am!"

Ohkaaaay.

Bisola glanced away from the trembling woman trying not to feel judgmental but she recognized fan-girling when she saw it. The fact that it was for that guy, too... well, technically she kind of understood. He was a god and he was... okay, he was objectively hot, she wasn't even going to front but still, he was rude and clearly mean tempered and while she didn't overly mind those traits when reading a good romance novel, in real life, it turned out experiencing them first hand could be quite hurtful. Who would've guessed, right?

Add to that the fact that she had to put up with him in her house for who knew how long.

And the wasted Amala.

Honestly she resented him.

"I have to go." having confirmed herself presentable, Bamgbose reached for the door, "If you need to contact me I already sent you a whatsapp message so just reply."

She paused just before opening the door and turned, "Listen, this event is the greatest and most significant thing that has or will ever occur in our lifetime. I really don't want to mess it up... so, I'd appreciate it if you didn't bring up my small temper lapse earlier with Kabiyesi? I'll owe you one and that's something because - there's almost nothing in this city that I can't get you."

With that enigmatic statement she opened Bisola's bedroom door and let herself out and all the construction noise in.

Bisola was left to contemplate wether her life had just gotten better or worse and she felt strongly like it was the latter.

***

The noise stopped at about 8:30pm. Bisola knew because she'd spent every hour since Bamz left her room deciding to go out and chase out the invaders then losing the liver required to do it at the very last second.

By 9:00pm she was fairly certain that everyone had finally left of their own accord. The absolute silence descended so swiftly that she was half convinced that they had just vanished with their tools still in their hands.

At 9:30pm, literally starving, she poked her head out from her bedroom.

And it was like poking her head into a different world... As in - the furniture, the walls, floors, lighting, everything was different, it even smelled different - all expensive leather, dark wood and hints of ylang ylang. Not even a vague memory of Granny's living room remained. What had replaced it felt like that office you were ushered into for hand shakes after your agency landed the big, multi million naira contract. The room you left with a little bit of the scent suffused into your clothes and then you never, ever entered again.

Bisola crept forward in fascination, feeling like she was about to be bounced by security at any moment. She was staring - well gaping to be honest - at the literal rain forest of large plants and succulents in gorgeous terracota planters where the dining table used to be when the familar rumble of her tenant-by-force's baritone took her by surprise.

"You're up." he said.