ENDORSED

Rotji, Chinedu, and some of his most trusted employees are in Nenrot's warehouse, taking stock of his merchandise. Nenrot is present too with her reliable sidekick, Olu, and a few of her men.

Turning to Chinedu, Rotji asks, "You done yet?"

Chinedu ticks off the last box on the list in his hand and nods. "Yes, boss. It's all here."

"Good. He faces Nenrot, "My boys will be back here by midnight to transport my goods if it's fine by you. I don't want to risk transporting them in daylight."

Nenrot shrugs, "It's fine by me, my boys will be here all through the night.

"I really must say, I'm impressed with this delivery. You are as good as they described, even better. Thank you for holding up your end of the bargain. I trust you have received the payment?" 

"Yeah, I did otherwise, your goods wouldn't be here."

"Can I ask you a question though?"

She takes out a cigarette from her purse and lights it. "Shoot, I'm all ears."

"How do you do it? I mean how do you manage to avoid detection of your shopping routes?"

She smiles and blows away the smoke. "You seriously don't expect me to answer that? It's like telling me to give up my secrets."

"No, that's not what I mean. I'm just curious. You can at least give me a hint."

"Let's just say I have people in high places."

"That's enough answer for me, I was just curious. So, have you given any thought to our dinner? Are you free tonight? Let's just grab a quick bite, and talk."

"I haven't given any thought to it, I would let you know when I do. I'm not free tonight, I have a date with my bed. It's been a stressful week."

"It's alright, you deserve your rest. Would you let me know whenever you have the time? It would be my pleasure to take you out to dinner."

"I'm making no promises, but I would consider your offer, and let you know if I ever have the time."

"Thank you. That's all I needed to hear. I guess I'll be eating dinner alone then."

She throws her half-smoked cigarette to the floor and stubs it with her heels to Rotji's admiration. "You're welcome." She turns around on her heels, and leaves without so much as a goodbye.

Rotji notices all the men starting at her retreat in open admiration and barks at them to focus on their work.

He motions for Chinedu to come. Chinedu comes running to him. "What do you need me to do, boss?"

"I reserved a table for two in anticipation of her joining me for dinner. I need you to find me a girl to take to dinner."

"On it, boss."

"You better make sure you do your due diligence so you bring me another junkie. Call me when you are done, I need to go home to change."

"I apologize for that, boss, it won't happen again."

Chinedu leaves with Rotji in tow.

THREE HOURS LATER

Rotji is seated at a table, with a very beautiful girl, trying unsuccessfully to hold a conversation with her. It's obvious he's bored but doesn't want the girl to notice. He is praying inwardly for her to finish, so he can leave when Nenrot enters the restaurant in the arms of a tall, dark handsome, and fit man.

She heads to their reserved table with her date, and they sit down to place their orders.

Rotji sights her almost immediately as she sees him, and their eyes meet for a few seconds before Nenrot tears her gaze away from him to focus on her date. Their food soon arrives and they start eating.

"Excuse me for a minute, please. I need to go say hi to a friend." His date nods and continues eating. Rotji stands and heads to Nenrot's table.

"Hi, Nenrot."

She eyes him uncomfortably and murmurs a barely audible response to his greeting.

Rotji sizes her date up with his eyes and concedes grudgingly to himself that he's good-looking. He exchanges greetings with Nenrot's date.

"Won't you introduce me to your date?"

"Sorry, my bad. Anthony, meet Rotji, my business partner. Rotji, this is Anthony, my friend."

The men exchange handshakes.

Anthony wipes his mouth with a napkin. "So, what is it you do, Mr Rotji? Nenrot here has been vague with me on the subject of what she does. Meeting her business partner on this date is a huge bonus."

Rotji pulls out a third chair from the table, "Can I sit down?"

"No, you can't, Rotji. I'm here on a date. I can already see your date getting restless." Nenrot bursts out in annoyance pointing at the table Rotji just vacated.

Anthony gently pats Nenrot's hands to Rotji's annoyance. "It's okay, let him stay here for a little while. I'm interested in getting to know him." Turning to Rotji, "you may have your seat."

Rotji thanks him and sits down. "What was that question you asked again?"

"I asked you what kind of business you are involved in with Nenrot."

Rotji smiles mischievously and he winks at Nenrot who is focused on their conversation with icy eyes.

"We are importers, though I am currently on a break."

"That's nice. What do you import exactly?"

"A few things here and there. It depends on the kinds of orders we get."

"Makes sense. So, how long have you known her?"

"Not that long really, I can't put a time frame on our meeting."

Rotji's date angrily picks up her bag and exits the restaurant.

"I see. How is business going anyway?"

"Fine, Anthony, it's going all good. Nenrot currently handles most of the business, cause as I said earlier, I'm currently on a break."

Anthony takes a sip of his wine. "If you ask me, that's not the kind of job a woman should be left to oversee. She should be the one taking the break while you attend to business." He turns to Nenrot, "No offense please, but women usually mess things like that up."

"I feel the same way too, women shouldn't be left to the handling of business. They just don't have the IQ needed to make business decisions."

Nenrot who has been quiet all through the exchange suddenly bursts out, "excuse you? I would take that back if I were you."

With a twinkle in his eyes, Rotji smiles triumphantly at Nenrot. "I'm only stating facts here."

She picks up her bag, takes the bottle of the half-finished drink on the table, and pours the entire bottle of wine all over the white tablecloth. "Don't ever try to call me again, Anthony, if you know what's good for you." Turning to Rotji, "As for you, I'll be seeing you around. For your own sake, I hope you have found another shipper." She exits the restaurant taking fast steps.

Rotji quickly stands up and runs after her. He runs outside and sees her getting into her car. He knocks on the glass, and she winds it down.

"Look, Nenrot, I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. I guess I was just angry that you declined my invitation only for you to go out with someone else."

She blinks her eyes twice in surprise, "Are you raving mad? Since when do I owe you an explanation about my movements? This is beyond ridiculous."

"I'm sorry, I don't have any excuse. I'm sorry for ruining your date."

She sighs, "I guess it's okay, the man was a bore anyways. You should apologize to your girlfriend for abandoning her at the table."

"She's not my girlfriend, she"s just a random girl I brought to fill in. I already made reservations here for you and I, and I just didn't feel like having dinner alone. She's just a beautiful, shes a bimbo. She couldn't even hold an intelligent conversation."

She smiles, "I feel you. My date was just like that? He's a chatterbox, and he wasn't even making any sense. Maybe we should swap dates next time."

"If you will agree to go out with me."

"That remains to be seen. Meanwhile, good night." She winds the glass back up, and zooms off cleanly like only a professional driver would do."

"What a woman!" Rotji mutters to himself, staring at the rear end of her car as she drives off. departure.