GESTURES.

Nenrot wakes up from her bed, and yawns to welcome the daylight filtering through her window. She hears a knock on her door, and quickly takes out her customized pistol under her pillow. She puts the hand holding the pistol under her duvet to keep it hidden from view, but not too far to allow her immediate access to it.

"Who's there?"

Samuel, one of her bodyguards responds. "It's Samuel, mama."

"What's the problem, Samuel?"

"I have a delivery for you. It was delivered a few minutes ago. May I come in?"

With a puzzled look on her face, she invites him in. He enters with the package and bows respectfully before her. "Good morning, mama, trust you slept well."

"Yeah, I did, thanks. Who sent the package?"

He places the package on the bed beside her with her approval. "No idea. It was just delivered by a delivery man, and he had your name written on it. It doesn't include the name of the person that sent it."

"Okay, did you at least scan it for all the usual bells and whistles?"

"I did, mama. It's bug-free, and there's no explosive attached. I did everything I was supposed to do, short of tearing open the package to assess its content. Anyway, the package is clean."

"Thank you, Samuel. You may leave."

He takes a bow and exits.

She lifts the wrapped package, trying to figure out who could have sent it to her. Trying unsuccessfully to solve the riddle of the sender, she tears it open and a card falls out of it. She ignores it and focuses on the box inside the wrapper. She opens it and sees a diamond bracelet and a bunch of flowers inside it. She bends and picks up the fallen card.

She reads through the inscription on the card, "From Rotji. You deserve a day as beautiful as you, sadly, I couldn't get any flowers that would quite portray your beauty. It hurts to even try, you are more beautiful. I hope this makes you happy. Have a beautiful day."

She smiles and tries the bracelet on. It fits her perfectly, and she begins to analyze the zeros that would have paid for it. She sniffs the flowers and blushes. "And to think the rose is my favorite flower." She stands up to go and get a vase for the flowers.

Rotji is seated in his car, parked a few houses away from Nenrot's house. The delivery man that left Nenrot's house is seated with him.

"Did you see her while you were making the delivery?"

"No, I didn't, but I'm certain she would receive it soon."

"Thank you for a job well done, I have transferred some money into your account."

"Thank you very much, sir."

"You are welcome. Don't forget to always make the deliveries to her house at the appointed time every day. You just keep making the deliveries until I say otherwise. Lemme know if you need any more money down the line."

"Okay, sir." He gets out of the car and climbs the bicycle that he had earlier parked beside Rotji's car. He crosses his delivery bag over his shoulder and rides away.

Rotji takes out his phone and dials Nenrot's number. It rings and she picks it up.

"Hello."

"It's me, Nenrot, Rotji."

"I know."

"Well, how did you know?"

"You have my number too, how did you get it?"

"Never mind that. Do you like the flowers and the small gift I sent to you?"

"I do, but I don't know what they are for."

"It's just my little way of saying sorry again for our last encounter."

"I told you it's all good. Thanks for the gift, but I can't accept it."

"Why is that?"

"I can afford to buy myself gifts like this if I please, so what's the point?"

"That's why it's called a gift. The point is I am giving it to you of my own free will, not cause you can't afford it."

"I have learned that men seldom give gifts like this without a hidden agenda."

"How about you don't look a gift horse in the mouth? Please, keep them, I insist. Consider it a celebration of our partnership, no strings attached."

"Well, I guess it's okay. Thank you once again. Enjoy the rest of your day." She hangs up, leaving Rotji staring at his phone in surprise.

"And to think it took a lot of effort to pick out what she would like," Rotji mutters to himself as he puts his car in gear, and zooms off.

Nenrot places her phone on the bedside mirror and admires the bracelet all over again. She picks up her phone and calls Olu who is downstairs to see her immediately.

She gets up and changes out of her nightgown into a top and shorts, just as Olu knocks on the door, and she tells him to enter.

"I'm here, mama. You told me to come."

"Yeah, what do you make of this?" She asks putting the bracelet in his palm.

"I don't understand you. Your bracelet is beautiful, very beautiful in fact. Nothing beats quality. Are you doubting the authenticity? I know how to get it authenticated, but even with my untrained eye, I can tell this bracelet is as real as real gets"

"Rotji sent the bracelet with flowers, and a card to me this morning."

"Wow, I didn't see that coming. Why did he send it to you?"

"I'm not sure myself, he claims it's to make up for our last encounter. I'm not sure I believe him."

"It could be that he just wants to make a good impression on you seeing as you are business partners now."

"You think so? What would be the point of that? My job is to get his goods delivered and get paid for my efforts. What bearing would the gifts have over that? It's not like I am going to give him special treatment or anything."

"There's another logical explanation though."

"What's that?"

"He could have designs on you."

"No, I find that hard to believe. We both know Rotji's reputation, he's not the serious type."

"I never said he wanted to get serious with you, I only said he could have designs on you."

"Can I tell you a little secret though?"

"Yes, mama. You know whatever you tell me doesn't go beyond us."

"It's not that much of a secret. I just don't want to give people the impression that I used to be weak. You know Rotji was my role model in this job?"

"Really? I didn't know you knew each other."

"We don't know each other personally, I only said he was my role model. When I first struck out on my own, I was scared to venture into this line of business, even though I badly wanted to. Everyone I approached to partner with kept refusing, saying it's a man's world, and women have no business in it."

"Well, mama, you know how it was then. The movers, and shakers back then are all gone now, they were just old school and preferred to stick to their myopic way of thinking. Look at you know, you made it real big."

"Yeah, I thank God for that. Anyway, I was close to giving up when Rotji arrived on the scene, he had just inherited the business from his father, and he was as focused as a lion hunting for prey. He forced all the old cargoes out of business and took over their businesses. He changed the narrative completely, and introduced different modern techniques."

Olu nods in agreement, "That's true, I remember that time. I wasn't working with you then. No one dared cross him, he scrubbed everything clean and took over as the number 1 in this business. It was just refreshing to see a young man take charge for once."

"I then reasoned that if Rotji could introduce the modern way of doing things, and force the old men to retire, I can as well shatter the myth that women couldn't do this business. I then worked my way up in the background, slowly taking over, one step at a time. I do respect Rotji, but I can't allow him to take advantage of me."

Olu smiles, "I guess you better safeguard your heart very well. You just might be in for a shock. He has a way with ladies I heard."

She smiles, and playfully throws a pillow at him. "Get out of my room this minute."

He laughs and catches the pillow mid-air. He places it back on the bed beside her, bows and continues laughing on his way out.

Nenrot admires the bracelet once more before puting it back in its box.