chapter twenty seven

"Hello, How's the prettiest girl doing today?"

"I'm fine, and you?" Jasmine asked blushing like a teenager. Her assistant walked into her small office and she signaled her to wait a minute.

"I'm good. I just realized I haven't heard your voice for a while and decided to call. Hearing your voice soothes me. It adds an inexplicable flavour to my day"

"But we literally spoke to each other three hours ago. How's that a while?" Jasmine asked.

"Three hours is definitely a long time for me. Tomorrow is Saturday, how about we hang out at the beach tomorrow?"

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. It's been a while since I went to one"

"Then we have a date. Now that I've heard your voice, I can now go back to work. Do have a lovely day dear"

"And you too" She said hanging up the call.

Fúnmi cleared her throat in an exaggerated manner. "Seems our madam is in love" She said teasingly

"Don't even go there. Just hand over the report please" Jasmine replied. She wanted her face to serious but her smiles seems to be involuntary these days.

Fúnmi smiled back, she was so happy for whoever was making Jasmine genuinely happy. For the past weeks, her boss has been filled with so much positive energy. She was no longer testy and irritable as she used to be. She silently prayed that whoever was responsible would continue the good work. She really loved the version of Jasmine she was seeing now.

After the last date, Jasmine and stanely kept going out for the next three weeks. Sometimes they go with their kids and hang out together. Stanely is always the first person to talk to her as soon as she wakes up and the last before she sleeps.

She knew he wanted more than just friends but was scared that she wasn't ready yet, she also feared that relationship might ruin everything. She was so happy being friends she didn't want the complicatedness of relationship to ruin it for her.

They haven't also talked about her past. She knew he wanted to talk about it but was waiting patiently for her to bring it up herself and talk about it on her own terms.

She really liked stanely. He was the definition of a perfect gentle man. He was humble, kind, funny and treated her with utmost respect. The opposite of her ex husband. Sometimes she told herself that he wasn't real. That he was just pretending like most men. Maybe he would show himself after he got what he wanted.

She wanted to convince herself so bad but couldn't really bring herself to do so. The genuininty was so glaring that it scared her.

She would try her best to make sure that they remained just friends. She didn't want anything to ruin her happiness including a chance at being romantically involved with him. "You can really trust people". She told herself as she remembered what happened when she trusted people.

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"Mummy are we going out with Daniel and his daddy?" Juliet asked as her mother applied her make-up

Jasmine couldn't help laughing. They had all gone out together twice so she naturally assumed they would be going out together all the time.

"Who is we?" She asked sarcastically

"Me, you and Judith"

"Well you and your sister are going to hang out with granny here at home while I go out"

"With Daniel's daddy?"

"Must it be with him? Can't I hang out with others?"

"Who are the others? You don't have any friends. Daniel's dad is your only friend" Jasmine smiled at her daughter's subtle savage remark. She was right though, Daniel's dad is her only friend.

"Well I have other friends, you don't just know them yet"

"But you're going out with Daniel's dad, right?" Jasmine sighed, this girl won't let it go until she gets the information she was looking for.

"Juliet, go to the sitting room and watch cartoon with your sister. Let me focus on my make-up please"

"I'll go but answer me first"

"I'm not going to answer that question so you better go"

"I knew it. Mummy it's not fair, you're going out with him. Is Daniel coming?"

"No, Daniel is not coming, it's just the two of us"

"But you promised to take us to the amusement park"

"I'll take you guys next week but if you keep standing there and disturbing my life, I won't take you" She stood there contemplating whether to stand there and pester her mum or leave. She decided on the later. She didn't want to upset her mum further and risk not going out next week

Jasmine heaved a sigh of relief as Juliet left the room. Children could be a pain in the ass sometimes. She completed her makeup and put on her beach hat to match with her sleeveless beach gown.

She looked at the time, it was almost 6pm. She was running late. She picked up her phone and booked an Uber. She didn't want to drive.

"This one you're going to the beach by this time. Isn't it late? When will you return?" Her mother asked as she came into the room.

"This is actually the best time to go to the beach. Don't worry, I'll be back before 12am"

"12am? You're not serious. And you seriously want me to believe there's nothing between you two?"

"There's seriously nothing between us. Why would I lie to you, we're just friends"

"What type of friends?" Jasmine's phone began to ring and she thanked God for the timely intervention of her ride.

"My ride is here mum, we'll talk later. Take care" she said as she left the room.

She got to the beach by almost six thirty. She spotted stanely at the entrance. He was wearing a white shorts with a flowery vintage shirt. He waved at her

"Sorry I'm late" She apologized as she hugged him. She noticed the tingling sensation each time they hug or held hands but ignored it. She didn't want to think of what it might mean.

"It's okay, I just got here myself, let's go in, I've paid our entry fee"

Since it was weekend, the beach was alive and joyful, it was bubbling with people, Lovely couples could be seen everywhere, holding hands, laughing and looking at each other lovingly

"Let's go grab a drink first, we'll come back to the water when most people are gone" Stanely said.

"Sure, that's a great idea" Jasmine replied as they went to one of the thatched roof huts used as bars and restaurants. They settled at a table and ordered those coconut water.

"Can you believe Daniel cried his eyes out when I told him I was going out with you. He thought your kids were coming and I didn't want to take him"

Really?" Mine didn't cry but she wanted me to take her. She kept pestering me till I told her where I was going"

'Well that's my mistake, I shouldn't have told him where I was going"

"Ehyaa! How are you coping with Daniel. I'm surprised you didn't send him to go live your family like most men would but decided to train him yourself" She knew she had brought up a sensitive topic as he hasn't spoken to her about his late wife or struggles with his son either.

"To be honest it wasn't easy. My mum wanted me hand him over even my wife's family wanted custody. When I told them I'll be doing it myself, they thought I wasn't serious. It was war, I had to prove that I was really capable of handling a child before they eventually let me"

"I understand, it's really hard to imagine a man wanting to take custody of a child and he was even a toddler when his mum died so they just expected you to hand him over like most men would. I'm surprised myself. What made you do that?" She asked.

"Well not just because my late wife would have really wanted that but because I also wanted to be in my son's life. I want to be there in his formative years and guide him through life. I don't want to be a stranger who shows up once in a while"

"Wow! That's impressive. He's really lucky to have you in his life. You're a great dad"

"I try my best. It's not easy, It's been really hard trying to push through life without her. She was my world"

Jasmine reached out for his hand and squeezed them.

"I'm so sorry about that, I understand how you feel. I know it's hard but you'll surely pull through. I went through worse. Infact I never believed I would survive it. I thought I would die"

"What happened?"

Jasmine paused as the memories pushed themselves to the surface causing her to feel different emotions at the same time.

"It's okay if you don't want to still talk about it--"

"No it's fine. I want to. My husband cheated on me with my best friend"

"What?"

"It's not even the fact that he cheated for he has always been a cheat. I decided to stay because of the kids. It was the fact that he fell madly in love with my best girl, got her pregnant and ended our marriage because of her. They got married after she gave birth and he has been showering her with love ever since. Like he fucking loves her"

"My goodness! I'm sorry. No one deserves to go through that but I don't believe he actually loves her. Since he he has always been a womanizer, he's just infatuated by her, it will soon pass away and he would surely go back to fucking other women".

"That's what I thought too but for the one year I stalked them on social media, I realized I was wrong. He did things he has never done for me before. He sent her flowers every single day with a hand written note. Always spending time with her and traveling to different countries together"

"That's how it always starts out. A womanizer is always a womanizer, they hardly ever change. He's just infatuated at the moment, it will wear off very soon and he'll be back on the streets. Trust me your friend didn't take anything special from you. As a matter of fact, she snatched your problems"

"I don't even care, I've blocked them on social media a long time ago so I don't see their updates. I don't know how they're faring now and I really don't care. I'm just happy I've moved on" Jasmine sighed, it was actually refreshing t talk about these things.

"Come with me" He said holding out his hand. She took it and the began taking a walk towards the shores of the beach. It was dark and they were just few people around. The sound of the waves colliding with compacted wet sand could be heard clearly. The sand felt warm and gritty as they walked closer into the water. The water was chilling.

Jasmine shivered at the feel of the cold water on feet making her to hold him even tightly. A strong wave could be seen rolling toward them, as it got closer, Jasmine started running away and stanely pursued her till he caught her by the waist and drew her into him.

"You didn't tell me you had phobia for the sea" He said sniffing in the scent of her hair as the breeze blew them up and in all direction

"No I'm not, I was just scared of that wave, didn't you see how strong it was?"

"Well it is but we're stronger. We've both been through a lot and here we are, still standing strong"

"Well I couldn't agree more" She replied turning to face him. She put her hands around his neck as he drew her even closer. Their faces were only few inches apart and they could feel each other's breath.

"Jasmine" He called her softly.

"Yes" Her reply came out as a whisper.

"I know it might be too soon for you but I want you, I want you to be mine. I've always wanted you from the first day I saw you. I never believed I would ever want any other woman since my wife died but here am I, wanting and needing you to be in my life"

Jasmine's hand fell off his neck instantly as she withdrew herself from him. It wasn't what she was expecting at all. She expected a kiss, she expected anything but this. She was too stunned to speak. She just looked on, unable to utter a word.