๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
๐
ฟ๐
ฐ๐๐ ๐
ด๐
ธ๐
ถ๐
ท๐
“What a fruitful day,” Deaconess Beatrice Atanda Collins said as she prepared to retire for the night. She was happy that everything was working out as planned. In a matter of weeks, all evidence about the fraud would be tendered to the appropriate authorities and the culprits would be brought to book.
It had looked like an herculean task at the onset. She was even scared that the bad elements at Collins and Sons firm; her late husband’s company might find out about what she was doing and come after her. The nature of her husband’s death was such that made her believe that he was killed by someone at his company. Sometime before his death, Collins had hinted that something bad was going on at the company. Some of his top staff were milking him dry and he was looking for a way to nail them. He never mentioned names until he died. His death of course was sudden and unexpected. On the day that he died, he was in high spirit when he left the house. Few hours later, she was called that Collins slumped in the office and had been rushed to the family hospital. The medical director said he was brought in dead. Until his death, Collins was as fit as a fiddle and was someone that never joked with his health. Beatrice could have cried foul especially when she noticed some suspicious items on her first visit to the office after his death. She almost mentioned it to the police when they called on her but decided to let sleeping dogs lye. Why foment trouble when she knows that nothing could bring back her loving husband? His death was therefore adjudged as from natural cause.
Immediately after the funeral, Beatrice jetted out to Canada. On getting back and taking over the headship of the company, she began to sense the evil that her husband had seen before his death. A shady deal was going on. The senior staff were not comfortable with her being at the company. She knew that if she left them alone, they would eat the company to the bone and throw the carcass at her. Her husband’s legacy; she wouldn’t allow it to go to ruins.
She wished that one of the children was willing to return and take over the headship of the company. The three of them were well established in Canada; the first as an IT consultant, the second child as a gynaecologist and the last, the only female as a Mental health Nurse. They had no wish to return to Nigeria because they were already Canadian citizens.
The children advised Deaconess Beatrice to sell off the company. She vehemently refused insisting that she wouldn’t sell off her husband’s legacy. Instead of that, she would withdraw to the background, allow the looters to continue looting while she work on nailing them. She would do a thorough investigation of the company’s account, including stocks and assets and bring the bad people to justice. For that, she needed someone that she could totally trust. Someone that wouldn’t doublecross her and reveal her plans to the world.
That was where Kola came in. She had heard of his competence as a chattered accountant with an MBA. He had often voluntarily helped with the church account. Moreover, he worked for a highly reputable company where people that didn’t know their onions couldn’t work. For him to have worked in Bello& Bello for more than a decade, he must be good at what he does.
She offered him the job of auditing her company’s account thoroughly. She took up the task of making every necessary document available. She swore him to secrecy, that what they were doing must be kept as discrete as possible. Thus, they agreed that her house would be the best working space for the job.
Every evening, Kola would come over to scrutinize documents; check books, purchase invoices, sales receipts, bank statements, inventory records and the likes. Kola engaged the services of some external forensic experts and every checked document is always passed to them for further scrutiny.
Everything was closing in. They’d gotten facts about a massive fraud and the units that were affected. They just needed to dot some ies and cross some tes. Beatrice was eager to go to the police to effect some arrests. She wanted the company to be rid of the unscrupulous elements so that a new regime could be instituted. She had hoped that they would be able to do that in the following week, but for the mail she just got from Ghana.
The company was her husband’s project. For her and for years, she had nursed the dream of having an NGO for the less privileged and the downtrodden. When her husband died, her mind shifted to a particular set of people; the widows. She knew of how the society often view them and the challenges they face, especially if the husband was the sole bread winner of the family before he died. She planned to have her NGO offering various forms of services ranging from counseling to skill acquisition and giving financial aids. To make herself more effective in the path she had choosen, Mrs. Beatrice sought for a place she could get trained on counseling and public administration. She searched the internet and was particularly attracted to a Christian ministry in Ghana where a training would commence the following week. Once she got the training, the NGO would be her main priority.
After her training, she would get a competent hand to head the company after she might have flushed the place of all the bad element. And who would that competent hand be if not Kola?
In one of their passing conversations, he had made her know that he planned to leave Bello& Bello to begin something on his own, once he’s financially capable. Deaconess was moved to help him and held his words to heart. She could help him. She would offer him the headship of her company. She would tell him to handle the company same way he would have handled it if it was his own. Who knows, she might eventually give the company to him in the future.
Kola would be suprised at her nice gesture and would go down flat on the floor to show his appreciation. She would smile and ask him to stand up, and he would stand to his full hunky height and smile in his characteristic catchy way. Those dimples at the side of his cheeks would deepen with his smile. He would look down at her and she would feel like hugging him. It’s been more than a year since she was last given a real tight hug, the type that could evoke the kind of feeling that could land one in the other room. Oh, how she missed her husband. Kola resembled him in so many ways.
Deaconess sighed. She knew it was wrong to be dwelling on some kind of thoughts. Thinking about Kola’s handsomeness; the finely chiselled face, his physique and comparing him with her husband could land her in trouble. She’d realized a while now that she couldn’t help but notice Kola’s looks and attributes. The more they got closer, the more she admired the perfection of God’s work in him.
She was happy that God brought him her way. Over the past weeks; seven in all, they’d grown close; so close. She had seen more picture of her husband in him. With each passing day, she saw several of his attributes that were also present in her husband. It got to a point that she would grow restless if she didn’t see Kola for a day. His presence always gave her joy.
At countless times, she had cautioned herself that It shouldn’t be. She tried analyzing her feelings and got more confused. She wanted to push Kola away. Tell him that she didn’t need his help anymore. Though the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak.
And so she decided, that once they finish the auditing, she would severe every relationship with him. That’s easier said than done. Now she’s planning to make him the head of Collins and Sons. She wished she could do more for him.
It wasn’t his looks alone. Kola had same kind of character like her late husband. They were even fans of same football club. She had watched Kola one day as he chewed on some small chops that she placed before him. His mouth reminded her of her late husband’s mouth. How the lips worked slightly downward as he chewed slowly. Kola almost caught her watching him. She excused herself to go into the room and flopped on the bed the moment she got in.
“๐๐๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ญ๐๐ก ๐ข๐ญ” She warned herself.
“๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐ง๐. ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซever. ๐
๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ฌ. ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ข๐๐๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐ญ ๐จ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ, ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐’๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ. ๐๐จ๐ฎ ๐ould ๐๐ฅ๐ฐ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐. ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ould ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ.”
That must be the Holy spirit speaking to me, Beatrice said.
.๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง, ๐๐๐ฅ๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ก. ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ก…๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ก: ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ: ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐.
” No, no,no…” Deaconess Beatrice said loudly and pointed to her chest. “It hasn’t come to that. Lust? I’m only admiring God’s work” She agreed that she was attracted to Kola, but only because he reminded her of her husband. She was too sure that things wouldn’t go beyond admiration. She told herself that she’s a matured Christian. She’s too strong to fall. She had never fallen. She wouldn’t fall.
The thought of falling was far from Deaconess Beatrice’s mind as she settled for the night after sending a text message to Kola, telling him that they would need to settle some things tomorrow, because she would be traveling on Monday.
And when he comes tomorrow, he would be suprised when she gives him the big surprise of his appointment. He would prostrate before her. She would pull him up and stare closely at the deep dimples by the side of his cheeks. And she would be happy that she had made him happy.
TO BE CONTINUED
ยฉBosede Fagbemi
I know that someone would say, I said it. So Jumoke was right all along.
She might be right in some sense but then, maybe she should have acted differently. Let’s hope that she doesn’t push her husband away ignorantly. I’m so sure some things can be remedied now.
As for Kola, I pray his spiritual antennae would be sensitive enough to catch any wrong signal in the air. He boasted yesterday that even if a n***d woman is kept in the room with him, he no go shake body.
Deaconess Beatrice. I hope she would garner strength to master her emotion. Abi, maybe she should steer clear of Kola.
How do you fight off unholy attractions? I’m eagerly waiting for our comments.
