What exactly was going through Feire’s mind?
She knew it. She had said it over and over again — this man was cheating.
Now suddenly there was a Kike in the equation.
Suspense hammered against her chest as she waited for Desmond to respond, but he simply stood there with his head lowered, and somehow that silence confirmed every fear already growing inside her.
“Desmond!” she called again, louder this time.
“She’s just a friend, Feire. Why are you thinking like this?”
Feire clasped her hands together dramatically and tilted sideways slightly, like the typical African mothers who clap, laugh, and stare at you as though your life is already over.
“Please, dear, what friend? You’ve never mentioned any Kike before. I’m just hearing her name for the first time.”
Mosun quietly studied the atmosphere, suddenly worried she had caused a serious problem.
“Em…” she tried to speak, but lost her voice halfway.
“Can we all calm down and let me explain?” Desmond said, chewing lightly on his lower lip. “Let’s stop assuming things and hear my side of the story. Can we sit down, please?”
“What exactly do we need seats for?” Feire snapped immediately. “This discussion started standing, let’s continue standing. Stop trying to scam me, Des. Who is Kike?”
“Kike is someone I met sometime back. I believe she’s your boss, right?” he asked, turning to Mosun.
“Yes… something like that,” she replied cautiously.
“Okay, good. I met her in Ikeja sometime ago and she mentioned wanting to build a complex there. We got talking, and I told her to give me the contract. That’s how we became friends. I was still planning to tell you about her, Feire.”
Feire laughed dryly and clasped her hands again.
“Desmond, please don’t take me for a fool. I’m sensible enough to know the difference between truth and a blatant lie. How exactly did you ‘run into’ her? You people just started talking randomly? And what project is this project you’ve never mentioned to me before?”
“Babes, calm down. I was actually coming from her place this evening. Should I put a call through and place it on loudspeaker so you can hear everything yourself?”
Then he turned to Mosun again.
“And how many times have you seen us together?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe twice.”
“The first time, her car broke down and she asked me to pick her up so we could attend a meeting.”
Feire grinned bitterly.
“So now you pick her up too? Why couldn’t you hold the meeting in her office?”
Desmond sighed quietly.
He was running out of explanations.
Who exactly was this Mosun that suddenly appeared from nowhere without enough sense to read the atmosphere before speaking?
His explanations sounded weak, even to him, yet he knew he technically wasn’t lying.
“By the way,” Feire continued, “you still haven’t answered my first question. How exactly did you meet her?”
“Okay… do you remember the dent on the side of my car?”
Feire was gradually losing patience.
She needed direct answers.
At that point, nothing he said seemed capable of changing her mind anymore. Everything already felt like proof that she had been played all along.
She sat down slowly and looked away from both of them.
“Just let me explain properly,” Desmond pleaded. “You’re reacting this way because you’ve been overthinking unnecessarily.”
She looked at him with pure disbelief.
“Because of today’s radio show? Desmond, reactions explain issues more than words. I saw the way you reacted when Mosun mentioned Kike.”
“Please, Feire, what exactly is happening here?” Mosun asked quietly, guilt already creeping into her chest.
Desmond brought out his phone and dialed a number.
A few seconds later, he placed the phone on loudspeaker.
“Hey, Kike.”
“Desmond, have you gotten home already?” the female voice asked.
“No, I’m somewhere handling something. What about you?”
“I just got home. I’m exhausted. Thanks again for helping out today.”
“You’re welcome. I want to ask you a few questions and I need you to answer honestly, alright?”
“Okay… what’s going on?”
“How did we meet?”
“Why are you suddenly asking—”
“Just answer me,” he interrupted gently.
“Wasn’t it your disorganised self that hit my car while trying to drive out of the mall?” she replied with a laugh. “I didn’t even make an issue out of it because I wasn’t in the mood for stress. Then you introduced yourself and I told you about my project. I mentioned I wanted to reach out to engineers and architects, so we exchanged numbers. What exactly is wrong?”
“The day I came to your office, why did I come?”
“Which day exactly?”
Desmond sighed. “True. Both times.”
“Why these questions? Wait… am I on loudspeaker? Or are you with your girlfriend?” she teased.
“You’re not serious. Just answer me.”
“The first time, my car broke down and we needed to meet that cement supplier, so you picked me up. The second time, it was raining heavily and you came to take me out for lunch.”
“What did we discuss?”
“The Ikeja project now. And I was complaining about my stressful father.”
“Okay, thank you. I’ll call you back.”
He ended the call slowly.
Then he looked at Feire and Mosun, slipped the phone into his pocket, picked up his handkerchief, and started walking toward the door.
“Desmond, wait!” Feire rushed after him immediately.
“I’m not angry,” he said calmly without turning back. “I’m just not in the mood to say anything right now. I’ll see you later.”
Feire stood by the door, watching him leave.
The moment he disappeared, she turned slowly and glared at Mosun.
“You’re a big goat.”
Mosun hissed and burst into laughter.