written by oyin oluwatosin
**7.30pm **
'When is your Dad coming to Nigeria?' Dare asked Tarasha who sat opposite him, playing with the spoon around the plate.
'He might come visiting when I have established something big' Tarasha answered after munching the food particles in her mouth.
'I see. Your family is a business minded one' he said playfully.
'Just like yours' Tarasha remarked playfully.
'Not everyone loves business in my family' he frowned. 'I personally don't like business'
'What do you mean?' She asked with a chuckle.
'I would have loved to be a lawyer' he replied sadly. 'But I had to tow this path because my father needed someone to take over his companies'
Tarasha remained silent and listened to him with keen interest.
'He gathered a lot when he was in government and he invested so much' Dare continued with a note of sadness. 'At a time he was in charge of securing the whole nation. He says he got fought by a lot of lawyers and wouldn't want me to become one of his enemies'
'If you want to be a top profile lawyer, you would have lots of enemies that'll want to bring you down, so he says. He doesn't want any of his children to fight like he did'
Tarasha extended her hand on the table and held his hands in a compassionate manner. He stared into her face, he could see she felt his sadness. She gave a him a look of reassurance, like she had been his friend for ages.
He had been with so many girls but always, his only aim was to sleep with them. This one was different, he felt like he could pour his heart to her.
'Tell me about your father?' Tarasha pushed further, with the main aim of gathering more information about her target. 'How did he gather so much money to invest with?'
He stared at her face once again without saying a word. She quickly added more soothing words to reassure him. She squeezed his palm in hers. 'I mean he's a success, that means he had a mind of an entrepreneur unlike so many other retired public officers who are living off their pensions and gains during service'
He smiled. 'My Father had some businesses he was involved in before serving the country. He used his gains at that time to invest more for the future'
'Hmm...'Tarasha nodded silently and relaxed back into her seat, unsatisfied by the response.
Dare smiled and continued.
'When would you love to meet my father?'
'When would you love to meet my father?'
'I already left that for you to fix' she answered. 'Since you said you were going to help me talk with him'
'Sure, I will' he reassured. 'You'll most likely meet with him next week'
'Thanks' she smiled.
'So what about your boyfriend?' He changed the topic.
'Boyfriend?' She seemed surprised.
'Yes'
'Well, I've got no time for a boyfriend right now. I want to establish my business first'
'Huh?' His eyes widened as he laugh. 'You seem to just love business more than everything else'
She joined in the laughter. 'Not really. I love my parents more, they mean the world to me'
'Huh ho! Nice' he smiled sheepishly.
He placed his hand on his stomach as he suddenly began to feel uneasy. He covered his mouth with the other palm as he gave a silent belch.
'Can you excuse me for a minute' he said and got up from the seat.
'Oh yea sure' she permitted with a smile.
She frowned and picked up her phone as he left. Her instinct told her something was happening as her network bar kept fluctuating, but she wasn't sure of what it was.
++++++++++
**9.30pm**
'What? Data inaccessible?' Henry exclaimed at the pop up message on the laptop screen. How can that be? Does that mean that Evelyn was using an unregistered sim?
No, but it wasn't possible to use a sim card without registering it first. So why couldn't he access Evelyn's registration details on the network bearer's database? Or was it that the network bearer has made their database unhackable?
He dropped the laptop on the bed and stood up to yawn and stretch himself. His eyes met the wall clock, to his surprise it was twenty minutes to five. He was planning to call Evelyn by nine pm. but he didn't know when the time passed as he was carried away by the desire to find her full name and details.
He picked up the phone and dialed the number as he sat on the bed. The call was answered after it rang the third time.
'Hello Evelyn' he said pleasantly.
'Hello' a tiny voice replied.
'How are you doing?'
'Fine'
'You remember me?' He asked.
'No, I'm actually expecting an introduction'
Henry smiled. 'It's Henry, we met earlier today'
'I remember' she replied calmly, with less enthusiasm.
'Yeah, so how's your night going?'
'Great, yours?' She managed to reply.
'Awesome'
'Alright'
'So when would we see again?'
'I don't have an answer to that question now' she answered softly.
'Can we meet for lunch tomorrow?' He offered.
'I'm not sure I'll be free' she replied nonchalantly.
'Not sure? Tomorrow's Saturday' he said.
'Yes, I know. I also have things to do on weekends'
'Would you be busy all through the day? Maybe we can meet by evening time'
'You know what? I'll call you if I'm less busy' she said and ended the call immediately.
Henry dropped the phone slowly. He wondered why she was acting so hard. His mind suddenly returned to the mystery surrounding her phone numberregistration details. He quickly checked the true caller application on his phone if it had recognized the number but the app did not show records of the call. That got him more suspicious.
He bit his lips as he remembered that he could have traced the call and gotten more information, including her location. He thought of calling back and tracing it but suspended it for another day.
He cleared his throat as he got up from the bed to pull his shirt. Why was he even getting unnecessarily suspicious about an innocent looking girl anyway, he thought. Maybe the sim registration just had some errors from the network bearer's database. He had earlier decided and even included in his new year resolutions to stop intruding into people's personal life through his knowledge of hacking. He didn't know how he found himself doing it again when he was aware that it was a crime and was wrong morally.
He was about to hang his shirt in the wardrobe when his mind changed again. He saw the jersey he wore earlier that evening. His name on the collar was printed in very small characters and that made another question arise in his mind. How was Evelyn able to read it from the distance she was standing? He also did not remember turning his back to her, so she couldn't have seen the name there.
She must have known him from somewhere else, he thought, remembering the feeling he had when he met her at the gadgeta store. She also could have lied about her name. He must find her real name. He was going to hack illegally once more and get her real details and location. Just once more!
...........
18/01/2031
'Good morning Dad' Dare voice sounded lively as Chief Jubril answered the call.
'Good morning son' the man replied. 'How is everything?'
'Fine Dad' Dare replied and then went straight to his reason for calling. 'I have one of my friends who would like to do business with you'
'Your friend?' The man seemed surprised.
'Yes, my friend' Dare answered. He seemed surprised too that he called her his friend. It was not up to one week that they had met and he already developed trust and friendship for her. What endeared him to her more was the listening ears that she gave to him. She was not like the other girls that he met who were only interested in developing a relationship with him because of his money. He too had always played along with them and used them only for sex and dump them after a while without releasing so much money like they expect him to. That has made several girls label him a tightfisted person.
'Your friend? Are you sure?' The man asked again.
'Come on dad' he urged. 'Why are you talking to me like I'm a kid?'
'No Dare, don't get it wrong' the man pleaded. 'You hardly keep friends who are into business or investments, so I'm just surprised'
'I just met this wonderful Lady Dad' he continued with excitement. 'She seems industrious and business minded'
'You just met her?' He replied with a note of suspicion.
'Yes Dad' Dare answered. 'She's a Nigerian but grew up in Canada with her parents. Her parents own large companies in Ontario Canada'
'Hmm... Dare' the father sighed. 'You can't just trust someone you just met'
Dare was silent for a moment. His father's words left an impact on him, the loudness of his voice reduced. 'I think she's sincere'
'You think? You should not make conclusions based on assumption, she might likely be a fraudster' he fired.
Dare remained silent.
'What's her full name?' The Chief asked.
'Evelyn Alex' Dare answered.
'Her Dad's name?'
'Alexander Amaechi'
'Okay' the man jotted down the names. 'Tell her to come see me on Monday'
'Okay Dad, have a pleasant day'
'You too' Chief Jubril replied and hung up. He shook his head as he placed the phone on the seat. His son just disappointed him, he didn't expect that Dare would not be reasonable enough to be careful with a recent acquaintance.
He picked up the jotter where he wrote down the names. He was sure going to deal with the Lady if he finds out that she is a fraudster, he swore.
END OF CHAPTER NINE
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