{Read} {PDF EPUB} ~download Hidden Currents by Somi Ekhasomhi Hidden Currents (Lagos Romance Series) This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. Copyright© 2012 by Somi Ekhasomhi. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author. To my family, Daddy, Mummy, Ase and Badubs, you guys are the best. To Ebe, Tonia and Nnenne, the friends I will always be grateful for. To Pearl Eze, for reading, and advising. And for Martins… It was always you. Ada has her life planned out, and there’s no place in it for men or relationships. Even if she had the time, or the inclination, Eddie Bakare is the last man, she would ever consider. He seems to be every girl’s fantasy, handsome, rich, charming, and so sure of himself, but Ada is not interested in fantasy when reality keeps her very well occupied. However, Eddie is determined to make her change her mind. Will she be able to resist him, now that she is the center of his attentions, and does she even want to? At that time of the day, late afternoon, Tafawa Balewa Square was not yet as busy as it would be later in the evening, when the labor force from Victoria Island would arrive to queue for hours for the Bus Rapid Transit buses that would take them over the bridges, to the mainland. Now there was a long queue of big, empty blue and red buses, with only a few passengers seated. The drivers waited impatiently for the passengers to arrive so that they could be on their way. Hawkers, selling cold drinks, fruits, boiled groundnuts, and other typical Lagos traffic snacks, sat impatiently on the curbs, disgruntled with the slow afternoon sales as they eagerly awaited the thirsty, hungry crowd that would arrive in only a few hours. On the other side of the road, walking on the sidewalk in front of the old tennis club and holding hands, were two schoolchildren in uniforms. The bigger one, a girl about eight years old wore a red pinafore, a pink check shirt, black rubber shoes and a pair of white socks that reached up to her knees. The boy, much smaller, wore the same except that instead of the pinafore he was wearing red shorts. Ada Arinze watched from behind them as they moved along the sidewalk. A slim, caramel skinned, medium height figure, casually dressed in blue jeans, black sneakers and a purple T-shirt. A wide purple headband narrowly prevented her thick cloud of tightly curled, springy hair from becoming a sky-high afro. She wore a camera around her neck, and as she watched the children walk ahead of her, her hands reached for it automatically, sensing a good picture. The little boy was kicking his feet idly, with the girl holding one of his hands to keep him from skipping away. Siblings, Ada thought, on their way from school. She took a couple of pictures. She captured the little boy as he jumped too far ahead of his sister and her subsequent warning for him to stay in line, one hand on her waist and one finger pointing towards his upturned nose. After she had taken a couple of pictures, she noticed that the children had stopped walking and were now facing the road. They were obviously waiting for the traffic to clear so that they could cross. As another car sped by, Ada walked up to them. “You want to cross?” She asked with a friendly smile. The little girl looked up at her and nodded uncertainly. The boy only stuck his thumb in his mouth and smiled widely. Ada took both their hands and waited until the road had cleared again. It was a one-way street, but since they were in Lagos, she made sure to look both right and left before attempting to cross to the other side. “Thank you Auntie.” The little girl said shyly before running off with her brother across the concrete pavement to a small wooden kiosk where a woman was selling fresh fruits. Their mother, Ada decided. Probably they would stay with her in the kiosk until evening, when she was ready to go home. Ada smiled nostalgically, remembering herself as a schoolchild, spending the days after school in the much larger shop where her granny used to sell provisions. She shook off the memories and removed the zoom lens from the camera, placing it carefully in her backpack. There was no point in dwelling on those happy days now that Granny had returned to Owerri to live in peaceful retirement. Even though she now felt more alone than she had ever felt in her life, she knew it was the best choice for Granny, Lagos life being what it was. However, it had raised all sorts of complications in her life. Both she and her brother Zubi had lived with Granny since when their mother died. It had been their only option after their father had shown his reluctance to take them in to live with him and his new wife. Now that Granny no longer lived in Lagos, her father had refused to continue payment of the rent for the Lagos house. He had advised Ada to go and live with Zubi, who was married and had a young family, until she got “a real job and could afford a house of her own, or some man to marry her and give her a home.” Ada grimaced at the memory of the conversation with her father. He usually either ignored her or said the worst things to her. Not surprisingly, she preferred it when he ignored her. She switched her thoughts to the new apartment she had found in Surulere instead. She would have to tell Zubi about it, she reminded herself, even though he was still mad at her for not being eager to ditch photography and take the job he had found for her in real estate. Frowning, she started to look around for a commercial bike, or an Okada as they are called in Lagos. She had to wait for a while. When you didn't want one they were all over the place, she thought dryly, but as soon as you actually needed them, they became impossible to find. After some time, she saw one of them speeding towards her, the rider as dark as coal and looking as if he had bathed in dirt and grime, with his clothes on. Ada sighed and waved him over. In a few moments, they were speeding toward the offices of Living Lagos magazine. The office wasn't very far from the square. It was located in one of the less busy streets of Lagos Island. So before long, she had paid the Okada rider and was running up the stairs of the six storey building that housed Living Lagos. By the time she got to the fourth floor, she was out of breath and could feel her thigh muscles protesting, but she didn't mind. She never took a lift for anything less than six floors. As she entered the fourth floor lobby, the security man, Mr. Festus, looked up from the issue of Complete Sports he was reading intently, and called out a greeting to her. He was a middle-aged man whose round face was perpetually wreathed in smiles. “Aunty Ada!” He exclaimed, breaking into his characteristic smile. “Why you did not take the lift?” He asked, in his own version of good English, “Is working fine.” He always asked her that. Ada sighed. “I’ll take it next time, Mr. Festus.” She replied, unwilling to explain for the hundredth time that she preferred to climb the stairs. As she walked towards the double glass doors of Living Lagos, she was already mentally planning the rest of her day. Which was why, she had already started to push the doors open before she realized that the man standing over the front desk talking to Fadeke the receptionist was Eddie Bakare. She stopped, reluctant to continue the journey inside, and trying, without much success, to control the erratic rhythm her heart had begun. If only she had seen him before she started opening the doors, she thought desperately, then she could have gone back downstairs, gone to lunch, gone shopping, anything rather than walk straight into him as he flirted with Fadeke. It wasn’t that she had anything against Eddie, after all, he was partly responsible for the success of Living Lagos. He was the one who had made the initial financial investment in the magazine when the publisher/Editor–in–chief, Sophie Aliu conceived the idea for a weekly publication that presented the interesting aspects of living in Lagos in a humorous and entertaining way. In fact, Ada conceded, there was nothing wrong with him. He was a pleasant enough person, with wonderful manners and well, an incredibly, handsome face. He was okay, except for the fact that she never felt right when she was around him. She wasn’t attracted to him, or anything like that, Ada reasoned. He wasn’t her type. She wasn’t crazy about tall guys with perfectly handsome faces and male model bodies. If she had to choose, she told herself, she would go for a pleasant face over a handsome one any day. She just didn’t particularly like him. There was something about that lazy confidence, that instant friendliness, playfulness, and amiability that put her off. Everything came too easily to guys like Eddie, and somehow, she didn’t think her good regard and friendship should be one of those things. He was saying something to Fadeke, probably something flirty, judging from the way she was giggling like a maniac. Ada snorted silently. Of course, to a girl like Fadeke, Eddie was something like a demigod. He was rich, handsome, and extremely well mannered, just the way the romance novels had told her that her Mr. Right would be. As if somehow, he had heard Ada’s thoughts, Eddie looked up and noticed her standing at the door. His face broke into a handsome smile, as if, Ada thought cynically, she was just the person he had been waiting to see. “Hello Ada.” He greeted, his deep voice was warm and friendly. He left Fadeke’s desk to help Ada with the door, and she quickly stepped inside the office, not too pleased with the thought of him holding the door open for her like some olden days suitor. “Hello Eddie.” She gave him a small polite smile, and quickly looked away from his face, resisting the urge to gawk at how handsomely his cheeks dimpled. “Hello Fadeke.” The smile she gave Fadeke was friendlier and lasted far longer. She walked past the both of them to her own desk, farther inside the open office, carefully laying down her backpack and starting her computer. They both watched her in silence, their conversation on hold. Surely, Ada thought, they didn’t expect her to join in whatever they had been discussing. “How’ve you been?” Eddie asked finally. “It’s been a while.” Internally Ada rolled her eyes. This was so like Eddie, instead of accepting that she had just ignored him and that her behavior had even been on the verge of rudeness, he would still try to talk to her, he would still try to be nice. That was just him, too well mannered, and too polite. Maybe it wasn’t such a dreadful thing to be like that, Ada thought, but it was just too much for her in particular. She exhaled, realizing that she had been holding her breath, waiting for him to either talk to her or leave her alone. She looked up at him and smiled halfheartedly, hoping that the look on her face would tell him that she was too busy to talk to him. “Work has been fine, thank you Eddie.” She turned to Fadeke, who was gawking at Eddie as if she had never seen a man before. “Fadeke, does Sophie know that Eddie is here?” Always Yours. Sophie is young, beautiful, and runs her own magazine. She loves her life, her job, her friends… In fact, she has everything she wants. What she doesn't have, however, is the man she has been in love with for the past five years. Michael once crushed her feelings. After all this time, she should have forgotten him, but she is still desperately in love with him. The best way to get over someone is to see them again, or so they say. So when Sophie engineers a meeting with Michael, all she wants, is to be able to forget him, or so she tells herself. But as soon as she sees him again, she realizes that she still wants him, and he seems delighted to see her again. Everything is going well, until he tells her that he is engaged, crushing her hopes again. Now she has to fall out of love with him, as difficult as that is, or give in to the temptation of loving him, even though he belongs to someone else. Rakuten Kobo. Not in Canada ? Choose your country's store to see books available for purchase. See if you have enough points for this item. Sign in. Synopsis. Ada has her life planned, and there's no place in it for men or relationships. Even if she had the time or the inclination, Eddie Bakare is the last man she would ever consider. He may be every girl's fantasy - handsome, rich, charming, and so sure of himself - but Ada is not interested in fantasy when reality keeps her very well occupied. However, Eddie is determined to make her change her mind. Will she be able to resist him now that she is the center of his attentions, and does she even want to? BN Prose – Book Excerpt: Always Yours by Somi Ekhasomhi. We never spoke again after that day, not for lack of trying on his part. He did call, many times, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak to him. I was still trying to understand what had happened and too confused and angry to talk to him. I changed my number after a while. Then I heard from Eddie that he had travelled to the States for a master’s degree. Life went on though; I graduated, served, started Living Lagos and gave up on ever loving any other man the way I still loved Michael. I had confided my feelings to Ada on one of the ‘Girl’s night in’ days at my apartment. Drunk on red wine, maudlin on romance movies and incensed by a picture of him I had seen on a friends Facebook page. I told her everything while she listened patiently. “I think you overreacted.” She had said at last. “I’m not really sure about the ‘jambite rush’ thing and I don’t understand all your ‘vexing’ and not picking his calls. Why didn’t you at least talk to him?” I had asked myself the same question over and over for years, so I couldn’t bring myself to argue with her. We went back to oohing and aahhing over his picture and how handsome he looked. Before the day was over Ada made me promise that if I ever had a chance I would see him, talk to him and see how it went from there. “You never know.” She said. “You might just take one look at him and wonder what you ever saw in him.” Very unlikely, I thought. Now here I was in my tiny bedroom, with no idea what to wear. I was in a panic. I didn’t want to be too dressy, and make him think I was trying too hard. But I didn’t want to dress down either. Half of my wardrobe was on the bed and I still hadn’t decided. My phone rang. “Have you left home yet?” Ada asked. “No!” I replied dejectedly, collapsing unto the pile of clothes on the bed “I’m not going. I have nothing to wear!” “Of course you do.” She cajoled. “You have lots of lovely clothes.” “Well they’re all hiding somewhere.” I said petulantly. “Because I haven’t seen any of them.” “You’re just panicking.” Ada said. “You’re afraid to go and see the man you know is the love of your life.” She continued. “Just relax.” She coaxed. “You’re beautiful, in fact you’re stunning, forget about him for a moment and just dress up for a fabulous night out.” Easy for her to say, I thought. At last, I decided to wear a simple black dress, a pair of nude colored shoes and a matching clutch. I wore simple gold accessories and pinned my hair up. My makeup was light, a little eye shadow, mascara and lipstick, and I was done. The girl who stared back at me in the mirror was classy and elegant, with long black hair, and smooth fair skin. My almond shaped eyes, already large, were well framed by my long lashes and elegantly arched brows. My small nose was perfectly underlined by my full cupid’s bow lips. Combined with my slim figure and long legs, I knew I looked good, and I was glad of it. It was a short drive to the MUSON center. As soon as I entered the full hall, my eyes started to scan the place for Michael. I didn’t see him. As I futilely searched the faces of the people across the numerous round table arranged in the big hall, I tried to ignore the pang of disappointment in my stomach. I gave up and went to search for my seat. There was funny couple on my table, a husband and wife in their sixties, who adopted me as soon as I sat down and before long, had me laughing at their stories on how they met. “He walked up to me and said he was going to marry me!” The lady told me, her light voice just able to reach me over the music the live band was playing. “And I told him to get in the back of the queue.” “I told her I was starting a new queue.” Her husband said with a self-satisfied chuckle. “Then I asked him what he had that my other beaus didn’t.” The lady said still smiling, “and do you know what he said?” She asked me. I shook my head. “He said marry me and you’ll find out!” “She couldn’t resist that!” Her husband laughed. “She just had to know.” It continued like that all evening and even helped to ease my tension a little. But I still couldn’t forget why I was there. Michael Ade-Cole was like a weight, an anchor holding my mind in one place so that no matter what I did, I couldn’t turn it away from him. I had psyched myself to be cool when I finally saw him. But when I did see him, all that preparation went out of the window. Somehow as soon as he came into the hall, I knew. My eyes went to the entrance and there he was, still beautiful, like some sort of god. He looked taller than I remembered, dressed in a semi-casual traditional attire of a white brocade caftan and trousers. I watched him stride into the hall, following an usher to a table at the front. As he passed by my table I thought I saw him pause and almost turn around, but then he kept on walking, and joined his sister at their table in the front. “Are you all right?” It was the old lady. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” “I’m fine.” I reassured her, smiling quickly. She pursed her lips. “Why are you here alone anyway?” She asked, as if I had personally affronted her. “A beautiful girl like you should be here with one of her beaus. I always had someone to escort me when I was your age.” “Times have changed.” Her husband quipped. “These days’ girls impress each other with their careers, not with the men on their arm.” At one point Ada came up to me. “Babes, I saw him and he is hot. ” She whispered in my ear. “How did you ever let that one get away?” I shook her away and then stole a glance at him. He seemed to be enjoying himself, talking and laughing with the people at his table. Yes, he was handsome, more handsome than I remembered. I sighed. It even hurt to look at him. The event drew towards the end. The last of the comedians and dancing troupes had concluded their acts and Michael’s sister gave her vote of thanks. Everyone was up and socializing. I got up. There was only one way to do this. If I was going to find out if my feelings for Michael would ever result in anything after all this time, then I was going to have to go to him. He was standing towards the front of the room, talking with a slender woman who, as far as I could see, was being very receptive to whatever it was he was saying. Of course, I had known that he might bring a date, but the sight was much more disenchanting than the thought. I didn’t pause though, I walked towards him, my steps purposeful, inside I was a knot of nerves, but outside, I am sure I looked like the most confident girl in the room. I was halfway to him before he raised his eyes. And looked right into mine. Rakuten Kobo. Not in United States ? Choose your country's store to see books available for purchase. See if you have enough points for this item. Sign in. Synopsis. Ada has her life planned, and there's no place in it for men or relationships. Even if she had the time or the inclination, Eddie Bakare is the last man she would ever consider. He may be every girl's fantasy - handsome, rich, charming, and so sure of himself - but Ada is not interested in fantasy when reality keeps her very well occupied. However, Eddie is determined to make her change her mind. Will she be able to resist him now that she is the center of his attentions, and does she even want to?