Tales of Light

MY DREAM NATION

Heat flooded my face at what the gorgeous man seated before me had casually suggested.

"Wha-aat?" I stuttered like a child whose mother had just given a hot slap that made him see the milky way galaxy.

"Don't you understand simple English anymore?" the hot dude in a Armani suit said with an amused smirk on his face.
He leaned back into the swivel chair and began leisurely swinging to the left and right as he leered at me, his eyes lingering at you-know-where! 

If my heart had been beating as fast as a galloping horse before, now I was sure it was in overdrive mode. My face was was twitching as many emotions coursed through me. Shock. Desperation. Desire.

I should have prepared myself for this. But given the fact that my records were impeccable, I'd thought I wouldn't have to face this nightmare I had only read in stories.

I, Elizabeth Jesutofunmi Donalds, was a chaste lady by all standards.
In my days at the university, while other girls slept with lecturers to get good grades, I relied on God and my studious nature to earn a first class degree in Internal Relations and Business Studies.
Everything was as easy as pie until after university.

After my exciting, yet grueling, service year, I began hopping like a rabbit from one firm to another, seeking employment. The soles of my shoes were crying to heaven for deliverance.

To heighten my predicament, my mom last month got hospitalized after being diagnosed with severe ulcer. Being an only child of my widowed mother, it was my duty to care for her.
So, you see why I desperately needed this job.

It was as if the gates of hell had specially prepared this moulded-in-gold son of Adam to tempt me. Good Lord of Heaven! The man seated before me, Frank Davidson by name, was the CEO of the AV International company.

My word! He looked like an half-caste and had this sweet British accent. He should have gone for a modelling career instead. He'd have made a huge fortune without stress. 

As the one in charge of the interview, he'd taken one look at my documents, asked few questions and then dropped the bomb: The job was mine as I was the most qualified of all the applicants. All that was left was a final... assessment. It would be dinner at one of the prestigious restaurants in Lagos.
According to him, it was the policy to get to know his employees on a 'personal level' so as to foster productivity. Even a dumb person could translated the real meaning.

Why did it have to be a one-on-one interview for Chrissake? Why did he have to be drop-dead handsome? The dude looked as if he just stepped out of melted chocolate. 

Alien voices I never knew were still lurking at the crevices of my mind began playing nasty game of rhetorics. And they were so crafty enough to come masked as my own thoughts.

'Lizzy! Come on, you're not Mary the mother of God. Who would know?'

'Remember you have your mother to worry about. It will be your fault if she dies!'

'What would it hurt to loosen up a bit for once! Ha ha! Just dinner nau! You can't come to unnecessary conclusions, you know? Abi you want to die an old maid? You're not getting any younger and with no suitor in view, what will be your fate?'

I swallowed hard.

'Flee from all appearances of evil,' the voice of the Holy Spirit breathed in my heart.
All the whirlwind feelings in my chest seeped out like air out of a punctured rubber balloon.

Thank you, Jesus! Was I actually considering his offer? Oh, Lord, what came over me?

The next problem was how to politely refuse this man who was still oozing coolness like he was a pro in this business of sniffing out ladies and devouring them.