A single mum is captivated by a young man who finds her missing daughter and is impressed by the way her daughter becomes fond of him. Love strikes and her heart is smitten and she decides to break the norm by putting aside her affluence to seek the love she so desired for herself and daughter despite the difference in social status. They are the newest enviable couple in Nairobi and the head turners with their romantic antics. Olivia is willing to do everything for him for her own sake and for Matilda's. She gets him out of the Ghetto and converts him to a senior executive in her company. The Ghetto 'boy' doesn't disappoint and fills the gap left by her daughter's absentee father perfectly creating an inseparable bond that can't be broken even after his return in six years
Chapter 1 Serendipity
"Ouch! Watch out little one" Her balloons were flying away higher. I grabbed them mid air. She was losing them. She barely was knee high. She was adorable as she stared at me like she could use a ladder to get to my face.
"Here, grab them tightly this time, by the thread" I certainly helped with the grip. I ensured there was some extra thread around her tiny wrist. I didn't want her to lose her balloons and worse, warder so frivolously at the parking lot pursuing her kites.
"What's your name?" I held her arm as her balloons floated gracefully with the calm breeze.
"Matilda. What's yours?" Her courage was stupefying. I have heard them say mum told me not to talk to strangers. This one was exceptional. She was too much ahead of her own age. She was in a nice ensemble and I could easily tell the smell of money.
"Kevin" Was I really telling my name to a five year old? "Matilda is a nice name. It's an angel's" I said, as we strode towards the mall's entrance. Her mother must be panicky by now. I figured. She's probably wandering inside the shopping mall looking for a missing child. Letting a child by herself in a public mall didn't auger well. This mother must be one in a million in my opinion as I thought of the many perils riddling upon the little girl. Matilda wasn't bothered at all. She seemed not to care that her guardian wasn't the one holding her arm. It's like she knew me her entire skimpy life. I could have passed to be her daddy amidst strangers past us.
"Where's your mum?" This question was mysterious as a maze by the look on her adorable face. The answer wasn't forthcoming. We were already inside the shopping mall and being a weekend, the crowd was out of the brim. We were already two aisles behind in the supermarket store and she hadn't identified her mum yet. I was getting worried now. Hard questions hit hard. Why me? May be I should take her to the security personnel and let them worry where to take her. I comprehended. That idea felt wrong and seemed like betrayal. She put a chunk of trust in me for me to just leave her at the lost and found desk. Goodness! Why bump on me and not anybody else? I was going to buy myself a bottle of wine to pass my weekend. It wasn't lingering anymore. Behold a five old girl with a charm that offended the idea of giving her up so easily without finding her parent.
We waded through the crowd then took the escalator and went up another floor. I was now carrying her balloons on my other hand. They weren't doing her any good now. The people, the shelves and the many obstacles had already rendered her niceties a big nuisance. So I offered to carry them for her while she skimmed through the eaves if she could spot her mother. I gave up at the last floor of the shopping mall. There wasn't any sign of someone she could easily say this is it. "I'm tired" Finally she was feeling the heat of our futile search. "I will carry you downstairs. Your mum must be there" Some encouragement could do her a big sigh. I was so afraid she might panic and that could be a not so pleasant tipping point. If we couldn't find her mother in the mall there was only one thing left to do. All the exits of the mall led to one big exit past the parking lots and towards the main gate. This is where we ought to be.
If her mum couldn't find her inside the mall then she could be searching for her outside the mall. "Do you like your mum?" I needed her to be calm and feeling secure. I liked her endurance. She wasn't a cry baby. The antiques and the gadgets characterizing the mall's displays and the shelves intrigued her more than the situation she was in. "She's beautiful" Her answer was amazing. I wasn't expecting such. I expected a paltry Yes. This one was out of this world. She amazed me. She held tighter around my neck sitting so peacefully on my right arm. This chemistry was puzzling.
We stepped out from the front exit and into the parking lot. Just past where we bumped at each other then she finally gasped. "Mum" She called out, her finger pointing towards the SUV. The door was open. There was a lady beside the vehicle speaking vehemently on the phone. Her gestures were suggestive of a crisis. Another lady was following the conversation eagerly and her dressing was clearly a code of the mall's top security personnel's. The SUV was there all along. I had seen it because I could not miss out a Range Rover Evoque even with one eye blind. When Matilda called out, I knew we had found her mum. It finally dawned; maybe she wasn't lost after all. She must been trying to locate mum's car. I could only see the woman's back until she turned around when Matilda called out the second time. She abandoned the phone call definitely with a sigh finding her missing daughter.
Matilda was absolutely right when she said her mum was beautiful. This one was a real Nairobi damsel. A real ebony of sorts with a radiance that was ambient to my eyes and I couldn't help but remain fixated. I didn't want to blink and miss out the opportunity to scan her from top to bottom before her adrenaline soared over at the sight of her daughter in the arms of a lowlife stranger. This was a moment so seldom and being a city boy, I had to swim in it. My eyes were all over her. I loved her nice short curly hair. My saliva was gathering fast, about to drool at those curvaceous hips. I walked slowly towards her as she remained still with some form of comfort engulfing her. I saw her relax although she appeared confused and with too much to do list kind of confusion evident. She was in high heels and her body symmetry was just perfect. She subtly fitted in those shoes. She wasn't a dwarf either. Her height was just right akin to an award winning model. She had a short dress, right above her knees. Her ensemble was clearly expensive. Her jewelry spoke with a lot of clarity and being a typical Nairobi hustler, expensive was easily identifiable.
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