Prevailing The Billionaire

“Why is the sun so hot today, f**k. My curls are frizzing up now”. Sweating whilst hoisting two suitcases might not be the most ideal situation to find yourself on a hot afternoon, but that’s where I found myself on this beautiful mid morning. Now you may be wondering why I have two suitcases on me, sweating like a crazy. Well that’s because I’m moving into my shared apartment with a friend from college. I was in urgent need of a living space and her kind soul offered if I pay half the rent with her, which is no problem. Happily accepting, I set my moving date to today and refused her help only to be dealt with by this bitchy sunny day. After being dropped off by the taxi, I am now left to my devices in finding where exactly the apartment is, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find right? I thought wrong. I’ve been going round for the past half hour with my bags, asking strangers if they could help me locate the apartment but none of them seem to know where it is which is strange if you ask me. After dancing around the idea for a while, I decide to call my friend and ask where exactly her apartment is. “Hey Elle it’s Kris, could you please explain to me again where your apartment is. I think I’m lost”. She replies “Sure ummm, after getting down at the bus stop I told you about, just turn into the corner street on your left and ask for Clifford Apartments. It should be easy to find from there”. Oh no “Elle did you just say Clifford Apartments not Griffin Apartments” “Griffin? I never said Griffin Kris” she’s laughing at me. I roll my eyes “Whatever Elle, thanks again” I end the call. No wonder I’ve been going in circles, there’s nothing like a Griffin Apartments here. You have done it again Chioma Kris Orji as usual being a dumb s**t. Making my way into the corner street I manage to spot the name of the apartment without having to go through the anxiety of asking someone. Hefting my suitcases once again I make my way down the downhill street almost falling flat on my face twice. “Geez why is America so complicated, just why?” After successfully making it down the slope of a street, I make my way into the building and I get welcome with a cool blast of air conditioned air, if that made sense, drying up the hours worth of sweat and making me just stand there taking in the air. Only after standing there for a few minutes did it dawn on my that I needed to pee and I needed to pee now. Hurrying my way to the room number my friend gave me, I make my way into the elevator. Thankfully it’s just on the third floor. As soon as the elevator opens I burst out of it and go running down the hallway searching for the room number and as soon as I spot it I start knocking on it like my life depends on it. After a few seconds my friend opens the door in a hurry. I didn’t even register her or the stranger sitting in the living room I just hurry my way into one of the rooms that looks like a guest bathroom. Shutting the door I pull up my mini skirt, thank God for that, and let it all go. Sighing, I feel a sharp pain in my abdomen from holding in the pee for too long but relief too from having let go. Cleaning myself up and washing my hands and face to look presentable, I make my way out of the bathroom. And that’s when it hits me, I literally left my friend at the door and didn’t notice the fact that there’s a dude, scratch that, man sitting on one on the sofas in the living room. I also come to notice how nicely decorated the house is in a modest but neat kind of way, the kitchen door slightly open letting wafts of cooked food float in. Then I also register the fact that I’m hungry. Back to the two people eyeing me like I was having a beard on my face suddenly, my friend is looking at me funny while the man on the sofa is just plain shocked at how I made my entrance. Nervousness hitting me, I shakily make my way to my friend and give her a tired but firm hug and to the stranger I say hi. “Hey Elle, what’s up” “Well what is up is you rushing into my house like you were being chased by the demons from your village and ignoring us. What was that about” “Sorry Elle, I just really had to use the restroom” I said with my voice getting smaller with every word I said being aware of the stranger in the room. Motioning to the man I silently ask my friend who he is with my eyes. Then she clicks her tongue remembering that she has yet to introduce us to each other. “Kris this is James Seville, James this is Chioma Kris Orji, my Nigerian friend I told you about. The one I said would be staying with me for the time being. Kris this is James my childhood friend” he got up to give me a hug and he said “Friend zoned as per the usual, nice one Elle. Hey Kris nice meeting you and putting a face to the name”. Oh no what has this girl been saying about me. He continued “I’ve heard so much of you I feel like I already know you” he laughed. Laughing back nervously I ask “Hope only nice things”. He laughed even more before teasing me “What, do you have something to hide”. Laughing very loudly I dismiss the thought and bite back “What, is there something about me you’re interested in knowing”. With him looking down at me I realized how short I was beside this guy and I’m 5’5 so how tall is he. With him looking straight at me I realize how handsome he is, pretty light brown eyes, upturned pointed nose, sufficient cheeks, an outlined Cupid’s bow, and pretty kissable looking lips and all brought together with the light dusting of freckles he has under his slightly cat like eyes. He looked delicious. But all this while I was admiring his features I didn’t realize I had been staring for long until I noticed him smirking. He says “Like what you see?” While wiggling his brows. And just like that I was broken out of my hunger induced trance. Biting back I say “You know I was but you just ruined it” shrugging I walk back towards my friend “Hey Elle is anything cooked up, I’m starving” she just smiles knowing I’m a foodie and leads the way into the kitchen. I take off my shoes at the door side out of respect and walk into the kitchen only to be greeted by the delicious scent of pasta being laid out and there’s a side serving of chicken wings and some sandwiches with some Forrest dessert chocolate cake. Is this lady some sort of domestic goddess. All this just for my welcome meal, I wonder how good the other days will be. Sitting on one of the island table seats, I take my plate of pasta and delve into it, the pasta has a sweet yet sour cheese taste and tangy too like lemon juice was sprinkled on top and then there are pieces of shrimp inside. I felt like I was taking a bite of heaven. Ever since I came into the US I’ve come to have an affinity for pasta, spaghetti and ice cream. Those are like my comfort food. While trying to eat peacefully without moaning too much at how good it is, James asked me a question that made my raise my brows “How come your English is so good if you’re from Nigeria”. Rolling my eyes at the naive presumption I say “Just because I’m from Nigeria doesn’t mean I’m illiterate James, if anything the English language is our official language of communication seeing as we were colonized by the British”. But he countered “That’s not what I meant, what I meant was how come your diction or accent is quite different sounding. Like you sound like you’ve been living here for a while”. Oh so that’s what he meant “Yeah well I’ve been here for a year or so, so not that long. But long enough for me to adjust because it got hard trying to talk slowly like I used to back in my country”. Just thinking about home is making me want to cry. James said “Oh now I get it. That’s nice. You’re like an accent genius because you’ve got it quite down pat”. Flustered at the compliment I turn to Elle who had been oddly quiet for a while now. I turn to look at her only to catch her smiling slyly at I and James, looking between us as if she sees something we don’t with a small smile on her face. That worries me “Elle why have you been oddly quiet and why are you smiling at us like a lunatic”. She just shakes her head and says “Oh nothing just admiring how you’re both openly flirting in front of me”. This girl is seriously high “Elle we weren’t flirting, we were just talking. Besides what’s there to flirt about. You know I get awkward about topics like that”. Instead of replying she just lifts both her hands in an I surrender kind of way and she says “No it’s ok. I get it. You’re right”. I know she says I’m right but the way she said that makes me think she got it wrong. But whatever, I’m too busy enjoying my pasta to care. But from my peripheral view I can see James staring at me but I just shrug it off. Stuffing myself full of everything, it’s time to focus on other things so I ask Elle “Hey Elle, so what’s the arrangement going to be like. How are we splitting everything. I want us to settle it now so I can settle down and rest before tomorrow. We still have school remember. So can we mayhaps talk about it” “Oh sure no problem. Good thing you brought it up. I kind of forgot. Ok so there’s only one room, I have an extra bed you can place on the side if you don’t want to share the same bed. There’s an extra wardrobe that you can put your things in. You’ve seen everything else then. So please settle in as much as you can”. “Ok thanks Elle. I think I’ll go freshen up and unpack. Then maybe we’ll catch up before sleep. Thanks again for the wonderful meal Madmoiselle Elle” “Why, you’re welcome Lady Kris”. Silly. Making my way into the main living area I enter the room and to say it’s sparkling is an understatement. It’s so well done I don’t even want to touch it. Dragging my suitcases in, I notice the bed on the other side of the room and I smile to myself, so considerate of her. Placing my fancy backpack on the bed, I get out my things to take a shower and taking out my phone I scroll through my Spotify playlists. After spending ten minutes arranging a queue for the songs I want to play, I start my shower and the first song that plays is a BTS song namely Butter. I am in love with Kpop. A couple other songs play including Paradise by Eric Nam and Whiplash by NCT 127 and an old 80s’ jam I Can’t Wait by Nu Shooz. Done with my shower, I get out of the bathroom and make my way towards my bed. Changing into a comfy pajamas, I shuffle into the duvet and slowly drift off to sleep while listening to Serendipity by Jimin of BTS. Who knew it’d be this cold. Thinking of how my life would pan out from now on I drift into a cold, dreamless sleep filled with worry. “Tomorrow is another day to conquer”