MY TREASURED DESIRE

Chapter FOURTEEN: The Mystic Double.

The Mystic Double!

Greta Merkel’s Point of View.

The Crown Prince’s Oval Office, Imperial Palace, Lagos, Achaia.

It was exactly 9.18 am. The confidence that I had to believe that the Crown Prince will certainly help me – today - is because I now hid no secret about my life from him. I told him everything yesterday! And to let me get more assured, we ate together, and we made love again and again… He even told me that his marriage proposal, to me, would be grand… I am so happy today!

We entered the office together, and we met no Secretary, just as the Big Boss predicted… We entered the office, and I was surprised that the door was not actually locked. Crown Prince had to tap on his own inner office door as if he was a visitor. The guy is so weird. The door opened and he entered…

Then, he greeted someone, on the qui vive: “O Blue Rey! How is My Lord doing today? My wedding is on course, as we are going to take the next step shortly…”

“O Green Ray, I should be fine – and you are happily welcome. I guess your final date before the proposal makes both of you the happiest in the world?! Who tells his lover about the surprise before it happens?” The same voice responded, but from inside the Office. He laughed afterward.

“I do it my way: My sought-out ‘would-be bride’ is your surprise today… Dear Blue Rey -” my green-eyed lover-boy said, as he took me in to see who he was conversing with… As I entered, I saw the same Reynold, but with blue eyes… Now, for what purpose could a man clone himself? I suddenly felt a great heaviness, with my head spinning wildly. What game is the universe playing on me? Has the con-lady been conned? I suddenly got this numbness at my joints, and my sight started to recede… into darkness. Now, faintly, I heard one of the twins saying with urgency, “Don’t let her pass out…”

***

Reynold’s Considerations.

The Crown Prince’s Oval Office, Imperial Palace, Lagos, Achaia.

“O Green Ray! She’s yours… Don’t lose her to death,” I told my cousin and Bestie… Raymond. “For the sake of the integrity of the Royal Family – to which you belong, Green Ray – Convince her and marry her, as you do love her.”

The Palace Medical Team immediately rushed Greta to the Specialist Hospital for her to receive top-notch medical treatment. From inside the Royal Ambulance, General Raymond Chang arranged for a lady that has a similar stature as Greta: She called my secretary to return to the Office to do that job – for the fear of information leakage. Soon, I monitored from my office, how the ambulance safely arrived at the King’s ward of Achaian Royal Specialist Hospital. She was admitted and given VIP medical attention.

My confidential Secretary was given the duty of delivering the “Espionage File” to the Casino Cartel, under the cover of the A.S.S.S. forces that Green Ray immediately planted at strategic units, who are saddled with the duty of ensuring the safety of the substitute courier.

She arrived at the Hotel Marina entrance and proceeded to the black Bentley vehicle at 10:30 am, delivered the package, and turned away. No attempt was made to kidnap the courier, so, the feared complications were averted for now. Hence, when the transaction alert is delivered to Greta’s iPhone, it made it clear that the hurdle of the operations is cleared…

In a nearby high-rise building at the Marina, therefore, plain-clothed security personnel checked the iPhone retrieved from Greta with his gloved hands, and said into his communication gadget’s receiver, monitored also from my office:

“Dededo calling Alpha… Confirmed that $ 500,000= was duly credited; and a Sticker Message: 'Well Done Good Girl, Ms. G. - Enjoy your Funds until we meet for the next task!' This was sent by a person whose number was missing but addressed as 'Big Boss!' …Over!”

“Dededo, Mission Successful… Over and Out!”

Meanwhile, Green Ray returned to me at 11: 30 am, after caring for Greta. We discussed the best way to work towards Greta falling in love with him - to arrest the development, informing her family – in the process - and assuring them that we are on top of the situation…

I admitted my wrong-doing to my cousin and best ally – and he was particularly glad to get the chance to woo the only girl he had ever loved. I had also expressed my reservations about Greta’s materialistic personality – and I told Green Ray that Greta would never – in the future – care for the downtrodden. We had agreed that my parents’ and Greta’s parents’ marriage arrangement for us was based on selfish interests, and the relationship of a future Emperor must be planned with utmost care. I was enthused that I had already obeyed them by giving myself up by meeting with Greta in the first place, considering their offer. Green Ray and I reasoned that it is better to break a courtship with mutual agreement than to dissolve a hapless marriage. We planned a way to ensure that a family feud is averted, as we know how my dad’s cousin – Greta’s Mum – does not take NO for an answer!

Hence, Raymond and I discussed a lot until he admitted the fact that he had been heartbroken when he got to know the King and his business partner – his friend’s plot. But he would not blame them since we all had no clue that he had loved Greta. I think he would always love her - going to her university campus too often, just to catch a glimpse of her. However, not even a few knew about Raymond’s own existence, except his close co-workers at the ASSS… The other persons that know that the General was different from the Crown Prince, do so based on here-say only! Some even thought it was a ploy by the Military Intelligence to protect the Imperial Family since all Achaian citizens are aware that their Crown Prince is a trained, confident, combatant General. It is good for the security department and Green Ray’s future, though. Raymond had expressed his fear that if everyone thought he was the Crown Prince, how would he make a marriage proposal to the lady he desired if things do not happen this way? Somehow, a process of courtship must begin, for the couple to better know one another! Moreover, the relationship needs to be grown in secrecy and the whole world will get to know on the wedding day!

So, both of us planned to let him get closer to Greta and work out a thriving relationship. Though I never planned to have a carnal knowledge of the lady, I felt that my side had been well covered – we also planned that Greta must be made to believe that Green Ray, not the future emperor, was the one that came to her mansion after the King and Greta’s parents’ agreement. How I wish I knew that Greta was the girl that my cousin had been fantasizing about! Now, we crafted the steps to be taken to make the matters on the ground bloom into success.

Green Rey went to his office at 11:30 am while I paid a quick visit to the Ward where Greta was resting. I left after meeting the medical doctors, who felt that it was time for me to allow my friend to be in their care while I can go back to the Palace.

***

Alexa Ndidi George-Orji’s Residence in the Palace, Nri, East of the Niger, Africa.

The Encounter.

It was 11.45 am at Nri, Oil-Palm State. I sat in the classical two-seater settee and flipped to another leaf on the big novel I have been reading in – where Mr. Reynold Chang refers to as – “the grandiose lounge attached to your swanky bedroom.” I laugh at his expressions whenever I am alone. My novel reads:

“The wealthy duchess was a true wonder woman, and a perfect match to her personable, striking, and stunning chauffeur! She was also her bodyguard and a knight with shining armour… The trip of the duchess to Africa was a kill-joy event. The dishy knockout of a Chauffeur would have made the duchess’ day, but no. The over-confident duchess sent him elsewhere in Europe on a paid leave, while she went to Africa without him… She was afraid of falling in love with her own member of staff!"

The reading continues: “After 30 days of her arrival in Africa, the mafia boys struck. The duchess, lover of the downtrodden was caught unarmed and off-guard while she was consumed with her love for the Bestseller Books. There were no security men around to defend her. The duchess was beaten to a vegetable state and left for dead in the palace lobby. Oh, what a mess – All her bones were broken. Could she be revived?”

I intuitively looked at the book cover again, threw the novel about 2 metres away, and frowned. I quickly called on the Palace Security to make an unscheduled inspection – everywhere in the palace. I became restless, while the chart-buster song of Billy Ocean – “Suddenly.” unexpectedly rents the air from somewhere around my suite...

I placed a call to Mr. Reynold Chang, and he picked it up instantly.

“Hello, Ma’am…”

“Your voice sounds as if you have someone at the hospital. What’s the matter?” I must have sounded so ruffled too, hearing his response:

“Something like that… You don’t sound any better either. Did you miss me, Beautiful? I had only left 25 days ago. How are you enjoying your holiday at Papa’s Palace?”

Should I say I missed him. I have grown so fond of him in months. “Just checking on you. Who gave you the audacity to call me ‘Beautiful’…? Are you in China?”

“I am in Achaia, My lady. Do you need me to come back to England, as I believe you are planning to come back from Nigeria so soon?”

Achaia, how come? How could he be in Achaia? “You told me that you had to run out of Achaia, to seek greener pastures in England, Mr. Chang?”

He quickly replied: “Because I was poverty-stricken, and no one loves me…”

“Congratulations! You have now found an Achaian who loves you and you are preparing to resume in England with a lovely wife?” I helped him to conclude his speech but breathlessly waited for a rebuttal.

“You almost got the gist, Ma’am. But you missed the nationality of the would-be bride.”

“What happens to your lecture about the need for the downtrodden to earn the best they can, save the best they can, and give the best at the right opportunity? I guess someone now loves you, and now you are in faraway Achaia!”

“The lady I fell in love with is, a lovely princess. I guess she loves me too! She is quite an epitome of everything that is good in a woman.”

Why am I becoming so jealous and sad? I should be happy for him. I kept quiet for a bit, to imagine why I was not happy that my chauffeur got a lover. I won’t miss my own “companion and lover” if he goes away from me, would I?

He must have noticed that I had drifted into a melancholic mood, so he broke the silence: “Hello, Ma’am!”

“Do you have so many princesses in Achaia’s palace? Are you in love with Dr. Reese?” I suddenly heard myself saying! I guess I did not want to expose my thoughts anymore, so I politely asked, “I guess we shall call it a day?”

“No way! Dr. Reese is my…” My Chauffeur suddenly went blank for a while. Then, he resumed completing his sentence: “…Princess. I am in love with the fairest African Princess… I… love my… Boss!”

I wondered where he met an African Princess when he was virtually always with me: Inwardly, I felt weakened and helpless… Then it struck me hard, and my heart processed his last statement: “I… love my… Boss!” The song playing at my end ‘suddenly’ became louder, making my mind embark on a lovers’ fight with the butterflies in my stomach. Then, I became afraid Mr. Reynold Chang would hear my heart’s crazy beats. So, I feigned some boldness and said: “You must bring that ‘Princess’ to England when you resume in 5 days… Enjoy your holiday while it lasts! Should I say, Bye for now, Mr. Lover-boy?”