FALLING FOR MY ENEMY

CHAPTER TWO: The Rivalry Ignites

That night I did not sleep.

I stayed in the office till 11pm reworking my slides. Nelson's office is glass upstairs, his light was still on. I could see his shadow working too.

Next morning, 8:55am, I entered his office with two coffees and my laptop.

He was already there, suit jacket on the chair, sleeves rolled up. He was pressing his laptop seriously.

"You came," he said.

"You said 9am. I came 8:55," I replied.

We started to work. It was not easy.

Every idea I brought, he would say, "Too soft."

Every idea he brought, I would say, "Too rude."

His idea was, "Let's pay influencers to go n***d with only mud on their body for GreenLeaf."

My reply was, "You want the government to ban us?"

My idea was, "Let's do real testimonials for women."

His reply was, "You want young people to sleep?"

For three hours we argued. Our voices were loud. Karen and Alex were passing in the corridor and listening.

At some point, I stood up angrily. "You know what? You are impossible! You think everything is about shock value because you have never had to be real!"

He stood up too. "And you think everything must be emotional and poor because you are scared to be big! You think small is honest. It is not. It is just small!"

We both were breathing hard. Face to face. So close I could see a small scar on his eyebrow.

So close that I see that he is no bad.

Then Martin entered. "How far? Have you killed each other?"

We both said, "No!"

We finally compromised.

But before we compromised,

We argue

We a***e ourselves.

We merged our ideas. We called it "FLAWED & GREEN."

The concept was simple. We would use real people, no makeup, with their real acne, stretch marks, but we would shoot it like high fashion, edgy, with bold captions like

"YOUR PIMPLES ARE NOT A PROBLEM. YOUR FILTER IS."

Nelson brought the boldness, I brought the realness.

Martin loved it. "This is it! This is what I want! You two are magic together!"

GreenLeaf clients joined on Zoom at 2pm. We presented together.

I was talking, he was supporting. He was talking, I was adding emotion.

For one moment, when I forgot my line, he whispered it in my ear and saved me.

When he stammered on a small Yoruba word in the deck, I helped him translate.

The client clapped. "We love it. We want to launch next week."

After the call, Martin gave us high five and left.

Only me and Nelson were in the conference room.

We both sat on the floor because we were tired.

"Ready to lose?" he asked me again, but this time he was smiling.

I laughed. "You are still talking about losing? We just won."

He looked at me. "You know, you are not as annoying as you were on the road."

"And you are not as stupid as you were on the road," I replied.

We both laughed. Real laugh this time.

At the break room by 4pm, I went to make coffee. Only Nelson was there, pressing his phone, his tie already loose.

"You are still angry about the money I threw?" he asked.

I sipped my coffee. "A little. But I understand. That is your way of solving problems. Throw money."

He was quiet for some seconds. "My father taught me that. Every problem has a price. I am trying to unlearn it."

That was the first time he said something personal to me.

Before I could reply, Sarah entered. "Ah ah, you two again? In this break room? People will start talking. They say you two are dating."

We both shouted, "We are not!"

I just dont know the problem of our staff.If they see you with any man,

Just know that Gossip will follow

Sarah laughed and left.

Nelson carried his cup. "Maya, one more thing. That thing you said on the road, about depending on father's wealth and ending wretched..."

I became scared. "Sorry, I... I talked too much that day. I was angry."

He shook his head. "No. You were right. That is why it hurt me. My father owns sixty percent of this company. Everybody thinks I just walked in because of my name. I need to prove I can build something myself. That is why I came back from London."

At that moment, I saw him differently. Not as Chairman son. As a guy who was trying to prove himself.

He walked to his office.

I stood in the break room, coffee in hand, and my heart felt somehow different.

By 6pm, we were closing. Rain started again small.

I was waiting at the bus stop under a small shade. No bus.

A black Benz stopped in front of me. Window came down.

It was Nelson.

"Enter. I will drop you. As apology for yesterday," he said.

I wanted to say no. But rain was falling and I was tired.

I entered the back seat, not the front.

As he was driving, there was no music, only rain on the roof.

In traffic, he looked at me in the rear mirror.

"Maya, tomorrow we have another client. Are you ready to fight again?"

I smiled. "Always."

And that was how our rivalry started. But in that car, in the rain, with his perfume and my wet hair, I started to feel something else that was not rivalry at all.

TO BE CONTINUED..