Hidden past

Chapter 23

She dropped her bag on the couch in the living room and took off her heels as she headed for his bedroom. She knew her way around his house since she had paid him a friendly visit a couple of times in the past before their one night stand.

"Ken?" She called as she knocked on his bedroom door. The last thing she wanted was to barge in on a n***d man. She heard him moan softly and hurried into the dimly room, taking that as a 'come in'.

She was welcomed by the stench of vomit, "Ken? What is wrong with you?" She asked in alarm when she turned on the light and noticed he was covered in a duvet despite how hot the room was. Forgetting all her anger and resentment she hurried towards the bed and sat down beside him, pulling down the duvet so she could look into his face. His eyes were closed, he was breathing raggedly, and was shivering and sweating profusely at the same time.

She raised a hand to his forehead and withdrew it when she realized he was burning hot with fever, "Good Lord! Let's get you to the hospital before you die in here." she said trying to pull off the duvet but his hands covered hers, and he shook his head.

"I'm sorry Bell." He pleaded in a rapsy voice.

"Just don't talk. That's not important at the moment. Let's just get you to the hospital first." Ella said trying to pry her hand free from his grip.

"No hospitals. I don't like hospitals." He reminded her making her shake her head.

"But you can't remain here like this. Why didn't you call anyone to stay with you anyway? You're really sick, and you smell like you've been vomiting a whole lot. Have you even had something to eat today? Have you taken any medicine?" She asked, looking around the bed to see if she would see any food or medicine pack.

His teeth chattered as he struggled to sit up and talk to her, "Yeah. I had Adamu buy me food and some antimalarial drugs." He said as he sat up.

"Well, that's not enough. Who told you it's malaria anyway? Since you're not going to the hospital I should at least call Abel. He's still your personal doctor, right?" She asked referring to one of their male friends.

"Yeah." Ken said with a nod.

"I'll have to take the number from your phone." She said as she handed him his phone to unlock it. She quickly searched for the number and copied it out before dialing it.

"Hey! Abel, it's me Kemi, Kunle's sister. Femi is really ill and I was hoping you could come over to his house and check on him." She pleaded.

"Oh! Kemi Hi! Been quite a while!" He greeted before diving into the subject, "So how long has he been ill? What are his symptoms?" Abel asked, and listened as Ella listed them out while asking Ken to tell her the others.

"Okay. I'll just wrap up with my patients and join you there in an hour. Just keep him hydrated and you could help use a towel and cool water on him to maintain his body temperature." He suggested before dropping the call.

An hour? So she will stuck here with him for an hour? Ella thought as she stood up from the bed, putting some distance between them. "Where can I get a clean napkin?" She asked even as she walked into his bathroom.

"I don't have any, unless you want to use one of my face towels." He told her weakly.

"Well, that should do." She said as she picked up one of the face towels hanging on the towel rail in bathroom, and poured water into a small bowl before returning to his bedside.

"Bella? I'm sorry." Ken pleaded, feeling like this was his only chance to explain things to her. He knew he should probably ask her why she had come to his house, but that wasn't as important to him as his apology.

"Just rest. Don't waste that little strength you have." Ella said as she wringed water out of the towel and placed it on his head.

"Just listen. I will rest when I'm done." Ken pleaded weakly. He knew he didn't have the energy to talk, and he wasn't even feeling like opening his mouth to even say anything, but this was something he needed to get out of his chest.

Ella sighed as she looked down at him, "Don't worry. I'll listen to whatever you have to say when you're strong enough to talk. For now, please don't say anything. Your breath stinks." She said making Ken snap his mouth shut.

"Good boy." Ella said as she placed the towel on his forehead, and they both settled into a round of silence.

Ken was about to doze off when he felt a not so funny pain in his stomach. He had thought the running stomach he had been having all day had stopped an hour ago, but it seemed it had just returned with full force. He suddenly started sweating profusely, and really wanted to go to the toilet, but somehow he was just feeling too embarassed to tell her that.

"Are you feeling hot? Should I turn on the Air conditioner?" Ella asked when she noticed how much he was sweating.

"Water. I want water." He lied, hoping he would hurry into the toilet and drop off this round before she returns with the water.

"Oh! That's right. He did say you have to stay hydrated. I'll be right back." She said as she stood up and headed for the door.

"Bella?" Ken called, making her stop by the door and turn to look at him.

"Hm?"

"Thanks." Ken said with a nod. Bella said nothing and just headed for his kitchen. Ken stood up immediately he heard her footsteps fading, and rushed into the bathroom. Where the strength came from, he didn't know. But he quickly sat down to release the demons tormenting his stomach.

"Big baby!" Ella said with a shake of her head when she opened his refrigerator and saw a pack of capri-sun and different packs of chocolates and snacks. She couldn't believe at his age he still indulged in such childish pleasures as these. She picked up a pouch of capri-sun and two bottles of water before heading for the bedroom.

Her brows pulled together in a confused frown when she walked into the room and didn't find Ken on the bed, "Ken?" She called as she dropped the water and pouch of Capri-sun by the bedside drawer.

Ken who was in the toilet closed his eyes in embarassment when he heard her voice. He had hoped he would finish up before she returned, but it seemed the demons in his stomach were bent on embarassing him. Before he could respond to her call, a really noisy fart escaped from his anus, bearing testament to the fact that he was in the toilet.

Ken gritted his teeth in both embarassment and frustration as the sweat poured down his face.

___________

"I'm still waiting." Eric reminded Kimberly who was still quiet after he had made it clear to her that he wanted to know what her problem was, "Why can't you be with one man?" He asked again just in case she had forgotten the question.

Why was he asking that? What did he want to do with such an information? It wasn't even like this was a real relationship so why was he messing up her feelings and making her feel like she owed him an explanation? She had been craving her shisha for the past two days yet because of him she had been holding back, and right now she really needed it to feel calm.

"Eric, just in case you have forgotten what our relationship is, I should probably remind you that the deal is for you to be my TEMPORARY husband, and not my priest who I have to confess to. I don't owe you any explanation!" Kim snapped at him sounding more harsh than she had intended to making Eric raise a brow.

Why the sudden outburst? She could easily have insisted that she didn't want to talk about it, right? He probably would have felt very offended at the manner she had just talked to him had he not studied her enough to know that she only reacted in this manner as a sort of defensive mechanism. She really didn't want to talk about it, so she was trying to push him away.

Maybe he had pushed her a little too hard, Eric decided, "You're right. I should just mind my business. I'm sorry for intruding into your personal business." He said coolly and focused his attention on the road.

"Yes you should mind your business. I don't mean to be rude, but we are not even friends. The only reason we are together is because you're working for me, and I'd like for it to remain that way. Since my father approves of you, we should talk about how much I should pay you." Kimberly said, sounding as formal as she could, before dipping her hand into her handbag to pick up her shisha pen.

Eric turned to spare her a glance but said nothing and simply returned his attention to the road when he saw her with the shisha pen. Somehow he was supposed to be mad at her for being that way, but all he was feeling for her was pity. He could see she was trying hard to build a wall between them, even though that was completely unnecessary since he believed things were very okay between them. How much had she been hurt to make her this way? He wondered.

Kimberly raised the shisha pen to her lips and took a puff before glancing at Eric, "You're not going to try to stop me today?" She asked testily. She had been expecting him to snatch the pen from her so they could fight over it.

"No. You just asked me to know my place. I'm nothing more than a mere employee, I shouldn't cross my boundaries." Eric said without turning to look at her. If what she wanted was this sort of attitude, then he was just going to try and give it to her, at least for the time being, until he would be able to figure out what her problem truly was, "I'll drop you off at your house, then pick up my car from there and return to my place." He told her politely.

Kimberly sighed as she returned the shisha pen into her bag. She wasn't feeling better as she had thought she would. If anything she was feeling even worse now since she could tell he was upset.

Kimberly bit her lower lip guiltily, but said nothing as she looked out of the window. She was tempted to apologise to him for being so rude, but she didn't want to do it. She didn't want him to keep acting this way like he really cared about her when they were alone together. She didn't want to risk opening up to him now and then end up becoming so vulnerable only for him to leave her at the end. She didn't want to rely on him emotionally or even like him like she was beginning to. It was a deal, and if she didn't want to get hurt at the end of the day, the safest thing to do would be to keep reminding herself that it was just business and set clear boundaries between them. She doubted that someone as principled as Eric would even be interested in someone as immoral as she was anyway. She had allowed him come too close already to the point that her heart was beginning to flutter too much at his touch, and that wasn't smart.

The longer the silence in the car lasted, the higher the intensity of the guilt she was now beginning to feel. She regretted talking to him in that manner. Why was her emotions so messed up?

"I'm sorry." She managed to say making Eric raise a brow but he said nothing.

"I just don't understand what's wrong with me." Kimberly blurted out before breaking into a sob, making Eric look at her with a frown. One minute she didn't want him talking to her, and the next she was crying? What was he supposed to do? Eric wondered, and then decided to not say anything and just kept driving instead. She had asked him to mind his business, and he was going to do just that.

Kimberly looked up with a frown when he didn't say anything or make any attempt to console her, "You're mean." She muttered before picking up her hankie to wipe her tears.

"You should say something. I said I'm sorry." Kimberly repeated when Eric still didn't say anything.

"I'm not mad or upset. I'm just giving you the space you seem to need." Eric told her calmly.

"I know I overreacted..."

"You think?" Eric asked with a snort. There was no way he was going to let her off the hook so easily. Though he was still trying to understand her, and he wasn't really mad at her, but he wanted her to also understand that he wasn't going to allow her do any of that forth and back thing with him.

"I'm just not comfortable talking about myself. Let's just keep things simple." Kimberly said, ignoring the sarcasm in his tone.

"It's fine. Like I said, I'll just mind my business." Eric insisted as honked the car horn and waited for her security man to open the gate.

"I've said I'm sorry, why are you still making a big deal out of it?" Kimberly asked with a frown as she hurried after Eric who had gotten out of the car and was headed for her apartment to pick up his clothes.

Eric turned to look at her immediately she shut the door behind her, "What do you want me to do? Mind my business or ask you questions you won't answer? I really don't get you." Eric asked with a shake of his head.

Kimberly looked at him in confusion, "I'm just saying you shouldn't be so cold."

"Why not? Are we not friends?" He asked with a slightly raised brow, looking at her curiously.

"I... I don't know. Are we?" She asked with a confused frown making Eric sigh. What was he going to do with this confused lady?

He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into his eyes. Thankfully, Prisca was at work so they were alone in the house together, "I don't think you've given this whole arrangement a thought. Maybe you need space to decide what you want. I'll go in there and pick up my clothes. When you make up your mind give me a call or drop by the house." Eric said before turning to walk away, but Kimberly quickly grabbed his hand.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"You're not backing out of this, right? You can't do that, not when my father has seen you and has approved of you." Kimberly said with a worried frown.

"I never said I was backing out. So you don't have to worry." Eric assured her when he noticed how worried she looked.

"But you can't leave yet. We still haven't talked about how much I'm going to pay you or how we are going to do the whole marriage thing." Kimberly said, making Eric glanced down at his hand which she was still holding making her quickly let go of his hand.

"Let's talk about it after you decide whether or not we are friends." Eric suggested and turned to leave again, but she quickly walked around to stand in front of him.

"Why? What would my answer change?" Kimberly asked curiously.

"I don't want to live under the same roof or make love to a complete stranger... So for your sake I'm hoping you'd answer the question correctly." Eric said making Kimberly blink at him. Why was he talking about making love all of a sudden?

"We are not exactly strangers." Kimberly pointed out.

"Are you sure about that?" Eric asked looking directly into her eyes in a way that made her feel very uncomfortable.

"Yeah. We've cooked together, eaten together, I've been to your place, you've passed the night in my house and you've even seen my father and kissed me in his presence." Kimberly listed off.

"That wasn't a kiss. I only pecked you." Eric corrected.

"Yeah, whatever. But what I'm trying to say is we are not strangers. We've gone past that." Kimberly said in a rush.

"You know that, yet you spoke to me in that manner and asked me to mind my business?" Eric asked making Kimberly frown.

"But I apologized. I just wasn't in a good mood."

"Come sit, let's talk." Eric said, and headed for the couch, leaving her to follow him.

Kimberly slowly followed him, and sat down next to him on the couch when he patted it for her, "I want to know why you reacted the way you did earlier. And I want to know the truth." Eric said looking deeply into her eyes in the way that always made her feel like he could read her mind.

How was she supposed to tell him she was scared she was becoming too attached to him? Or that her heart had been fluttering since he kissed her palm and even pecked her as he has called it? Or that she was scared of telling him about how horrible she is for fear that he might run away from her and not want to go on with the deal

"...."

"You can talk to me. By now you should know I have your best interest at heart." Eric said as he urged her to go ahead.

Eric could see different emotions flicker on her face, so he raised her chin so she was looking into his eyes, "Kim?" Eric called, taking both her small feminine hands in his big ones.