Chapter 5

"My name is Amanda Howells." Amanda said with a broad smile.

"I'm Kathleen Okorie. I guess you're aware I'm going to be your caretaker whenever your father is absent?" Kathleen asked with a kind smile.

"Caretaker?" Amanda frowned in confusion.

"What I mean is, I'm going to be your babysitter. I figured you were too grown up and wouldn't like to be referred to as a baby, hence I chose to call myself your caretaker instead." Kathleen explained making Amanda giggle while Pete smiled at her thoughtfulness.

"You haven't told me where you live." Pete said when they got to an intersection on the road, "Should I go left or right?"

"Right. I live in Shogunle. I'm sure you don't know where that is, I will just direct you." Kathleen offered.

"Why would you assume I don't know where Shogunle is?" Pete asked in amusement.

"Well... You don't just seem the type." Kathleen said with a shrug.

"I suppose you're saying this because I'm speaking English with American accent? I be Omo eko o." Pete said making Kathleen laugh.

"I guess anybody can say that." Kathleen said before turning to look at Amanda, "So how old are you, Amanda?"

"I will be eight years old on Christmas day." Amanda said with a grin, grateful that Kathleen was including her in the conversations. "Kathleen, may I call you Kat?"

Kathleen looked at Amanda, she had heard that kids born abroad usually lacked respect, and this just proved it. She couldn't even add 'aunty' 'sister' or even 'Miss' to the Kat.

As though Pete could read her mind, he glanced at his daughter, "You should say aunty Kat."

"But she isn't my aunty." Amanda told her father in confusion.

"She doesn't have to be your aunty to be called that. I told you things are done differently here in Nigeria. Hopefully she will teach you that." Pete said.

"Can't I just call you Kat?" Amanda asked again.

"Sure." Kathleen told her with a small smile. The little girl was too cute to be given a knock. If it was one of those ajekpako kids in her neighborhood that tried this, she would have given them a resounding knock.

"We are here. So where exactly do you live?" Pete said as he drove into her neighborhood.

"Oh! No, you can just drop me here. I don't want them to see me getting out of such a car." Kathleen lied.

"Really? Why?" He asked curiously. He would have thought she would be proud of them seeing her getting out of such a luxurious car.

"This is Nigeria. I don't want my neighbors to gossip, so I'll just get down and walk down to my house. It's not far from here, so you have nothing to worry about. Thanks for bringing me home." Kathleen said with a polite smile before turning to look at Amanda.

"It's been nice meeting you, I hope we can get along really well."

"I hope so too." Amanda said with a grin.

__________

The next day, the moment Kathleen walked into the office the first thing she observed was that her female colleagues were all giving her a cold shoulder. It would have bothered her had she been friends with any of them, but she didn't even know their names, so their attitude didn't bother her.

She ignored all the snide remarks they made about her, claiming she was an hypocrite, one said she pretended to be innocent whereas she was a man-eater. She had been curious enough to search for the meaning of 'man-eater' and had almost laughed out loud when she saw it.

As though they weren't angry enough, she received a call directly from Pete this time, asking her to meet him in his office. Kathleen couldn't stop the laughter that erupted from her when she noticed the way her female colleagues eyed her maliciously when the telephone rang, and they heard her say 'sir'.

"Remember me in paradise." Dave called after her as she stood up to leave, making her laugh even more.

"I hear you jare, let me find out what he wants." Kathleen said as she walked out of the office, ignoring the hissing sounds that followed her.

Clara didn't bother to stop her as she headed for his office. "You sent for me, sir." Kathleen said the moment she walked into the office. She noticed another handsome young man was seated in one of the chairs, while he motioned with his hand for her to sit on the other one.

"Ken, meet my daughter's caretaker, Miss Okorie, this is Mr Kenneth, My friend and lawyer." Pete said while Ken took Kathleen's hands in her own.

"I see you took my advise." Ken said as he winked at Pete before giving Kathleen a flirty smile while holding her hand longer than necessary.

"You didn't tell me she was this pretty." Ken said when he finally let go of Kathleen's hand.

"Because I didn't think it was your business. That's not the reason I called her." Pete said dismissively.

He had observed the way Ken was trying to flirt with Kathleen, and had also noticed how uncomfortable Kathleen had looked. "We both have to sign some documents concerning your job and as my lawyer Ken needs to be here." Pete explained to Kathleen who was already becoming restless.

"You mean like a contract?" Kathleen asked.

"Yeah. These are the terms of your job, read through it and sign." Pete said as he handed her the documents.

Kathleen really wasn't in the mood to read anything. She just wanted to sign on it and leave. Something about the way Ken was staring at her was making her very uncomfortable.

"You're still paying me fifty thousand naira right?" She asked curiously as she pretended to read the documents.

"Of course."

What could be written there other than many unnecessary English? How hard could babysitting a grown up kid like Amanda be? She asked herself as she flipped from page to page and then signed on the last page without reading anything.

"Here." She said as she handed him the document.

"You're done?" Pete asked with a frown. He had expected her to argue with him over some of the things that were written there, or even make some amendments.

"Yes." She said confidently.

"You read through everything? And you agree?" Pete asked just to be sure.

"Yes." Kathleen lied.

"Okay then, you can return to your office. Thank you." Pete said dismissively, and waited for her to leave before looking at Ken.

"She didn't read it." Ken said before Pete could say a word.

"I thought so too. But why didn't she read it?" Pete asked with a frown.

"If I were you I would use that to my own advantage. By the way, the babe is damn hot! She resemble half-caste." Ken said with a grin.

"Get your eyes off her. I don't want you toying with my daughter's caretaker." Pete warned.

"You sure? Abi you want her for yourself?" Ken asked suspiciously.

"You should know that is the least of my problem right now."

"That reminds me! Guess who I saw on Saturday?" Ken asked with a grin.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Kimberly! You remember her? That babe in your sister's class? The one you used to have a mad crush on when we were in secondary school. Her father is Senator Abamba." Ken said.

"Oh! Really? Where did you see her? Is she married now?" Pete asked with interest.

"We met at Fred's wedding on Saturday. You won't believe she even asked about you." Ken said.

"It's a lie!" Pete exclaimed.

"I swear. I was equally surprised that she remembered you. I told her we could all meet at K2 club for Thank God It's Friday." Ken said making Pete frown.

"But I can't be there at night with you guys. You know I have to be with Amanda." Pete said with a frown.

"Why do you have a babysitter now? Of course she would watch over her while you go and catch fun. Just relax jare."

_______

Kathleen had left work earlier than usual on Friday evening so she could beat traffic and get some rest before the church vigil she was to attend that night. She had barely managed to fall asleep when someone knocked on her door sometime past 7 PM. She had assumed it was one of her neighbors coming to borrow something from her, so she didn't bother to check the mirror as she walked over to the door, and opened it slightly, allowing only her head to pass through the door.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw Pete standing there with his daughter, while he looked around the corridor with displeasure written all over his face.

"S--ir?" She asked in confusion. What was he doing here? How had he gotten her home address? Why didn't he call her? Kathleen wondered as Pete turned to look at her.

"This is where you live?" He asked distastefully.

Kathleen was almost tempted to ask if he had a problem with it, but she decided otherwise, "Did you miss your way?" Kathleen asked in a tone that said, 'I won't tolerate you looking down at me.'

"I'm supposed to spend the night with you because daddy has to go somewhere." Amanda piped in.

"Spend the night with me?" Kathleen asked with a raised brow as she looked at Pete. Maybe she had made a mistake in accepting the job without having some sort of agreement with him about imposing on her privacy.

"Unfortunately I don't think my daughter can live in such a place." Pete said as he looked at her directly in the eyes.

"Then I suppose you can take her along with you to wherever you're going. I have plans for the night anyway." Kathleen said, not understanding why she was feeling irritated by his action.

"I suppose you'll just have to cancel whatever plans you made for the night. We signed an agreement, remember? You're to be present WHENEVER you're needed. You're my employee after all." Pete said with a challenging glint in his eyes, making Kathleen grit her teeth.

She hadn't realized that she had signed a deal with the devil himself. He had been all sweet and nice just some days ago, but now he was obviously beginning to show his true colors.

"I'll just have to take her with me to the vigil..."

"You will do no such thing! Pack whatever you need for the weekend, you're spending the weekend at my house, I can only trust you to take good care of my daughter in the comfort of my home." Pete said making Kathleen's mouth drop wide open.

Was he kidding her? "I beg your pardon?" Kathleen asked in disbelief.

"I said pack a bag, we are going over to my house. I have to be somewhere and you're wasting my time." Pete said impatiently.

"I can't..."

"You will. You signed the contract. You agreed you would drop every other thing and do this if called up on." Pete lied, and thanked his stars that she hadn't read the terms of her employment.

"Can I refuse the job?" Kathleen asked.

"I'm afraid it's a little too late for that. The terms of the contract you signed also said you can't stop working for me without giving me at least a six months notice." Pete lied.

"I..." Kathleen shut her mouth. This was her fault. She shouldn't have signed a contract she didn't read, and she definitely shouldn't have lied about it either. She couldn't risk getting into an argument or quareling with him. What if he got angry and decided to fire her from her job at the office? She couldn't afford to be jobless.

"Fine." She said as she tried to shut the door so she could go in and change her clothes.

"You can't leave us out here, we have to come inside." Pete said.

"It's a single room, unless you want to watch me change my clothes, I'd suggest you wait for me in your car." Kathleen said curtly and shut the door in his face.