chapter 39

Weeks passed and the friendship between Eve and Theo was growing. They had gotten closer and everyone could see the huge influence she had had on Theo. His family was seeing him more often and when he did, he would spend time playing board games, laughing and joking. His mother was puzzled. She wondered who could be having such influence on her son and genuinely wanted to meet this person. Lately he has been going out a lot than usual, and this is indication that it has to do with a girl.

“Who is she?” asked Theo’s Mum, Thea with a serious face. Theophilus jutted out his head and looked at his mother with questioning eyes but holding a grin. “Who?” he roared. “The girl, come on, get it out! I want to meet her and thank her” Thea continued. “Mum, what are you on about? I’m confused. Who said some girl is influencing me?” said Theo. “Uhuh! See! You said it yourself, did I mention any influence? I think you know what I’m saying and you are just trying to stall. Now I’m certain, who is she?” jokingly said Thea clapping her hands showing she was correct in her psychological analysis of him.

“Mum, quit it. She is just a friend and colleague, nothing between us” Theophilus said but he didn’t realize that his mother was more intelligent than him. She noticed a hint of an emotion in his eyes, and she couldn’t mistaken that emotion. It was love! “Just a friend huh?” she deliberately teased him and he blushed and looked away a little embarrassed that his mother found him out!

He knew that this woman will not get off his back if he doesn’t come clean, but on the other hand, he didn’t want to say anything because he hasn’t yet officially asked Eve out so he didn’t want to complicate things just incase his mother decides to play Cupid and ruin his plans. “Mum like I said, she is a friend. She sees me as a friend, don’t complicate things” said Theo with a stern face.

His mother was excited, she saw what she wanted to see from her son’s side, that is, love in his eyes. She just wanted to meet this girl even if she is just a friend with the hope that the girl in question would realize her son’s weakness with women and help him out. She also wanted to check out if this girl also feels the same about her son. She knew that her son is a little behind when it comes to love matters and therefore he wouldn’t know how to confess his feelings to this girl. If this girl is a conservative person and she also has feelings for him, then she too will not encourage him, and this will drag on until God knows when. Her heart broke at the thought that her very old son is clueless in romance matters. So she hatched a plan.

It had been a month and the project was progressing fairly well. This meant that the bosses no longer take shifts to spend more time at the site but now they were back in the offices only occasionally visiting the site. This particular day, both Eve and Theo were in the office at lunch time. Theo had just knocked on Eve’s office. “Wanna grab a bite?” Theo asked popping his head in her office. “It depends, are you asking me out for lunch?” Eve asked wiggling her brows in a seductive way. Theo chuckled, well if you want it to be that then I can ask you out” responded the big boss! 

Meanwhile, his secretary entered his office with a lady trailing behind. Upon not seeing him in his office, he knew where to find him. He indicated to the lady to follow him and he went to Eve’s office. When they approached, they saw him seated on a chair, the door slightly ajar. Derrick Lamina cleared his throat and got their attention just as he knocked. They exchanged glances as the boss waited to be told what he has been followed to Eve’s office for. 

Not expecting the surprise, Derrick said “sir, madam is here. Thea had stayed outside the office. “Which madam?” the boss asked clueless. “Your mother sir, she is looking for you” Derrick said nervously not knowing if he did the right thing asking her to follow him to Eve’s office. Theo jumped up all panicky, and said “what, where, is she already up here, if not tell her I’m not in or I’m in a meeting or something” growled Theo. He didn’t even know what he was saying. Meanwhile, Eve was puzzled why Theo seemed to fear his mother’s presence at work. Theo looked at Eve with what looked like an apologetic look and this only deepened her curiosity. “Uhmm, about that sir, madam…” before Derrick could finish, she said, “madam is here already” Thea announced herself.

Theo was stunned, he wished the ground could break and swallow him alive. He knew his mother would do something this dramatic but at least he didn’t expect it to be this soon. She just ambushed his offices just to feed her curiosity about the girl. He looked angrily at Derrick who noticed and wondered what mistake he committed. If his boss didn’t want his mother in the office he should have clearly laid out that rule. Now he was confused why the boss is giving him death glares.

“Oh boy, mother” grumpily said Theo who was face palming. “Oh son, stop wrecking your brain. I only brought you lunch. You rushed out today without eating breakfast so I was only worried that maybe you had a lot of work therefore you wouldn’t be able to eat lunch also” Thea said while she was eyeing Eve behind the desk, glancing at her son who was giving Eve an apologetic look, she could tell that that was the girl who her son is smitten over. Only Theo knew the motive behind his mother’s visit and didn’t buy her story but when he looked at Eve, he could tell that she was really touched by his mother’s lie. 

Seeing that Theo wasn’t gonna introduce her, she took the initiative. “Oh hello their beautiful lady, I’m Thea Baron, Theo’s mother” she extended her hand to Eve who abruptly stood up smiling widely and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you Mrs Baron, I’m Evette Scott” Eve said all smiles. “Nice to meet you too Eve. I’ve heard a little about you” lied Thea. She just wanted to get a reaction from Eve. This woman was good at psycho analyzing people you would almost swear she was a psychologist. 

“I see”said Eve while glancing at Theo wondering why he was talking to his mother about her. Theo shook his head nullifying his mother’s “truth”. “I brought enough lunch for three, let’s eat together” Thea did not wait for any of them to agree or refuse, she unpacked her lunch boxes. Infact she had planned to eat along with them so she could spend some time with Eve.