HOOKED 3

Lara stood waiting for a cab . She closed late from work and was running late for church.
She took a glance at her watch 5:45 she had to be in church by 6:00pm and she wanted to get home first to pick up her bible and bible study materials. She wondered why all the cabs she saw for some weird reason were going to Dutse. She waited and silently prayed a Gwarimpa bound cab would come along so she could get going . She just might have to take a drop with the way things were going..."federal housing Gwarimpa!" she heard the familiar high toned cheerful voice "kai! its him"
Lara got in and the cab started moving.
"hello love" he said in an excited chatter
"How was work today" he continued " its been I while since I saw you, what can I offer you?"
Lara felt like disappearing from the whole scene and from curious glances of other customers. she looked at him with astonished gaze.
A passenger dropped and he still continued" would you like some vitamin c dear,? its all I have...please have some". " no thank y... " Lara didn't get to finish her reply because he went on. "oh come to the front love" other passengers grunted and yabbed him. surprisingly Lara found herself laughing at his continuous rapid talking...it was Canary like. she found it amusing. The remaining two passengers got down and Lara found herself in the middle of a conversation with the cabbie. He was telling her about his brothers wedding, Which he attended somewhere in his village. " where are you from?" she heard herself ask " Delta"
"what part of delta?" "Ogume" he replied "wow! I schooled there" she said " so how do you like my home town?" "what's special about your home town?" she asked " you want to tell me you didn't fall in love enough with it to want to go back?" she looked at him and smiled "Nope" They found themselves talking about places they both knew.There were almost at her stop and coincidentally she was the only passenger left. He quickly looked at her and said " please take my number and add me on whatsapp" "huh" she said

" I need to send you pictures of some places you might have missed" Lara found her self laughing so hard, she knew it was a clever way of asking for her number. "What's your name? he asked "Lara" she said "oh okay...am Abram...AB for short" she nodded, took his number and left.

AB drove off carrying a shipish grin on his face. He felt as foolish as the grin he was carrying on. "kai na wa o" he thought to him self " you no even say make you catch levels small...just dea run mouth any how". He was almost sure she wont call after the way he just pour him self for ground finish. AB whispered a prayer that she would at least send a message so he could get her number. He felt messed up in worst kind of way possible. The odd were too great. He knew better than to get involved in this. She was beyond his reach and he was in the very wrong side of things. A.B sighed. A tinge of hope sprang up in him..."you never know she just might..."

Lara laughed to her self when a thought of Him came to her mind. What did he say his name was a gain? she couldn't recall but she knew it started with an A.
She knew she would see him again. This had to stop, how ? She didn't know but it had to stop. She had run into him a couple of times and each o those times, he would greet her so excitedly that people often turned to look at her. She always wished she could disappear when he did that. The worse one was a few minutes ago, and to make it even worse Zubby was with her when he drove past them wildly greeting and horning to get her attention. He made phone sign to tell her to call. she nodded and Zubby looked at her weird and she knew she was Fried! "what the....Girl what the hell was that?" Her friend Zubby was the matchmaker, she loved hooking her friends up and Lara had suffered alot in her hands. Zubby which was short or Chizoba was strict with social class or seemed so, because the way she looked at Lara right now says speak or I kill you.
"its nothing Zubby...just a Cabby that brings me to work every now and then" Lara said as she pulled her friend and changed the topic. Zubby didn't look satisfied but she didn't push it either, Lara was grateful. They both walked into the federal housing estate where they both shared a flat.

It had been a rough week for AB. He ached all over and it was just Thursday. He had been so busy trying to work and oversee his house project. He had decided that he wasn't going to work this weekend. He was just going to spend more time at his site and rest. If only he could spend some of that rest time with her, that would be mighty nice . Lara that was her name... he liked it and he wished he could stop embarrassing himself whenever he saw her. He was on a return trip back to Gwarimpa from Wuse, and was approaching the bus stop where Lara normally took a taxi home. It had become normal for him to look out for her whenever he passed by. He wondered if he would see her,his vehicle was full and  he wasn't even going to be able to pick her up. He sighted her ahead as she got in to a taxi ahead. she seemed in a hurry and the taxi looked different. He didn't know the taxi. Being a driver himself he knew most of the taxis on his route.  He was right behind them any way hopefully he would be able to talk to her without embarrassing himself. Maybe if he could gather his courage enough he would ask he out for a drink or something. " I will come down here" a passenger said AB pulled over for a passenger to get down. He watched the taxi Lara had gotten into...pull over briefly ahead but sped off again without Lara getting down . what was going on...? that wasn't her stop but it was close....

Lara yelled at the driver from behind. "drop me of here". The driver Ignored her and just kept on driving . He stopped briefly and then speed of when Lara would not pay him extra. He was not going to let her get off. He wined up and just kept driving. Lara knew she was in trouble when the passenger in front ignored her as well. That was when she realised she had entered a one chance cab....Panic Struck....

AB watched from his cab....No, that was the wrong turn, and it was not just to avoid traffic. He looked again...suspicious of the taxi, he took note of Lara's movements they were awkward almost like as if she was distressed. like she was shouting at the man. Where was she off to ? was this what he thought it was? should he follow? AB watched her a little longer and decided he was following that taxi. He immediately made a turn without looking and almost got hit, his passengers yelled. AB didn't respond he just drove on careful not to loose his chase. Passenger in front turned and said" na that taxi for front you dea follow?" "oh so you  saw what I saw" AB asked " yes" he said" I been don dea look them since from that place that geh drop" just as he spoke they saw the back door of the car fling open and the car came to a screeching halt.....

Lara could think of nothing else to do she needed to save herself. she was never the damsel in distress type and always fought her battles herself. she responded to panic with tactics. She knew she had to do something fast before it was to late. That was when she pushed open the door of the moving vehicle and the car came to a screeching halt. Lara jumped down just as the driver and the front passenger tried to hold her back.  She pushed forward dragging her self out of the vehicle and fell to the ground. They could see a taxi pull up right behind them and two passengers and the driver jumped down and raced to the scene the two men immediately speed off in a bid to get away but were stopped by the civil defence officers in front of a big shots house. Lara looked up from the ground where she was trying to gather herself to the tall figure looking down at her with worried eyes...he looked awfully familiar...AB.  he had stopped to help her up while the other two men had raced on to where the civil defence men had pulled the one chance drivers over. "Lara" he said " are you hurt" even at a time like this his English was still good, Lara was grateful to see a familiar face. she was frightened and immediately held on to his hand like a frightened child. She shook her head and stood as AB pulled her up. They both walked up to the civil defence officers who asked her to narrate her story.Lara retold her story, AB also told his side of the story. The Culprits were immediately taken away by the civil defence officers. AB and Lara walked backed to AB's cab along with his passengers who just went on and on about the incident" my dear you are lucky o" a woman beside her said " hmm...na God just make our driver notice wetin dea happen and this civil defence come dea front" the man in the front said " if not...." he continued Lara said nothing neither did AB who kept casting frequent concerned glances at her through his rare view mirror. He got to the bus stop and all the passengers got down. Lara jumped down as well and stretched out her hand with a 200 Naira bill in it. Thank you she said as she gave the the money to him without looking at him. AB did not attempt to take the money from her. "Lara" he said "get in let me drop you off". "No...am fine"she said but even Lara herself did not believe she was fine. her legs could barely move and her body ached from the fall. "get in Lara" AB said in a more commanding tone. Ordinarily Lara would gladly defy him if not for anything for the tone of his voice but under the current circumstance she was in no shape to make any point. she simply nodded and got into the car. AB started the engine of his car... "Where" he asked as he drove into the estate. "third avenue" she said, she wanted to breakdown and cry. She blinked back the tears Do "you want me to come get you tomorrow so I take you to work?" No...I will be fine" she said. "sure you are okay?" he asked searching her face for unspoken truth. "yes..second house to the right" she said as they pulled over at her place. " don't worry about that" AB said as she put her hand forth to pay him again. She nodded and thanked him. Then got down and went in. AB watched her as she walked into her house, What would have he have done had anything happened to her, maybe he should have taken her number, maybe next time...AB reversed his car and drove off.

Behind closed doors Lara listened as AB drove off and thanked God for him, what would have happened had he not come along?....