Dear Eva,
That's what he always calls me when he wants to talk to me, or when he wants to ask me what I think about his proposal.
For the few months I had worked in the hotel, he had been following me around, asking me to date him, even though I was just a receptionist in the hotel.
Kingsley is the branch manager of a
prestigious hotel where I work to make ends meet in my family. I was the one shouldering all the financial burdens in my family, and it hasn't gotten any better—but what can I do? I can't give up.
But Kingsley keeps asking me to be his girlfriend, although I didn't like him. I was finding it hard to tell him that I had no intentions of starting any relationship with him because I was scared of losing my job if I said so.
Day after day, Kingsley was always showering me with gifts, asking that I become his woman.
"Dear Eva," he would begin. "I want you. You are the most beautiful thing I had ever set my eyes on."
And that's why I won't ever like him. He keeps calling me a thing. How can a woman—a human being—be a beautiful thing?
"Please, give me a chance in your heart," he would plead, but I didn't want to. Even when I thought he would see my reluctance and hesitation and just give up, Kingsley was just too persistent.
He paid my father's hospital bills after he was involved in an accident. My family knows, appreciates, and respects him. They all wish I end up with him real quick because they said he was generous—just the kind of son-in-law they wanted.
My immediate younger sister would always pull up his crazy pictures on his page and gush and drool over him, calling him a handsome dream man.
But I don't want him. He has the money, he was handsome, but I just didn't want him because I didn't just want love because of the money—I wanted to love because of love, because I feel it.
Then, he employed a new worker in the hotel in place of the former one he had dismissed from work due to lateness.
Immediately I set my eyes on the new room service delivery guy, Stan, my heart skipped a beat at the sight of this handsome man.
He was exactly like the man I wrote about in my diary. Kingsley said he was like a brother to him, and he was helping him so that he wouldn't end up in the streets.
But the moment I saw him, I was convinced this was my man. Stan is the man I had been waiting for—my dream man—and I just can't wait to start a relationship with him, no matter what Kingsley thinks of us.
"Dear Eva," Kingsley called me, and I responded.
"Please show him to his duty post and fill him in on all he's expected to do," he said, and I nodded enthusiastically. Not once did I take my eyes away from him.
Stan was not just tall—he was handsome, heavily built, and dark-skinned, with those shiny pink lips that make me drool.
I was sure I would end up writing love poems about him. And I would start with Dear Stan. Probably he would also write about me and start with Dear Eva.
Because honestly, Kingsley's mouth doesn't do enough justice to my name like Stan's mouth.
The way he said my name made my heart flutter and pound.
"Eva," Stan called. "How long have you worked here?"
"Not quite long. Can I ask you a favour?" I asked as I stepped in front of him, staring him in the eyes.
"Call me Dear Eva whenever you want to call me," I said.
He was stunned for a long time before he finally said it:
"Dear Eva."
And that was the beginning of our journey.
To be continued.
Dear Eva, Episode 1.
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#weaveofwords
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#tiana
Nwokoro Nkechinyerem Christiana