"I'm not sorry, if that's what you are expecting me to say," he finally said.
"You had no right to do that. You crossed the line," she said accusingly.
"Yes. But it's something I've wanted to do for some time now," he rejoined. "And I'll do it again if the opportunity comes."
Oma shook her head.
"Don't hold your breath. It won't happen again," she responded sharply. He smiled then, his mouth curved in an amused manner
"Don't be too sure about that, ok?" His face lowered, so close to hers that she took a step back.
"I feel tired. I want to go home," she said.
***
At Ibeshe Sea Beach Village, two weeks later...
The shoot was going according to plan. With the awesome backdrop of the tall, swaying palm trees on the beach, the sun shining bright and the rolling waves of the ocean, the director of the ad, Stan had captured some truly fine shots on camera.
The shoot was for the video of the second ad campaign Oma was doing for Daniel's company.
Dressed in tight-fitting leggings and a T-shirt, she stood on the sidelines watching the action.
The ad was on one of the company's best selling products, a lemon flavoured soft drink called Levita.
The female model for the video, a pretty student named Jumoke was by the edge of the water, striking a pose as she took a sip of another drink.
The male model's role was to woo her with his drink, the company's product. She takes a sip of it and she instantly falls in love- with the drink as well as the guy.
That scene was being shot when the unexpected happened. As Jumoke turned to throw the drink she had been sipping into the sea, she slipped and fell into the water.
A big wave came in at that moment, sweeping her away into the sea.
As Jumoke, who could not swim floundered in the water, shouting for help, the crew and cast stood frozen momentarily with shock.
Then the male model quickly took action and dived into the water. He returned, carrying Jumoke in his arms, laid her on the sand, alive but coughing and spluttering out water... Oma's breathing eased a bit, seeing that a near tragedy had been averted. As she and the others gathered round Jumoke, gazing down worriedly at her, a voice behind her said: "What's going on here?"
***
"It was a good thing that boy could swim," stated Daniel some time later.
Oma had just briefed him about the near accident and he now sat with the others on mats under the coconut trees having lunch.
Jumoke had recovered and was sitting close to Charles, the model and now hero who had rescued her from the water in a style that was like a scene from an action movie.
Oma took a sip from the bottle of Levita, savouring the lemony taste of the drink. She had to agree that he was right. Who knows what could have happened if there was no strong swimmer around and the poor girl had drowned.
She shuddered at the thought.
He gazed at her speculatively. "Don't tell me you're cold with the blazing sun."
"I'm fine," she said. But it was not totally true. She had been relaxed and enjoying the shoot and the ambience of the seaside village.
But Daniel showing up unexpectedly had nearly ruined her mood. And concentration. This was their first meeting after the kiss at the party.
He was away in South Africa, she had heard when she had gone to his company a few days before the shoot to confer with Kadiri on some details concerning the campaign.
As if reading her thoughts, he said: "I arrived from J'burg last night. Kadiri told me about the shoot at Ibeshe this morning, felt I needed a break, after all, my hard work. So here I am!" Then drawing close to her, he said softly: "Is my presence disturbing you? You seem edgy."
"Why should it?" she retorted. "It's a free world; you can come and go as you please."
He was not done yet. "Or are you afraid we might continue where we stopped earlier? I might have taken a chance if there wasn't such a crowd here. I'm not one for PDAs!" he remarked, smiling crookedly at her.
Oma got up hurriedly and throwing him a dirty look, marched in the direction of the director who sat conferring with his cameramen.
The next shoot was the sunset scene. Some of the cast and crew that were not needed for the shoot had to leave for the city before dark.
That left Oma, Daniel, Jumoke and Charles, the director and a few others.
They lounged around, waiting for the sunset which Daniel had promised would be a spectacular sight. "You need to see it to believe. How the sea will 'swallow' the sun..." he enthused.
Towards seven o'clock, as the light waned, the sky was painted in dazzling colours of pink, red and orange as the dying sunset.
Oma stood on the beach, gazing with fascination at this wonder of nature, noting the manner the sun seemed to dip into the sea as if it had been swallowed by the immense waters of the Atlantic ocean. Soon, the light faded and darkness took over.
The shoot was going on as the director wanted to capture the scene on camera. "Amazing, isn't it?" stated Daniel. He had strolled over to stand by her side, watching her keenly as her eyes took in the scene.
She turned to him. "It's beautiful, worth waiting for."
“Your beauty beats that of the sunset,' he thought to himself.
Shortly after, the shoot wrapped up. Since it was too late to return to the city, Oma had made arrangements for the crew to spend the night in the village in a guest house nearby.
But Daniel offered to take some of the team as there were three extra bedrooms in his house. "The ladies can stay in my house. You guys can put up in the guest house," he announced succinctly...
To be continued
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