FATED TO A PLAYBOY CEO

ONE

Sunday arrived pulling along a rush of misty air that rustled through the leaves of the oak tree, directly outside Laura's room, sending the multicolored birds flying off.

As if she had just had her prayers answered, Rita snuggled up to her only daughter outside the balcony, holding her hands tightly and rubbing her blond hair- the one that stretched down her youthful shoulders.

Despite that she insisted they go inside to talk because it was warmer in there, Rita maintained her stance. There was something about sitting on her recliner-the one in the balcony, not alone, but with her blonde daughter on her thighs, having a tete-a-tete.

Apart from the fact that that moment was heavenly because it brought them closer to each other, it was an uncommon luxury; Laura always had her head buried in hundreds of books and barely had time for any chore.

If Rita complained about this again, it would have been her thousandth time of complaining.

"When I say you look so much like my younger self, I know what I'm saying. Look at you" Rita's smile lit up her round face but her carbon copy was not having any of it.

"See how long your hair is. I remember when I was eighteen, the boys at Daffodils used to surround me just to play with my hair. They called me queen of the underworld and I would blush. Imagine someone calling you a mammy-water and you are grinning from ear to ear?

Oh the good old days ..."

Laura tried her best to hide the smirk but her mom already saw it.

"You don't believe I had that long hair, Laura?"

"No mom, it's just I don't see myself looking so much like your younger self" she crossed her hands beneath her breasts and watched some old couple holding hands across the street like honeymooners.

She looked away quickly, scoffing under her breath. If Rita saw them, the topic of conversation would be switched to romance and love.

It was one of the things that caught Rita's interest- seeing two people in love. She remembered her mom ogling one middle-aged heavily bearded man when they went shopping some weeks ago. Laura herself constantly had the urge to punch any guy who tried to hit on her, because it was disgusting to her.

How on earth then would her mother claim she looked so much like her younger self? They had almost nothing in common.

"Huh?" Rita jerked her out of her reverie.

"What?" She said absentmindedly. "Am I still visiting granny next week, mom?"

"You really won't respond to my question huh?" Rita gritted her teeth

"Sorry, I wasn't listening" she replied unapologetically. She wanted every chance to get back into her room which could pass for a public library.

Rita got up and walked into the house, without uttering another word. Her attempt at having a mother-daughter time had been fruitless, for the umpteenth time.

"Mom, Granny wants to take me to the public library next week, you know that" Laura whined following her mom into the house. She was glad their conversation was over.

"You're not going anywhere next week" Rita announced, mounting the stairs straight towards her daughter's room. She was going to lock her bedroom and leave her to the day's chores. Laura was getting uptight as a result of thirst for reading,

"Mom, you know, Ferdinand's public library is the only place I can get that autobiography, and granny already promised to take me there"

"Oh now, you locked my door too? I can't get in my room now?"

"Not until you do all the dishes and listen to me talk"

"But mom..You know I love you? I didn't mean to upset you" she blew some kisses in the air but her mother was not budging. She badly wanted to dash into her world of pink- her room where everything except some books were pink, the walls decorated with pink wallpapers, thereby making her room to glow

"I've got to read a thousand more chapters before I sleep tonight. Why must you lock my room?" she muttered as she flopped on the couch, with her eyebrows arched.

Laura had been a book addict right from childhood, her mother thought it was a normal thing not until she clocked 20 a few months ago, and it started to seem like a curse when on her birthday, Laura refused to take more than a picture because according to her, she had to find out how Helen's life ended in 'What happened to Helen?'

All the presents she got on her birthday went into the trash can because she felt she didn't need extra pillows, dresses and shoes. Rita remembered her sulking at sixteen when none of her birthday presents turned out to be a book.

"How can anyone not think of buying me one?" She sobbed. Rita thought it was abnormal and besetting how her daughter always wanted and appreciated whoever gives her book to read, and barely muttered a 'thank you' if it were something else.

Her room looked like a library that had a bed in it as it was decorated with hundreds of books with different authors and titles.

They say, birds of a feather flock together. The same is true of booky- Laura, and her best friend, Jessy. All you need do to be their enemy is hate books and studying. She personally thinks whoever doesn't at least read , see comics or write is already dead while still alive. It doesn't matter if you're dyslexic or not, as long as you don't like seeing too many books in your house, you're a potential enemy of hers.

Little wonder Jessy is as close to her as a second skin.

Nevertheless, Jessica is slightly different in the sense that she doesn't think guys are disgusting or think going to dates are a waste of time.

Rita had become a single mother ever since she divorced her husband Dave because of his infidelity and domestic violence which she had addressed and pardoned so many times to no avail.

She had to divorce him for the sake of their only child, Laura. But, painfully, after the divorce, she missed him sore. The nostalg