Love's Beacon by IyanuOluwa Olorode

Chapter One: Regina

Nothing in the world could beat walking into a neat office on a Monday morning to find a tidy desk and a steaming hot cup of your favourite coffee. It screamed productivity like nothing else. Give Regina a tidy desk, and she could draft a plan to solve Lagos' traffic problem. If a mathematician were to write an equation about her love for things being spick and span, then it would be directly proportional to her productivity levels.

Nothing in the entire world could ruin Regina's day like a pen out of place or the leaflet that sat next to her laptop's cooling pad. The good mood and euphoria she walked to her desk with dissipated faster than she could read the Heaven is Real typed on the tract in red, you-are-going-to-hell-if-you-don't-read-this-now letters. Regina dropped her blush pink leather work tote on her desk and picked up the intercom receiver.

"Get your butt in here, right now," she barked at the person on the other end.

Seconds later, her assistant, Apunanwu, stepped into her office. If you thought her uncommon name was weird, then you hadn't seen her fashion sense in action. If anyone needed a dictionary meaning of SUI!, Apunanwu fit the bill. Her dresses, at least three sizes bigger than her, looked like clothes she pilfered from her grandmother's forsaken Ghana-must-go 2/ bag of clothes she donned as a youth.

Regina had gotten tired of asking her to change her wardrobe and only put up with her because Apun-anwu was also the definition of efficient. She anticipated Regina's every need and met them.

But she had crossed the line, today.

"Is there a problem, ma'am?" Apunanwu pushed her glasses up her bridgeless nose.

"What the hell is that?" Regina said, pointing at the tract desecrating her organised desk.

"Ehh...I..." Stuttering and scratching her head, Apunanwu struggled to find words.

"In your life," Regina spat, sticking her right index finger out in warning, "I repeat, in your life, if you ever do this again, you can forget about working here. Do you understand me?"

Apunanwu nodded, and Regina picked up the tract and squeezed it into a ball. She threw it on the floor before her zealous assistant.

"Get it out of my sight and get back to work,"Regina snarled.

Apunanwu apologised and picked up the lump on the floor. She turned to leave, and Regina escorted her to the door with a prolonged hiss.

Just come to ruin my day.

Regina stalked to her seat and sat. She took in deep breaths in a bid to calm herself. Calm enough to get some work done, she pulled her laptop sleeve out of her tote and fired up her laptop. She put on her wireless, pink Beats headphones and selected her favourite song to start the day, Migos' Bad and Boujee.

She wouldn't let a misplaced tract or whether heaven was real, ruin her day; she had bigger fish to fry. She was done with that life. If heaven was real, she'd rather live her life on her own terms and miss it.

***

DAPO

"We would like to announce the workers and lead pastors of the new youth church cell," Pastor Agbaje said.

For the first time in his life, Dapo wished he wasn't in church. Anywhere else would be a great alternative to church right now.

He didn't always feel this way. No, since he was a little boy, Dapo loved church. He loved worshipping with fellow believers. He loved teaching his Sunday School class. Most of all, he loved being under the tutelage of a seasoned teacher of the word like Pastor Agbaje. But today, the first Sunday of Novem-ber, he wished he was far away from the house of God. Or better yet, that Pastor Agbaje hadn't made the announcement that shattered his soul.

Taking in a deep breath, he hoped his emotions were not evident on his face. The man and woman the pastor called out walked to the altar hand in hand, and the church erupted in applause.

That was supposed to be him beside her. Dapo gulped and clapped alongside everyone else in the church auditorium. He wasn't happy. Not in the least. The man in front was living the dream Dapo had had since he was a teenager.

God, help me.

The couple knelt. For a moment, Sister Rachel's eyes met his before she bowed her head. Dapo hoped she couldn't see the pain swirling behind his eyes. He bent his head, trying hard to pray for the couple who would head the new youth church. A handful of words left his lips before he stopped.

"God, help me. Help me, please," he prayed instead. Over and over.

------

We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...