Genevieve



"Are you alright? You sent last month's report to me to forward to our top client when you know that we have to keep everything up to date at all times?"

"I'm sorry it was a mistake i didn't realise that...?"

"You didn't realise what? WHAT? DO YOU HAVE COTTON FOR BRAINS? HOW CAN YOU MAKE SUCH A MISTAKE?"

My boss yelled and I brimmed at the edge of tears trying to hold them back and be professional despite the insults he was berating me with.

"Take am easy now, Afeez. This girl is new and she needs time to adjust." Mr Njoku said coming to my defense.

"Hey, hey stop there! This doesn't concern you or your department you hear me!" 

My boss promptly shut him up. They both glared at each other for a moment before Mr Njoku added.

"Then stop making noise and bothering me and my department." before he went back to typing on his computer system.

From my first day at work i had noticed there was some kind of friction between the two men. The way they looked at each other and carefully ignored each other despite sharing the same 2nd floor in the same building.

Our building was the Kuramo Hotel and Suites located just by the famous Kuramo beach on Lagos Island. A 25th storey building famous for its located and loved by all manner of clientele. But I only just started barely 3 weeks ago. Our company is Kuramo Maintenance and we are a facility management company in charge of servicing and maintaining Kuramo Hotels and Suites.

When you come to our hotel you feel like royalty and when I first saw the vacancy ad for a front desk officer i promptly applied and i was over the moon when I got the email to come start the job shortly after the interview. I thought it would be a dream job. The reality is very different.

It turns out that komain short for Kuramo Maintenance ltd is fond of overusing their staff members. And even with my rich experience in front desk work I quickly realised that it was not going to be easy adapting to komain's complicated documentation and procedures.

And since they pay low and overexert their workers people resign a lot. As a matter of fact I only got the job that fast because their previous front desk officer resigned abruptly due to overexertion and they needed someone to take over from her.

So i got there only to realise that there was a lot of work backlog with many management names and numbers to memorise and the company was in the middle of an expansion. The previous front desk officer had hid many contacts and documents in the hopes of making things difficult for the next front desk officer thereby making the company see her worth and hopefully call her back with a huge payrise offer. She was wrong.

My Lebanese boss; Mr Abdulafeez was adamant when responding to everyone who had asked him to recall her.

"No, I would never call her back. She left the company without telling me and you want me to call her back? No, I won't do that. We will find someone else."

He would say time and time again as I made one mistake after the other or delay a document past its deadline.

"But your new front desk officer doesn't have anyone to teach her. She is new and requires time to adjust!" Mr Njoku said finally pleading with him nevertheless my Lebanese boss with a head of hair and full beards refused adamantly.

And so I was stuck to begging Stanley.

"Stanley, come now. Come and show me how to find the emails of our clients in Ascon Engineering, Mr Abdulafeez told me to send a mail across to them right away."

"Ooh, you have come again, Genevieve. How many times do I have to tell you that I have work I am busy." he said with his regular playboy shakara.

"Please now."

"Ask your boss for it now."

"I did but he said that he was preparing for a meeting and that he would show me later."

"Eh hen? Then wait for him now."

"Stanley, na you dey talk like this? You know that he would only come back and blame for not sending it since. Sil vous plait, help me please." 

"Oh, Genevieve! You know that I like it when you speak this your French language to me. Biko, come closer and parle Francaise with me." He said slithering his hands on my left shoulder and moving it downwards to my hips before I slapped it away.

"Will you stop that! I have told you many times to stop touching me like that again. Why won't you listen to me?"

"Then get away you and stop disturbing me jor. Are you not the one coming to me always?"

He hissed turning away and so did I but as i got to my desk, I realised the inevitable storm that would come if i didn't send those emails. I was stuck. Mr Abdulafeez would berate me if I didn't do this task and Stanley was my only hope. 

He was not in front desk but he had worked at the company long enough to know some helpful things that I needed. The problem was he was a hopeless flirt that was always hitting on me and as i never gave in to him the only other thing I could give him was my lunch ticket. Which was my only good meal of the day.

I used to run a business for the past four years. I bought and sold fashion online and had a miserable time of it. Customers were quick to buy and slow to pay while my house and shop rent became due and my debt climbed even higher. Because I never had a tough temperament people found it easy to owe me indefinitely and I eventually went bankrupt until I was forced to forgo my enterprenuership dreams and go back to front desk jobs.

Even with my komain salary I won't be out of debt until at least about five months time. But at least the dream of finally being out of debt was there if i managed to stay employed up till then. I had no choice but to forgo my company lunch ticket to Stanley which meant I was condemned to another buffet of Garri, Sugar and Groudnuts. Yes I was almost always hungry.

I handed him my meal ticket and he reluctantly took it from me.

"God just save you because today is roasted chicken day."

"Chai!" I was pained just thinking about the beautifully crisp brown chicken lap with fried rice that I was going to miss today. I would run and hide in a closet somewhere to drink my garri and afterwards tighten my belt dangerously tight to keep my stomach from grumbling out of hunger and embarrassing me while the entire office area wafts with delicious chicken aroma.

Later on, Mr Abdulafeez waltz back into the office, slithering quietly like a snake that already knew his prey had nowhere to run from his brimming barrage of acidic insults.

He sat down calmly as if he hadn't a care but I knew he was just getting ready to pounce. 

"Hello, Genevieve. Have you sent those emails yet?" he said casually staring straight facing his monitor as if he had showed me how to perform the task he asked.

"Yes, sir. I have."

"What..?" he said shocked looking straight at me puzzled. It was obvious he had intended for me to fail at the task.

"I said yes, I have sent those emails sir and there's a reply from Ascon waiting for you already."

His brows furrowed even further before looking across to Stanley who he found had two food packs on his desk and put two and two together.

"Very well." he said finally and I went back to preparing the days activity report and holding back my hunger when he called me soon after.

"Oh, Genevieve." he called me in a slow drawl and i knew that i was in trouble.

"Ye-yes sir?"

"Come here, please."

I went over to stand beside him facing his desktop monitor as he pointed to his outlook emails.

"What date did you leave the contractors to come and fix the plumbing on the 5th floor?"

"It was...it was on the 2nd sir."

"Are you sure about that?" he said sternly and i realised the error. I had indicated the next maintenance of the plumbing of the floor to 3/6/2022 which meant 3rd of June instead of 6/3/2022 which meant 6th of March. My mouth fell open.

"Oh sir. I'm so sorry, I-I didn't...it was a mistake sir. It is the date format here...you know i am still new...I-I..." I stuttered.

"It's okay." he said and got up calmly as if he was letting it go but I knew he was just getting started.

"Tell me something. In Benin Republic that you come from are they stupid? Ehn? Tell me I am asking you?"

"N-no, sir." I said timidly. Feeling humiliated and angry but totally helpless while Stanley was busy laughing at me with my chicked lap deep in his mouth.

"Because if you are, i can gladly recommend to HR to have your IQ checked and rewired for competency. Because I don't know, I'm totally surprised as to how the month of March became June to you, I don't know!"

And that's how he went on and on about my stupidity and my nationality as a Beninoise within earshot of the entire office floor. There wasn't a time I wished more that the earth would swallow me whole.

"So, now you have to stay behind and fix all this. This is your mess, isn't it? You have to fix it. You have to call email them, each one of them. Call them if you have to but get a response from them that they will all be here on the right date at the right time to do the job. Or will we use your hair to mop the floors when all the pipes start leaking in the rooms?"

"No, sir. I-I will mail them back sir."

"Make sure you do and get a feedback before you close from here today or else!" he threatened.

And so that's what started as one of the longest workdays of my life. Me sending out emails and calls amidst doing my daily duties as well as the back log left by the former front desk officer while the rest of the office left me one after the others, even Mr Abdulafeez himself left me there in the office. With no one around except the few nightcrawlers who took advantage of the company access card to trip their friends and girlfriends  around the hotel premises without paying for much.

"Ah ha. Genevieve, you are still here?" Stanley asked coming into the office at 9pm way past closing time with a girl in hand by whose dressing i suspected was a hooker.

"Yes, I am." I said tiredly.

"Na wa o. I just came by because I forgot my access card in my drawer."

"Hey, do people usually work this late in your office?" his skimpy clad companion asked.

"Oh no, babe. Genevieve had the greatest bad luck in the world to be working directly with a mad man."

"Eh hen?"

"Yes o! Her boss, ehn? If the government should start seizing mad people in Lagos state, they will start with him."

"Wow!"

"Any way, let's go. Na she dey find work and she found it. Let me show you around the pool side."

"Oh yes babe! Pool side!"

"Yes, but we can't enter the pool o!"

"Ahn ahn, why now?"

"Oh no. Babe you will put me in trouble if you enter the water. We will just chill by the poolside and drink. Let's go."

He led her away even with the pout on her face and I marvelled at how little concerned he showed but still managed to spend on a hooker.

It was around 10:15 before i was done that day. I had to call the personal numbers of all the contractors and explain to them the error and begged most of them to show up or else I would lose my job and all of them thankfully agreed to come on the right day and time.

When I left the office that night I realised to my dismay that I also didn't have enough money for a bus fare and so as was my tradition I began walking a little way through the streets to the other bus stop as I knew the fare would be shorter that way. From whom I was going to borrow money for tomorrow's fare I didn't know. I hated to call in sick and miss work but it was starting to look like my only option. I wasn't going to be able to walk the 7km to work again. Not after the day i'd had. I was walking along Sanusi Fafunwa street when I noticed a couple of guys standing beside a car in the Chicken Republic car park and I hastened my step. I always hated meeting peopl I knew whenever I was trekking like that, when I noticed one of the guys was looking my way. I quickened my steps even further, hating to think of what might happen to me if the guys were up to no good. But the one walking towards me held out his hand and called me by name.

"Hey, hey! Genevieve!"

"Oh God, no!" this was my worst nightmare. Telling someone I knew I was trekking because of poverty was the lowest point for me.

"Genevieve! Wait!" I froze and waited for whoever it was.

It was Mr Njoku from the office.


Adeabdulsblog.

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“Genevieve, are you just leaving the office?” he asked incredulously as he hopped quickly to within a few feet of me.

“Ye-yes sir. I just finished now now.”

“Incredible! That guy, Abdulafeez no dey pity human beings at all. I just don’t know how he can be so hard hearted, kwanu! So, he delayed you till now? So late in the night-tee!?”

“Yes, now. Ha ha.” I responded laughing. The stress he added on the last word of the sentence sounded funny with his Igbo accent and I almost forgot my embarrassment at being found walking like one of the local Almajiri children in the north.

"And what can I do? It's just part of the job, so..."

"Hey! Okay! I've heard you." he said dejectedly. While i thought of the best way to escape from this embarrassing situation. I wanted to leave but I couldn't think of the best way to do so. Considering, I didn't want someone I knew, especially of one my superiors at work to know I was too broke to afford ordinary transport and resulted to trekking all by myself. I wouldn't know how to face him ever again at work. I prayed he would just let me go with the little pride I still had left.

"Oh so you're headed to the bus stop right?" he asked finally.

"Yes, sir. And I have to hurry since it is late." I said hoping he would get the gist and leave me alone.

"Yes, yes but..." he said thinking.

'Please don't ask me why i'm trekking. Please don't ask me why I'm trekking.' I thought desperaterly. It's been such a long day, I couldn't stand another embarrassment.

"...but have you eaten anything today?" he asked lastly.

"Ehn?" I said taken aback. That was absolutely not the question I was expecting.

"I noticed Stanley had an extra food pack from the company so I assumed that must have been yours. You gave him your food pack right?"

"Ah...yes sir. I actually did, yeah. I mean yes."

"Nna ehn? That boy with im long throat! I pray somebody won't cut it off for am one day o!" He said and I giggled despite myself.

"You haven't had anything to eat, right?"

I shook my head no. Too tired to mouth anymore answers as I still had a way to go to the next bus stop.

"Come with me." he said turning away.

"Sorry...what?" I asked not sure i had heard him correctly and so he turned back around and waited for me.

"It is too late for you to cook anything for yourself when you get home, so you have to manage Chicken Republic."

He said insisted and so I followed him in a daze not sure what was going on. Was he going to buy me food at Chicken Republic? And did he say that I should manage it? Is he messing with me? I thought as my mind raced and my tummy rumbled at the thought of chicken.

What happened next took me absolutely by surprised. Mr Njoku sat me down at a nice table in the corner and asked me for my preferred meal choice. I said "anything" as I was too shy to ask for the juicy roasted chicken that my heart and stomach desired. At this point anyone who bought me 'boli ati epa' roasted plantain and groundnuts was an angel to me.

To my utmost surprise he came back with two big food packs of fried rice, jollof rice with half a whole chicken on each.

"I couldn't remember which one you said that you wanted so I bought one of each just in case." he said as I gasped.

"Oh, sir. This is too much o. Thank you." I said taking them and getting up making a move to leave as I was rather uncomfortable sitting down with the person who was practically my boss at an eatery but he said instead.

"No, sit. Sit down and eat. Let's talk a while."

I was too tired to protest, so I did. While trying not to woof down my only good food probably for the week, we talked. He was so easy to talk to, he didn't ask me anything serious or embarrassing at all and told me so much about himself. How he came to work at Komain when he had just finished from school and they were then paying him only a paltry thirty thousand naira as a procurement intern.

He shocked me by telling me then that general manager at the time one Mr. Corleone, an Italian was an even more harsh boss than Abdulafeez was at the begining when he joined at the inception with a few staff members and many of them had to take on multiple job positions while still barely getting paid fully for one position. He told me how so many workers left and he almost did too, many times because of the heavy work load and lack of appreciation.

Before he later got on the soft side of their general one day because Nigerian Immigration Service came to raid the premises of illegal work and he was the one that saved his boss from deportation back to Italy by hiding him in the toilet while he was using it too.

"The toilet then had this small box. So small. Even a small child would have a hard time standing comfortably inside it. So when I saw immigration I rushed into the office and pushed him inside that cupboard and squeezed him inside it."

"Oh wow! Really?"

"Yes! I pushed his 'gorimapa' bald head inside the cupboard behind the dirty toilet that they made for us and started shitting in the toilet in front of it!"

"Ah, no. Please tell me you didn't do that!"

"Eh hen, now. I DID!"

"Oh my God!" I said laughing with chicken falling out of my mouth and back onto my plate.

He laughed too. "I did. Immigration were searching everywhere and I know what would happen if they found him. So, I started shitting fast fast. And my boss was right there inhaling all the noxious odorous and terrible gases coming from my bombom."

"AH OGA NJOKU!" I shouted in disbelief.

"Eh hen, now! He would sometimes protest and say 'Oh, stop that!' and I would tell him shut up sir. Shut up. Immigration is coming!"

"OH MY GOD. MR NJOKU! WHAT? Are you serious?"

"Yes of course, my dear and he had to shut because he knew what was at stake. My bombom was saving him his job now. No be so?"

"Well, that's true. You're right, sir?"

"And enough with all this Mr. Njoku. We're not at the office at the moment so just call me Nonso. Na my name be dat."

I was stunned. Not sure how to process that. He wasn't exactly my boss, Mr. Abdulafeez was. But he was still my superior at work. I was at a loss so I just said.

"Okay."

"Immigration eventually came in."

"Into the toilet?"

"Of course. I told you that they searced everywhere."

"Wow!"

"They came in and saw me right there on the toilet bowl and demanded 'where is your oga?' I said 'Mr Wale is in the office he is my oga.' Because at the time we have one Mr Wale who was a bit higher than me but even he himself wasn't paid much at the time. They insisted 'No, we mean that white man!' And i told them that there was no white man here. 'Did you see a white man here? That was how we were going back and forth for about fifteen minutes because we both knew that there was an Italian working illegally in the premises as our boss which was wrong but they couldn't prove it. Little did they know that at he was just behind me hiding in the broom cupboard."

"And smelling your sh*t!"

"YES! And inhaling all the 'ewa agonyin' bean porridge odours coming from me. And he must have hard time there but he didn't say 'pim'! The officers left empty-handed too because our toilet was just the worst place on the planet at that time. You people still have it easier now because the entire premises have been upgraded and facilities have improved even though their salary and job security is still non-existent."

"Wow. You really tried sir."

He looked at me a bit sternly and pointed at me "Nonso!" before continuing.

"Well, after that things got a bit easy for me here. Since I had saved the boss. He increased my salary and made me a manager. I was the only one he trusted and again his wife liked me because when she came live in Nigeria I was the one who showed her around. Again, over time I came to learn a lot of company secrets and that's why they will think twice before misbehaving with me there."

"Oh, I get it now."

"But I have to warn you. The company has not changed much. They still frustrate people and they hardly progress their employees. So people resign a lot here. And the hire a lot too. So, I will advise you to not plan to stay here a long time. I'm just being honest. You can work here while still looking elsewhere just to be safe."

"Thank you, sir."

"NO! Nonso. Na the name mama give me."

"Okay. Okay! Thank you, Nonso."

I said as he was shaking his head and I had to appease him. I doubted I would ever get used to calling him that. But I was wrong, because as the night progressed he grew funnier and I got more relaxed with my tummy and his charming company.

As a matter of fact he was the one who noticed how late the time was. And got up to leave. He surprised me further by getting more takeaway packs for me, and softdrinks and to my utmost surprise he took me to his car and drove me home. I had never felt so taken care of. I had been struggling and roughing it through my deep bankruptcy that I hadn't even had time to relax.

The most surprising part of the night was my own reaction. After he drove me home I found myself reluctant to get out of the car. And no it wasn't the airconditioning or the slow Luther Vandross CD playing, it was him. He had made that night and subsequently the whole day so magical that i didn't want it to end. I wanted to keep staying next to him and hear another funny joke from him and just smell his light cologne all through the night. Eventually, we said our 'goodbyes' and he shook my hand as I left but when I opened it, i had N5,000 in it. But before I could either protest or thank him, he drove off. Leaving me to dream about it all.

Adeabdulsblog

So what happened to infinte love? Abandoned?

No it's on hiatus. I have to step aside for a while, work on something much smaller in order to refocus and finish it.

You're yet to finish Infinite Love. Abeg, try and finish it for us. Thanks

Infinite Love is my baby. Of course I will finish it.

adeabdul2:
No it's on hiatus. I have to step aside for a while, work on something much smaller in order to refocus and finish it.

Hopefully when you resume it, you'd complete it, with steady update. That story is long overdue
Btw nice work you've got here.... Typical you though

I know right? Thanks.

Pheobmax:

Hopefully when you resume it, you'd complete it, with steady update. That story is long overdue
Btw nice work you've got here.... Typical you though

Genevieve 3

The next day she went to work feeling more energized than she had ever felt in a very long time thanks to Mr. Njoku or rather Nonso. She got to work a bit late thanks to theovertime she had put in the day before. She knew her cantankerous boss Mr. Abdulafeez

was not going to like that but she was surprisingly not worried about that
leprechaun. Nonso had put her on cloud nine and she was still floating. She
floated all the way to her desk until she heard his grating voice call her
name.

"GENEVIEVE!"
he barked startling her.

She hadn't seen
him there seated sternly surprised at her not noticing him as she entered the
office. Even by that, she had already offended him. He thrived on being
conspicuous despite his short stature. Weighing in at four feet six he was a
full foot shorter than her but he still managed to conjure much terror into
her. As he sat there staring with his piercing gray eyes, balding head, and
full beard, he looked like an angry dwarf.

"Oh,
er...good morning, sir."

He nodded.

"You're
late!" was his response. "I came in earlier today just to clear the
mess you started yesterday only to meet your absence. Is this how you come late
to work every day?"

"Err...no."

He never failed
to surprise her. He knew full well the reason she was late was that she closed
so late last night. He wasn't around as he always left the office at 5pm on the
dot but he still knew as he always got a daily report of the access and egress
of the employees from the security department. He knew full well that she was
always there at work 7am a full one hour earlier than the 8am on her employment
letter.

"...No,
sir." was all she was going to say. She had given up on explaining herself
to him as she knew now that he would find fault in her regardless.

"Anyways, I
will look into that." he sneered "So, how far with the contractors
that you so carelessly misinformed?"

But for that at
least she had an acceptable answer. So, she raised her head and told him of all
the contractors promising to be on ground sooner rather than later to perform
their various jobs in the hotel from plumbing, painting to carpentry and
fumigation. She told him how it took her all night but surely got every last
bit of job on the right schedule.

But he said
"Humility goes a long way, Mz Genevieve. And besides what is the point in
patting yourself on the back for cleaning up a mess that you made all by
yourself?"

Her jaw dropped.

"Now please
open up that folder on your desk and start with the Enisson clientele we need
to reach out to them and clear up some financial issues. Please go."

She turned and
went back to her desk feeling considerably low despite her initial high before
talking to him. She found a thick folder the size of Texas on it and began to
flip through.

"Arghh!"
she gasped when she read the instruction. She had to contact an old contractor
who had delivered poor or faulty lighting systems that failed on installation
and ask them for reimbursement and pickup of faulty light bulbs but for that,
she had to find the old payment receipts as well as the date of failure after
installation by the technicians and all this happened three months ago before
she was even employed. In addition to her regular workload, this was going to
be another all-nighter at work. She sighed, took off her shoes, placed her feet
on them, and began.

It
was about an hour before the rest of the staff began to show up at work.
Stanley showed up noisily as usual but looked terrible.

"Hey,
babe! How far?" he said coming over beside her chair whispering as Mr.
Abdulafeez seemed engrossed with his desktop feigning but could stealthily be
eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Good
morning." she said tiredly.

"How
your body today?"

"I'm
okay."

"Eh
hen, any show yesterday?" he asked jolting her attention. 'Does he know,
about her and Mr. Njoku yesterday?'

"Erm...no,
nothing happened yesterday." she said finally hoping he will buy it.

"Nothing
at all?"

"Nothing
o."

"Na
wa for you o! You no just dey street. You no know what's up. I dey tell you say
make I take you out you dey form sister Mary. Let me take you places and blow
your mind."

"No,
thank you." she said sternly.

"Okay
o. Na your loss sha. I tell you the things wey I see yesterday ehn? Not to talk
of the places wey i enter. The drink wey I drink sey, shey na wine abi na beer
you wan talk? Oh God! Babe, you're missing."

"I'm
okay, thank you."

"Okay
o. Na you wan dey dull yourself sha. I no fit force you. Hey do you have
Panadol?" he asked.

“Yes
sure, in that drawer there.” He popped two tablets into his mouth and drank
water to push it down.

"Are
you alright?"

"Yes...i
mean no. The whiskey i took yesterday is giving me a serious hangover."

"Oh,
and you want me to follow you next time and be sick in the morning too?"

"Yes
o, babe. If only my guy had been there, my main man. Last night would have been
much more crazy. In fact, just a night out with him and you would forget about
all the work stress or whatever. He is the only reason I can stay in this
crappy job for so long now.”

“Really?”
I said intrigued.

“Yes,
babe. Hey why don’t you come out with us next time. My guy and I can show you
life, real life in Lagos Island.”

"No,
thank you. I don't think I can handle Abdulafeez’s wahala with a hangover early
in the morning. That combination will kill me." She whispered and glanced
over to her boss to make sure he hadn’t heard her but his was on a call.

"My
dear, something must kill a man. Life is for the living."

"Not for me, thanks."

“If you say so. It’s your loss.” And with that he put on the
sunshade he had on his head and sauntered over to his desk.

"Good morning, everyone." Mr Njoku greeted as he
arrived with his vneck t-shirt and jeans looking like a breath of fresh air in
this stuffy quagmire of an office.

"Good morning, oga." Stanley greeted briefly
raising his shade from his table through the partition.

Mr Abdulafeez made a guttaral ‘hmph’ sound indicating his
indiference to the salutation.

I however jumped up “Ah, Good morning sir.”

Genevieve 4

"Good morning, oga." Stanley greeted briefly raising his shade from his table through the partition.

Mr Abdulafeez made a guttaral ‘hmph’ sound indicating his indiference to the salutation.
But as for her on the other hand she jumped up “Ah, Good morning sir.�


“Oh, Good
morning, Genevieve. How are you?�

“Fine, thank
you, sir. And thank you for…� he silenced her by making a low but
noticieable signal with his hand to stop and went into his office as cool as a
cucumber. Leaving her standing there fazed.

She was hadn't
understood his present demeanor towards her. Last night they were fine and he
chatted with her like they were equals, bestfriends even and now he'd stonewalled
her. Had she done something wrong last night? In the car? Had he wanted to her
to invite him in? Was she supposed to do that? Or was it that he'd only pitied
her because he found her trekking in the dead of the night, which was a one
night thing? Or was it simply that her mind had conjured up the whole night out
of desperation and despair for human kindness?


She turned to
find her boss Mr. Abdulafeez staring at her again, curiously. The must have
noticed that her response to his greeting was very unusual this morning. The
man didn't miss anything with his shrewd little eyes and big bushy eyebrows.
And so she immediately sat back down at her desk. But her mind kept racing.

'You're being
silly, Gene.' she said to herself 'it could just be that he doesn't want
anybody especially Mr. Abdulafeez to find out about their rendevouz for God
knows that the man would find fault in even paradise.'

And so she spent
her entire day trying to keep her mind off of Mr. Njoku and focus on her work.
Abdulafeez made sure she had lots to do and little room to breathe and so that
was a little easier. But it still bugged her like an ant crawling at the back
of her mind.

"Hello, ma
people." Nora called as she came in.

"Hello,
Nora." she responded.

"Yes, Genevieve,
right?" she nodded. "I'm yet to recieve the request email from you
about the new fire extinguishers that the safety department must have told you
we need. Please send it immediately. I know you're new here but try to keep
up."

She was pained at
Nora's address but she let it go and simply nodded. Nora was an assistant in HR
of which procurement was technically none of her business but as the mails work
in the company everyone gets a copy of everything unless otherwise requested
'private'. And people like Nora who already know what mails would be moving due
to her long work experience was using that to belittle her whenever she was
late.


"Thanks,
dear." she said and moved on to go meet Stanley. "Stan the man! How
far now?"

"Oh, please
tomato don't shout. Abeg, talk small because of my head it is aching me
seriously."

"Na wa for
you o. You don become small boy when it comes to drinking ni?"

"Kai!
Shottopu! Whad you mean by that? I am the don!"

"O werey!
Who dash you don?"

"I say i am
the don and you must respect me for dat."

"Wo leave
that one. Eh hen abeg tell me, why oga no show last night now? I just dey
expect expect am but im no show? What's up? Abi you don vex am again with this
your bad mouth?"

"Kai, stop
that play! Me and my oga now 5 and 6 we be. Nothin fit separate us!"

"Ah werey!
Nothing fit separate you but you no know say this your mouth when you don drink
finish na so so rubbish you go dey talk?"

"Na lie! I
dey control myself for dat one!"

"Ah okay o,
make I go talk to oga afeez before im vex for me too!"

Genevieve tried
not to listen in but she couldn't help herself.

"So Stanley,
Nora and Mr Abdulafeez usually hang out?" she assumed.

That Nora was so
annoying and she and Stanley's conversation confirmed what she had thought of
Nora all this while, she was a slut. How else could be able to talk to Mr.
Abdulafeez so confidently and without fear? And why did she usually wear skin
tight pants with tops that showed way too much than they were supposed to?

But Genevieve
knew in her of hearts that she was quietly jealous of the girl's confident
demeanor when talking to superiority and the way she always seemed to wear her
makeup very nicely on her light pretty face. How could she compete with that
when she looked to perfection while she on the other hand was a slowly melting
hot mess?

"Thank God,
Mr. Njoku is not interested in that." she thought calmly as she watched
Nora talking and smiling to Mr. Abdulafeez in a way she deemed inappropriate.
He was smiling at completely at ease with talking to her like an equal and it
made Genevieve like Nora even less.

"Something
is definitely going on between those two! Whatever, they deserve each
other." she dismissed "Thank God acts like a complete gentleman instead
of an office flirt like those two."

And with that she
went back to her work all the while hoping to get to see and talk to him soon.
But waited was all she did. For he hardly came out of his office and whenever
he did it was only to dash out to quickly and return even faster without so
much as a passing glance towards her.

To make matters
worse Abdulafeez was still finding new ways to bother her with more and more
work to do.

With Nonso
ignoring her and Abdulafeez badgering her, her mood took another nosedive by
the close of the day. It still took her longer to finish her work and most
people had already left including her boss and Nonso, same as yesterday. The
only difference was, she still had enough change left to keep her going for a bit
thanks to Nonso. But she didn't feel like going home straightaway, that would
only mean she would spend the more time tossing and turning, wondering if she
had done anything wrong for him to ignore her or if infact he was actually busy
all day.


So instead of
taking a danfo straight home, she ignored the bus conductor who was almost
pulling her, urging her to get in and she turned into Sanusi Fafunwa street
once again and began walking. For whatever reason she did it she wasn't sure.
Maybe she wanted to relieve the events of the past night or maybe she was
simply hoping against hope that she would see him again and they would pick up
where they left off. They had been many times that she was sure she was too
much of a sinner for God because he didn't seem to be listening to her prayers
but on this night without even mouthing the prayer it was answered for not long
into the street she saw him standing there. Smiling at her from across the
street in front of Chicken Republic holding his phone in his hand he said;


"And I was
just about to call you, right now."


She could have
ran across the street to hug him as long lost lovers often do when reconnecting
in the movies. But instead he came over to her.

"Genny! How
far now?" he said and her stomach did a jump flip. She had been called
that in the past but hearing it from him made it sound so special.

"I'm fine,
sir." but he threw his hands up once again and she corrected herself.
"Okay, no...sorry, Nonso. I'm fine, Nonso."

"eh
hen."

"But why did
you ignore me all day at work? You never even replied my greeting."

"Ah look, I
just realised that our office is not a very good place. The people there are
too nosy. Any small thing dey hear and they start to escalate it. That is why I
wanted to tell you to let us keep this our little secret. Just between us, especially
from Abdulafeez for now. I don't want him redirecting his anger for me towards
you.

She nodded
silently, of course he made total sense but even if he didn't she would still
comply. Just one night of dinner slash impromptu date and he was already
begininng to mean more to her than she any other man in her life.

"So are you
walking home again?"

"Yeah, its
starting to become a habit, i'm afraid."

"Well,
unfortunately my car is at the mechanic today. So how about we grab a quick
takeaway and I accompany you? Because as a gentleman I can't let a lady walk
alone in Lagos at night?"

In a few minutes
they were both walking back into the eatery for two packs, before they had
their even version of a moonlight stroll through Lagos Island. The stars seemed
more beautiful, as well as the bright blue moon, the many street lamps seemed
brighter than usual with a heavenly and even the street urchins parading the
streets begging for changed seemed to carry a charming aura about them that
night. The night was absolutely perfect. They had walked a long way before
realising that the clouds were gathering and they had missed their bus stop
many meters back. It was after she felt the first few drops of rain that they
eventually hailed a cab and took it to her apartment in the pouring rain. By
the time they got off and got to her front yard. They were both soaking wet.

"Chai! I am
completely soaked!"

"Sorry, this
is my fault. If you had just gone home straight you wouldn't have gotten
wet."

Her looked at her
deeply "Don't say that. I enjoyed walking with you."

The look in his
eyes was suddenly became too intense for her and she had to look down. She was
stuck. She didn't want him to leave and at the same time she couldn't invite
him in. And so they a moment passed...and then another. Until he said finally;

"So, I have
to leave now. I don't want to be late tomorrow because that madman can report
me."

She laughed at
insult directed towards Mr. Abdulafeez but when she met his gaze, he wasn't laughing.
His eyes were locked onto her lips and he going for it. Suddenly, she felt
paralysed and submitted to his move before...

HONK! HONK!

"Oga, abeg
answer me I wan go home o!" the taxi
driver honked loudly interupting them.

They laughed, a
little embarrassed as they disengaged and muttered.

"See you
tomorrow."

"Yeah, good
night, Nonso."

And he got back
into the cab and drove off.

Genevieve 5

And that was how it was between those two. During office

hours they were plain simple coworkers who seemed to hardly acknowledge each other
but afterhours they would rendezvous and walk take a walk or grab a bite to eat while at the same time he was helping her cope with her difficult boss by giving her tips and helping her connect with other office personnel that would make her work that much easier.


“Hello, dear. Say have you read the acquisition request that
i sent you?”

“Yes, Nora. I have and I have giving it to my boss to sign
and forwarded it to all concerned parties. You should get a response from hem soon enough.”

Nora was stumped. She hadn’t expected or couldn’t explain
Genevieve’s recent versatiliy in the past few days. It was unusual for recent
hires to get the gist of the company’s running this quickly but Genevieve seemed
to have.

“Is there anything else?” Genevieve asked watching Nora’s pretty
head spin was fun she had sent the particular email at 4:30pm, close to closing
hour, a time when most employees hardly ever check their mails and would make
it difficult to respond but Genevieve had gotten it signed by calling the
others and overexagerating the priority of the mail.

“Erm...no!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, that’s what I came by to tell you.”

“Alright, you should go then.”

“Oh, yes I will. I just...”

“Oh, you need to go right away because I need your response to
the said email immediately. It is needed rightaway in procurement so It’s important,
right? Those were your words.”

“Yes, of course...er I know I will go now.”

“Good” Genevieve said turning back to her desk. She wasn’t
sure why Nora had become so frequent in her office these days but she hated the
fact that she was using her work and berating her as an excuse me. Genny could
see her still stnding at the door trying to come up with another excuse for
being their and scanning the office and so she added.

“And please check your emails before coming here. So that
you don’t end up wasting your time and delay important jobs. Okay?”

She could see the shocked expresson on her face right before
the elevator closes and she enjyed it. Nora was probably going to try to get
back at her but she didn’t care. If she ever wanted to flirt with Mr.
Abdulafeez again, she was going to have to come up another excuse and not her. For
the life of her she couldn’t understand how those two coud ever be a thing.

“Hello, baby girl!” Stanley said coming in.

“Hey, Stan! How are you today?” she said brightly.

“Baby, I dey o. But you I have been noticiing you, what is going?”

“What do you mean?”

“For the past few days you have just been different. You are
happy. YOu have become good at your work you don’t ask for my help a;n you don’t
even send Abdlafeez again whenever im dey shout for you.”

“Dat one? I don tire for am abeg. He can shout all he wants.
I won’t kill myself. I can’t kill myself now.”

“That’s true sha. Most girls after a while when they have
understood they system, they just take it easy. They do whatever they can and leave
the rest.”

“Yes now, because even if you’re not doing anything wrong,
he will still shout so...abegi!”

“Yes but is that all?”

“Ah ahn, yes now.”

“Because you have become good at your job, too good and most
girls don’t get to this stage until at least three months. And like i said you
are happy, you are glowing. Tell me now."

“I don’t know what you want me to say again o!”

“You no wan tell me abi? No wahala.”

“Leave that one for now.”

“Okay, shey I go fit see your chicken chop today sha?”

“Wetiin happen now? Me i no go chop? Abeg comot. After you
don go flex finish for yesterday you stiil wan con chop my own? Na wa for you
o!”

“Oh me. I no flex o!”

“Na lie.”

“Truth to God!” he swore licking his index finiger and pointing
it to the sky in a solemn oath “for the past few days now I no dey see my guy
wey we dey go do flexxing for island. I no know wetin do the guy. So me and Nora
dem dey plan to organise something again for later tonight. She suppose don
come sef.”

“And who is this your guy you keep mentioning all the time?”

“Woo look, when you join our clique you know him. See you
later babe. Don’t finish the chicken o, remain small for me abeg.”

“Wait for me I dey come.”

I have finished this short story and you can read the rest on my blog.

So now on to continuing infinite love.

Cheers!