THIRTY PLUS Ep 9

Story by O'nezer 

Episode 9

It never occurred to me  that this new guy could have a ride or better still, I wasn't expecting a new staff to come with a car on the first day of resumption. 

I told him the area I was going to and he decided to drop me off, despite that our route was totally different.

5 minutes into the ride, Jude started a conversation when he noticed I wasn't saying anything.

"I was surprised when you were introduced as Miss in the morning, wouldn't have thought a beautiful smart lady like you would be unmarried" he said. If left to me, I would have loved to enjoy the ride in silence. 

For him to also start the conversation from the pain and shame I was trying to avoid was also another thing.

"Well, he makes all things beautiful in His time" I calmly said, but I could see confusion on his face.

"What? Who is that?" He asked, trying to be sure if we were saying the same thing.

"God of course" I said and he started laughing. I didn't get the part of what I said that made him laugh, but to avoid his questions, I decided to ask him what his first day at work felt like. He talked about how he loved it, but may not be able to judge with just a day's work at the company. 

We didn't come back to me or the reason for my being single till we got to the junction where I was to alight.  I didn't want him to know my house, so I alighted at a  junction a little close to my house and walked the rest of the distance home. 

I got back home and I saw my  mother and sister crying. I was scared and worried at the same time. I noticed that daddy was not home yet. Several thoughts began to play in my head. "Where is dad? why is he not home? why is mummy and my sister crying? hope nothing bad has happened to my father. I can't bear to loose my father yet, because I promised to take care of he and my mother and also give them a more befitting treatment in their old age.

"Where is daddy?" I asked to be sure ,but no one answered me.

"Can someone please talk to me and let me know what exactly the matter is?" I asked and  my sister handed me her phone.

"What did you do? Why were you suspended from work?" I asked after reading the suspension message that was sent to her mail.

"I didn't know things would get out of hand like this. I have been trying to sort this out on my own without involving any of you. I didn't want to get anyone worried" my sister tried explaining, but I still couldn't connect with what was going on. 

"Okay, so what exactly did you do?" I asked.

"Me and my boss were  scheduled to travel for a business summit. I mean the boss I report to directly. We got to the hotel and he insisted we lodge in same room, which I refused. After much attempt and persuasion..." 

"You now gave in? You allowed him?"I asked. I didnt know when I interrupted her. 

"Not at all. I blatantly refused, walked out on him and paid for my own room. He was angry all through our stay that Thursday night till Friday morning. We travelled back and we didn't say a word to each other" she said as she wiped her tears. 

"On Monday when I got back to the office, we didn't talk till about closing time , when he requested that I pull out a list of one of our old works. I know it is something that can be done the next day, but because he wanted to delay me, he asked me to get the work done before going home, which I couldn't refuse."

"I started the work till it was closing time and  everyone began to  leave, except for Kingsley, a colleague who was also  trying to tidy up some papers. My boss took an excuse to use the rest room. Unknown to me, he only wanted to check if everyone had gone. He came back and  locked the door from behind"

"In my mind, I was trying to figure out what could be going on. He asked me to leave my desk and come into the inner office,  is personal office. I had it in mind to go in to beg him to let me do the work the next day, since it was already 7pm. As I entered into his office, he pushed me on the office table and began to force himself on me. I told him I would scream. It was when he said no one would hear me, because everyone had gone that I knew I was in for a bigger problem."

"I started struggling with him and in the act of self defense, I pushed him and he lost his breath. He passed out shortly after and I started running around to resuscitate him but all my attempt failed. I rushed out of the office and luckly for me, I met Kingsley on his way  out of the office."

"In trust, I told Kingsley all that happened and he joined me to resuscitate my boss . We carried him into Kingsley's car and drove him to the hospital. He was there throughout the week, because the doctor said he needed more medical attention."

"Since then, Kingsley has been  blackmailing me and I've been paying him to keep the secret, until I couldn't meet up lately. After defaulting twice now, he decided to escalate the issue to the management but with a totally different story line. The management has started investigations and that was when I sent you that text last week."

"I am just praying that I get justified in all of this, so that it won't grow to total dismissal after this temporary suspension" my sister rounded up with so much fear and regret on her face. 

"Your daddy must not even hear this, he won't be happy at all" my mother said, but I told her we should handle everything with care and not get daddy involved. 

I tried talking my sister out of the whole situation and also encouraged her that with our prayers, God will vindicate her and solve the matter on ground. 

I was walking down to my room to have a change of cloth and return for dinner when my phone started ringing again.

"I hope this is not Segun calling again" I muttered silently as I threw the phone on the bed. The call came in repeatedly and I said to myself that if it is Segun, I will transfer all the stress to him and he will never call me again. 

"Hello..." I eventually picked the call.

22 DAYS TO GO FOR SISTER DABIRA PART 2