Pelumi's Memoirs - 11

Pelumi stood watching aunt Kema in the kitchen while she diced fresh tomatoes. Aunt Kema loved cooking. Cooking was basically her calling. You only had to help her do things like cleaning up while she cooked. Aunt Kema and Chief Edewor were traveling out of the country in two days and since her mum had complained about her not spending enough time with her aunt, she had promised to spend the night at aunt Kema's. 

Naetochukwu was in Abuja visiting his friends. He hadn’t yet made up his mind on whether he wanted to stay in Nigeria for real or not.

"Pelumi, how's the new job treating you?" Aunt Kema asked while stirring the banga soup in the pot". Pelumi watched her taste the soup. "Hmmmm, yummy!" Aunt Kema moaned. 

"Fine, aunty. It's a good company to work and I'm learning a lot day by day." Pelumi explained.

"That's great. You want to be in a company that gives you room to grow, expand and be all that you can be not one where your growth and personal development is stifled." Pelumi nodded in agreement.

"So, tell me. Is there any bobo on the horizon?" Aunt Kema asked winking at her. Pelumi laughed. "Ah, aunty! I'm just twenty-six years old o." 

"Ehen? At twenty six I was already married to Naetochukwu's father."  And there we go! Pelumi thought. She had just started her life and she was expected to show up with a man all of a sudden. 

"You youngsters always think we're pressuring you. In reality, we only want what's best for you. You probably think my question is coming too early." Pelumi looked at her aunt. It felt like she had just read the thoughts in her mind.

After listening to her aunt talk about the benefits of marrying early, Pelumi was ready to head to the bedroom and have a good night's rest.

But first, the dinner table needed to be set and her stomach was screaming for some Banga soup and Starch.

******************************************

"Pelumi! Have you heard?" Zainab asked excitedly. Pelumi took a deep breath. Her worst fear at the moment was about to be confirmed. She could feel it just by reading Zainab’s body language. "I am getting moved to the sixth floor right?"

"Yes!" Zainab nodded her head. "Is anyone else moving or is it just me?" Pelumi asked her squinting.  "We are both going!" Zainab blurted out laughing.

Pelumi breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank heavens.”

"Well, I also heard Fola and Nneka are getting moved to the sixth floor as well.”  Zainab explained further.

"Awesome, let's review the expense report and budget for HR when you get a chance sometime in the afternoon. Do we have to move to the sixth floor today?” Pelumi questioned, swinging her chair around.

"Nope." Zainab responded. “

******************************************

Remi frowned when Dale broke the news to him about Pelumi and Zainab being moved to the sixth floor. He didn't like it one bit. He didn't know why but he had felt responsible for Pelumi. Well, technically he was her start partner and a mentor sort of. But over the few months of working with her, he had developed something for her. He couldn't put a name to how he felt about her. He felt like her protector, her teacher.....  He clenched and unclenched his fists the way he usually did whenever he was feeling frustrated. He wanted to be there for her to share her successes. Wait! Hold up! Why was he thinking this way? It didn't feel right. Alistair was a great leader and he had no doubts Pelumi was in good hands. But that didn't stop him from feeling like crap on the inside.

"If it ain't the super Mr Kuku!" Remi looked up to see Shirley Wright walking towards him. He was in the cafeteria with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands. That usually helped him calm down whenever he felt agitated.

Shirley was mixed raced. She however spoke the three core Nigerian languages -Ibo, Hausa and Yoruba. Shirley was beauty and brains combined. He had no idea how a person could pull that off. He heard her parents had both been diplomats so he figured that's where being able to speak different languages had sprung from.

Shirley was a confident woman who knew her stuff. She knew how to rock the six inched Louboutins which she usually wore to work. He could also tell the majority of the shirts she wore were Thomas Pink. He took in her pink, yellow and white striped shirt which was well tucked inside black pants. Her long eye lashes added to her already immaculate beauty.

"I like the Fro." Shirley pointed at Remi's hair and smiled. "Thanks." He replied her raising his brow unconsciously.

After Alistair, he knew she had the CEO's ears. Once upon a time, he had heard about an ongoing affair between her and Ivan but the rumor was quelled as fast as it had developed. So, it remained just what it was. 'A rumor'.

Ivan was watching Jimmy Kimmel on BET when Liyel walked in. "Hey bro!"

"Hey!" Liyel said barely looking at Ivan when he walked into the sitting room.

"You've been missing in action." Ivan said to him smiling and stretching on the sofa.

"Yeah." Liyel replied walking away. Ivan grimaced. His brother had been giving him the cold shoulder lately and he wondered why. He used to be a malice keeper but all that changed as he grew older.  Liyel on the other hand internalized things and bottled up his emotions till they erupted like Mount Vesuvius.

The sound of a notification on his phone jolted him from his thoughts. It was a notification on his work phone. He picked it up where it laid on the coffee table and checked the notification.

"Dear Mr Ivan Akenzua, we cordially invite you for a forty minutes talk at the Annual Advertising Guilds event...." He read the details of the invitation and the perks of accepting the offer.

"Can you clean the fish and make some catfish pepper soup?" Don't let it be too spicy." Tare had just walked into the kitchen in her brothers' home and was giving the cook instructions on how to prepare some of the food items she had just brought with her.

"Okay, aunty Tare." Akpan the cook proceeded with cleaning the fish.

Ivan heard the sound of heels approaching. "Yo!" He said to Tare when he saw her.

"Where's Liyel?" Tare asked throwing herself on the sectional sofa and hugged one of the throw pillows after kicking her shoes off.

"He just walked in. Probably upstairs." Ivan replied.

"So what brings you our way this fine night?" 

"Nothing. I just felt like popping in to see you and Liyel.  We barely have time to discuss personal stuff in the office. It's always work, work and more work!" Tare lamented.

"Isn't that what you signed up for when you chose to be on the executive board?" Ivan teased sticking his tongue out.

"Come here, lemme show you something." Tare scooted to his side of the sofa and leaned over to glance at Ivan's MacBook Pro screen.

"Whoosh!" She shouted. "This is great. And look how much you are going to get paid for a forty minutes talk. Bro I want to be like you when I grow up."

"Lil sis, you got jokes!" Ivan laughed.

Tare and Ivan had been talking for about thirty minutes when Liyel walked in. They had talked about Alistair taking on additional responsibilities and the various organizational changes happening at the office.

"Something smells great around here. What's cooking?" Liyel questioned yawning.

Akpan walked in just then with dishes and a serving bowl and placed them on the dining table.

"Ah I see. Dinner is served." Liyel exclaimed.

He had fallen asleep as soon as his body hit the bed.

******************************************

Pelumi was flipping through several OK Magazines Aunt Kema brought with her from her last trip in Europe when she decided to reach for her phone and check whether there were any messages. The modern day mobile phone called the ‘Smart Phone’ was just too smart. With notifications every second, she felt like she was going to go crazy and so she had decided to turn off all notifications. The heavens would not fall if she replied someone’s message a little later. She smiled when she saw a message from Remi.

“Hi Pretty”

“Hey You, didn’t get a chance to see you all day.” Pelumi typed

“Let’s blame it on all those meetings. Mind you, I think many of them are totally unnecessary. We could do with cutting some of that crap!”

Pelumi laughed when she saw Remi’s message.

“I know right. But some of them are essential too so I guess we are stuck with them.” Pelumi waited for Remi’s response.

“Hahaha. True. So guess I’ll see you tomorrow at 6am?” Oh shoot! Pelumi thought. She had forgotten to let him know that she was at her aunt’s for the night.

“Nopes. I’m at my aunt's in Magodo for the night. I’ll find my way.

Remi groaned. He had been looking forward to catching up with her during their ride to work. He wanted to see how she felt about the change of department. He guessed he would just have to find out at work the next day.

“You seem busy.” Pelumi remarked.

“Yeah, I’m with the mechanic. My car was making a weird sound today.”

“Ah I see. I should let you go then.” Pelumi replied.

“Okay, Queen. Have yourself a good, good night. Talk to you tomorrow.” 

Pelumi smiled again on reading Remi’s last message. If Itoro saw her now, she’d probably state that she was acting like a love-struck teenager.  She didn’t know about that. All she knew was she had found a friend in her co-worker. A friend who was kind and considerate.