Shouting out to all my friends and everyone who has kept up with reading Pelumi's Memoirs. You guys rock!
Shouting out to Miss Onakz. Thank you for all you do.
How can you help creatives? By sharing their work with others
Cheerio...........
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"I am Alistair Kukoyi. I believe we
met a while ago."
"Yes, we have. I am Pelumi
Jacobs." Pelumi shook Alistair's hand which he had extended to her.
"I have heard excellent things about
you. Keep up the good work." Alistair's strong voice streamed into her
ears.
Pelumi looked into her new boss' eyes and
smiled. She had a feeling she was going to totally love working for him. She
had never been on the sixth floor and didn't think that it was such a large
floor.
While she and Nneka had moved the day
before, Zainab was out of office sick and Fola was currently moving the rest of
his things like the keyboard and some other personal items.
She made a mental note to call Zainab
later in the day. They had spoken the day before and it sounded like she
had the flu.
Pelumi was thrilled to hear Alistair say
he had been hearing good things about her. She looked forward to working with
him.
Fola came in with a carton containing his
personal effects. "Oh man! I'm going to miss our floor. It's going to be
so serious over here. "
"Maybe not." Nneka voiced out.
"Life is what we make out of it." She said, winking at Fola.
Fola hissed. “Story for the gods. Do you
know the people who sit on this floor? I heard madam HR for instance doesn't
smile. Liyel is no better. Always forming hard guy.”
Pelumi chuckled. “Walls have ears. I would
be careful with the words I utter around here. Never can tell who’ll overhear
you.”
Fola made a face at her and carried on
with arranging his work space area.
**************************************************************************************************
"Tito, I'll be stepping away for
lunch now. I might be gone for a while. Need to catch up with Mr Kukoyi."
Ivan told his secretary grinning.
“If Bode Atobatele from Concordia Holdings
calls, tell him I’ll call him as soon as I get back to my seat.”
“Okay, boss!” Tito said saluting Ivan. Her
boss was always fun to relate with whenever he was in a good mood.
"So tell me, how are things with you?
The family? Your daughters....?" Ivan asked Alistair on their way out of
the building.
"All is well, Mr Akenzua. My girls
are doing well. My wife and I have been debating sending them to boarding
school next term.
“Say what? Do you think they'll be able to
cope?” Ivan asked bemused. He knew Alistair’s children and he didn’t think the
pair would like the thought of being sent off to boarding school.
“Of course, Ivan! They are big girls now.
Audrey is thirteen and Hailey is eleven. In fact, I think we should have sent
them off a while ago. They've gotten so spoilt. They won't help with house
chores or lift a finger to help out with anything in the house. They need to go
learn some lessons so they'll come back smart and appreciative of all their
mother and I do for them on a regular basis.”
“Hmm, I trust your judgment, Alistair.
I'm sure everything will work out fine.”
“Thanks boss!”
Ivan chuckled.
**************************************************************************************************
“You should give him a chance.” Nkoyo
repeated again walking behind Tare.
"Nkoyo, don't you have something to
do this evening besides trying to convince me to give someone a chance?”
“It's not fair, Tare. All these Iron lady
stunts you always pull won't get you anywhere.”
“Aw shucks! My feelings are hurt.” Tare
pretended to be in pain and held her hands around her chest.
“Go away, Nkoyo! You are like an annoying
bug right now. Please go and sit with dad and mum like you usually do. I'm sure
mum has lots of gist for you. You can get the latest scoop on Najite and
Dominykas.”
Nkoyo rolled her eyes. “Tare, please
now. Give Ineye a chance. That poor guy has been sending you some
mad expensive gifts lately.”
“And who asked him to keep sending gifts?
Did I ask him for anything? Nkoyo, go and stop annoying me.”
“Seriously though, Tare. Ineye is a great
guy. He's not the usual everyday Nigerian guy. He's not the type with
an over bloated ego and a warped sense of entitlement. Ineye is the real deal!”
“Nkoyo, are you sure you are on the right
career track with all these your persuasion?”
“Tare, please, for once, just act like a
normal lady. Mbok!”
“Don't let me swear for you o, Nkoyo!”
“You know, I always wonder sef whether you
are straight with the way you turn all the well-meaning guys that come your way
away.” Nkoyo stated clearly frustrated.
Tare hissed and shook her head. “Not
tonight, Satan! Get thee behind me!”
“I'll pretend I didn't hear that.” Nkoyo
feigned a hurtful look before walking out of Tare's room. She had ruffled her
sister’s feathers enough for one day. She intended pestering her until she gave
in to her request to go on a date with Ineye.
Ineye Ogbeha had been their childhood
friend but his family had experienced tough times and moved away from Ikoyi
where they had all grown up. They had so many good memories. She figured Tare
had had a crush on Ineye for so long. She couldn't understand why she was now
acting strange and refusing to meet with the poor guy.
About a month ago, she had gone to visit
one of her friends where she had run into Ineye accidentally. That's when she
found out that he and his family had moved to Abakaliki. It had sounded
incredulous in her ears. From Ikoyi all the way to Ebonyi! How on earth?
When she had seen Ineye, he hadn't looked
like a man who had gone through hard times. He was poised, handsome in his own
way, fit and good natured just like she remembered him to be.
She could feel it in her guts that he was
the one for Tare. But first, the wall around Tare’s heart needed to be
demolished. That seemed like a draconian task at the moment!
**************************************************************************************************
“Good night”. Pelumi raised her head and
looked at Nneka who had packed up her things and looked like she was ready to
head home.
“Good night, Nneka. I am definitely
jealous of you folks who live close by.”
Remi had gone to visit a client site and
he told her he would head home from there. It didn't make sense for him to come
all the way just to pick her up. Although he had offered, she thought the wise
thing to do was let him go his way. It would also give her time to catch up on
some work.
On days when Remi didn't drop her off at
home, she liked waiting in the office till about 7pm. The traffic was usually
lighter around that time.
“Well, you should move to the Island and
join us here. Your commute will be 100 percent better and you'll save so much
time.” Nneka said to her.
“Your suggestion is great. We'll see about
it.” Pelumi gave Nneka a small smile.
“Alright then, lemme be on my
way.” Pelumi watched Nneka's retreating back as she walked away.
Pelumi was waiting at the elevators an
hour later, when she saw the CEO and her new boss heading towards the elevators
as well. They seemed to be engrossed in their conversation.
"Just heading home?" Alistair
asked her pointedly. "Yes, I like to wait a little to allow some time for
the traffic jam out there to cool down."
“I see.” Alistair replied.
Pelumi noticed Ivan's eyes were fixed on
her. “Ivan, this is Pelumi Jacobs. She’s one of the employees that got moved to
my division recently. She's quite new to the organization but I've been hearing
tons of good things about her.
"Yeah, I've met her. Several weeks
ago." Ivan answered flatly looking away from Pelumi. Pelumi swallowed. She was
pretty sure he still remembered the episode with her. Oh, blast!
Ivan took in Pelumi's appearance. Even
though she looked tired, she still looked very pretty.
But then again, chocolate skinned girls
were not really his cup of tea. He liked women who were light skinned. The
exotic looking ones.
Pelumi muttered her good night and hurried
out of the elevator when it reached the ground floor. The situation
felt like a deja vu.
She crossed the road and was in the middle
of it when she felt something like metal crash into her. There was blackness
all around followed by loud screams. That was the last thing Pelumi heard
before she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Oh my goodness!” Alistair uttered.
He and Ivan had been standing outside talking when they heard a loud noise and
saw Pelumi fall.
Ivan thought he was in some kind of movie
with the way things had unfolded in only a matter of minutes. Without a second
thought, he ran and crossed the road.
He bent over Pelumi who now had blood
seeping from the back of her head. “Oh my God!” He exclaimed.
By now, there was a commotion around. The
driver of the yellow and black cab that had knocked her down stepped out of it
and started pleading. “Abeg, I no know how I take do am!”
Alistair joined Ivan and knelt beside him.
Ivan handed him the key to his car. Can you please get my car here? We need to
get her to the hospital quickly. She's bleeding.
Unfortunately, this was Nigeria where
emergency services were almost nonexistent. There was no 911 number to dial.
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