Love Diary Episode 15

When I reached my desk, I dropped my bag and went to Eddie’s office. I met with his secretary and she motioned me to enter.

“Good morning Sir. I heard you wanted to see me.” I said when I entered inside the vast office. It was expensively furnished. I stood there waiting for him to say something. He was just busy going through some files. That heightened the level of my anxiety.

Eddie is short fat man in his fifties who believes that life has been wicked to him. He is dark in complexion. He specializes in inflicting psychological pain on the workers. All of us are afraid of him.

He removed his big reading glasses and looked up, “Maigida, why are you standing there? Did you wake up from the wrong side of the bed?”

I didn’t know how to answer the question.

He always addresses me with that name and I hate it. Maigida is actually an Hausa word which means master. I think he is using that name to taunt me.

“Do you came here to mock me? You don’t want to sit down?” He asked.

“I do Sir.” I replied and sat down on the chair in front of the huge desk facing him.

He has this villainous look. He opened the file he was reading and brought out an envelope.

Sh*t. The sack letter? Is this how this ends?

“Something has come up Chris.”

“I am at your service Sir.”

He looked at me and smiled; his trademark wicked smile.

He quickly perused through the file and said, “We’ve got two contracts.”

I don’t know where this is heading. I nodded.

“One is from Mtn, the other one is from a public corporation.”

“I’m listening Sir.”

“We have arranged two different teams. One of the teams will head to Accra tomorrow. They will work with the ministry of education there. It’s just a two days job. They will finish and come back before weekend.”

I was relieved but was worried. He wants to send us out again. Not this weekend!

“…their main office in South Africa.” Eddie was saying.

My mind was far. Then I heard it and looked up. “What? You were saying?”

“The second team will work with the main Mtn office in South Africa. Due to the nature of the job, they will stay in SA for one week.”

I was excited. South Africa! I nodded. I didn’t want Eddie to notice my reaction.

“Maigida, I know this weekend is Valentine and all, but this a sacrifice you need to make for the Firm. Which team will you want to be included in?” He asked.

I considered it and said, “Sir, I will appreciate it if you include me in the team heading for Ghana. I have plans this weekend with my girl Titi. I will work and come back before Sunday.”

Eddie looked at me and laughed. “Maigida, if this can be of any consolation, love is an illusion. It was created by women to keep us under their feet. It’s fools that believe in love.”

Eddie hates women. He uses half of his salary to pay alimony to his two ex-wives. Last year, he refused to marry again, but the management told him that his job requirement needs it. They want a married man as the section director so he can relate better with clients blablabla. That was how he married again.

“Sir I don’t want to disappoint her again.”

I know I am taking a big risk. Eddie is a sadist, arrogant and pompous. He hates it when people are happy. He is happy when you are in pain. If he knows that you want a particular choice, he will make sure you get a different one.

He looked at me with his piercing eyes. His big flat nose was all I could see. “Maigida, you don’t have to be selfish. Work comes first. The South African Mtn contract is more important. You know that Mtn is one of our traditional clients. If you want, you can give me your girlfriend’s number, I will apologize on your behalf. Titi right?” He asked.

“Yes Sir.”

He gave me the envelope. “Go through whatever is inside this and get ready for the journey. We are going to work with the Mtn main office at Johannesburg. We are helping them to develop a new prepaid plan for what they referred to as ‘The season of love Special.’ To me, the whole thing about season of love is bullshit. We are professionals; we care about the money, so we remove our feelings out of it.” He said.

“Right?” he asked.

“Yes sir.

We are leaving tomorrow. Get out.”

I left with the white envelope. I have to keep calm, if not, things will spoil.

If I have a girl in the country, this news will be like a bomb because it will spoil whatever commitment I would have set up with her for the weekend. Most of my fellow workers were happily discussing about their valentine plans as I collected my bag and walked out of the building. It would have been a bad news for every other employee in Green Hill. In fact, Eddie was happy thinking he has given me a bad news, not knowing that he played directly into my hands.

To Be Continued…