Tomi
Ever since that night Kelvin walked out my heart ceased to beat. It was like he had forcefully wrenched it out of my chest. For three days, i cried myself to sleep. I despised how weak i had become. I loathe the kind of woman i had turned out to be. When will i start fighting for myself? when will i learn to do away with self pity? why should the spoilt bratty lindas of the world have it all? on the third day i resolved within myself to dust myself up and pick up the shards of my life. I started by cleaning out the whole of my apartment, next phase, was sorting out my wardrobe. I packed up the clothes i no longer had use for and boxed them up for those who truly needed it.
I checked my mail on my laptop. There were were tons of messages, one of them was an invite to our high school reunion. Some were friend requests from Facebook, some were pms from a popular forum called N——-d, some were scam messages from scammers claiming to come from Burkina Faso and being in possession of some mysterious Millions of dollars which they have decided to reward me with. I deleted most of the messages including the friend requests and the pms. I stared hard and long at the reunion invitation. There had been several invites over the years but i didn’t honour any of them. I clicked on it and checked the date and venue. There was going to be an award of some sort, the venue was d’ renaissance hotel, hall 3. Time was 5 pm to 10 pm. I typed a quick message and pressed send.
I scrolled down and saw an interview invite. It was from a company i sent my CV to weeks ago. I checked them out on the internet again. It was a luxury company, they produce wrist watches, shoes, accessories and jewelries. They also make designer wears and had an international fashion magazine. Although the post vacant wasn’t something i had experience in but i thought it would look good on my CV so i applied and hoped for the best. The interview was scheduled for the next day at 10.am. I sent up a quick prayer of thanks to God for reminding me to check my mail. I surfed the net a bit before going to set out what i would wear to the interview tomorrow.
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My alarm woke me up by 5.00am and by 6.45am i was already out of the house so i would beat the Lagos Island traffic. I boarded a taxi so i won’t be sandwiched between other commuters in a bus, God forbids, I don’t want to endure sweaty and smelling armpits, noise and other passenger_conductor rants. The post i applied for was Human resource personnel, although i had no experience in that area i applied for it anyway. I spent the better part of my night, researching on it and i memorized some of the likely questions to be asked.
” We don reach ooo” the taxi driver announced.
I counted out four thousand and five hundred naira from my purse which i handed to him ” Thank you Oga. You really tried for me”
” Nne Wetin man go do? for this buhari condition we haf to helep each others nau “.
I struggled not to roll my eyes. I checked the time on my wrist watch, 8.30 am. ” Thank you”
I walked into the big black gate, endured the routine search and i was directed to go to the third floor. The receptionist was quiet nice and she also directed me to the third floor. I climbed the stairs, I was almost getting to the last stair case when i heard footsteps behind me and i whirled around.
” Good morning ” i said cheerfully.
The handsome young man whose face was a bit familiar gave me a wide smile, revealing his sparkling white set of teeth.
” Good Morning Tomi, nice meeting you again”
I stood dazed, trying to recollect where we had met before. ” Surprisingly we seem to have met each other before but sadly i don’t recollect when or where”
” I am Victoria’ s friend ” he replied.
” Victoria’ s friend………..Tosin! ”
” Yes. What are you doing here?”
” I am here for an interview. You work here?”
” Yes i have been working here for five years now” he said with a little laugh.
” Wow! that’s cool! I am interviewing for the post of an Hr personnel and I have no idea what an Hr personel does and neither do i have any experience of it”
He laughed. ” Then what are you doing here?”
” Well i read up on it althrough the night! anyway i just want to give it a shot.” I shrugged. ” How about you? Which department do you work in? ”
” I am the facility Manager. You used to work for Victoria’ s sister right?”
” Yes. I was her assistant.”
” How long did you work with her and did you enjoy working for her?”
” 2 years and i loved working there. She was a great boss”
” You enjoyed working there?” He asked again.
” Yes, as a matter of fact i couldn’t ask for a better working environment or remuneration. The other staffs were equally great to work with and i really enjoyed my brief time with them.” I checked the time again.
” Which aspect of the job did you not like?”
I laughed. ” I enjoyed and liked every aspect of it because it is the challenges that comes with each task that makes you a better employee and sometimes it even brings out skills which you never knew you had. Oops! I have to go now.” I said, checking my wrist watch again.
” All the best”
” Thank you. Take care” I briskly walked up the stairs.
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The interview wasn’t so hard as i expected although there was some tricky questions which i failed to answer and in the end we were asked to go home. I was heating up something for dinner when i got a text message to come the next day. I tried not to be jubilant, it could mean that they wanted to personally tell me i wasn’t fit for the job. Who knows? Nigerians could be so funny at times. After dinner i slept off on the couch and woke up there . It made remember my childhood days, those days where you fall asleep on the couch but wake up in your bed.
I showered and went to the bus stop to board a brt. I couldn’t afford to spent the little money in my account recklessly when i wasn’t certain the job was mine yet. I endured the security scrutiny once again and went into the elegant glass building. The nice, lovely receptionist was on duty again.
” Good morning” she called.
” Good morning”
” This time around you are to go to the fourth floor. Turn right, knock on the glass framed door and enter” she said gesturing. ” The elevators are also working now”
” Thank you.”
I knocked on the door and entered the elegant office. The decor reeked of masculinity, and wealth. The office definitely belonged to a man with a rich taste and class. I looked around uncertain if i should take a sit or not. The door opened and Tosin walked in wearing a faded jean and polo.
” Hi! we meet again” i said cheerfully. ” How’s work going today?”
” Fine. How are you?”
” I am fine.
” Please sit down”.
I shook my head. ” I will rather wait for the ummm…..boss to come ”
He laughed. ” Do you know how long it will take him to come?”
” Well i don’t know but i will wait anyway. ”
He shrugged. ” Alright your choice.”
He went round the table and sat on the leather chair. Unease snaked between my shoulder blades. I didn’t want to believe what my mind was telling me. I lowered myself into the seat in front of me.
” My name is Tosin Williams and i am happy to welcome you to Williams Enterprise Holdings, Inc. Unfortunately, you can not work as a human resource personel because you have no experience in that area but you would be joining us as an executive assistant to the CEO.” he said in a business like manner. He pressed a button on the intercom on his desk. ” Mrs Steven.Please come to my office right away.”
I was just staring at him like a rabbit caught in a trap. A middle aged lady walked in after a rasp knock on the door.
” Good Morning sir” she said.
” Good morning. Hope you are feeling better now?”
” Yes i am much better. Thank you sir ”
” Good. This is Miss Tomi…….” He flipped open a file on the desk.” Yes, Miss Tomi Adebola. She’s my new assistant. ”
She gave me a kind smile. ” Welcome on board”
” Thank you M’aam” i replied in a calm quiet voice.
” I want you to brief her about the job, remunerations etc. If she’s okay with it then you know what to do next.” he said in a voice used to issuing out commands.
” Alright sir. Miss Tomi please come with me”
I stood up still in bewilderment and followed her out of the office.
To be continued..
