Forgiveness is the final form of love
Reinhold Neibuhr
A lady Pushes open the door and walks in, head held high and posture ramrod straight instantly commanding respect.
Her hair was parted in the middle of her head causing it to cascade in loose curls down both sides of her face.
Her jacket crisply wrapped around her torso perfectly aligned with the long-sleeved shirt she wore inside.
Her polished pair of black work heels clanked against the marble floor causing the sound to reverberate around the room as she approached the desk of the receptionist.
"Can I have your ID card please?" The receptionist said without looking up as her eyes were glued to the computer screen before her.
Once the receptionist took the ID, she turned it over to read the name on it.
Almost immediately, she looked up.
"Oh! So you're the new Personal Assistant." The receptionist smiles nicely as she slots in the card to the machine and pulls it out again handing it over to her.
"Mojisola Hassan right?"
"Yes Maam. Thank you." She flashes the receptionist a charming smile and courtesies marginally in greeting.
"And a polite young lady too." The woman nods in approval and gets up. "Come with me dear, I'll show you to your office."
"That'll be wonderful ma."
※
I sat cross legged on the leather sofa as I lifted up paper after paper.
Seyi arrived yesterday with a mound of school work she expected me to help her with.
Since 8:00 in the morning after breakfast, I had been poring over the papers.
She needed me to help her document her final year project into a statistical spreadsheet so I pulled out my MacBook and started on it as soon as I could.
I lifted the white mug of tea to my lips and sipped the liquid content slowly out of the cup. I clicked on the save button and the changes I made were modified into the document.
Just then, the large main doors adjacent to the sofa on which I was seated opened.
Daniel was holding in his hand a black leather work bag as he walked in and headed for the staircase.
Asher was home.
I felt the urge to pack up my things and immediately escape to my room, but I stayed put. A couple of miuntes after, I heard Asher's footsteps as he walked in and I looked up from my laptop screen.
He was busy loosening his tie and upon noticing my presence, caught my gaze. He held it for a few seconds before I broke it off by looking away and back at my laptop screen.
"Good evening. How was work today?" I tipped the mug against my slightly parted lips and sipped the liquid down.
I heard his footsteps still to a halt but without a corresponding response from him.
I looked up and met his dark orbs fixed intently on me.
"How was work today?" I repeated, this time shifting my laptop to the side stool towards my left in order to give him my attention.
"Is anything wrong with you?" His eyes narrowed at me in focus. Realizing the reason for his question, I smirked slightly but retained my composure.
"No. Nothing's wrong. I'm just asking how your day was." I shrugged.
"What is the real reason you're asking?" He said stiffly.
"Nothing beyond the surface. You don't want me to ask?" I searched his face for an answer.
Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to decipher Asher's thoughts from his facial expressions. They never hold any emotion and so it's basically a waste of time trying to read his mind.
Mary just walked in and her eyes slowly widened as she looked from me to Asher and back.
I could tell she was wondering what on earth was going on. I mean we were actually existing in the same room and no one was dead yet.
But I think that was made up for by the tension in the room which could be cut through with a knife.
"I don't. It's weird, so stop it." He turned to Mary.
"Mary, I want my food upstairs and afterwards, I want no disturbance until I send for someone. Don't bother about coming to take the plates; I'll call someone when I'm done."
"Yes Sir." Mary nodded and dissppeared back through the door from which she came in.
Taking one last disdainful glance at me, Asher headed for the stairs.
Utterly embarrassed, I swallowed and looked away hurt that he'd totally show no appreciation whatsoever for my concern.
I lifted the MacBook back unto my thighs and tried hard to focus as I resumed work on the spreadsheet.
Almost immediately, Tope, followed by Mary and the burly Mrs. Onawale came out through the door into which Mary scampered when Asher was still here.
Tope was balancing Asher's tray of food on her arms with Mary right behind her making sure everything was in place.
"Okay, you can go now. I'll help you knock. Mary please send Daniel after us in case we need help." Tope nodded obediently and they both ascended the broad staircase before disappearing round the bend.
I could feel Mary's eyes on me before she turned and left obviously to call Daniel.
Sighing, I continued typing away at my keyboard.
But surprisingly, I couldn't feel the hate like I would've three weeks ago. Hurt yeah, but not hate. I couldn't hate him anymore, much to my chagrin.
I remembered the unfinished painting of him in my room.
His eyes...
His jaw...
His lips...
Genesis 1:27 (So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.)
Created in God's image and likeness...just like me.
Be the bigger person and forgive first.
Mrs. Okafor's words float in and I nod.
"I forgive you Asher." The words tumbled out of my lips. The feeling was identical to the one I felt as I made each stroke of his painting.
Burdens lifted.
※
Author's note.
Hey hey hey!
I don't know what to say apart from the fact that it's been a while...a really long while. I haven't updated in like forever and y'all must've been really wondering why the ghosting 😌
Oh well...firstly, I'm back of course with another chapter. I hope you liked it even though it's quite short but anyway.
Secondly, my apologies for not being around and not giving a proper heads up about the delay. Recently, I've been preoccupied with a lot of things that I couldn't give enough time to my writing here.
Unfortunately, in the future, I might not be as regular with my posting as before. (This is still a "might")
This, as I said, is due to my recent pile of work.
But, I still would definitely post occasionally. I'll probably restructure it and put it in my next announcement for those of you that follow me.
By the way, if you haven't followed me yet, please do so; that way you can stay tuned to my updates.
I think that's about it for now. Drop your thoughts in the comment section and don't forget to leave your cute little star right at the bottom left of your screen. That way I'll know you loved the chapter.
So it's bye until the next chapter 👋
Chinwe_epistle ♥
