OIL MONEY |A Nigerian Romance|

Chapter 22.

FARIDA

Exactly 10 am, the door opens, revealing Tobi and the second party involved. Mrs. Foluke Adeniran had booked the event for her daughter's wedding while Tobi's reason for booking remains undisclosed to us.

"Good morning, Mrs. Adeniran and Mr. Bankole." My Legal counsel, Barrister Sowunmi says.

"So, my client here states that your client's firm defrauded and misled him to pay for a venue that had already been acquired as at the day it is to be used." Straight to the point. How nice. Sarcasm intended.

"It is not defrauding when my client is willing to come to terms with him." Barr. Sowunmi responds.

"But you will agree with me that this is a clear case of misleading." His Legal counsel responds. I know it is misleading from our own part but the first mistake would be admitting it blatantly. So, I whisper to him to allow me chip in some things, to which he nods. Clearing my throat, my eyes meet with Tobi and that of Mrs. Adeniran before finally speaking.

"There was a clear case of misconception on the date and we deeply apologize for that error on our part. However, we still maintain the fact that venues are given to clients on a first-come basis, which is why we are proposing that since Mrs. Foluke made payments first, it automatically makes her the rightful owner of the venue for that day. However, understanding that we are also putting Mr. Bankole at a disadvantage, we are proposing a venue reallocation."

"To which I will decline." He speaks up, earning a glare from Mrs. Adeniran. She is even being the reasonable person here because to be honest, she could care less about Tobi"s reaction since legally she has more rights to the venue usage on that day, compared to him.

"Please, hear me out, Mr. Bankole." I state.

"The reallocation involves covering cost for any publicity you may have done for your event. Might I also add that the venue costs more than the conflicting one in question but that would also be covered by us as there are no additional charges involved." Tobi keeps quiet for a while, taking in all I just said.

"Alright. But I won't be needing the publicity cost. The venue change is enough." Whatever prompted him to change his mind, I am glad.

"When do I get to see the venue?" He asks.

"Right away, if that is okay with you." I respond.

"Mrs. Foluke, please you may go ahead to resume your venue decoration." She smiles and takes her leave as she showed up without a Lawyer.

After her exit, I make a call to the driver so we could go see the venue. On arrival, I take him on a walk through the facility and give him a brief on the services that accompany this particular facility.

Briefly, we discuss his preferences and leave afterwards. Thankfully, we finally come to a consensus and we go back to sign the necessary documents.

"Thank you for accepting the changes, Mr. Bankole." I force a smile off my lips.

"Hope there are no other issues this time. It's a pleasure." He extends his hand for a handshake which I accept. His eyes linger on mine for a while.

"Dinner with me?" He blurts out.

"I don't mix business with pleasure, Mr. Bankole. Excuse me." I retract my hand from his grip and without waiting for his response because I honestly don't need it, I see myself out. Dinner ko Last Supper ni.

"Mr. Theodore, my office now!" This man will be on the receiving end of my anger today. Almost three minutes after, a knock sounds on my door and I give the permission for him to come in as my assistant already informed me of his presence.

"Good morning, ma." I wave off his greeting, going straight to the details of his presence.

"Your mistakes have cost us a lot, Mr. Theodore. I would have not thought it twice to lay you off but today is your lucky day. However, you will be getting a 50% slash off your pay this month." He quietly nods his head.

"You can see yourself out." I hate to be this type of boss but on the rare occasions where it happens, it is justified.

The anger still fueled my thoughts even after a long day at the office. I angrily smash my phone on the wall when I get home, making a mental note to purchase another one tomorrow while heading out.

"Take it easy, Farida." Tamara states, eating her food with one hand and typing on her laptop with the other. She is back to working again. I just glare at her and hiss. While I am here seething with rage, Bukky is cleaning off the broken pieces of my phone.

"I just think you are taking this whole stuff with Tobi a little too far." Tamara states.

"What do you mean?"I ask her in a defensive tone.

"Exactly what I mean."

"And? See, Tamara don't say what you don't know." I warn her.

"Abeg abeg, Farida. Is it because I have not said anything since you started throwing this your little tantrum? Remove the pride in your head and be reasonable. Why do you really hate the man? Huh? Have you asked yourself that question? Is it hate or some opposite emotion you are trying so hard to conceal? If I recall very well, you, Farida. You brought up the whole sex thing from what you narrated to us." Bukky should please not even go there.

"Exactly." Tamara says.

"Now that you have broken your phone, hope you are happy." She sneers at me.

"I don't recall asking either of you for cash for another purchase." I shoot back. I won't have them talking down on my emotions. I have a right to feel the way I do.

"You blew it out of proportion. You know deep down that you resigned because of the pride you have. I really don't get this anger of yours, sometimes." Bukky huffs, placing her hands on her waist, the cleaning equipment long forgotten.

"Admitted, he has a very nasty attitude. However, in the case of you resigning, you were wrong."

"You know we won't lie to you." Bukky states.

"Oh, spare me that bullshit line, you bloody hypocrites." Twin emotions of hurt flash through their eyes. How dare they support him and try to blame me? What happened to women supporting women?

"You are not ready for the truth." Bukky shoots back, fire blazing in her eyes. My response really got to her.

"Sort out your fucking mess by yourself and don't you ever talk to us about it again because at this point, we simply don't care." When Tamara uses her calculative tone, it sounds more dangerous than Bukky's hot temper. It shows finality.

"Get a hang of your ego and negative emotions and sort out this mess yourself." Bukky flings the broom and packer at me before walking out. With her laptop in one hand, Tamara walks up to her room and returns without the laptop. When she opens her mouth to talk, she hesitates for a while and just sighs, piking up the bowl of food she was eating before completely disappearing and leaving me to myself.

After cleaning up my mess, I have a cold bath and head out. This time, I did not sit in the audience and just watch the race. I also needed the adrenaline the race provides so I rode on the tracks at a speed I could never have tried if not for my conflicting emotions.

At a point, Matt had to seize my keys off my hands. He had never seen me that angry. They kept asking me what the problem was but I could not even understand it to the extent of explaining it to someone else. It was just crazy. I wanted to yank his hair off his head or slap his pretty face.

Since racing did only a little to soothe my anger, I book a cab to Purpleberry to get some ice cream before going back home. If this does not do the magic, only God knows what will.