...that keeps giving

XX

"If people do what is expected of them, I wouldn't need to come here for site inspection. If we complain about our leaders as a nation, shouldn't we do better as individuals?"

"Mr Crown, we are very sorry about the delay, it was due to circumstances beyond our control."

"Really, what is the circumstance beyond your control?"

"The trailer that was supposed to supply the material could not navigate the temporary route that was constructed during the road repairs."

"When last did you check on this project?"

"I was here, yes-yesterday sir."

"That road was completed on Monday, today is what?"

"Thursday sir"

"Meaning that if you had made an effort since then, the materials would be here by now. You lobbied for this project and we decided to give you a chance after the promises you made. My site manager was here throughout last week and you were not present once."

"That's untrue."

"By whose standard?"

"Sir, I-I..."

"We don't work this way Mr Fijabi, This is going to affect our delivery time. Resources were made available to avoid situations like this."

"We will not disappoint you, sir, I promise that we will finish before the date," he rushed after him.

"Unless you plan to work all night for the next four weeks I don't know how you intend to achieve that except you plan to do a shoddy job which will get you in more trouble."

"The fault is from our end and we will rectify it. I can show you the interiors, we have come a long way from where we started."

"I can't wait, I have a meeting now. I have had to reschedule a few times."

"I am sorry sir, I take responsibility for..."

He pulled out his ringing phone to respond to his PA.

"Give me a few minutes to get into the car, I will join them via teams. I do not think I can make it to the office before the meeting starts, please send my apologies and tell them I will be in the office before the end of the meeting."

"Okay, sir. I will send you the link I created for Dr Aguda, She will also be joining online as stated in the memo."

"That is fine." He waved the driver back to the front while opening the car door. He waved off Mr Fijabi who was fidgeting beside him. This would probably be the last project he would handle for the company. He had decided to visit the site unplanned just to see if the man was just fabricating reports rather than getting the work done especially when his project manager seemed unimpressed with the ongoing project. At first, he thought the guy was upset at the fact that they changed hands for the job but he could see for himself now.

He requested that the driver pull up the partition to allow for privacy during the meeting.

He heaved a deep sigh as he opened the flap of his iPad protective cover. He clicked the link and waited to be admitted into the meeting a few minutes later. He allowed his eyes to wander over the participants of the meeting as the head of the committee introduced all the members. 6 of the 8 committees set up for the project were sitting in one of the conference rooms in his office building while Naomi joined them online. He had asked to get periodic feedback on the project since it was a CSR project and Naomi was not around. He noticed a young man sitting on the left end of the conference table and wondered who it was.

He had not seen Naomi in the three weeks she left for camp and communication between them had not been regular and she did not seem to care. He checked to see if her camera was on but it wasn't. He thought they had reached a level in their relationship where they could at least be cordial to each other especially when outside the family even though some of the people on the ground did not know that they were married. He sent a message to his PA to inform the Committee chairman to request that everyone switch on their cameras.

A few minutes later, he was introduced.

"Good afternoon everyone, I sincerely apologize for not being on seat, I was caught up elsewhere but I am on my way to the office right now.

If I am not mistaken, I see a new face sitting beside Mr Adelaja."

"Yes sir that is Dr. Michael Lopez, a Medical doctor from Manslad. Dr Aiden is unavoidably absent and as you know, Dr. Aguda is not here too and we need a proper representation."

"I am right here. Naomi responded smiling." Some of the committee members could not help but smile.

"Hi Michael, it's good to see you here."

"Same here Naomi," he smiled in response.

"Can we leave the pleasantries till after the meeting?" Abisade interrupted

"Apologies for the digression," Naomi said

"Before we continue, we'd like the people joining us virtually to leave their cameras on."

Abisade stared at his meeting gallery again, waiting for his wife's camera to come up but it didn't. He was getting angry. It started with Mr. Fijabi's nonchalance with the work committed to him. Naomi did not even acknowledge him, no hi or hello. It was as if he did not exist in her world. The last message he received from her was last week, stating that she had moved her ticket and couldn't come to Lagos this week, hence the reason why she had to join them online.

Now this.

He kept wondering if she was hiding something because...

"I received a message now from Dr Aguda stating the reason why she couldn't switch on her camera.

He was boiling. He refused to take the bait even though it may not be one. How can a woman be so stubborn that...

"Do you have any other concerns, Mr Crown?"

"I'm good," he responded but everything they said in the meeting went over his head. He sent a message to his brother asking if he was available to talk.

"I just got out of a meeting"

"Can you imagine Naomi coming online during a meeting and ignoring me?"

"Guy calm down and talk to me. My head is full already, I don't have time to decode what you are saying"

"I don't even know why I bother anyway. You are the one always taking sides with her."

"Oga, speak plain English, what happened?"

"We rescheduled a meeting for today because madam refuses to come to Lagos."

"Which madam?"

"Who else? Naomi joined the meeting online and did not switch on her camera. She was asked to and she sent a message to the person in charge of the meeting."

"And?"

"You don't see anything wrong in that? I was there in the meeting she acknowledged a committee member and did not even say anything to me."

"Wait, I am confused, has she been discharged?"

"They left camp since last week guy."

"No I meant from the hospital, She was admitted some days ago, food poisoning I think."

"What?"