Two months later
When it came to office parties, after giving a speech I’d go home. However, tonight was different we were celebrating the successful purchase of a new estate development. It was towards the conclusion of my speech. “…thank you all for coming and cheers” I held my glass up and made a toast. I could feel someone burning holes at the back off my head, it was none other than my PA, I took a sip of juice and made my ways towards my office. “Need something?” I stopped abruptly next to my PA. she looked around before saying “mm… no” I went ahead.
Not a minute late I heard a knock, I looked up from my phone and it was
Onika,“yes?” I asked as she came in and went to look at the view at the window. “parties, not my scene” am I missing something here? I asked myself “attendance was not compulsory Miss. Minaj” she looked confused. “I think I should get back to the party” she left as quickly as she
could.
8:21pm
I was still in my office, my juice was finished and was still going through some documents. I called Onika on my office phone and she answered immediately;
Me- still in the building?
Onika- yes
Me- come through
Onika- okay
She said parties went her scene but she was still here, beats me.
Five minutes later and she was in my office “the documents you printed yesterday, some pages are missing and the filing is mixed up” I know tonight wasn’t the night but I couldn’t just leave it for Monday. She proceeded to stand next to me as I pointed out the missing pages. Not that I kept tabs on how she looked but tonight she different as if- “I am so sorry, I’ll just reprint the whole document” she interrupted my thoughts.
After a quite 15 minutes, everything was sorted. “What’s wrong?” I asked, I could never ask if something was okay when I can clearly see their
not and the person asked is likely to say they are okay to avoid getting asked anymore questions.
She looked up from the chair opposite and said “nothing…” I decided to not press her. “You are free to go”, she did not seem eager to leave. Okay I am going to regret this but fuck it, I stood up held my hand up for her to take and led her to the couch. “I’ll listen” I said as sat down next to her and like the floods gates opened, she started crying. Well that wasn’t expected, without a thought I embraced her as she continued to weep. For what seemed like an hour of crying but just less than 5 minutes, she stopped and it hit her who I was, she removed herself from me and started apologizing. “I am sorry, that was unprofessional. Have a good night” she fled my office.
It was Saturday afternoon and I thought to call Onika. Her personal life was none of my concern but I just needed to know how she was doing.
Me- hi
Onika- Miss Knowles
Me- its Beyonce
Onika- yes Beyonce
Me- how are you holding up?
Onika- better, thanks for asking.
Me- good, listen last night
Onika- I know, I apologize for my behavior
Me- nonsense, I wanted to let you know I’m here if you want to talk.
Onika- oh… okay
Me- …and if you need the next week off, just let me know.
Onika- that won’t be necessary.
