How could her boss threaten to sack her after
three years of service? All because of
Methocorp?
‘You are big but Methocorp is bigger’ the
woman’s words still rang in her ears.
‘I guess she meant to say, you are big but Ife
is bigger’ Narissa murmured as she ignited her
engine. The woman was a chameleon and had
revealed one of her many colors; yellow, the
color of greed.
She played Sia and blasted the streets she
drove past with Kendrick Lamar but nothing
seemed to keep the thought of seeing Ife’s face
light up with satisfaction if she ever went to beg
him on behalf of the company.
‘I will never beg you Ife, not in this life, I’d
rather lose my job’ she muttered to herself as
she arrived her father’s compound.
‘You showed up eventually! I miss you my baby
girl’ he rose to his feet and sauntered towards
the parking space.
‘Dad, I always keep my promises’ she stepped
down from the car and hugged him.
‘Where’s Edna?’ She asked.
‘Tending to her flowers’ he snorted, his wife
had a garden.
‘Ok and what have you been up to, old man?’
She rubbed his arm gently.
‘Reading the papers’ he replied.
‘Nice one dad, I am very happy to see you’ she
repeated, then took a seat next to him.
‘Have you heard about the Methocorp media
assessment sessions? It’s the biggest thing in
Africa; never listened to something that
powerful’ he began.
‘Oh, I just learnt about it this morning’ She
relaxed herself waiting to hear something about
Ife, the guy followed her everywhere.
‘That young man is dynamic, so intelligent, just
like Martins his father’ the old man paused as
he noticed his daughter wore a frown.
‘You never really told us what happened
between you and that young man Rissa. Are you
ready to talk about it now?’ Her father asked.
‘No, let me see Edna in the garden, I’ll join
you shortly’ she gave the old hands a squeeze
and a polite smile, then left for the garden to
greet her step mother who was fast becoming
her favorite person.
Her walk towards the garden was slow,
contemplating. A wide variety of flowers,
scents, and insects welcomed her as she
stepped into the garden, the view was heavenly.
‘You should stop staring, come and take a rose’
her step mother stopped weeding and stood up.
‘Good afternoon Edna’ Narissa moved towards
her.
‘Afternoon dear, do you prefer roses or lilies?
Come check my flowers out, take any you like’
Edna was happy to see her step daughter.
‘No, I favor Pansies’ She bent and plucked the
little blue heads.
‘Are you okay?’ The woman asked. She noticed
Narissa looked dull, was it the dark makeup or
a bad mood?
‘I…am fine’ Narissa replied.
‘Well, if you have to stutter before answering,
you are not fine. Do you want to talk about it?’
Edna asked. She felt growing concern for the
young woman.
‘No, work related issues’ She shook her head.
‘Okay then. I heard you drive in so I sent
someone to get you something special, from my
farm’ Edna’s eyes strayed to her driver who
walked into the garden with the honey combs.
‘What special thing could that be?’ Narissa
smiled and followed Edna’s gaze, it fell on a
familiar face.
‘Ekene?’ She remembered Ife’s friend that had
spoken rudely to her on phone.
‘Narissa’ surprise shook his hands like thunder
and he dropped the carton that housed the
honey combs.
He had sent texted her his office address, he
was still knee deep in the media sessions so he
didn’t need to be far from his company.
‘If you are done staring at the streets, you can
take a seat and we’ll talk about this spying
mission of mine’ Lavvy called out to him. She
had spent about thirty minutes in Ife’s office
and all that time, he had said nothing to her;
he simply backed her and stared out the
window.
‘What do you want me to say Lavvy?’ He
fetched a bottle of wine from his cellar and
poured some for both of them.
‘Tell me, why you want information on Narissa?
If I must serve you well, I need your complete
honesty and trust in me’ Lavvy sipped from her
cup, the sweetness stung the tip of her tongue
and had her yearning for more.
‘Maybe you should leave that out and focus on
your job’ Ife cut in.
‘I guess that’s why you’d never have her, you’re
rude for one’ Lavvy put down the glass and
clasped her hands together.
‘Don’t say that Narissa will come back to me’ his
heart raced at the thought of her rejection.
‘Good. Question answered. You have feelings for
her and from the way you speak, it seems you
two had something before now. Did something
bad happen to break the sweet thing you had
going?’ She raised her brows.
Ife drew in a steady breath, scanned the
features of the lady he had employed to spy on
Narissa. Did she have any ill motive? You
couldn’t trust anyone completely.
‘We dated once; I wasn’t in love with her. I was
a brute, broke her heart and ended the
relationship. I fell in love with her right after
that. The problem now is that she doesn’t want
me back’ he decided to trust her. She had no ill
motive from his assessment.
‘Good. So you intend to get her back but she is
proving stubborn. Who wouldn’t? You must have
bruised her ego too’ Lavvy drank some more.
‘I did a terrible thing, how can we fix this?’ He
sounded desperate.
‘Do you think Narissa is still in love with you?’
Lavvy asked coolly, she was working on a plan,
right there.
‘Yes, you told me the guy she kissed wasn’t her
boyfriend. Maybe she kissed him to get me
jealous’ Ife paused as he watched her face.
‘What? Don’t you share my theory?’ He asked.
‘Not really, sounds like the thoughts of a
perfect egomaniac. I am not trying to insult
you Ife but we cannot be completely sure why
she kissed Jason. What if her kissing him means
she has feelings for him and you seeing them
at that point was mere coincidence?
To Be Continued….
