A TIME TO HEAL

CHAPTER NINE

THE PROSPECT of going back to work made me giddy with excitement. I was getting tired of sitting around doing nothing. I had tried to work from home on my current project but I didn't get really far with it, it needed the office setting and some tools from my workstation.

When Wednesday came, I was overtly exited. I beamed and gushed all through the ride to work while Kelvin was at my side trying to be cheerful. My happiness didn't rub off on him but I didn't mind that. As we got to the office car park, Kelvin asked me if I was emotionally ready for work. I'd heard from him that Gwyneth was back from the trip to Abuja and I was indifferent. I'd made peace with what happened during a meeting with my therapist, I saw the experience from a whole new perspective; a better and less bitter one. I assured him that I was ready.

Dwayne was excited to see me resume to work when I went to the security post to say hi to him. He told me about how he always asked after me from Kelvin. I gave him a noisy peck and thanked him for the cards and flowers I received while in the hospital. Everyone seemed to be genuinely happy that I was back at work, and my boss took some projects off my hands to give me the chance to settle in. I protested that it wouldn't be necessary but he insisted.

For the first time in years of working for the firm, I went to the cafeteria for lunch. I joined Kelvin at a table with some of his colleagues from Accounting. The cafeteria was on a different floor from the main office and it had an open space filled with rectangular and round tables paired with chairs surrounding them. I opened my brown paper bag and munched on an apple after saying hi to everyone around the table.

"This is Fatimah, you guys should know her, she works at the I.T. department. Fatimah meet my colleagues, William, Richard, Remi, Seye and Iyke." Kelvin pointed while saying their names as he introduced me to the group, half of whom I knew and saw at the coffee room occasionally. They stopped eating their lunch and looked at me.

"It's nice to meet you guys," I said.

"Nice to meet you too," they chorused.

"You're pretty, I mean very pretty," The fair, chubby girl that was introduced as Seye said.

"Thank you. You're pretty too," I replied graciously. The energy I got from them seemed genuine and I relaxed visibly.

"How was it like being away from all the stress constantly going on around here?" Richard asked. He was a nice looking guy with a somewhat tamed afro and I tried not to blush when our eyes met.

"If it was under the right circumstance I would have enjoyed the break, but it wasn't."

"Yea, crazy right?" he asked without really waiting for an answer. He took out his phone and got distracted.

Kelvin was biting into a piece of sandwich and he looked at me with his eyebrows raised, silently asking if I was okay being around them. I nodded and he resumed eating leaving me to mix with his colleagues. There wasn't much mixing going on as almost everyone was on their phones. I chewed my apple and silently watched them.

By the time lunch was over, I was left alone with Kelvin while the rest went to their offices.

"Aren't they cool?" Kelvin asked.

"They are. I'm surprised, they seemed really nice."

"They are. I could tell they liked you."

"You could?"

"It was obvious. Are you doing okay? You've been away for a while so things could be a bit different."

"There's no change, actually. I'm taking things easy though."

"As you should."

Kelvin left and I followed suit, taking my half eaten lunch with me. I sat in my cubicle and concentrated on the drawing on my computer screen.