The Perfect Gentleman ✔

1: Rich clients

Lekki, Lagos,
Lagos State, Nigeria.
Present day.

Sara Amadi stared at her wristwatch and noticed that it was 10 minutes past the hour of 9 in the morning. She was late, again, and tardiness was not a trait her manager, Mr. Benson Junior found appealing especially on monday mornings. More often than not, he had been vocal letting her know she was on the brink of getting the pink slip, and considering her bad luck with job offers, she didn't think she was ready to get fired. At least not yet.

Quickening her steps, she hurried into the elevator of the skyscraper housing the Valiant interior and decors owned by her boss, Mr. Benson senior or Old man Benson as he was popularly called. The office was on the fifth and sixth floor, as her boss wasn't yet ready to expand his business. He was a typical miser and didn't welcome ventures that caused him to spend more than he would like to, hence why he only had five employees: one secretary, two office workers who oversaw the clientele, a manager which was his son, Jeremy and Sara's job was assisting him. The pay wasn't that good considering that he was overtasking them but she was near drained in her accounts and hence welcomed the job.

The elevator dinged its stop at the fifth floor, and she stepped out. Luckily no one was loitering about, indicating a busy day. Letting out a deep breath, she walked briskly to the double glass doors and pushed it in, opening them. She was welcomed by an ominous scene whereby the whole employ who despite being in their respective office spaces focused their whole attention on the boss's office. You could lieterally hear a pin drop at the silence. Mr. Benson senior was having a heated argument with his manager, Jeremy Benson, inside his office. This was becoming a common thing in this company since Jeremy hinted months ago that he wanted to break off from under his father's wings to start his own company.

"You are incompetent!" Barked Mr. Benson, pointing at Jeremy. "You want to see me ruined, don't you?"

Jeremy shrugged, looking frustrated at the old man. "It is you who wants you ruined," he replied indignantly. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"That is the problem, Jeremy, You did everything wrong!" He raged in frustration, raking his fingers through his low cut Afro hair that had started to grey at the edges. His son was being too difficult to handle and he almost regretted requesting his return to the country three years ago.

She stared at the pair too like her colleagues and briefly wondered what this particular problem was. On Saturday when they dismissed from work, Mr. Benson had been optimistic about an important client who was willing to work with Valiant decors for his new office complex. It was a huge demand and Mr. Benson was confident it was a closed deal. Something must had gone wrong over the weekend to put him like this, and Jeremy seemed to be the cause.

"Mr. Jeremy sold old man Benson out," whispered Katie, one of the office workers as though reading her mind. Katie Uchendu was the typical office gossip. A lithe, petite woman with sharp hawk-like eyes, ever listening meaty ears and a quick-witted tongue, no topic ever went past her ears.

Frowning, Sara turned to face her. "Why?"

"No idea," Katie replied with a shrug. "It seems that Mr. Jeremy went behind Old man Benson's back to liaise with the client and it backfired on him. Now, Old man Benson isn't hearing his reasons. He thinks Jeremy wants to liquidate him."

She was astonished by the news. "How is that even possible?" She queried, slightly bewildered. "Jeremy, even though he's careless sometimes, has always had this company's best interest at heart," she stated, her gaze drifting to the two persons arguing inside the office. It was pretty aggressive, judging by the hand remonstrations going on.

The petite woman shrugged again passively, "Old man Benson doesn't think so. As a matter of fact, no one in here really does, except you, Sara, of course. That's why Jeremy always chooses you to work with him." Her tone was malicious.