JEALOUSY IN DEATH

4.

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4. Desiree

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Jamal was at her door on Sunday morning, holding the boxes that contained her things. She took one box from the stack he was carrying before he walked in with the other.

"What did you do?" he asked after dropping the box on the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"Sandra got the deal signed and while we were celebrating, I heard people saying you did something unspeakable to sabotage the signing."

"What the hell? I didn't, I swear."

"They said you were caught and you resigned before you could be fired."

"That's a lie, who's saying that?"

"Everyone apparently, it was the topic of discussion in the office last week."

Desiree slumped into the sofa and covered her face. First, she lost her job and now her reputation was tainted in the aftermath, this was the final nail in the coffin and she knew who was responsible for the rumor.

"What happened? Why exactly did you resign?"

She removed her hands from her face. "He asked to sleep with me before agreeing to the deal and I told Mr. John. Can you believe he said I should get the deal done however I could?"

"Are you serious?" Jamal asked and sat beside her.

"Very serious, I wasn't going to soil myself for it so I left. I have nothing against transactional sex but it's just not something I'd do."

"You did the right thing but you should have confided in me, we could have found a way to go about it."

"It's over and I'm over it. I just need a new job, like yesterday."

"You probably won't be getting any in the corporate world, you know how the boss is. If he's spreading the rumor, he'll have you blacklisted." He itched his scalp. "Gosh, you picked the wrong person to tick off."

"I know that, he told me not to expect recommendations from him."

"Ouch, that's cold. What are you going to do now?"

"I'm trying to find a job outside our world, something totally different."

Jamal shifted to close the distance between them and he hugged her. After few minutes passed, Desiree raised her head that was resting on his shoulder and left to the kitchen.

"Do you want anything to drink?" she asked from the kitchen.

"No, thanks. I need to leave, I have to go see my mum."

Desiree came out of the kitchen and hugged him one more time before he left. Once, when Jamal just got hired to her now old firm, they'd had a very brief sexual relationship. It had happened from pressure, everyone used to say how good they looked together and when they finally tested that theory and tried dating, they'd learnt that they weren't compatible. The sex had been so awkward, they'd laughed it off afterward, but they both knew it was never going to happen again.

She sat back on the sofa and closed her eyes. She went to the window after waking from her unplanned nap and saw her neighbors coming back from church. She'd stopped going to church after her secondary school days when students were forced and threatened to attend Sunday services. It didn't matter whether they were interested or not, they had to be in church. When she entered university, she used the day instead for studying and the tradition had stuck.

Another Monday was coming and she'd be jobless for a total of three weeks. She didn't know what to do or whom to turn to. She thought about what led her to it, the deal that turned out to be the end of her blossoming career. Looking backward didn't make things better, so she unplugged her phone from the charger and went online to escape her sorrows. Desiree remembered the start-up clothing brand that had gotten in touch with her earlier that year, they needed a curvy model and had asked if she was interested but she declined their offer. Her job had been time consuming and adding more workload didn't seem realistic back then.

She got her laptop from the bedroom and sent them a message asking if they still needed a model. She got an immediate response saying they were no longer looking.

Her phone rang and she saw a call from her mother. "Maa," she said when she slid to answer.

"Dee, how are you? How's work?" her soft, delicate voice said through the phone.

"I lost my job."

The line went silent but she could still hear her mother breathing.

"What is the next step now?" Maa asked without emotion in her voice and Desiree was glad that she wasn't being pitied.

"Trying to find a new job."

"That shouldn't take long." She paused and asked, "Would you like to be my travel buddy?"

"Maa, I'm just starting my life and I don't want to travel around the world yet."

"Okay. How are your brothers? I haven't talked to them in a while."

"They're busy, very busy unlike me."

"You'll find a job, don't beat yourself up."

"Alright, where are you right now?"

"Still in India, I'm traveling to Tanzania next week, but I could come back home if you need me."

"I don't, have fun."

"What time is it over there?"

"It's evening. What did you do today?"

"Went around some markets, I'm sending you and your brothers some gifts. What about you?"

"I stayed indoor but I'm thinking of going out to get suya." The thought of eating the tantalizing dried, peppered meat was making her mouth water.

"I miss that."

"Who wouldn't?"

"Alright, honey. I've got to go now, I love you."

"Take care of yourself and be careful. I love you too."

She hung up and flung the phone across the sofa then got the thriller novel she'd recently bought.


On Monday morning, she woke up by five a.m. as she normally did and stayed in bed just looking at the spinning ceiling fan. She could hear car honks from her room, the Monday rush had begun and she wasn't a part of the frenzy. If she concentrated harder, she could just hear bus conductors yelling and cursing at car drivers, smell the musty scent of pedestrians sweating as they jogged to their offices mixing with the aromas of roadside snacks and food wafting from trolleys and food trucks.

This was the feeling she lived for, the adrenaline rush as you honked for slow drivers to move their smoke belching cars, the hustlers pushing their cart and wares to your windshield when you got stuck in traffic, the heat that built as the sky cleared and the morning sun came out. These were all fulfilling to her, she loved every part of working in the city, the highs and the lows, risk and adventures, the meetings with top stakeholders and entry level workers. How then did she go from being fulfilled one day to having a large gaping hole within her the next?

She rolled from her bed and opened her laptop. There would be no good news waiting in her inbox but there was still this modicum of hope. She connected to the Internet and saw a new mail, a message was waiting for her and it had a schedule of a video interview.

Desiree rushed to the bathroom and sped through bathing and brushing her teeth, she got one of the hideous outfit from her closet after pinning her shoulder length matted strings behind her ears. She didn't bother looking in the mirror, her reflection was likely to scare her.

She carried her laptop to her kitchen, it had the best lighting in the whole house and she needed the video call to go well in every aspect. She made toast and drank the remaining juice in her fridge while mentally noting that she needed to go shopping for food.

In between hours of waiting for the interview, she went online and read funny stories from parents about their kids' mischiefs and activities. When she saw the video call request on her computer few hours later, she smiled her brightest and answered.

"Hello."

"Hello," the gruff voice of her future boss answered. Hopefully, she wished. "I went through your résumé and you happen to be over qualified for the job, this position is going to be a stepping down for you. You have an MBA, why are you applying for the position of a babysitter?"

"I don't mind. I love working with kids, they light up every cell in my body and getting this job would mean so much to me."

"I'm still a little bit skeptical. I did a little digging on your background and though it's not out rightly appealing, it's mind wavering."

Desiree didn't know what to say in reply so she smiled and smiled some more when his brows furrowed.

"Tell me about your last job."

Oh my god, not that, she panicked.

She cleared her throat and began, "I used to work for a large-"

"Excuse me." He stood from the chair as the phone ring interrupted her. He came back after several minutes. "I'm sorry for the interruption. I'm going to be sending you some materials containing information on my son, everything you need to know about him is in there and I need you to resume tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes? Is that going to be a problem?"

"No, I'll be there very early. Thanks."

"Great, let's talk about your salary. You'll be working from Monday to Saturday morning every week, I need you full time and you'll be staying in the guesthouse permanently during your employment period. How much do you want?"

Desiree was taken aback, she had forgotten to research the fee nannies got from working. She took several minutes to consider. She knew she couldn't ask for the same salary she got in her previous job and she didn't want to ask for something too small.

"How much do you think I deserve for all the hours I'll be putting into taking care of your kid?"

He got a pen and paper and scratched some amount on it, he raised the piece of paper and she leaned back in surprise. She contained herself and knew not to agree on the first fee even though it looked nice, he could surely do better.

"That's a great offer but I'll be spending long hours and nights with your son. I need it to go ten percent higher."

"I don't have the time to spend negotiating for hours. This is my last offer." He wrote down quickly and showed her the sheet.

"I'll take it." It was more that she was going for, she already felt like she was cheating him.

"Fine. You'll get the materials sent to you, resume tomorrow and don't come late."

"Yes, sir."

"One more thing...change your perfume, it's nauseating."

He ended the video call and she stared at the screen. How dare he? She'd worn a cheap, male perfume to the interview but he had no rights to tell her to change it. She just knew he was going to be a demanding boss, if not condescending and annoying.