Jane could feel the panic surge into her mind again as she walked towards Mr Onoja’s house. She wrapped her arms around herself as the molten rays of the late afternoon sun cast dull rays of sunlight on her. She looked up, noticing how the blurry sun stood high up in the sky and seemed to slither through the tall palm trees that graced the side of the street that led to the gate.
She stopped by the gigantic gate and knocked, waiting to hear the hurried movements of Abdulsalam towards the gate. When he came, he peeked through the gate.
“Welcome,” he smiled, “Long time no see.”
Jane forced a smile and walked towards the main building of the house.
She knocked softly on the door and paused so she could hear her boss's voice.
“Come in,” the familiar voice said.
She inhaled deeply as she turned the knob and stepped on the cold tiled floor. Her heart raced with several thoughts.
The first sight that greeted her was her boss sitting on the orange sofa, leaning on the armrest and reading a newspaper in the sitting room.
Jane took her eyes momentarily from his form and gazed at the diverging rays of the sun illuminating the black glass centre table through the uncovered part of the window. The table shimmered under the light of the sun that she wanted to momentarily forget her sorrows and worries by looking at it.
One week from her job was enough time to give her boss reasons to find a replacement and if he was considerate enough not to replace her due to the time she had been away, then he would replace her due to the Facebook scandal. She was scared. Very scared.
The truth was that she had come to work simply because she wanted to take Phoebe's advice by not wallowing in the sadness Emeka’s presence brought to her.
Jane was learning to be strong. To be strong was to forget her past, move ahead in life and take life the way it came to her. To be strong was learning to live.
To live was to forget the hurts from people she had trusted and channel her energy into things that mattered, to live was to wear masks of smile and forget her broken heart.
“Jane?” Mr Onoja stared at her, puzzled. He dropped the newspapers on the table and lowered his glasses.
“Good afternoon sir,”she muttered with a forced smile, as she unconsciously fiddled with her hands and found it difficult to look into his eyes.
“Good day Jane. How are you feeling now?” he asked, concerned. His stare was long– like he was scanning the innermost parts of her soul.
Jane slightly shivered and sincerely prayed to the universe that her boss had not come across the photoshopped nude pictures. of
“I’m fine sir.” she lied.
“I did not think you would come today, are you strong now?” he asked.
Jane nodded, suddenly realizing things were not how she thought they were.
Mr Onoja picked up the papers, his gaze still on her. “I’ve had someone from church help clean, she went to the market to get foodstuffs for cooking. My son, Derek is back and there are dirty clothes to wash. His room is the first room upstairs, you are to wash his clothes and take over the cooking when Olivia comes.”
“Olivia?” she narrowed her eyes.
Mr Onoja nodded. “Yes, the person from church.”
“Okay, sir.” Jane spoke and began to walk upstairs.
YOU ARE READING
SILVER LININGS (Christian Romance)
Spiritual"Every cloud is silver lined." When Jane gets pregnant in high school, she becomes the black sheep in her family, all filial ties are cut and she has to drop out of school. Everybody believes she is a slut and worse, the person responsible for her p...
