Sinners and Saints II

Chapter 2

"We're here chairman."

He lowered his gaze from the newspaper the moment his Ford came to a stop, just so he could have a cold glance at the man in the driver's seat from the driving mirror. His thick brows narrowed into a curve the moment his secretary's eyes met with his.

The silence in the car was deafening. He sat straight, pulling his huge jacket so he could button it up in place before he stepped out of the car.

"What time is it?" He asked the driver again. He needed to be sure he wasn't too early or too late for his meeting, narrowing his gaze on the large grey building in front of him with the words, "Rand enterprise" engraved on its walls.

Randy Okonkwo, the forty- two year old handsome entrepreneur, had happened to own one of the biggest uprising oil companies the country had ever known. For a business he started a few years ago, he was surely getting the attention and recognition he craved for all over the country. He loved the fame he was getting, he loved that the world was beginning to fear him, to honor him. It was all he had hoped for all those years.

He took a deep breath and turned to his window. His gaze caught something, or rather someone.

There she was, Randy squinted his eyes just so he could have a better look at the beautiful woman that had just caught his attention. He adorned the beauty of her skin as it shimmered in the sunlight, he loved the way her purple knee length satin dress adorned every curve on her body and how her long legs fit perfectly into her shoes.

He watched Adaora hurriedly return to the passenger's seat and open it as fast as she could.

She was so tensed, why wouldn't she be? It was only her second week on the job and she was giving everyone a chance to see how unserious she was.

She drew a deep breath as she grabbed her big bag from the passenger's seat along her jacket, walking away from the door the moment she quickly pushed it close with her left leg. She locked it and fumbled to put the key in the tiny compartment of her bag. She was so late, too late and her hands suddenly felt so tired, unintentionally letting go of her bag. She gasped in frustration as she watched her opened bag fall to the ground together with all its content.

Adaora could almost feel her blood pressure rising. She took a deep breath and slowly bent down to pick her items back into her bag.

"Who is that woman?" He asked, not daring to look away from her. He was really enjoying what he saw.

"I'm not sure sir, but her face is new. I'm guessing she's one of the newest recruits." His secretary responded, looking in Adaora's way as she got back on her feet and hurried into the building, Randy's eyes following her every move until it rested again on the front of the building.

"Would you like me to set up a meeting with her sir?" His secretary went on just as he returned his gaze back to the mirror. If there was anyone that had learnt how to read his mind since the beginning of Rand enterprise, it was the man beside the driver's seat, his secretary. He knew exactly what he wanted without hearing him say it.

Randy nodded.

"That wouldn't be a bad idea would it?" He asked rhetorically. He exhaled and slouched into his seat. "That wouldn't be a bad idea at all."

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Adaora hurried into the busy office as fast as she could, hoping no one had noticed her come in. Just around one of the corners, she could see her supervisor yelling at the top of his voice over the phone while everyone else had their eyes on their desk, so much for rushing to meet up, no one had exactly noticed her presence.

"Psst, Adaora."
Adaora recognized the lady that waved at her the moment she walked in, signaling her to hurry inside. She obeyed, finding her way to her desk right beside the round woman who had her hands folded on her desk and her eyes on Adaora.

"Ann," Adaora's struggled to normalize her breathing again as she hurriedly placed her bag on her desk. "Good morning." Adaora smiled the moment the woman welcomed her with a warm smile.

"I almost thought you weren't going to come to work today. If Mr Earnest had noticed-"

"Thank God he didn't." Adaora whispered, and she meant every word of it. Her supervisor terrified her, the big man never had a smile on his stern face and had a habit of picking on everyone and telling everyone what to do at the top of his voice. At times, he even went as far as calling them fools and pigs and no one dared to talk back because they were all scared to lose their jobs. Who wouldn't? Anyone would die to be given a chance like they had, they knew a replacement for staffs could never be a problem to Rand enterprise, everyone in the country would die to get a position there especially since the accounting department was the heart of Rand, plus the pay was relatively awesome too.

"What happened?" Ann asked her.

"Car troubles. Steven had to let me use his for the time being."

"Honey, don't you think it's about time you changed that car?" Ann whispered back. "I mean, it's really old and outdated, I'm begging to feel embarrassed for you." Anne rolled her eyes and dropped her gaze back on her desk, shifting uncomfortably.

Adaora shook her head, pretending like she didn't want to yank her hair and scream, "What's your business?"

She feigned a smile.
"We are working on it." She turned to her bag, reaching for something inside it. "Steve said he'd get me a new one this month."

"How can he do that when you earn more than him? Who is supposed to buy a car for who?" Ann chuckled slightly at her own joke but Adaora just glared at her, trying so hard to hide her disgust, the woman noticed it. Adaora rolled her eyes and looked away.

"Stop badmouthing my husband Ann." She warned the woman just as she got out a file from her bag.

"Ahh, sorry o, no vex." Ann eyed her and then turned back to her desk. " Adaora paused, looking at the round woman from the corner of her eyes.

"Kalu."
She shook at the sound of the hoarse voice of her supervisor as he hurriedly approached them. That was the first time, the first time he had ever spoken to her directly. He walked to the desk, his eyes examining her in suspicion. Adaora gulped hard. "The chairman would like to see you in his office."

Adaora froze for a second. She could have sworn she didn't understand a word he just said.

Did he just say her employer was asking to see her? Randy Okonkwo? The great Randy Okonkwo? Everyone in the company trembled at the sound of his name and she had only hoped to avoid him throughout her employment. Why was he asking for her? What for?

She had a lot of questions, terrifying questions she needed answers to but unfortunately the man standing in front of her wasn't trying to explain. He eyed her and turned back to the telephone, raising it to his ear.

"Adaora, what did you do?"
She slowly turned to the chubby woman that sat beside her with a gashing look of surprise on her face. She was just as surprised as Adaora was and so were the other three people beside them who had heard the man deliver the news.

Adaora swallowed hard.
She had no idea. She didn't know what she had done wrong or was it that someone had already reported her lateness to him?

She drew a deep breath as she slowly stood on her feet.

She didn't want to lose her job, she just couldn't.