Beyond Surface

Chapter 18_ NECOM House.

The drive to BMCL head office, from Ambrose's estate takes longer than the thirty minutes drive to it from my own place, and because I want to be a part of the meeting, no matter how late I am, I made my babygirl move surpassing the lawfully stated speed limit.

I don't think I've ever droven that reckless before. At first, I was kind of scared and careful, but as the engine kept humming, tyres kept screeching smoothly against the smooth, old Lagos tar roads, and the timer stared at me without a break, notifying me of how far spent was, I stepped om the accelerator, making the speedometer inflate to an incredible figure.

The estimated forty minutes drive took me just 15 minutes.

All thanks to my babygirl for being so promisingly hardworking!. 

I pulled through the metal gate of the company building and straight to the visitor's parking lot. I forced my babygirl to a stop and hopped out of her, jogging through to the main entrance when I noticed a few persons, I recognize to be a building contractor and maybe his labourers, looking and pointing at the building while standing in front of the entrance, making some conversation in low voices, with a huge white paper in the hands of who I guess, is the contractor. I glanced and waved at Danladi who was yelling greetings at me from the gate only to see a truck filled with cement bags coming into the building.

Woh di'foq is happening here?!. Well, I'd find that out later....

I walked into the building on my toes, my feets are too heavy to walk as fast as I need them to right now. The two-colored receptionist, gave me a warm welcome. A young black lady wanting to swap her skin color to a lighter shade, who, on the process, has become so shabbily irritating as a result of the reaction of her skin to the cheap, wrong cream combination, or whatever it was. She's got a melodius voice. And I'm pretty sure she's good at being a receptionist. Well, she spoke to me over the phone and she sounded receptionist-perfect.

That's the main reason I think Jireh has kept her. One of the things I recall he always said when we met was 'Bleaching.Has.No.Place.Where.I.Am. So, if the multi-colored lady is standing behind one of his office desk, it means she's too good to let go.

'Morning. Where's the meeting holding? Board room 1 or 2?', I asked in a shallow voice after giving her an obviously irritated look, but then I noticed she's got good hair. Long, ink black and dyed light brown at the edges. Perfectly styled to fall over her shoulders. For a second, I thought it was a wig but no. It was her natural hair.

'Ma'am, I'm sorry but the venue for the meeting has been changed as the company building will be undergoing a renovation project from today. Emails have been dispatched to necessary persons to notify them of the sudden change', she articulated in her perfect British accent and for a minute, I felt like all my school fees were wasted. Compared to her, I sound like an illiterate, second-hand, female, elementary school drop out.

Such a beautiful voice and an incredibly killer accent from a bleacher??? I guess I'd begin bleaching too.

'Ma'am, are you supposed to be a part of the meeting?. Didn't you receive  email from the secretary?', she inquired in her soothing voice, and just then, I realized why she's right there. Behind the first desk at the famous BMCL's head office.

'Uhm, no. I didn't receive any'. I muttered, snapping out of my useless thoughts about her.

'On behalf of the BMCL secretary, I'm sorry for any inconvenience we may have caused you ma'am. The meeting is holding at the NECOM house, Marina, Lagos State. Just a kilometer from here. Th...', I walked out of the building, back into my babygirl, not letting her complete whatever she has to say.