My Corona Roommate

✨Chapter Fifteen-A Promise

Adam's POV

  It's been two weeks since my sister left. At first, my house felt lonely and desolate without her cheerfulness and vibrant spirit but as soon as Fred arrived, the spark returned.

The end of the month was one of my worst times of each month. As the assistant managing director, my workload tripled during this period. My immediate boss always handed all his work to me. He would wink at me and go home to his wife and children while I would be stuck doing paperwork and balancing our expenses for that month until around 9 pm or 10 pm.

The other bankers were usually happy towards the end of the month. They closed earlier, that is by 7 pm and there was that air of excitement as they were awaiting their salaries.

It was the reverse for us who had higher positions. We were grumpier than usual. Some heads of departments would even go as far as looking for loose ends to deduct their subordinates' salaries. We were only excited at the beginning of the month. That was when we were paid and the cycle begins again.

Today, Wednesday 29th of January,2020 was not left out of our end-of-the-month routine. I decided to leave by 8 pm today amidst the whistling, stink eyes and gossiping among my Co-superiors. I was so glad none of them actually confronted me but only made a few remarks in hushed  
tones. I was really tired.

The paperwork glaring at me was really frustrating. Both my immediate boss' own and mine. So fun. The mere fact that I never got the chance to decline each time he did this always gets to me. I decided to procrastinate.
"Oh well, I still have three days more, I'll do it tomorrow, maybe", I thought to myself.

I could always hand it down to another manager who I was superior but I couldn't do that. I hated what my boss was doing to me so I just have to stick with the golden rule, Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.

After arranging the remaining documents and locking up my cabinet, I decided to drive around the streets before heading home so I could clear my head. I wished Friday would come faster so I could take a break maybe watch a movie or go to the bar with Fred though I'd prefer the former, I'm a teetotaller which amazes everyone I meet but I have my reasons.

Lately, everyone at work was not as excited as usual. It was basically because of the spread of the Novel Coronavirus. We didn't know what to expect as although the current cases were only about fifty in Lagos now, other states were contracting it and it was spreading rapidly.

I was still lost in my thoughts about how we would cope with it and if things would get better when I saw a small crowd gathered at a junction. I didn't usually go through this route because of the numerous bumps, potholes and stones along the path. Nigerian roads are terrible, only a few are good.

I had learnt my lesson the hard way when two of my tyres were badly punctured and I was stranded at this route until my mechanic arrived. I still don't know how he did it, he managed to patch it up and told me he would take it to his auto repair shop, fix it then bring it to my house the following evening.

True to his words, he repaired my car but it cost me a lot. This was one of the many problems Nigerian drivers faced because of the bad roads not to mention the corrupt Road safety workers.

I cursed myself for not paying attention while I was driving that I mistakenly took this route, but I guess it was for a reason.

The crowd repelled me at first. I hated gatherings, especially this type; it was either there was a fight or an injured person. I decided to check if it was the latter having it in mind that if it was a fight, I would quickly leave the scene.

Arriving at the scene, I saw a familiar face, it was Emily Deppe, my mysterious blabber. She was in a bad state and unconscious. I wonder what was wrong with these people. Why can't they see someone in need of help and rather than staring at the person like they were a rare exhibition or artefact, render actual help to that person?