Good morning…” Nimi greeted immediately Lara stepped into the office. Picking her pen and her notepad to begin to take down notes for whatever her Boss was ready to spill, she was not aware of how Lara had ignored her greeting.
“Why do you smell like cheap perfume?”
Nimi felt slapped in the face by that statement and blinked unable to respond to her rude remark spat at her. Lara had never spoken to her this way and not in front of Nonye who was furiously typing away on the desktop though that comment wouldn’t have slipped past her.
“I don’t understand…”
“Sorry? What do you mean by you don’t understand. Look, if you’re going to be hanging around me all day, the last thing I need around me or in my life is some perfume that smells like something bought off a charity shop. And is that your shirt revealing sweaty armpits? Soon, you’ll not only be choking me with your cheap perfume but some body odour as well.”
Nonye tried to contain her laughter though some spilled through and Lara turned to her.
“You know what, I think you’ll help me handle somethings in my office today while Nisi or whatever her name is does the run around for me instead. At least she can get some fresh air into that body of hers.”
“Yes ma.” Nonye nodded and stood up immediately to attend to her Boss’ needs as she found her way into the office ranting off on the things she needed to do that day.
For about 5 minutes Nimi stood looking confused and hurt to the core. Lara had just verbally insulted her about her body when she was certain she had cleaned up real good and didn’t have any body odour of any sort. Dapo had never mentioned she did and she was certain she didn’t.
Or did she?
She lifted her arm to smell herself and the ‘cheap perfume’ Lara had attacked her with. She used a good deodorant and something she could afford, budget friendly to be precise and no one had ever said she had body odour. Even her friends often complimented her that she smelled like flowers.
Dapo had told her last night that he loved her scent and she had even only used a deodorant then.
Maybe her Boss was just in a bad mood. She wasn’t going to let her words get to her though that had shattered her self-esteem a bit.
And what was the thing with calling her Nisi over Nimi?
Nonye opened the door and she stared at her, wondering what was next.
“Madam wants to see you.”
She followed her inside and Lara stopped her towards the door.
“Just stay there and take your notes please.” She frowned shaking her head as if she couldn’t stand her. “I need you to deliver some files to the M.D of our bank since he requested for them this morning. The CEO of Stoke insurance company is going to be coming sometime around 12 but I need you to be there already waiting for him so he can know I meant business about our discussion last night.” “And on your way back, I need you to stop by KFC and get some food pack for myself and a few guests I’ll be having over in the office today. I’ll call you to give you specific details about what they want when they arrive because those girls can just be picky sometimes.”
Was she having a conference? And what girls? She suddenly felt threatened but she took comfort in the fact that it was nothing and she was only getting scared because of what Lara had said that morning and the way she was looking at her right now.
Like something that just crawled out of the trash can and she couldn’t stand the sight or smell.
What happened to the friendly woman who had been sharing a conversation with her like a friend? What happened to the woman that had been asking her to tell her about her boyfriend and how she wanted to honor God above all? This
Lara looked like a stranger had taken over her body.
She left the room immediately to find solace in her errands not even glancing at her phone for once.
Maybe if she had taken time to, she would have seen the text message from Dapo that told her she was one of the best things that had ever happened to him in a long time and perhaps, that would brighten her day with the horrible day she was having.
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When Nimi returned from her errands, she was beyond exhausted. From sorting out the files with the bank MD to waiting for the CEO of their insurance company and then hurrying to get food packs for her Boss and the visitors she had. In one hand was the files which she had received and the other one was the packs she was carrying all alone. Her mind told her the food packs were things she could have easily told her driver to handle but she had made her go into the terrible lagos traffic without a driver, to negotiate with a keke that would take her price and find her way back alone with the package.
She still wanted to believe Lara was having a bad day. With all her heart she wanted to believe the best about her Boss and so she was going to try to prevent her flesh from feeling whatever ball she would throw at her.
That was before she entered her office sweating like someone who had been underneath the sun for hours. If Lara had complained that her sweat and body scent irritated her, she wondered what herself and her friends would say about her.
Except those friends were the girlfriends she’d seen at the Kitan’s house the first day she had met Dapo.
She swallowed when the girls all turned to look at her and Maxine had a smirk on her face.
“Hey, we’ve met before haven’t we?”
Nimi nodded, the one thing she’d dreaded most happening right before her eyes.
She could feel the other eyes sizing her up and assessing her but she tried doing what she had been sent to do.
Lara looked at her then and the hatred the woman had for her was evidently clear in them. She was sure she wasn’t going to stop at trying to make a fool out of her.
“Drop the pack and my files there.” Lara waved to the center table and she obeyed hoping she could run out at anytime soon.
But her Boss was going to have none of that.
“Oh, before I forget, I told that daft secretary of mine to help me arrange the files for my Dad’s lawyers that I’ll be needing tomorrow but she didn’t even have a clue. Can you just do that for me before leaving? It shouldn’t take too long and then you can go for lunch.”
She wasn’t sure what Lara had planned this time, but she obediently went to the office drawers and began sorting the files since she had been the one who sorted it out the last time.
“Do you guys remember Sola, the girl I gisted you about back then that she told me she was a virgin?” Mabel began.
“Why won’t I. The babe is a slut jor. I don’t know if the virgin thing is even something to be boasting about these days. Some girls say it so that they can just get laid with guys, period.” Clara chiped in.
“And some guys actually fall for that?”
“Ah, you know that kind of thing turns some people on. Especially some bad boys. They get what they want and they’re gone. The stupid ones believe just because she hasn’t slept with anyone before that it would keep the guy. The guy sniffs another girl in skirt and he’s gone.”
Maxine laughed shaking her head. “Some girls are just desperate and would do anything to get under a man.”
“These days, it’s no more only under o.” Angel gave more suggestive details and Nimi kept praying and hoping that she would find the files on time and leave them to discuss their gory sex theologies. But most of all, she knew the virgin discussion wasn’t an accident.
They were trying to get to her.
The girls laughed at Angel’s suggestive remarks of how she described sex in the dirtiest ways ever and Nimi didn’t realize she was trembling till she saw her fingers shaking while she kept digging through the files.
“I heard one old wench is disturbing your brother. Mrs Akudo, Senator Akudo’s ex-wife. The thing got to the gossip mongers last week and I was like I thought Dapo had turned Christian. I didn’t know he knew how to give it to women real good back then.”
Lara raised an eyebrow. “Those crazy women. Whoever must have sold that news to the gossip sites must be in desperate need of attention. I’m sure it’ll die down soon. But yea, I won’t deny my brother was a bit scandalous when it came to women.”
All the women giggled and Nimi felt her eyes burn with tears though she told herself she wasn’t going to allow them get to her.
But they did. Not only had Lara torn down her confidence, but she was ridiculing her and her brother. As if that wasn’t enough, she was insinuating things with her friends.
How could she be so cruel to do this? Didn’t she realize she was also bringing her brother down in front of this women.
What if her fiancé Soji had been saying that about her to his friends. How would she feel?
“All these ugly girls going after bad boys. It’s a wonder what the men see in them. They obviously know what they’re going after and when they’re done, throw them out like water from a wash hand basin.”
“You’ll be surprised the woman they end up getting married to. Someone as sophisticated as they are and not some filthy looking thing that smells like a toilet cleaner.”
The girls laughed and stood up to help themselves to the food pack while Lara stood up to ask.
“And have you not found the files yet?”
“No, I haven’t.”
She grimaced. “I thought I told you to spray something before entering my office. It’s no wonder my friends think something smells and I’m sure it’s none of them.”
She swallowed not even knowing the words to say that wouldn’t hurt her. She inhaled telling herself she wasn’t going to cower into what Lara intended for her. She was trying to intimidate her and she was doing all she could.
“People like you don’t belong here.” She began when she saw Nimi didn’t show any sign of hurt or remorse. Her friends turned to watch the scene.
“I’m sorry if I’m inconveniencing you but I remember you hired me.”
“Oh so you want to pull that ‘humble, goody two shoes’ look on me huh? Well I now know who you are, the kind of girl you are. A good for nothing church rat who sees cheese and sticks her fangs into it. Upon how I doubled your pay last month, and this is how you repay me? And you come here giving me some ‘righteous’ talk about Jesus and how you want to keep yourself till your wedding night whereas, you’re with my brother. Who do you think you are?”
Nimi felt the tears sting but stood her ground.
“Dapo was going to tell you about it…”
“Oh so you even call him by name now.”
She was quiet.
“I’m going to tell you something and you better let it get into your thick skull. We don’t hang with low lives and if you think my brother is the next thing on your to-hook list, I would advise you better cross it off or you’ll get burnt.”
A tear escaped and fell across her cheeks but she wiped them off immediately.
“I just want you to know that I would never lie to you. Dapo and I are not together the way you think. We’re in a relationship but we are trying to honor God…”
“Oh puh-lease” Maxine interrupted rolling her eyes. “Like he’s not a guy with blood running in his veins. Abeg all these girls that like forming SU or holier than thou sef. It’s only god that knows what they know behind closed doors.”
“See it as a favour.” Lara continued mercilessly. “That I’m giving you the gist ahead of time about the kind of women my brother hangs out with. There’s something called class and honey, you’re not on that list. Save yourself the heartbreak and go play with your type okay?” Lara reached to touch her cheeks when another tear strolled down and Nimi didn’t know when her eyes could no longer hold back the tears.
“Aww, poor baby, you’re not gonna cry are you?” Lara gave her a small triumphant smile
And all Nimi could do was run all the way to the toilet and cry.
Lara looked back at her friends and shrugged when the others ignored the crying girl as she ran out of the room.
“I told her she would get burnt.”
Much love. Xo!
Original story by ITUNU TAIWO owner of http://myglowingscenes.com
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