Adam's POV

A new day, numerous opportunities, several possibilities, and a thousand and one things I had to do at work, but all I could think of was the sight of Fred carrying Emily. How that image got stuck in my head and constantly kept reoccurring to me still baffles me.

That night, my throat felt parched and I decided to go to the kitchen to drink some water. On going back to my room, I saw Fred carrying Emily; bridal style and entering her room.

I fought so hard not to follow them and find out what he was doing in her room. That shouldn't be my concern besides, I warned her about Fred but I was still so bothered about it.

Getting up at 6:30 am to prepare for work was difficult for me. Different thoughts on how I was going to leave my sister; I mean fake sister alone with my horny best friend made me intentionally go later than usual to work.

Everything I did this morning was done sluggishly. Even cooking which I loved doing was done with little interest. I made a little stew and boiled rice for breakfast.

A part of me was hoping that I would see her before I go. I eventually resolved to go to her room but I noticed she locked herself in. That wasn't necessary but anything that makes her comfortable.

After knocking severally on her door but all I got was faint groans and yawns, I decided to let her be as she was clearly enjoying her sleep. I made up my mind to leave a note for her.

Office work was less today. Only a few customers dropped by. Many only used the ATM while most of them just parked their cars on the premises and went to a close-by market. Our security personnel were doing a poor job.

Tension filled the entire Bank. Everyone was still worried about what was going to happen. I was shocked that a board meeting would be held at noon but I wasn't notified about it; I merely heard about it from the chit-chat of my colleagues.

All the board members were in attendance along with some heads of departments. I felt it was probably a mistake that I wasn't notified so I casually went to the meeting.

As soon as I stepped in, all eyes were on me. It was like they had all seen a ghost, an outlaw or an alien.

Before I could take a seat, my immediate boss signalled me to meet him in our office now. He was the Managing Director while I was the assistant. From the look on his face, he didn't call me here to talk about the premier league table; or a little chat, he meant serious business.

"Mr Adam Morgan, how long have you been working here?"

"Two years Sir."

He called me by my full name; what exactly was going on, he rarely addressed me as "Mr.". It was just either Adam or Morgan but he used all three right now.

"For those two years, what were your positions?"
His questions were getting weird now and I felt so uncomfortable.

"I was an accountant at first but after six months, I became the Assistant Managing Director."

"And is that a normal promotion? Have you ever thought of why you got such a big promotion so fast; for someone with barely any experience?"

At this point, I was enraged but I knew how to hold it in and I tried as much as possible not to appear offended.

"Sir, I respect you dearly and I feel I deserve to be where I am now. Have you forgotten about the three huge clients I got for this bank branch before I got this position? Besides, about experience, I don't think that is the most important thing to give a person a particular position. Yes, years of experience are an asset to every professional and a thing to boast of, but everyone starts from somewhere. If every organization only promotes their employees based on experience, that'll be very bad. A skilful worker won't get the appropriate remuneration just because they are new to the playing field but a fresh mind is always very valuable; still fully equipped with all the theoretical knowledge and I believe that is how I was."

He chuckled at this.
"I trust you to turn this into a debate. Anyways, let's get some things straightened out, you got this position because your father knows the President of the board and has a lot of connections. He told the President that his son works as an accountant here and so with your little skill, you were promoted to your current position."

At this point, my shield was broken. Why was my dad always involved in everything? My father is a manipulative person and I tried my best to keep my distance from him, especially after what he did to my mom and me, but despite everything I did he always got all the credit.

When I got those clients, my colleagues gossiped about me that it was because of my father. During my promotion; similar rumours spread out too. I never knew that was how my immediate boss thought of me. He was one of the people that I had helped discreetly so they could maintain their faces in public.

The bank almost suffered a huge loss due to his error in calculations. Luckily for him, I decided to go through the documents again, and then I noticed the error in the digits and rectified it.

That month, we made a huge profit and all the praise went to him. I also congratulated him.

Severally, he passed down his work to me and I tried my best to complete the task diligently along with my work and this is how he feels about me.

Truly, humans are ungrateful species. They only want to take but never give back.

"Sir, is that why you called me here?"

I still tried to be formal even though I was itching to grab him by his collar and punch off the clear smirk on his face while reminding him of all the times that I have helped him out, but he wasn't worth it.

"We reached a unanimous decision, we have to let some people go and-"

"So you are firing me", I quickly cut him off.

I knew where this conversation was going, I have seen him sack some people a few times always with the same sentence.

"We didn't have a choice, you are one of the most paid bankers here but, you are not contributing much, here is your sack letter."

This was the height of it all. This type of decision didn't just happen in a day, I knew the process. They would meet up thrice in two weeks before they finally decided to terminate someone's appointment. They planned this all along and yet he still made me do all his work.

"You'll be paid for this month, a bit extra and that's it, we've been good to you rookie."

Without thinking much, I tore the letter into several pieces and approached him. He was startled by my action.

"You don't get to fire me, I'll send my resignation letter to you via email, ungrateful leech."

Having said that, I packed up my belongings and stormed out of the premises amidst several eyes on me and indistinct chatters.

It was 1 pm and I quickly drove off, happy and content with myself for leaving with my head held high. I am not a proud person but I won't allow anyone to take my service or work for granted. I may have lost my job right now but I'll prove to everyone that I know my onions and I'm not just some kid who sucks to his rich dad for favours.

There was a terrible traffic jam. My day just had to get worse. Various cars kept hooting their horns almost like they just wanted every other person to hear how fashionable and loud their horns were.

The bigger vehicles kept intimidating the smaller ones and they struggled for possession of the road.

After an hour of torture, traffic became much better. I quickly drove home and by exactly 3:30 pm, I reached my apartment. I loosened my tie as I knocked fiercely on the door.

Emily let me in. I walked past her, ignoring her questions and headed straight to the fridge to get a chilled coke.

Immediately, the chilled drink worked like magic and I felt calm and at ease. I sat on my cream couch, removed my black leather shoes, placed my legs on my mini-sized stool and switched on the television. How glad I was that we had a considerable amount of power supply.

"You didn't answer my question earlier Adam. Fred went out by the way so you can speak clearly to me. Why are you back so early? I heard you are a banker, is there any problem?"

I planned to ignore her at first but then I looked at her light brown orbs, so wide and full of light also laced with concern. I couldn't look away. She looked amazing. Her off-shoulder blue top fitted her so well, if my younger sister had worn this top; she would have looked odd. She was bustier than Emily so it would be too much. Then she wore a jean short which showed off her fine legs. I didn't even realize that I was checking her out before I quickly turned away and tried to focus on watching TV.

I expected her to insist on her questions, but she just sat away from me and also tried to watch whatever I was watching.

It felt so awkward. I kept changing the channel having nothing in mind that I wanted to watch. I just needed a distraction so I ended up putting Channels, a news station. She still tried to talk to me.

"I loved the stew you cooked, it was just wonderful, maybe you could teach me how to make it later." I didn't reply to her but she continued.

"I made porridge, it's not bad, there's some left for both you and Fred. Your house is quite nice, I love this painting on your wall; a sunset, it makes your house lively."

"I-"

"Stop it, I don't want to talk."
I did not talk about my problems with just anyone. I didn't know her well and she was staying for only two weeks. We didn't need to fool ourselves besides Fred wasn't home.

"Fine", she sniffed a bit and tapped her feet awkwardly.

It then occurred to me, that she was still recovering. Was she taking her medicines? I'm really not a good host.

"Emily, are you-"

Breaking news, due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the growing pandemic, after a meeting with the NCDC, the federal government has decided that the country will go on a lockdown for two months. This will take effect on Monday, 27 of January, 2020 to give citizens ample time to store up all they would need. A message from the vice president, do not panic buy.

"What, no, I wasn't expecting this so soon, a lot of countries have entered into lockdown but not now", she said while looking at me.

"I haven't even considered searching for my Grandma's house. I know you are busy with your work and Fred promised to go with me on Saturday but there is no time. I can't stay here for two months; my dad would be crazy worried about me, they would think I was in danger, I- ", she was panicking and I just moved closer to her and hugged her out of the blue.

A few seconds after, I left her feeling so ridiculous but she needed a hug.

"We'll find your grandma's house, don't fret much."

"You promise", she looked at me.

"Nope, I'm not promising anything", I chuckled.

"Hey, you don't know how to console a girl" she teased.

"Oh yes, I only console ladies" I smirked. I got her there and she frowned intensely.

"I'm a teenager, not a child and how old are you Mr Stoic Oldie?"

"Oh wow, again not your business, now maybe I should try some of your bad porridge." She made me feel better.

"Hey they are not so bad", she immediately defended.

We both walked to the kitchen but I followed behind her. She had a good behind. Not too much but not an iron board.

"Serve yourself, I'm not serving you, Adam."

"Like I asked you to do so." She shrugged.

After taking a good portion on my plate, I took a spoon from it. It was good.

"How is it?", she was anxious about my response.

"Mmm, it reminded me of the oatmeal my nanny used to serve me when I was ten."

"Really", she was smiling like a fool right now.

"Yeah, it was plain and tasteless." She scoffed at this.

"Ouch Adam, you shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. Get outta here", she playfully pushed me away.

"Really, this is my house." I indulged her and took my plate to my room.

"Get back here, you are not to go with my porridge mister." She was so adorable but I quickly locked my door.

"Yeah yeah, catch me if you can you little girl." I knew that would turn her off.

She didn't reply, I guess she retreated.

In about thirty minutes, I had devoured the entire meal but I refused to go out of my room to drop the plate. I didn't want to take any chances just in case she was waiting for me to come out so she could get back at me.

Emily is not so bad after all. She lightens my mood and she makes an effort to be resourceful and useful. My entire house was clean and she cooked for us, unlike my real younger sister.

My encounter with her maybe by chance but even when she goes back to her grandma's house, I surely won't forget her cute face and those shiny light brown orbs.

......................................................

Wow, this chapter was quite tense at first but then it ended with a bit of playfulness and relief.

I hope you are enjoying my characters and you can relate to them. The next chapter will be about Fred.

Don't forget to vote and comment. Thanks a lot, everyone😘😘😘❤