“That’s the hell of sand castles. They are always doomed. That’s part of their beauty—their impermanence.” – Pamela Moore.

•••

The moment the creamy, rich goodness of the caramel macchiato coffee before Anjola, diffused into the air and into her nose—she couldn’t stop her memories from rewinding to the dispute with Lekan, the previous week because of the fact that their conversation was preceded by the gesture of him preparing a beverage drink for her. She hadn’t had tea or coffee since then, and so it was an automatic trigger to the fallout they had. After he had left, she had refused to dwell much on what the quarrel portended for their future, as she had been preoccupied with her dad’s burial ceremony, which took the place the following day.

Lekan was in attendance of course, alongside Tiolu and Dayo—but he hadn’t bothered waiting behind to extend greetings, after the program. Tiolu had told her that he had business of an herculean scale to attend to, hence his abrupt departure, but she knew he had decided not to face her because of what transpired the previous night. She couldn’t blame him, as she would have probably done the same if she were in his shoes. But still, they needed to talk. They had agreed to meet somewhere private, so they could discuss the ambiguous future of their relationship, but it ended up being an anticlimactic ruse, as things were now even more tentative and uncertain, than before.

Anjola didn’t regret asking him to leave, of course. Her rage was very much beseeched for, and hadn’t been unsolicited or overboard. He had taken advantage of the vulnerability that accompanied her grief, and would have very much used her as a tool to satisfy his selfish desires, if her logic hadn’t intervened in the last second.

She couldn’t believe she had come that close, to giving herself over. It was frightening, to come that close to losing herself and dignity—and she’d have never dreamt in her wildest dreams, that her defenses were penetrable to that extent. She had to be more than cautious, in her dealings henceforth with Lekan.

“Excuse me, Ma. But you haven’t paid for your coffee and cheeseburger.” The curious baritone of the chiseled, male waiter brought her back to the present, and she quickly muttered an apology, before reaching for her bag on the table—and fishing out her ATM card, which she used to pay via POS machine. The waiter flashed an earnest smile, before finally leaving.

She looked out of the window by her left, to see if she would catch glimpse of her colleagues approaching from the towering, Skyscraper Sigma building that was across the street, but she couldn’t spot any familiar faces amongst the huge throng of people, coming over to the outlet.

They weren’t in the same office anymore of course, and so she didn’t know what had them held up to the point that they were five minutes late. Adaure and Ehize, were both foodies that were always punctual and had a generally unrivalled gusto, when it came to matters pertaining to food consumption, so it was quite the ethical conundrum for them to show up late. Or is that they had forgotten their ritual, and now had new habits that they had developed in her one-month absence? It wasn’t farfetched to think that way. Matter of fact, it was being naïve to think that she’d meet everything in the same condition, in which she left it, a month ago.

She was about to reach into her bag for her phone, and call Adaure to inquire if she had been deserted, when she finally sighted their familiar silhouettes approaching, which made her ease into her chair—flooded with relief. Much to her joy, her stunt to get the duo back together hadn’t fallen through and was a mammoth success. Adaure and Ehize were back on good terms, and that was an understatement. According to Adaure, who had filled her in on the details of the night—they hadn’t left the concert good friends, but prospective and potential romantic partners. They had gone on four dates already since then, and their physical, affection consensus was enough evidence of the chemistry that their dates had brewed.

She was happy for them without doubt, but she couldn’t help the gnawing feeling of envy in the pit of her stomach. Especially now, that her stance with Lekan was very much fickle and volatile and the fact that they were more likely to end things on a sour note, factoring into consideration current travails. She didn’t exactly know what to do about the matter. Lekan had done a wrong thing, but she had been rude also—in some way. She knew he wasn’t going to reach out, since he had maintained his distance, even during the burial and so was leaving the choice up to her to make the decision.

Since she was lost on ideas, it probably wouldn’t be the worst idea to consult the opinion of a third, neutral party that would see things with a clear mind, void of sentiments. Tiolu would be the natural choice as her best-friend, but she didn’t want to bring her into the classified area of their relationship, as it would complicate things further since she was his sister and was skeptical about their relationship altogether.

Next in line, was Adaure and while Anjola trusted her enough, she didn’t know how the girl would interpret her opting to discuss said topic in their first real conversation, since she returned. More so, Ehize was by her side and she didn’t know how she felt opening up, with him present. They hadn’t quite gotten there yet, for her to be comfortable with discussing such sensitive topic with him around.

“Heyo,” Adaure greeted in a bubbly, cheerful voice as she slid into the booth across her and Ehize followed suit. Her friend was wearing a black blazer with oversized lapels, on a white long-sleeved, turn down collar blouse and a black Jolie Max long pencil maxi stretch skirt. While Ehize was wearing a crisp, blue plaid pressed shirt on black khakis, with bulging gators and brown brogues. It was one of the few times the duo deviated from their usual modes of dressing, with Adaure wearing something fully corporate and Ehize not pairing his outfit with a boot.

“I was worried you guys forgot about me, for a bit.” Anjola said, just as a waiter popped up by their side to take the duo orders. Usually, Adaure sat beside her but now she was seated across by the side of Ehize. There were quite a lot of new changes to adapt to, that she didn’t know how to feel about. It felt like everyone was moving on, and she was still stagnant on the same spot, left behind in her misery.

“How could we ever forget you?” Ehize frowned at her, as if she had suggested something implausible but it made perfect sense to her. She was practically third-wheeling already, and felt like she was intruding on them. “Our working relationship could be likened to a simple machine. Adaure and I are like the levers, right? I don’t know much science, but we’re like the ends of the meter rule and you’re the fulcrum in the middle, ensuring balance and making sure no one topples off and falls.”

“Yeah, right.” She did her utmost best to keep the bitterness of her voice, as she sipped from her cup of coffee. Ehize had stated in uncensored, unequivocal terms that the bond that held them all together was affiliated with ‘work’ and nothing more. For him and Adaure, it was something deeper of course, but for her, once the work clause was removed from the equation, she’d be eliminated alongside it.

“With the joint weight of both of you, I’m not doing. You guys would just crush me before I can do any meaningful balancing. Even Superman would try in the matter of balancing the weight of you guys, because I can barely deal with the wahala of both of you, not to talk of the joint weight.” Anjola added.

Adaure rolled her eyes, and reclined in her chair, while Ehize attended to their orders. It would seem that he was ordering for the both of them, and not just himself. Of course, they had gotten accustomed to each other’s tastes while she was away. She couldn’t help but wonder what other monumental thing had happened during her absence. “Anjola, just say you miss our wahala. We’d totally understand. Delano might be a down-to-earth dude, but his company can’t beat our joint one.”

“Of course, not.” Anjola replied, truthfully. It was her first day at work as department head deputy, and it hadn’t been quite as gratifying as she had envisaged. Probably because she had a lot on her mind, and was trying to adjust to the numerous changes around her.

She finally picked her cheese burger off her tray and bit into it. After she had swallowed the goodness of bread stacked with vegetable and meaty goodness, she continued. “Honestly today, all we did was work and work. There was almost no friendly talk between the both of us, except when he initially walked into the office and asked if I was doing okay, and insisted that I could stay away for as long as I want, and I cracked this joke that I didn’t want to become the next Mrs. Shoneyin before I even got a chance to be his assistant, and he laughed to that. From there on out, it was nothing but work.”

“Hmm, sounds pretty….I really don’t know how that sounds.” Ehize commented, propping his elbows on the table but Adaure, pushed them off instantly and cautioned him with a sneer, to keep his elbows off the table as it was bad table etiquette. Anjola couldn’t help her resulting smile, that smeared her face. She had indeed missed this. Missed them going at it. “How does it sound? I mean like, is that okay? Stuff between y’all isn’t awkward and all?”

“At all,” Anjola said, in between swallowing another mouthful of bread and she resisted the urge to shake her head, to prevent bread crumbs from falling out of her mouth. She reached out for her coffee, and downed the food in her mouth in one gulp and then added. “It wasn’t weird at all, and I’m happy because trust me…even this new big salary isn’t enough incentive, to make me stomach awkwardness for the next five to ten years, till whenever I stop being department head deputy.”

“And start being department head, when Delano is of course fired.” Adaure said, with a sinister cackle—throwing her head back and baring her entire set of teeth, in a malevolent way that terrified Anjola a bit. She knew a part of Adaure meant what she said. “I’m for real, though. The last head before Mrs. Shoneyin, pretty much had a fallout with the administration too. It’s gradually becoming a trend, so I won’t be surprised if it happens again. I wouldn’t care if it happens again, actually. Knowing fully well that my guy is on top of the food chain.”

“You’re not serious,” Just at that moment, their order arrived and Anjola noticed it wasn’t in two platters. On the tray was one big saucer holding five jumbo sizes of Shawarma, and a liter of Coke. Ehize unpacked the tray, and handed it over to the waiter before she hopped off.  Adaure positioned the saucer in their middle, while Ehize filled their empty disposable cups with soda. Anjola was mystified at the seamless way, they understood one another without communicating verbally. It would seem she had undermined the chemistry they had.

“Anyhoo, you know I’m not about that nepotism shit. Sure, you’re my friend and you’d enjoy favors, if that happens but it won’t be overboard to the point that everyone else would hate you, for being the boss’s favorite.”

“Aww, why? I’m a big girl, A.J. I can watch out for myself.” Adaure feigned a wounded expression, as she pinched off a sizeable portion of her Shawarma and dipped it into her mouth. “Honestly though, I really do miss you A.J. That new girl is just giving me headache. Honestly, anyone would be better than her. Literally anyone.”

“What? She’s being a bitch?” Anjola was alarmed, not because she doubted that the latest recruit could be an unlikeable person, but because she was taken aback by the fact that anyone could make life difficult for someone as gritty as Adaure.

“She wishes,” It was Ehize that answered, while licking lettuce off the tip of his index finger. Somehow in a couple of seconds, he was already on his second Shawarma. She was bewildered at the eating speed of men, sometimes. “Actually, Temi is being a dream and that’s why Adaure hates her gut. She is one of those people that  always wears a smile, and doesn’t seem to be offended by anything, even when you try to be intentionally annoying—her smile still remains. The smile weirds Ada out.”

Anjola hissed, realizing her friend’s dislike was nothing but petty but she defended herself. “You’re hissing now like, ‘Adaure is just being her usual cynical self’ but why the fuck would someone be smiling up and down, if they don’t have something they are hiding? Or if they are not up to something evil? Anyway, I’ve put password on my computer, just in case she is a spy from some Sigma’s rival company or something, and wants something delicate on us that could be dangerous in their hands.”

“Yeah, sure.” Anjola rolled her eyes, and slid the little remnants of her burger into her mouth. “Y’all better be nice and appreciate her enthusiasm and high spirits, before she turns to a bad bitch on your hands. She was brought from the higher-ups, meaning her parents are powerful and rich people, who are probably stakeholders in Sigma. So if she turns to a bitch, she’s going to be a real bitch and there would be nothing you would be able to do about it.”

“Oh, wow. Speak of the devil and she shall appear.” Adaure’s volume had lowered, and her gaze was transfixed on the window, by her left. Anjola followed her friend’s line of sight, and it landed on an approaching duo—one familiar, the other a stranger. Delano was the familiar face, looking dashing in his three piece grey suit and black Oxfords. It was the woman glued to his side, smiling exuberantly that drew her attention. She was fair—not Tiolu esque fair, but fair nonetheless—and tall, such that she edged Delano a bit in height, although her wedges did give her a height boost.

She was conventionally pretty, with formulaic attributes that several women probably held themselves with such standards, and she’d emit an intimidating aura with all her stellar characteristics if not for her energetic composure—constant hand gestures and a tad dramatic walking gait—that oozed friendliness and ease. Anjola could understand why Adaure didn’t like her—the Temi girl. She belonged to the class of effervescent, charismatic people who didn’t look like their moods could ever be dampened by a setback, or pretty much had no reason to encounter an unpleasant situation.

Temi was wearing a white sleeveless chiffon blouse, on black fitted pantaloons. A simple attire like that, would make any regular person look normal but on her, it made her look…effortlessly attractive in a way that was still intimidating. But it wasn’t all of these that caused Anjola an inner turmoil, she couldn’t seem to place a handle on. Rather, it was the fact that Delano, who was her escort looked totally smitten and taken by Temi’s energy. Why it made her uncomfortable, she didn’t know. Especially, when she was sure she felt nothing for Delano, and so couldn’t be jealous of the fact that a much more attractive woman had his attention.

“Woah, earth to Anjola.” Ehize’s hands in her face, brought her back to the present and she whacked it away, hard—angry at herself for letting herself zone out for that long, and probably let on the fact that she cared about the picture she saw. “This one that you’re looking at the Temi girl intently like this, I hope she isn’t from your past or something and didn’t steal your boyfriend from you before, on a dare. That’d explain the death glare in your eyes.”

Ehize taunted her, but Adaure remained quiet and studied her with a curious expression, obviously catching on to the fact that she was probably jealous. Before she could comment however, their company was invaded by Delano and Temi, looking so compatible as if they were soul mates in their previous life. Much to her dismay, it would seem they were here for her as the duo simply greeted Adaure and Ehize with head gestures and turned on her. Her fingers wrapped around her empty, plastic coffee cup and it crunched in her grip, with a loud snap that made Temi lower her head down to the origin of the noise—her smile fading for that brief spell, before returning again.

“Tope, meet Anjola. The Anjola I’ve been talking about.” Delano said, with a generous smile as he motioned to her, and she knew better than to read much meaning into his words. He had definitely done nothing but appraise her work ethics. Nothing more. But then, why would she want more from him? There wasn’t exactly more to their professional, working relationship. She also couldn’t ignore the fact that Delano had coined out another name for her, from her full name—that no one else was using.

“It’s really a pleasure to meet you, Anjola.” Temi stretched out a hand, which she shook with enthusiasm. “I have a close friend who bears the name also, and I call her A.J. Would it be okay for me to call you, A.J. too?”

Anjola’s blood boiled, and it took all her willpower not to take Ehize’s half-filled cup of Coke and empty it over Temi’s head. Adaure hadn’t just been petty. This woman before her was too nice to the point, that it was pushy and meddlesome. They had just met, and she was already feeling entitled to giving her a nickname? A sentiment that other people in her life, had earned the right of calling her. But then, she seemed oblivious to the fact that she came off as too much. It would be an extremely immature thing, to act malicious towards her.

“Sure, why not.” Anjola donned her best doctored smile, and threw in a flash of teeth for good measure. “Um, so how are you finding Sigma so far? I hope you haven’t gotten lost or anything. The place might not be so incredibly big, but everywhere sure does look the same. It could be pretty confusing sometimes. I remember ending up in the General Affairs department multiple times, during my first week. At first, it was funny, then the guys there started to suspect I was up to something and weren’t so warm, with giving me directions back to my appropriate intended destination.”

Temi laughed at this, and shook her head. “No, at all. I’ve not gotten lost because Delano here, has been a terrific guide. If we get lost, it won’t be an accident. It would be on purpose.” She trailed off at this, and gave Delano an impish smile before they shared a laugh. Anjola on the other hand couldn’t help but wonder about the implication of such action, and the subliminal meaning it held—but she maintained her façade, and faked a laugh for good measure, so they didn’t catch on to the fact that their exchange meant anything to her.

“Um, wow that’s great.” Anjola replied, her face-eating smile still glued to her face. “Well, I do wish that you have a smashing time here. And of course, if you have any questions or you want to get lost in the building on purpose, you know the man for the job.” She whipped her head in Delano’s direction, who also seemed totally oblivious to the fact that she was simulating the emotions she was displaying. She’d have pegged him to notice that much, to see that the laughter on her face didn’t reach her eyes, because he was usually that observant when it came to her, but then that had probably changed over the past month.

“Thanks guys, for being so hospital and warm to Tope.” Delano said, with a grateful smile and once again, she was tempted to be petty and constitute a ruckus but it would pretty much benefit no one, other than sow seeds that would grow into spiteful relationships. She didn’t need that. “Have a nice day.”

And then they were gone, to occupy an empty table behind them. Anjola repressed the urge to trail them with her gaze, but figured it would be too obvious and that her coworkers would definitely catch on to it and read too much meaning into it, when there was nothing ulterior to it. She still didn’t know how exactly she felt about the entire thing, but all in all—she was happy for Delano, if Temi indeed was a potential romantic partner for Delano, she shouldn’t detest her or him for it. After all, she was the one who prayed that he’d find the right person, that was deserving of his great persona.

“Anjola, don’t even tell me that you don’t hate her after that.” Adaure rolled her eyes, and said in a whispery volume as she picked up her half-eaten Shawarma. “You just met human being, and you are asking her if you can call her by nickname, that she is supposed to grant you permission before you can even bring it up, not to talk of using it. And what the fuck was the getting lost thing with Delano about? I’m not buying the shit that it’s just an innocent joke and if she meant something dirty, then I don’t even know what to say. Are you supposed to play like that with strangers and people that you hardly know? Especially when they are your boss?”

“Yeah, she’s pretty much not the greatest person already.” Anjola’s fingers toyed with her empty coffee cup. “But I can tell from the look on her eyes, that she isn’t doing all that on purpose. That’s just the way she is, and like I said earlier we can’t afford to alienate her because she’s definitely the daughter of a magnate, if Delano is babysitting her like that. Or maybe she isn’t, and he likes her that much. Whichever one it is, maintaining friendly, neutral grounds with her is the best option.”

Adaure pouted, obviously disconcerted by the fact that she didn’t endorse her spiting Temi. Truth be told, she also wanted to be cold towards the newbie but that would only enforce the fact that they weren’t the better people, which she liked to think they were. More so, they couldn’t toy with the probability that the girl had backing from supreme higher-ups in Sigma, that could have executives positions, like she held—dissolved with the snap of a finger. She loved her job, and wasn’t about to sacrifice it for some measly ploy. It wasn’t worth it.

“Fine, but I swear I won’t hesitate to call her out on her bullshit, if she says stuff like she’d like us to become work besties or sisters or something.” Adaure ate quietly, and sipped from her cup. “I don’t know why I have the strong conviction that those words are on her lips, and she’s about to utter them. I don’t know why you’d get to somewhere new to replace someone, and think that people are that delighted to have you or care that much, as if they’re the ones that chose you.”

An idea occurred to Anjola. “You better use it to your advantage. If she’s pretty intent on making you like her, then she’d be willing to do extra stuff at work just to help you out with your own work. If I were you, I’d give her more than enough work than a department can handle, and let’s see if she won’t crack underneath it and stop it like she’s happy with everything around her, and won’t complain that the workload is criminal.”

Adaure’s eyes widened, and she leaned over the table—holding out her clenched fist, so Anjola could bump it with hers, which she did. “Damn, Anjola what genius have you turned into? This is only more indication of how much I missed you. Your suggestion didn’t even to occur to me. Not only could this totally work out, it might even make her quit the job if I manage to make her miserable enough. Haha, I’m not actually planning to take it to such level, but God knows I’d push it to the limits. Anyway, that’s that. Let’s talk about something different please.”

Ehize started to talk about the rumored installation of new CCTV cameras, in taciturn, secretive areas. It was all in the administration grand scheme to monitor their workers even closely, and to ensure they weren’t breaking any work place principles. Ehize thought it was quite invasive, and that they weren’t criminals that needed surveillance at every turn.

Adaure seemed indifferent about it, while she herself had her mind fixated on something else. Before the duo had arrived, she had decided to seek Adaure’s opinion on the Lekan dilemma to help decide the right decision to take. But Ehize was on the table with them, and wasn’t exactly going to leave until the lunch was over and she definitely didn’t have the time nor patience to wait that long.

She sat up, and rummaged through her bag for her phone before surfing to the Whatsapp app and messaging Adaure. When the message had delivered, she slugged the girl under the table in her shin and Adaure sat up with a scowl, before she mouthed that Adaure should check her phone. Luckily, Ehize was too busy with devouring his meal that he didn’t catch on to the whole exchange. Adaure picked her phone from her own bag, and read the message she had sent.

Babe, I need to discuss something delicate with you. Do you know how you can get rid of Ehize for a couple of minutes? Like right away? It’s very urgent.

Something mischievous gleamed in her friend’s eyes and she knew without doubt, that the girl definitely had a trick up her sleeve. After Adaure set down her phone, she ran a soothing hand through Ehize’s back and began in a pleading, doleful voice. “Can you please help me run to the office and get my bag for me? It’s urgent, like very urgent. I just remembered I have to send this text to my mom, and I have it all written out on this paper but it’s in my bag. The content is quite long, so I can’t exactly recall.”

Ehize jerked his head back, and gave Adaure a wary look. Anjola knew he’d have probably pressed for more details as to the significance and the point of said message, but because she was on the table—he simply resigned with a slight grumble, and drowned the food in his mouth with a swig from his cup, before shuffling out of his seat and heading out of the outlet.

“We have about three minutes before he returns, tops.” Adaure announced, as she lifted her wrist to check the time on her wristwatch. “You better hurry up, because your time starts now.”

Anjola wasted no time in relaying all what happened with Lekan and the unpleasant dissolution. “So you remember Lekan, and you remember everything I told you about him. Our relationship sort-off took a break after my dad died, because well I had to grieve and all.

“So this last week, we met to talk about the future and stuff, and one thing led to another and he tried to take advantage of me. As in, I asked that we make out normally, but he started to undress me and God knows, a part of me that allowed it go that far had overwhelmed the logical part but I snapped out if it in good time, and stopped it before the whole thing could escalate.”

“Wow, that wasn’t gentlemanly of him at all.” Adaure’s brows cinched, and contempt was embedded in her gaze. She was sure her friend wasn’t on board with the premarital sex belief, but definitely understood that it was something she stood by and placed much importance on. “And did he apologize?”

“I sort off went all Godzilla on his ass, and didn’t give him a chance to, because I was that enraged, and plus he was talking about the whole thing like he was entitled to my body or something. But now as I relive the evening in my head, I can’t help but think that I was a little bit brash or forward or something. I don’t know really, I can’t help but feel I did something wrong.”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong, A.J. It’s your goddamn body after all, and not his. And If he isn’t going to respect you, then yes you’re free to give him, hot hot.” Adaure assured her, reaching out to loop her left hand through her right and sneaking a glance at the window, apparently to check if Ehize was in sight. “But then, you are never one to give somebody hot hot, no matter how much they fuck up. You’ve always been this chilled, extremely matured person that overlooks most people’s stupidity and so why your rage was totally called for, it isn’t exactly an Anjola thing to do.”

“Same thing that’s been bugging me,” She sighed. “He attended the burial, and didn’t even stay behind to see me after the program, so he’s staying away from me and probably wouldn’t contact me. I should contact him, but then I don’t know if I should just shove this aside. After all, he did try to take advantage of me. Do I really want to be with someone like that?”

“Ehize is here already,” Adaure swallowed, and she peered out of the window also to see him approaching in hasty steps, with a handbag slung over his shoulder—not seeming to care about the fact that it was a feminine accessory and so it made him look odd, when worn that way. “Anyway, people are messed up, A.J. Different people have their own messed up areas. He did try take advantage of the fact that you were grieving, but it doesn’t negate the fact that he cares about you.

“He did care enough to see the error in his ways after you clarified, and now he’s affording you the space to contact him if you want. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying anything justifies what he did but well, he might not exactly have seen it from that point or he could have been overwhelmed with his desire for you, that he didn’t consider your vulnerability. Everyone is selfish in their own way. Evaluate it yourself, his general performance and all. If he was great and considerate enough through the entire relationship, then he deserves a shot at redemption. If this selfishness thing is a recurring theme, then perhaps you should think twice before making amends.”

Before she could reply, Ehize had arrived already with Adaure’s bag which he dumped on Adaure’s thighs, who thanked him with a smile and kiss on the cheek after he slid in next to her. She weighed Adaure’s words, and recalled Lekan’s track record in the past few weeks. Ever since her dad died, he had been nothing but a dream before faltering last week. He definitely deserved a second shot.

“You’re right, Ada.” She started, and saw Ehize level a curious gaze at her from her peripheral vision. “The manufacturer in question has established a trust worthy reputation, with the quality goods they’ve been supplying for the past two months and so if they falter once, they definitely deserve another chance from the consumer to supply them with a fresh stream of goods, before the consumer decides to change suppliers, alas.”

A grin stretched her friend’s lips apart. “Good choice, they definitely need to meet and deliberate to thrash things out, so that the next product would be a more improved version of the previous failed product. If everything then craps out after this again, then the relationship should probably be severed.”

While Ehize went on to inquire what they were talking about with peculiar terms, Adaure’s words rang in her subconscious. She was going to give Lekan one final attempt, one shot to repair the damage that their relationship had incurred in the past week, but if things still didn’t pan out eventually then the relationship had to end. She didn’t know how she felt about such reality, after she had invested so much of her emotional energy into it. Truth be told, the reality of such future dampened her spirits.

She didn’t want it.

***

Lekan dived into the pile of work before him, not caring if the sheer weight of it all was capable of crushing him and making him drown. Anything to keep his mind away from his harrowing thoughts was worth it. He had asked for assessment reports from several departments—R&D, Marketing, Accounting—at once, intentionally overwhelming himself with an overbearing workload, such that it eliminated any idle, free time he had. The documents before him, sprawled out on his desk contained brief synopsis of potential projects in development, sidelined as a result of either inadequate capital or lack of skilled labor.

He planned to go through every single one, every single page to inspect and filter out the ones with substantial value and real potential to thrive. Afterwards he’d then make a compilation of them into an appealing proposal, which he would submit to his dad in the hopes of a handful being green-lit.

He was just about to commence work, when the door creaked open and Naade let herself in, alongside the guilt of what he did the other day. He shook his head vehemently, and course corrected his mind to focus on the work at hand. But it was difficult, as guilt was staring at him straight in the face, with folded arms—clothed in a dashing attire of a black bikers’ jacket, on a white camisole and fitted pantaloons.

“What are you doing?” Naade frowned, as she ascended the stairwell—her gaze scanning his table. “What are these reports for?”

“Potential projects that could hit, submitted by R&D. Unorthodox marketing strategies that we should consider imbibing from the marketing department. And a little something from accounting also.” He replied, without lifting his gaze from the desk. “Don’t worry, I got it all handled. You can head out for lunch.”

“Yes, that’s the problem. You got all of this handled, despite the fact that this is extra work and we still have more work to attend to this after this.” Naade protested, addressing him like she was an elderly person, who knew better than him—a kid. “This isn’t healthy, Lekan. Our work on a regular day, is criminally high enough. You don’t have to add extra in the few minutes that you have a time to take a break. This is pretty much the reason why people look sixty, when they’re only forty-five. Take it easy. You might be too guilty or whatever to follow me out to lunch, but at least take a break. If you’re just going to rest your head on your desk, to nap for a while then it’s okay.”

Lekan hated any slight reference to last week, and the mistake he had made. He had accepted himself for the monster that he was within, but it didn’t make the news pleasant or easy on the ears. “Naade, I said I’m okay, okay? Just leave me alone and let me do what I need to do.”

Naade shook her head, and sighed. “You made a mistake, Lekan. Everyone does, but it’s the way you handle it that matters. You should call her and—”

“Call her and what?” A cold chill coursed down his spine, as he and Naade whipped their head instantaneously towards entrance of the room and sure enough, Anjola was striding towards his desk—a stygian aura around her that terrified him to his bones, that coupled with the fact that he had made a grave mistake, made him wish he could evaporate into the air and escape through the window shutters. For almost a week, there had been no contact between them and yet, she was here in his office—just in time for his demise.

She was wearing a navy blue double breasted overcoat, over a pale brown strapless jumpsuit and black pumps. Her black leather bag was draped through her left shoulder, while her free right hand was clenched. Her expression was mostly neutral, in a way that it was eerie—like the calm before a storm. Rising to his feet, he braced his hands on the desk for the showdown that was about to go down.

“I should excuse the both of you,” Naade said, before spinning around and letting herself out of the room. Anjola’s gaze locked onto his, as she dumped her bag on a seat across him.

“What happened? I’m the one you guys were talking about, right?” Anjola went straight to the point, without foreplay and he found himself stalling.

“We’d surely talk about that, but first of all…how are you doing?”

“I’m not playing this beating-around-the-bush game with you, Lekan if what happened is what I think that happened. So go straight to the point to answer my question, because while I might have come all the way to talk to you and thrash things out, it wouldn’t matter one bit if you cheated on me.” She paused, as if knowing her words would slash him in the face and make him bleed. After gauging his comport, she began to take backward strides. “So…you did it right? You cheated on me—”

“Anjola it’s not what you think, just let me explain—” His heart beat picked up and escalated, as if it were the drum line for a capital execution in the medieval times, except that the present moment was his execution.

“No explanation justifies whatever bullshit that’s about to drop from your mouth,” She cut him off coolly, with a quiet voice. If he was terrified at her sudden appearance earlier, then he was petrified to his bones at her reaction. He’d have expected her to lash out in a loud volume, with rage simmering all over her like the other day at her apartment, but she remained calm nonetheless, with a knowing look on her face as if she had expected it all to lead to this.

“You know, I sort of expected this. After last week, and your explanation and everything and we ended up not ending things on a good note, I knew it was only a matter of time after that. I just thought it’d have lasted longer, and you wouldn’t have hopped into bed with another woman after you tried to take advantage of someone, that was grieving over her father’s death—”

“God, you know it wasn’t because of that.” He ran a hand through his hair, and didn’t bother taking a step closer to her because he feared her piled up rage had reached the point in which she could shoot photon beams. “I was just very vulnerable, and disappointed at myself because I thought that I had changed and then you indirectly pointed out that I was still this same person, despite all my efforts—”

“What am I still doing here though?” Anjola looked around his office, as if she couldn’t believe she was still here and then turned around to leave and this time he dared reach out to her, but got reminded why it was a bad idea—when her hand went around his, swatted it off and tore hard at the side of his face. The resulting shock on his face, mirrored hers, as her jaw dropped—implying she was stunned by her own attack too. “I’m s—sorry, that was very wrong of me, just...d—don’t you touch me again, please. And do me a favor and also delete my number from your phone.”

The sting of the slap was so sharp, that he couldn’t help but caress the point of impact. “I didn’t sleep with her, Anjola. I swear I couldn’t have disrespected you that way.”

She froze at this, and the layers of disdain in her eyes depleted and it was then that he saw that tears were welling up in her lids. “But you did something, didn’t you? Don’t you lie to me, Lekan. Tell me the real, undiluted truth right now.”

The guilt in him was strangling him so hard, he was surprised he could still speak. “After leaving your apartment the other day, I came by the office so I could distract myself with work. I didn’t plan on hurting you or anything, I was just tired and weak. Naade was here, and while we working…it just happened. We kissed, nothing more. I stopped things before they could escalate because I realized my wrong, and I couldn’t hurt you that way. You don’t deserve such pain.”

Anjola’s shoulders fell, and a tear escaped her left eye lid but she quickly batted at it. “Who initiated the kiss? Was it you or Naade?”

The truth of that statement, was too heavy to speak and he couldn’t find it within himself to assemble the courage to do the needed. His silence sufficed as adequate answer though, as Anjola wasn’t dumb and was able to draw a correct inference from it. She simply nodded again, before turning around to leave and he couldn’t help but reach out to her and hold her in place again, despite the repercussion he suffered earlier for doing it, because he knew the moment she left—it was all over.

“Lekan, just stop, okay?” She shoved him away gently this time around, as her voice had dipped into a shaky, fractured one. “You were right, you know. About Naade, you were right. She isn’t the person I thought she was. It was you I was wrong about, because you are exactly what I didn’t think you are. Once again, do me a favor and delete my number from your phone. Have a good life, Lekan.”

This time around, he didn’t bother protesting as she stalked out of the room—because he knew it would be futile. There was absolutely nothing he could do or say at this point, that would redeem him.

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Well, that happened. It was sort of inevitable, wasn’t it? But the story isn’t over yet. Two more chapters to go. Read on.

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