She closed the door of the Uber she had taken and she smiled to herself, fixing back her veil into place. She watched as the driver drove off before she turned to face the gigantic building in front of her. She let out a giggle; which had many reasons for her. One, she felt that, leaving Adamawa was one of her greatest achievements in life, she could finally be the person she had always dreamed of being. Two, she knew there were greater opportunities in Abuja, and there was no way she was leaving this state without fulfilling all that she dreamed of. She knew Mama would surely come and find her if she heard that corpers had passing out parade, but she would have to make another excuse, she was just starting, right? This wouldn’t be a problem. She would figure out what to do then, she had always figured it out.
‘Bunza Companies Nig. Ltd.’ She knew no matter how Baba Yusuf tried in making sure she stayed in Adamawa to serve her country, all his efforts proved futile and today, she was standing in front of one of the billion-dollar companies in Nigeria. And she wouldn’t have been happier in her life. She held a stoic expression and her usual confident look before she began walking into the building. She greeted the guards and walked to the reception, she was sure Farha had told her where she should go if she arrived, but she wasn’t sure where it was, and now she knew even if she called that girl she wouldn’t pick her call because she was asleep.
Farha’s father got her appointed in his company, and it was to help her reach her goal, she would be thankful to them forever. “Hello, good morning,” she greeted one of the cleaners she saw on her way and the man looked up at her.
“Morning,” he greeted back and ducked his head back into his work. She wondered why was it that some people were always grumpy in the mornings, Farha too was like that. When they were in school, even if they had morning lectures, she knew better than to speak to Farha in the early hours of the day, she always had to wait until she was back to her usual self.
“Please, where can I locate the HR’s office, IT department?” She asked, and he was silent, heaved a sigh before he looked up at the building.
“9th floor, ask the lady in the reception, she would lead you there.” He informed, and she smiled appreciatively at him before she nodded her head, muttering a soft thank you before she walked away.
She had seen enough building for this to scare her off, but one thing was certain, it was beautiful, huge, and had beautiful architecture. Before she reached the elevator, she had noticed someone was there and it would close soon, she had had a lot of bad experiences with elevators to let herself walk into one alone. She always needed company, and she hurried toward it, placing her feet between the doors that were beginning to close. Her peplum skirt lifted, revealing her enchanting chain dangling on her leg.
She entered the elevator before she smiled and turned to look at the only person that was in it, he wasn’t looking her way. That gave her the chance to have a better look at it his face. The first word that came to her mind was, handsome. Maybe if there was a better word than handsome, which could do justice to the beauty of a man, she would have used it. His eyes began wavering to her and she quickly fixed her eyes on her feet.
Silence prevailed in the elevator before she heaved a sigh, she wasn’t the talking type, but she as well hated silence so much. Especially when she was in an elevator and she was anxious. “Can I ask you something please? I’m new here, like it’s my first day, not as an employee though. I can see you’re heading to the IT department. Will you please locate me at the HR office? I’m going to serve here as a copper, I don’t know which among them I should go to see first. I was told the manager is so grumpy, so I opted for the HR, maybe he can take my appointment later to the manager.” She always talked so much when she was anxious, and right now she knew she had fed this man up with her words.
Silence. She waited for a few more minutes but there was no answer from him, she looked up and he had his hands in his pockets, not even glancing her way. She wondered what type of man this way, how could a beautiful Adamawa lady like her-she didn’t mean to brag-be speaking to you and you had the guts to shun her? The elevator opened and they walked out, she rolled her eyes at his retreating back and walked to the woman the cleaner told her to.
“Hello, please where is the HR’s office?” She asked, leaning on the counter.
The receptionist who looked like one of those Yoruba girls that if you dared get into a fight with them she would be blown died, she looked up at her and then motioned for a corner without even speaking. She rolled her eyes at her but she followed the path she had shown. She saw the sign of the HR’s office and entered, he was a lovely looking man, probably in his early thirties. Does this company only employ handsome men?
She read the banner on his desk, ‘Sulaiman Kabir Bunza’. Something clicked on her, this company! Maybe they were related to the CEO? She quickly masked up her curious look and smiled softly at him, professionally.
“My name is Khadija, and I’m the new corper appointed here.” She handed him her documents as he answered her pleasantries.
Suddenly, he handed her back the documents and smiled, “Khadija, this is a special appointment, you have to see the manager. The office is by your right…” he told her the manager’s office and she held herself from telling him her fear of meeting this manager. She thanked him and walked out of the office, walking silently while she gave herself the pep talk.
She was a confident girl, right? She can do this. She stood in front of the manager’s office and braced herself before she walked inside, the first thing her eyes got in contact with was the name banner on his desk, which read ‘Yazeed Adam Bunza’. Wait, the CEO of this company only hired his relatives or what?
She spoke softly, “Assalamu Alaikum,” waiting to see who the manager was and what his face looked like before she ventured into her files and matched her expression with his.
He looked up from the wardrobe he was searching for some documents from and answered her, “Waalaikumus Salam,” he said as he walked back to his chair and she stood there, staring at him. There was no way he could be the guy from the elevator!
She realized he was waiting for her, and she handed him her document, irked at the way he acted as if he didn’t recognize her, or maybe he didn’t. He collected the file and went through it before he looked up at her, his mahogany eyes for the first time got in contact with hers, she held a stoic expression.
“What is your name, Miss?” He asked, and she resisted the urge to smack his head. Hadn’t he seen her name flying everywhere in her documents? And also, that’s how his voice sounded? That’s the main reason he hardly spoke because he knew he had a voice so amazing…Earth to! She scolded herself.
“My name is Jalilah.” She wasn’t lying, only being sarcastic. She knew he didn’t ask for her nickname, he wanted to know her real name even though he had seen it everywhere in her documents.
He was silent for a while before he looked up at her, yet, their eyes met again. “That’s not what’s written here, perhaps you aren’t the one?” He questioned with a straight face, Jalilah wished she could move to where he was and stretch out a smile on his grimmer lips. He looked so sad for a person that had such beauty in his possession.
“I thought you wanted to know my nickname because my name is written all over there.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him, instead, she ducked her head down. He stared at her for a few seconds and shook his head as if to show her that he had no time to waste with a girl like her.
“You were born in Adamawa and you studied at American University of Nigeria, Yola?” He asked, flipping through her papers. She nodded her head, intensely staring at him to see the kind of expression he would have while reading her documents. She knew he had seen them before, if not, who would have appointed her as a copper in his department?
Suddenly, she was tired and he still hadn’t asked her to find herself a seat and sit down, but she did that anyway. While he was still doing his survey in her file, she moved toward his table and pulled out of his chairs out, but he stopped her even before she had her butts seated on it. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked, and she looked between this name banner, his face, his eyes that were a shade of mahogany and she didn’t miss the cloud of darkness engulfing them, she shook her head softly.
“I got tired standing over there, so I was trying to sit down before you’re done.” She politely replied because she wasn’t so strong when it came to physical matters.
