Chapter nineteen – Becoming An Inconvenience
These two will be trouble
Tilda was silent for a few seconds before she shakes her head and answers to Cecelia,
“She and my father died in a fire several years back. I lived in the orphanage till I turned seventeen and that was when I was adopted.”
Cecelia regretted that she had asked that question, she looked at Tilda feeling sad and so, she tapped her shoulder and commented,
“It’s okay dear, you have done marvelously for yourself, for someone without her real parents. They must be proud of you wherever they are.”
Jacob watched Tilda all the while, it was when she looked in his way that his eyes turned from her. She had noticed his stare all along but she pretended that she hadn’t seen anything. Tilda sighs and says to him,
“Sir, I am sorry that I have been an inconvenience since I joined the company. I will plead with you to ask Mr. Fred on my behalf.”
Jacob was silent longer than they thought he would be, and so, Cecelia and Tilda looked at each other unsure about what was on his mind. He still hadn’t spoken and so, Cecelia cut in and said,
“Don’t forget that the boss had given you permission to go home. If you stay, you will be in trouble if you do anything contrary to the company’s rules. I suggest you go, I will speak to Mr. Fred on your behalf.”
Tilda nodded but Jacob chipped in,
“No need to say anything to him Cecelia. I will be taking some files to him since you won’t be around and I will inform him. Forgive me for not speaking up earlier, I remembered something that I have to take care of. Now, off you go.”
Tilda turned to walk away and they watched her till she reached the gate. She thought she should hail a taxi and it was then that she remembered that she had left her handbag in Fred’s office. She looked back and she felt bad because she knew she couldn’t tell Jacob to get it for her.
Miss Cecelia wondered why she stopped and so, she came closer to her and asked,
“Why aren’t you leaving? Did you forget something?”
Tilda nodded and responded to him,
“Right, I forgot my handbag. How do I get home now? It’s in Fred’s office.”
Cecelia sighs and shakes her head and then says to her,
“I will accompany you there so, you can take it or better still, I will go for it for you. You wait here for me.”
Tilda stops her by holding her hand and says to her,
“Thank you but I believe he won’t do anything to me, and I don’t have the strength to fight with him when he wants to. I will just take the bag and go home.”
Tilda took a few steps forward when she suddenly felt dizzy, her legs weakened and her body felt weak. She wondered what was wrong with her, she held her head and almost fell to the floor. In the wink of the eye, Jacob held her and moved her from Cecelia’s arm.
Cecelia looked at her and asked,
“What is wrong with you? You aren’t feeling well but you still came to work, now, you can’t either work or do anything but you are becoming an inconvenience. Is that what you want?”
Jacob held her by her shoulders and looked at her with worry in his eyes. She could see that he was worried about her and she wondered why, but who would answer her? Jacob’s eyes didn’t leave her any second, he swallowed at their contact and suggested,
“If you are worried about transport, how about I take you home? Or better still, I will take you to the hospital.”
Tilda shook her head and thought,
‘If I go to the hospital again, my mom will kill me.’
She looked up at him and supported herself and then explained to him,
“I only need to take the medication that I was given at the hospital. I believe that I will be fine after taking it.”
Jacob felt that she didn’t like his touch, he looked at Cecelia and said to her,
“Tell your associate to stay at the reception and take her home. I will tell Fred and her purse will be sent over, it will be there by the time you arrive at your house.”
Tilda looked in the way of Cecelia and she snorted and walked away. Several minutes passed by before they saw someone replace her at the reception. They wondered what was keeping her until she walked out with her bag. Jacob wondered the reason why she took her bag along.
It was when she took Tilda’s hand and was at the gate that she shouted,
“I will see you tomorrow at work sir Jacob. I won’t drive away from here and return.”
Jacob didn’t know what to say, he shook his head and said to himself,
“These two will be trouble in this work place. Maybe I am being lenient because they are women just like my mother.”
With that, he walked away, but then, what happened didn’t miss the eyes of the gossips in the company. Two men sat a desk away from the reception, they looked on at what happened earlier and each of them had their opinion of the situation.
One of them was light skinned and the other was fair colored. The light skinned guy tapped the shoulder of the fair skinned guy and said to him,
“I knew it, the very day she stepped in here, I knew that she had a relationship with one of our bosses. Or she knew someone.”
The fair skinned guy shook his head and told the other his opinion,
“No, I think, the bosses are interested in her. Have you seen her beauty? That’s the beauty that old man Royale loves. I think by the time she spends a week here, she would be his mistress. That’s why Mr. Fred doesn’t like her.”
“And how did you know that he doesn’t like her?” The light skinned guy inquired.
“I saw it during the meeting, he wouldn’t look at her no matter what she says. We were applauding the meeting but he was trying to find mistakes.” The fair skinned guy defended his point.