CHAPTER 33
Alero checked her phone for what seemed to her to be the umpteenth time since…Banjo walked away from her.
There was no notification on her phone. No missed calls, no messages, no chats, nothing. She fancifully imagined that the whole world had judged her and found her guilty. She had sent him a simple text after hours of waiting on him to call her to no avail.
‘Can we talk?’
Still there was no response from him. She supposed he had every reason to be angry with her. Had he given up on her?
She walked into her office with equal measure of trepidation and hurt but then paused in surprise. There was a young man sitting in the seat where Patricia usually sat. She shut the door behind her and the young man glanced up from the computer screen he had been peering intently at and jerked to his feet.
“Good morning.” He greeted smartly. Alero allowed a small frown of consternation to collect on her fore head.
Mrs. Ajala walked back out from her office holding a sheaf of papers.
“Oh! Good morning Ma.” She greeted cautiously.
“Good morning Mrs. Ajala. How has the office been?” Alero asked with a calmness she did not feel.
“We’ve coped really well I think.” She smiled kindly as she moved to her seat. When she saw the quick side glance Alero gave to the young man, she coughed lightly.
“Oh. Sorry. This is Mr. Haruna. He is a new staff and he’ll be replacing Miss Patricia.” She introduced.
“Oh.” Alero said in a small voice. “I see.” She smiled a small sad smile and continued in to her office distractedly.
"Is there anything I can get you?" Mrs. Ajala called after her. Alero waved her offer away.
She dropped her work bag on the desk and booted up her system as she took her seat. She pushed thoughts of Patricia coldness away from her mind even as she worried about what that meant for her and Banjo. Could there still an Ally and Banjo? She wondered.
The ringing of the alarm she had set on her phone reminded her that she had a meeting to attend in less than twenty minutes. She had been away for just a week but felt so out of sync with her usual routine that it seemed to her that at least a year’s worth of event had passed since she was last at her desk.
She quickly gathered up her things and strode back out of her office.
“I’m off to the meeting. We’ll have a little chat when I get back. See how much catching up we need to do. Thank you Mrs. Ajala for holding the fort.” She smiled her gratitude at her. Mrs. Ajala inclined her head and a pretty blush stained her face. Alero decided then and there to thank her more often. “Mr. Haruna welcome to this unit. We’ll talk more when I get back.”
She walked out of the office and to the meeting room with serenity she did not feel in her gait. The meeting room was empty when she walked in as she was the first to arrive. She paused at the door and marveled that this was a first for her. She wondered whether that was a good thing. Taking a seat at the far end of the table, she began to lay out her notes and stationery for the meeting. There was a model of the Adeniran Holdings building on a smaller table near the head of the conference table they usually sat at. Curiosity got the better of her and she strolled towards it to take a closer look. She smiled as she took in the sleek lines and modern look of the building. It looked even sleeker than she had envisioned it. She hoped that Chidi and his team would be able to replicate the sleek lines of the model. It would be a cynosure of all eyes if they did. She turned to go back to her seat and almost stumbled in discomfiture when Mr. Wanigo walked in at the same time.
“Good morning Sir.” She greeted a bit sheepishly. In all the time she had worked with the firm, she had never behaved as unprofessionally as she knew she must have seemed last week and she was embarrassed to face her boss and mentor.
“Miss Bekere.” He acknowledged her greeting. “It’s good to have you back.” He said. It seemed like he would say more but other heads of teams and units began to file in for the meeting.
A few minutes later, Mr. Wanigo called the meeting to order. Alero listened attentively as the meeting progressed hoping to glean enough information to come up to speed with the events that she had missed in the past week.
The meeting proceeded at the brisk pace that was the mark of meetings at Skylines and soon Mr. Wanigo was wishing them all a pleasant day. Alero stood with the rest of her colleagues as she gathered up her things.
“Miss Bekere, I would like to see you in my office.” Mr. Wanigo’s voice rang out as he strode out of the meeting room.
Alero heard the snicker but she could not say who it had come from. The culprit had done a good job of tamping it down.
She consciously held her head up and walked out as regally as she could. She could only imagine what wild stories had made the round in her absence. She would not allow it get to her. She contributed her fair quota and then some to the stature of this firm and she refused to let anyone make her feel ridiculous because she was human.
Her resolved was sorely tested when she saw the familiar figure of Patricia walking out from the copy room and opening the door to Chidi’s office. As Patricia turned the handle, she turned her head towards where Alero had come to a surprised stop. When she recognized that it was Alero, she opened the door and walked into Chidi’s office and closing it firmly behind her.
Alero continued on her way to Mr. Wanigo’s office with a little less bounce to her steps. She constructed what she hoped was a polite expression on her face and walked into Mr. Wanigo’s secretary’s office. She was one of those secretaries who were as powerful, maybe more so, as their bosses. She smiled kindly if reservedly at Alero and waved her through. Alero gathered a little more air into her lungs and knocked on Mr. Wanigo’s door.
“Come in.” she heard his brisk invitation and pushed the door open.
“Good morning Sir.” She greeted, a bit discomfited for the first time in years in his presence.
“Good morning Miss Bekere. Sit down please.” He invited. He had not turned to look at her fully since she walked into his office as he kept typing away on the computer keyboard in front of him. When he had made one last click, he turned away from the screen with a satisfied smile.
“That’s done!” he said and eyed her critically. “Are you alright?” he asked pointedly.
“I am Sir.” Alero answered with as much poise as she could. She needed to erase the memory of her break down from everyone’s immediate memory. She would not stand for people snickering at her.
He gave her a long look and nodded. “Good. We need to leave for Adeniran Holdings within the hour.” Alero could not stop the sharp gasp from escaping her lips. Fortunately, Mr. Wanigo continued crisply like he had not heard a sound from her.
“There are a few details on the project that need immediate resolution so as not to stall the work and I thought it wise that you be included in this meeting since it was originally designed by your team.” He finished.
Alero tried to speak and found that her voice was stuck in her very dry throat. She tried to clear it as quietly as she could but even the small sound she made seemed unnaturally loud to her.
“Sir, with all due respect, I should point out that Miss Adeniran was an integral member of the team that worked on that design. Seeing that she is still on the team that….”
“Are you calling my decision to include you into question?” Mr. Wanigo’s quietly asked question interrupted her as cleanly as a sharp blade would slice through tender flesh.
“No Sir!” Alero spluttered in surprise, her eyes widening and her lungs struggling for air.
“Good. Please be ready in an hour or less.” He instructed and turned back to his screen. Clearly he was through saying what he wanted to say and she was dismissed for now.
“Yes Sir. Thank you Sir.” Alero said quietly and got up on shaky legs to leave his office.
“Alero” Mr. Wanigo called as she turned the handle of the door. Alero turned to meet him steeling her features to not betray her panic
.
“Please maintain your composure. I do not want anyone, and I mean anyone calling my decision to recommend you for partner into question.”
It took Alero a minute for the import of what he had just said to sink in. When it did, she gasped loudly and clamped her hand on her mouth in an effort to restrain her emotions.
“Thank you Sir!” her voice came out in a ragged whisper. “Thank you so very much Sir.” She repeated as she struggled to keep the tears of joy from spilling from her eyes.
Mr. Wanigo nodded with a wry smile of his and indicated his door with a small nod of his head. Alero nodded her response and made her fumbling escape from the office.
She dashed straight to the restroom and tried to compose herself. She drew long harsh breaths as she struggled for equanimity.
“Are you okay?” came Patricia’s quiet voice from a stall just behind her.
Alero jumped and gasped again in surprise.
“Are you all conspiring to give me a heart attack or what?” she asked in some agitation.
Patricia’s concerned expression hardened to a scowl.
“Oh! My bad! I’m sorry I cared.” She said sarcastically as she began washing her hands at a sink.
Alero sighed as her heart rate settled.
“Good morning Patricia.” She greeting quietly. “That did not come out quite as it should…I’ve had…quite a morning so I probably sounded sharper than I intended.” Alero tried to explain.
Patricia turned to look at her fully in the face for a moment and then pulled at some paper towels to dry her hands.
“Why did you do it? Why did you act like you did? You could have killed him as surely as if you had run him over with that car.” She asked in clipped, bewildered tones. “I thought you guys were happy.”
Alero sighed. “It’s a convoluted tale Patricia.” She made a show of washing her own hands and pulling at the paper towels too.
Patricia leaned against the sink as if waiting for her to speak. Alero mirrored her stance and folded her hands across her chest as she tried to explain what she could to her.
“I’m a very spiritual person.” She began. Patricia did not make any comment either way and Alero felt encouraged to continue.
“I guess the best way I can explain it is that I was in a struggle in my spirit. There were aspects…that I needed to resolve in my head and heart to…”
“Banjo may not have come to certain realizations about his relationship with God, but he is a believer.” Patricia cut in.
Alero stared at her in surprise and Patricia scoffed mildly.
“You can’t have grown up with my mum and not believe.” She said by way of explanation.
Alero felt her mouth form in a surprised ‘O’.
“You could have talked to him rather than just sprung a break up on him. My brother…I think he’s in love with you. I have never seen him like this.”
Alero shook her head as tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. She sniffed to clear her suddenly clogged up nostrils.
“I…I thought you loved him too.” Patricia continued.
“I do.” Alero whispered brokenly.
“Then why are you torturing each other?” Patricia asked in exasperation. “What if he died?” she asked and then continued, ignoring Alero’s sob. “If you love him that much, then don’t do this… whatever it is you are doing to yourselves. I was angry! So mad at both of you but I have had some time to simmer down.” She moved unexpectedly to take hold of Alero’s hand.
“If you both love each other, then do it. Not so many people have the blessing of such an all-consuming love and they make do with what they get. Don’t you think God may have spared him just so you both could get this second chance?”
“Why?” Alero asked with an unsteady voice. “I thought you all must hate me.”
“I almost did.” Patricia answered candidly. “But I had I long talk with my mum. She’s rooting for you by the way.” She rolled her eyes as she said the last bit.
Alero felt her lips stretch in a smile.
“I missed you at your desk.” She commented.
Patricia shrugged again. “Yeah! Mr. Wanigo thought that it would be better….you know how he is about professional behavior.” She made a funny moue that cracked both of them up. When they had both gained some control over their hilarity, they stood for a few moments staring at each other.
“Thank you.” Alero began. “I needed that.”
“You’re welcome.” Patricia said with a diffident smile and scurried out the restroom mumbling about being away from her desk for too long and Mr. Chidi having her head.
Alero turned to look at her image in the mirror. She had her game face back on.