Victoria racked her brain as she maneuvered her car through the streets of ikeja.
the previous day had given her a lot to think of.
"come to think of it, Tega might be the one threatening you". she remembered funke saying.
she still doubted it though. But she couldn't think of anyone else.
Either ways, someone was most likely after her.
she sighed.
"Or it could just be a prank". she said, trying to convince herself.
"it could even be funke, there's nothing that girl can't pull off". she said, smiling to herself. There was truly nothing her dear friend wouldn't pull off to make Victoria have a feeling of self accomplishment.
she put on the car radio to lighten her mood. A cheerful rhythm hit her ears. she smiled again. But then came the lyrics.
'someone's out...to get you....'
she put it off before it could even continue.
"what is wrong with me?". she said to herself, banging her fist on the steering wheel.
"Am I hallucinating or something?".
screechhh.....
someone had hit her car badly, she was so deep in thought that she forgot that she was on the road. she looked forward through her windscreen at the perpetrator. It was a black Honda accord stricken with age. She scoffed.
"Hey! look what you did!". she said, getting down from her car hurriedly. She had seen the bad scratch on her car's bumper which was now hanging by a screw. Her poor baby had gotten his first mark ever. Good bye to her squeaky clean car.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?". The perpetrators owner said, stepping out of his own car. It was badly scratched also.
He suddenly paused like he had made a huge discovery.
"Wait...Victoria?". He said, surprised.
She gasped..
"You."She said pointing at him with her index finger, probably trying to prompt him to remind her of his name.
"Yes...me..from Rita's party, Rita's brother?". He said, hoping she would remember.
"hmmmm...Frank? what a coincidence!". She said, snapping her fingers.
"Yes, it's Frank, are you okay?"
"I'm okay, other than the permanent mark you've given my car". She said, going back to her pissed off state.
"I'm so sorry for that, but it isn't permanent. I will try my best to fix it in any way I can. please forgive me for my negligence".
What a clown. she said within her.
"so..what about your own car? shouldn't I pay for the damages since you are paying for mine?". she said.
"Oh, dont bother, I'll take care of that. All of this is my fault after all. I wasn't paying attention and I bumped into you. we are really lucky it wasnt that serous and I didn't hit with full force". He said.
"Well, I also wasnt paying attention, I take the blame". She said.
"Oh no, I'll take the blame, don't bother Victoria". He insisted.
She sighed.
"Okay, I'll leave It to you, but for now I need to go to work".
"Don't you want to at least get coffee with me? it's still early, plus I want to make it up to you".
"No! I'm totally fine. you see, I'm extremely late. So maybe some other time, you hear?". She said, walking up to her car.
"Oh, alright then, I'll see you around!". He said, waving at her as she zoomed off.
He suddenly felt a vibration in his back pocket. His phone was ringing.
That must be Rita. He said within him. He had totally forgotten he still had to see mimi at the hospital. A wave of anguish swept over him as he remembered.
In a flash, He rushed into his own car and zoomed off.
*************************************
"what is next on my schedule?". Femi Johnson asked his manager. they both were seated at the back seat of his luxurious Mercedes.
"Umm". Mr sola, his manager hummed, while scrolling through his tab.
"oh". He said and stopped scrolling.
"You have a short meeting with the staff at the branch at Allen".
Femi put his palm to his mouth and yawned slightly.
"again?"
"orders from the chairman". Mr sola replied.
Femi rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, the same chairman who eats law suits for breakfast ". He said, sarcastically.
I'm sure he's just chilling at the headquarters in Abuja, making sure to get more lawsuits. Femi said within him.
"I'm afraid there seems to be a bigger problem than that this time sir". Mr sola said.
Femi faced him.
"What's the problem?"
********************************
Victoria rushed into the office building panting like a wild leopard.
On the way here, she had remembered that there was another meeting with the directors son today, so she had to make a run for it. she couldn't risk being absent again. Her job was on the line.
She looked around as she was inside. No one was in her unit. Everyone was probably already in the conference hall. She was definitely late. She made a little run to the conference hall which wasn't that far away. On the way, she could already hear a deep male voice speaking over a microphone. That was most likely her unit leader, chief Richard. She was sure sue was going to get an earful from him.
"Before me is a chart of the progressiveness of this branch's output this year". He said, his fingers pointed towards a large screen showing a diagram of the company's output.
He looked back at his audience. The incoming chairman, Femi watched from his seat at the front of the audience, just beside the stage.
"Last year, our branch had the highest output in lagos, a total of 18 billion naira, I'm sure we all know that". He said.
The audience nodded in response.
"Now, take a look at this -" He began to say but stopped midway, looking towards the back door of the hall. Everyone else stopped to look too, including femi.
Victoria opened the door and tiptoed into the hall, trying her best not to be noticed. But unfortunately, she just had to be noticed because the door was as loud as anything. worse still, everyone was looking at her. Her legs weakened beneath her.
she scurried to an empty seat at the back and sat quietly, looking down at her laps to avoid eye contacts with the others.
"As I was saying.." chief Richard rolled his eyed and continued.
With that, everyone went back into position. Victoria heaved a sigh of relief.
"look at this chart, you can see that we are slowly deviating From last years output". He said pointing at a downwards slope curve on the screen.
"The year is less than three months to running out and we haven't even made up to half of the output of last year". He said, a hint of dissapointment in his voice.
Victoria sighed. Last year, she was just a rookie, So she didn't really take part in the outstanding success of the branch. But now that she was a full employee, the branch was facing problems. It almost seemed like she was the cause.
"Hey". Someone whispered beside her. It was Tega.
She turned her head. She was just seeing him since she entered the hall because she was looking down all through.
"Why did you come late?". He asked.
She remembered what she and funke were ruminating about yesterday. He was a likely enemy.
Why was he being so nice now?
"What do you think?". She replied turning away.
"Everyone knows that all of the branches all over the country are reducing in output because of the current chairman. Apparently, he uses out of the country's budget to import illegal substances Into the country". He said out of the blues.
Victoria looked at him.
"How do you know that?". She asked, not knowing what to say. Those were some serous accusations.
He scoffed.
"You're still new and innocent, thats why you don't know what we all know". He said.
"Rumors even say that he has something to do with the former chairman's death".
Victoria remembered the news she had heard sometime ago about the former chairman who was assassinated. She hadn't thought much about it. What were the odds?
"By the way, didn't you get my flowers?". He whispered.
"Forget that". Victoria snapped.
"Do you know you could be making false accusations which could be dangerous?". She said to him.
"Why should I forget that?". He said, placing his hand on her laps.
"Are you stupid?". She said, half shouting, and pushing his hand away.
Chief Richard noticed the ruckus at the back.
"Miss coker". He said.
Victoria looked up from her seat.
"Sir?". She said standing up.
"It seems you have something to tell us, go ahead, come to the stage". He said.
"Uh?". She replied, confused.
"Tell us how we can improve our output". He said, pointing the mic towards her to receive it.
"No sir, I-". She was about telling him that she didn't have anything to say and she was being harassed by the baboon beside her but she stopped and thought. If she could say something impressive, her scolding from chief Richard would reduce and she might even be commended by him for once in her life.
She walked towards the stage and grabbed the microphone from chief Richard. From the corner of her eyes, she could see femi, giving her his legendary gaze. She started feeling euphoric. He was finally noticing her!