Man-Drama

 CHAPTER 10.

Tracy alighted from the tricycle and walked into her office premises. She’d had a very busy weekend: she was awake for most of Friday night.  She was shocked that night when she heard a knock on her door at past 1am. It was a stranger asking for her help. She saved the non-Nigerian who said he was chased by touts that believed he was rich. 

They wanted to collect all he had and kill him so they attacked him but he was able to fight those who held him down and run away before the full pack of wolves pounced on him. He had an injury on his arm and several cuts on his back. She gave him first-aid, food and a place to sleep. 

She didn't believe all he said until she heard some guys making noise and saying they had lost him. It took the effort of security men to disperse them. 

After she let him in, she wondered why she decided to help him.  He hardly said anything and left before she woke up on Saturday and she was glad. She just found a note where he scribbled the words ‘thank you’. 

There was no power supply and she didn't even see his face. That made it even better. She had enough man-drama and didn't need any more of it.

On Saturday night she slept in the office. Her boss had told her a week ago that the firm was to present a proposal for a multi-national oil firm. According to her boss, if they won the contract, the company will rise from grass to grace. 

It was a mouth-watering, eye-blinking contract that would make them acquire profit than would run into millions of dollars after the execution of the project. It made her wonder who exactly owned the company and what he did. 

She was calm much later when she found out that it was owned and run by an Arab. An oil-rich guy. She also heard he was quite temperamental, hard to please and he didn't like cunning or mediocre people. 

He was a man of his word who never signed any paper but expected you to believe whatever he said to you in person. She was surprised there were people who were really trustworthy and straight forward on the planet. 

In return, he told you that he deserved a clean, direct and plain job done for him. If you did it right and well, you could work in partnership with him whenever he wanted you to, which would in turn make you richer. 

On the other hand, If he didn't like your work which meant you did something wrong, he could run your company down. The pressure gave her insomnia on Sunday night.

When she got into the conference room, some staff was running around to put things together. Some had not arrived because it was just 06:19am. 

The boss was on his way. She knew that because he called her that morning to confirm some things for the presentation. 

The presentation was for 07.30am and all was to be ready because it could be their biggest break through for their lives in that company. 

She decided to visit the ladies to powder her nose. Some of the staff were there doing the same thing. They were also busy chatting that they didn't even notice she was in there with them.

She was shocked when Nkem the intern said she only wanted a cruise with the rich Arabian. At the end of the cruise, she knew he would buy her a yacht but she would also request for a ship. It was very good for business; importing and exporting things. 

She would not go back to school for anything. She would be made for life. Gbam! One lady she barely recognized had this crazy fantasy. She said she didn't care if he was temperamental, harsh, obese, a wife-beater, sluggish, heavily bearded or anything terrible. 

The fact was that he was stinking of his oil-money and she wouldn't mind kissing his feet or toes in order to faint in his vault. The others laughed. Lara said she just wanted to spend the night in arms. She’d heard that Arabians were loving and very romantic. 

She read books about them but she wanted an experience. She always wanted a candle-lit dinner with lots of strawberries, then to a Jacuzzi bath and then they would wake up curled in each other’s arms the following morning.

Tracy laughed out loud. She couldn't stifle the laughter any longer. They all stopped chatting and laughing and began to watch her. 

They couldn't imagine what was funny to her. Tracy laughed so hard her belly hurt. She apologized but kept on laughing. 

As a senior staff, they couldn't yell or shout or insult her. They just kept their calm although she knew some would have slapped or attacked her. 

When she was calm she apologized to them again but gave them a bit of advice. She told them to get their heads out of the cloud and face reality. 

It was better to think, plan and execute their plans than having their hope dashed because of some rich guy. 

To the youngest among them who was the intern, she told Nkem to continue with school no matter the amount of money she made in life. She didn't see the future so she couldn't say what would happen if she dropped out. 

Even if she was given a ship for business, what if something like an accident happened and the ship wrecked? She would be back to zero, minus zero or minus 100. She told the others to put their hope to better use and wake up from their fantasies. They were women and she believed in them.  

They should also be able to work for their own money and not follow guys just because they were rich. Some people had married rich guys believing their problems would end but it rather increased and they kept praying for death to take the man. 

If they followed guys who just had money and declared themselves wealthy due to that, they knew nothing of either riches or wealth. She ended up telling them they were intelligent, she believed in them and what they could do for themselves.

The ladies listened even though she wasn't sure if they agreed with what she said but respectfully, they thanked her. Hadiza hugged her and told the rest of the ladies to take it from a married woman who had the first hand experience. 

She simply smiled at Hadiza. After the ladies left, Hadiza told her she had always looked up to her as her role model. To Hadiza, Tracy had everything. She was married and her life was free from the hassles of a single woman. 

Tracy’s husband was calm and nice. Sometimes she envied Tracy’s life. Tracy took a deep sigh-Hmm! If only she knew!

Tracy simply chuckled as Hadiza left. She went to the closet, covered it and sat on the lid. She placed her hands on her head and thought about all she had been going through. Her life was like a little boat in the middle of the ocean with heavy waves. 

She had no peace and she lacked direction. She was more confused than ever. She thought of Malaki. Aunt Phil had told her to get back to him. She tried to call him throughout the previous week yet he didn't pick. She sent him a message but he didn't reply as well.

 He probably was too hurt to think of getting back with her. She couldn't say she blamed him. He was probably fed up and who knew if Henry was threatening him? He had probably moved on with his life and left her in the trash can. 

Even though she rented a place and had been staying there for the past two weeks, she didn't hear from Henry and it felt strange. She hoped he was alright although she enjoyed her peace and life free from drama. She wiped her tears with her hand and stepped out to continue with her make-up.

She was shocked to find a man in the ladies. He apologized, and said he didn't know it was the ladies because there was no sign of that on the door.  He asked her what was wrong and it brought out a fresh wave of tears. She just kept crying. 

He locked the door for privacy’s sake and then she unfolded her mind to release all the pressure. She felt so heavy and needed to unburden herself. It was necessary in order to save her from losing her mind. 

She told him all she was going through with Malaki and Henry, how it was affecting her work and she had to rent a new place to try to manage her sanity. He asked her what she wanted to do. She told him she didn't know. 

He told her the way forward was for her to make up her mind, make a decision on what she wanted to do and if she felt she needed his help, she could just call.

On his way out, he asked her where she stayed and she told him. He raised his eyebrow at her and gave her his card. She told him he smelt familiar. He inquired what she did on the previous Friday night and she told him. He informed her he was the one she saved. 

She was amazed and decided to be smart enough to ask for his name and he said Jamal. He thanked her and told her one good turn deserved another. He owed her one and when she made up her mind, all she was to do was to inform him. He told her he had things to do and he left. She washed her face.

She went into her office to cross her T’s and dot the I’s of the presentation. When it was time for the presentation, she was surprised that the oil-rich guy was not heavily bearded or anything. It was Jamal. 

How stupid could she have been to talk to a total stranger? Wouldn't he think of her as a silly person? How would he view the presentation because of her? She thought about all these things and it affected her presentation.

Tracy managed to present the proposal even though her nerves got the best of her and she was blabbing at some point although she was able to answer all their questions to a reasonable extent. She felt her boss giving her the killer stare. 

He was probably going to demote or fire her. After the clients left, her boss gave her a nasty piece of his mind. He couldn't believe she screwed up. He said he would get back to her when they get back to him but this was not before he suspended her.

Tracy ran back to the ladies to search for the card. The bin had been emptied. She found the cleaner who told her where she poured the bin and it was a heap. She asked the cleaner for the exact spot and then started searching frantically but she couldn't find it.

What was she going to do?