Chapter 9

A few days went by with me going to the office and doing nothing and today was no different. I scrolled through my Instagram feed, periodically checking my snapchat when I heard a groan.

"I am so getting fired" I rolled my eyes at her theatrics.

If you knew you couldn't do the job in the first place why apply for the job.

Another groan had me glaring in her direction, I furrowed my brow when I heard a sniffle.

Seriously? Now this was just pathetic

After 10 seconds of hearing her sob and sniffle, I got out of my seat and approached her cubicle. She was hunched over her desk, her face buried in her hands.

I cleared my throat and she bolted up before sighing.

"It's just you." She groaned pushing her hair away from her face. "I'm so going to get fired"

I rolled my eyes at her self pity and walked over to her computer.

"What are you doing?" She snapped

"Helping your ass" I murmured opening the spreadsheet.

"Stop!!!" She squawked trying to bat my hands away from the keyboard. "You don't even come to work, how would you know how the system works?"

"I'm trying to help you or would you prefer the old man up there to toss you onto the streets once he comes down to do his rounds.?"

She groaned folding her arms.

"Go ahead"

I smirked turning my attention to the spreadsheet. I furrowed my brow trying to remember the formula.

"Well, get on with it!!!" She whined impatiently.

Maybe if you shut your mouth I would be able to remember the shitty formula

"Let me ju..."

I shot her a glare and she piped down.

I ran through the equations in my mind

Bingo!!!

My fingers flew across the keyboard as years and years of Accounting knowledge came back to my head.

"So you just type in the input of each client and the software already has the percentage of insurance they pay, they should really mesh in the formula to make this easier" I explained still looking at the computer screen.

Her silence made me turn to her, eyes wide, jaw dropped. I frowned snapping my fingers trying to get her attention.

She snapped out of whatever trance she was in. "H...how did you? I... we all thought you were stupid" she stuttered, I rolled my eyes at her.

"Just because I choose not to work doesn't mean I'm stupid and I think what you're looking for is thank you."

She lowered her head looking contrite which she damned well should be.

I left her cubicle and returned to mine, still infuriated at her words.

Me? Stupid?

Well you haven't actually done anything to prove them wrong. The voice in my head murmured.

I shut the voice down looking for anything to keep myself busy, I brought out my phone and hissed when I saw the network as messing up.

Stupid network providers

My eyes landed on the huge pile of files in front of me and I glanced at the time. I still had hours to go before work ended and going to Stacey's place was not an option.

My eyes moved to the files again and I shrugged.

Wouldn't kill me to try

I grabbed the first one and flipped it open.

Eze Bros

******************

A knock on the wood of my cubicle made me look up. Amaka stood there, biting her lip.

"Can I help you?" I asked still pissed off at her.

"Peace offering?" she asked extending a cup of coffee. I regarded the coffee before moving to her, eyebrow raised at her actions.

She groaned before coming into my cubicle.

"I'm sorry alright. I shouldn't have said that neither should I have believed Abdul's small talks."

"Maybe if you paid attention to your work and not listen to useless rumours you would have actually been good at what you're supposed to do." I snapped, she bristled before sighing.

"I deserved that, but I'm really sorry." She whispered before extending the coffee to me again.

"It's your favourite. Black Coffee, sugar and no milk" she smiled.

Damn

I sighed before accepting the cup from her, she smiled wider and plopped down on the chair next to mine.

"Oh wow, you've been really busy" she mentioned gesturing to the files on my desk. I glanced at them, taking a sip of the hot liquid and immediately feeling my cells come alive.

"I had nothing better to do so I decided to get some work done" I explained "How did you know I take my coffee black?"

She shrugged, looking down at her hands which were nestled on her thighs.

"I'm very observant, you don't look like you love all those frilly things in your coffee and well I've heard you order for coffee a few times to know that's your favourite."

I hummed a reply and an awkward silence settled upon us.

"Well, I better get back to work. Thanks for helping out earlier." She said smiling.

"It's nothing. Thanks for the coffee" I replied as she left.

I turned back to the file in front of me, I still had a lot to go through but at this point I was tired. I glanced at the ones I had gone through and decided to call it a day.

I grabbed my belongings and walked out of the building to my car. I sat in the car thinking of what to do, I didn't feel like going home just yet. I pressed on the ignition and decided to pay Najma a visit.

The drive to her workplace was about 5 minutes from mine. I parked next to her dark blue Mini Cooper. I made my way into the building and headed for the elevator to her floor. I knocked on her door and heard a muffled come in.

"Hey" I said walking in. She looked up and smiled.

"Hey, I haven't seen you in ages" she greeted pushing her glasses up her nose.

"Been busy with work and all" I explained and sat down opposite her.

"How's Yasmin? I wanted to come see her today but work has me swamped" she said gesturing to her table which was packed with files.

"Don't worry about it. I'll send your regards. How's Khalifa?"

I smiled at the way her eyes brightened at the mention of his name.

"He's fine. I left him sleeping but he called me an hour ago and said he was heading into work, something about one of the pilots on duty having a family emergency so he was called in." She replied.

"Cool."

"Oh God, I didn't offer you anything." She muttered. I laughed as she walked to the fridge and got me a coke.

"Thanks" I murmured and took a gulp, sighing in satisfaction as the cool liquid glided down my throat.

"So... I heard something." She started not looking at me.

"What?" I asked taking another sip.

"Uncle Muhammad cut you off" she answered making me choke on the drink.

I let out a cough, trying to stop the liquid from choking me any further.

"What gave you that idea?" I asked coughing some more.

"It's all over Abba. Please don't lie to me. Did he really freeze your account?"

I sighed knowing I couldn't lie to Najma. "Yeah, the fucker cut me off" I muttered.

"When?"

"A month ago." I replied making her gasp.

"And you didn't feel the need to tell any of us, you didn't feel the need to tell me Abba?!" She cried out.

"What could you possible do? Nothing Najma. I don't need you to look at me with pity." I snapped.

"We can talk to him. We can convince him..."

"Stop it Najma. Just drop it." I whispered tired of the conversation already.

"Abba this is huge!!! You can't expect me to just dr..."

"This is not your fight Najma. Just fucking back off and mind your fucking business!!!" I shouted.

Her eyes widened and she let out a breath.

"I'm just trying to help" she whispered.

"I don't need it. You know what. Coming here was a mistake" I muttered and left her office.

The drive home was silent, my mind miles away. Even the radio couldn't fill the void in my chest. I hated this.

I parked in the parking lot and headed to my side when something hit my back. I frowned and turned to see a blue soft ball on the floor. I picked it up, a few seconds later, the sound of tiny feet made me look down. Yasmin stood in front of me, her eyes on the ball.

I looked towards the garden and saw Atine standing there looking at us.

They were probably playing catch.

I gave her the ball expecting her to go back to Atine instead she stood rooted.

"Go on. Go play with Atine" I said but she stood there staring at me before extending the ball to me.

Oh... what the heck. It's not like I have anything better to do

I collected the ball and tossed it, she ran after the ball and brought it back. I led her to the garden and dismissed Atine. We continued playing catch, she caught the ball once or twice but most of the time, the ball flew over her head and she had to go get it.

I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket and realised the network was back. I tossed the ball and brought out the phone scrolling through tons of unanswered messages. She brought back the ball and I tossed it again before I went back to my phone. I laid on the long chair and scrolled through my feed.

I heard her before I saw her.

"Aren't you tired?" I asked already bored of the game. She shook her head and looked at the ball. I sighed tossing the ball harder and farther, she ran after the ball.

That should keep her away for sometime.

Deciding to head into the main house, I grabbed my bag and made my way in through the kitchen.

I sat in one of the living room, happy to be out of the sun and into the air conditioned room. I laid on the sofa and continued scrolling through my feed.

****************

"Shoot!!!" I  cried out almost having a heart attack when I looked up.

Yasmin stood in front of me, a frown on her lip, her eyebrows furrowed.

She looked mad.

I couldn't help but laugh at her expression which made her brows furrow even more. Her expression morphing into one of confusion.

She held out the ball, a serious gleam in her eyes.

Oh hell no. Anything but that.

I looked around for my bag and brought out my iPad.

"How about a game?" I smiled when she let the ball drop to the floor. Her eyes on the pad, I unlocked it and tapped on a game. I knelt down, placing the device on the floor, she sat and watched with eager eyes as I positioned the game in front of her.

"This is how you play, don't let the monster get you." I explained showing her how to play. she nodded and I sat back and watched as she played.

Once I saw that she had gotten a hang of the game, I went back to my phone.

A few minutes later I looked up when I felt the iPad on my lap.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Your turn" she said. I froze, eyes wide.

She just talked!!!

"W..what did you say?" I asked my voice shaking a bit.

"Your turn" she repeated frowning.

I couldn't help the smile that invaded my lips as I sat on the floor.

"Yeah Yas. My turn"

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Yasmin finally talked!!!!!

And Abba finally did some work!!!

What do you guys think? Will Abba continue working or will he go back to slacking off?

Let me know down in the comments.

Please vote and share.

Stay safe❤