THE BrideGLOOM
episode 3
Charlotte: I can’t wait for break time so I could get myself something to eat.
Nina: are you that hungry?
Charlotte: I am.
Nina: didn’t you have breakfast at home?
Charlotte: Nah. It’s been ages since I last made breakfast at home.
Nina: oh dear! Things must be very bad
Charlotte: I st©pped because each time I make breakfast for myself, Deric would descend on it. He’s lazy to make breakfast so I st©pped.
Nina: you used to speak highly of him before now. I can’t believe how bad things are between you now. That’s sad.
Charlotte: Since he st©pped working, I can’t stand him anymore. I wish I have somewhere else to go at the end of every day.
Nina: book a h0tel for at least a week. That might help
Charlotte: I’ll actually think about it. Jaykob offered me a weekend away. I think I might consider it.
Nina: with him or on your own?
Charlotte: on my own. All expense paid!
Nina: take it then.
**Charlotte’s desk telephone rings**
Charlotte: hello…. to your office? Alright, coming.(drops the phone)
The manager wants to see me in his office. I’m scared now. I hope I haven’t made another blun-der
Nina: you just submitted the proposal he asked you to write, right?
Charlotte: yes and I am really hoping he is happy with it. Anyways, I’m going now.
Nina: good luck
Charlotte: I nee-d it!
(Charlotte got to Mr Adrian office and met him holding the business proposal she submitted to him earlier and she was worried that she may have got something wrong…With sweaty palms and an unsteady voice, she asked…)
Charlotte: you s£nt for me, sir?
Mr Adrian: yes, I did. Take a seat. Erm, I’ve just gone throu-gh the proposal and may I say what an amazing job you did!
Charlotte: phew! Thank you, sir.
Mr Adrian: this is very professionally drafted. Just goes to show that first impressions are not really as important as we think. My first impression of you wasn’t p@rticularly great.
Charlotte: I was having a very bad day on that day, sir.
Mr Adrian: so how are things? Any better?
Charlotte: I’m coping, sir.
Mr Adrian: coping means you’ve come to accept something you shouldnt, because you have no option. Do you really have to?
You always have options but sometimes they are not visible to you or you may nee-d someone else to reveal them to you.
Charlotte: I wish I have any options, sir
Mr Adrian: do you mind if I ask. What exactly is the problem?
Charlotte: it’s my husband, sir. He was made redundant over 5 months ago and I have been the one bearing all the family burdens.
It is putting pressure in our marriage and we are arguing a lot.
Mr Adrian: oh marriage! Is he actively seeking employment then?
Charlotte: yes, he is but no good news yet.
Mr Adrian: what sort of job is he looking for?
Charlotte: he was a bank manager before he was made redundant, so he is looking for a similar role.
Mr Adrian: give him my card; ask him to contact me after 12pm tomorrow. I may have something for him. Not here but in another company
Charlotte: oh thank You, sir. Thank You!
Mr Adrian: you are welcome. So when was the last time you went on a d@t£ with your husband?
Charlotte: Oh! Decades ago! Ermmm, it should be on his birthday. That was February last year
Mr Adrian: that’s nearly one year. Why don’t you take him out on a d@t£ or even a weekend away. That might calm things a bit.
Charlotte: he is not outgoing and would decline any such offer, sir.
Mr Adrian: That’s no good! Anyway I am new in town as you know and I nee-d to go out this Friday. I’m not sure if you know any nice place I can hang out for a drink or two and perhaps watch some music performance. Any idea?
Charlotte: Erm, yes. There’s quite a lot of such places within.
Mr Adrian: do you mind coming with me? I mean you can bring your husband if he wouldn’t mind. I just nee-d some company.
I am currently not getting on well with Jaykob I would have gone with him.
He is a very dishonest sneaky bastard and I can’t stand him. Pardon my language.
Charlotte: like I said, my husband is an indoor person but I wouldn’t mind going with you.
Mr Adrian: if that doesn’t cause more problems in your home, I would be grateful. Where would you like to be picked up?
Charlotte: by crescent bus st©p. Amos knows where that is
Mr Adrian: I’ll be coming with my personal driver. I don’t mix business with plea-sure. But not to worry he’ll find it. So see you Friday evening then!
Charlotte: alright, sir. I’ll go back to my office now.
Mr Adrian: sure, thank you.
(As Charlotte was walking back to her office, she bu-mped into Jaykob)
Jaykob: that must have been an annual meeting, with Mr Adrian, Mrs Deric!
Charlotte: Good morning, Jaykob!
Jaykob: it is certainly a good morning, from the look on your face. Anyways! Do take a look at your phone when you have a minute. I left you a message.
Charlotte: will do. (Walks back to her desk)
Nina: is everything okay?
Charlotte: yes! He said the proposal was excellent!!
Nina: great! Your husband called
Charlotte: the office line?
Nina: yes. He said he’s been trying to reach you throu-gh your mobile. He said he left you a message on whatsapp
Charlotte: Oh! Okay. Thanks.
(Charlotte opened her whatsapp and replied her husband’s message as well as Jaykob’s. But unknown to her, she mixed things up and s£nt the reply that was meant for Jaykob to her husband and vice versa!)
Nina: Jaykob bought us lunch. I’ve alre-ady had mine. Yours is un-der your table.
Charlotte: stingy man! What did he buy?
Nina: mine was some rice and drinks
Charlotte: boring!
Nina: I can have it if you don’t want
Charlotte: I’m hungry
Nina: then be appreciative!
Charlotte: yes ma’am!
(Charlotte got home and met her husband re-ading re-ading a newspaper and taking no notice of her pres£nce whatsoever)
Charlotte: guess what?
Deric: I am not good at guessing
Charlotte: you are getting a job Soon!
Deric: I’m as-suming that is my compensation for the k!ss, huh?
Charlotte: huh? What are you talking about???
Deric: (gr-abs his phone and starts re-ading out the message to her)
“You deliberately made me drink more than I should so you could k!ssme. If I wasn’t off my face, I would never have k!$$£d you, at least not this Soon! Erase that memory from your head as it may never happen again!”
Charlotte: it was…ermm, I can explain, Nina used my phone….No! She changed my SIM card. I can call her if you want….
EPISODE 4 – THE BRIDEGLOOM
Charlotte: Deric, I swear i didn’t s£nd
that message! I swear!
Deric: Just look at yourself! You can’t
even tell a convincing lie. Do you know
What? Call Nina.
Charlotte: (starts ringing Nina )
??????????????
Nina: Hello Charlotte, are you okay?
Charlotte: no! I am not! You’ve put me in
trouble
Nina: what are you talking about?
Charlotte: remember when you borrowed
my phone today to text your ex, you
actually s£nt the message to my
husband!
Nina: wha..
Charlotte: you used my phone to text
your b©yfri£ndnow I am in trouble
because you unknowingly s£nt the
message to my husband and he won’t
believe me!
Nina: oh that! Pas-s him the phone let me
talk to him, plea-se
Charlotte:( hands the phone to Deric)
Deric: Hello
Nina: I am truly sorry sir. Your wife can
never do a thing like that. I thought I
s£nt the message to my ex who has
been bugging me
Deric: you nee-d to be careful next time.
Nina: I am sorry, sir
Deric: no problems. Bye. (Hands the
phone back to Charlotte)
Charlotte: I’m not happy about this
Nina!!
Nina: sorry o!
Charlotte: Bye! (quic-kly s£nds a text to
Nina which re-ads “you are a life saver”
Nina replied “you are an idiot lol”)
?????????
Deric: I’m sorry for accusing you.
Charlotte: isn’t that all you do lately?
Tomorrow, we all will be having an
office dinner with our new manager, I’m
sure you will accuse me of going
somewhere else!
Deric: I am not crazy, Charlotte! Of
course you can attend your office
dinner.
********************************
(It was Friday evening, Charlotte spent
well over two hours doing her makeup
and trying out different outfits. At
around 7.pm, she was all done and
re-ady in her little black dress and near
perfect makeup. Her uber cab has just
arrived and she met Deric in the living
room)
Charlotte: Deric, my cab is here, I’m
leaving
Deric: Charlotte that dress is too short!
Charlotte: it isn’t! plea-se don’t start!
Deric: really? And why did you call an
uber when I can drop you and pick you
up when the dinner is over?
Charlotte: with which car?
Deric: our car!
Charlotte: well, I don’t have enough
petrol. Bye!
(Walks briskly to her cab and they
zoomed off. When she got to Crescent
bus st©p, she found Mr Adrian alre-ady
waiting with his personal driver in his
br@nd new Silver SUV
He was dressed in a black suit, white
inner shi-t and black trou-sers. His hair
was meticulously brushed and sprayed
like one of those Hollywood actors. He
has his cigar inbetween his f!ngers)
Charlotte: I’m really sorry to have kept
you waiting, sir
Mr Adrian: (takes a puff gets off the car,
opens and holds the door for her) get
inside. Ladies are never late. Whenever
they are re-ady is the right time. We did
not plan on wearing black today, did
we?
Charlotte: thank You, sir. We sure didn’t
but it’s not a bad idea at all.
Mr Adrian: not at all. Well, this
gentleman knows somewhere nice that
we can go, so you don’t have to worry
yourself about showing him what way to
go. It would feel as if you are taking me
out for a dinner and that is not so great
on my ego.
Charlotte: that’s not a problem, sir.
Mr Adrian: tonight, It will be great if you
call me by my name. It’s a bit awkward
going on a d@t£ with someone and they
keep calling you sir
Charlotte: alright, sir.
Mr Adrian: and she did it again. Anyway,
keep trying. No pressure
Charlotte: oh! Sorry, Mr Adrian.
(They finally arrived at a very posh club
with live music performance, disco
lights and one does not nee-d to be told
that you nee-d to be earning in millions
to be able to go there. The car park
looked like some sort of competition on
whose car was the most expensive and
newest. There was a heavy security
pres£nce from the entrance right
throu-gh the bar.
Mr Adrain went straight to the
receptionist and from his debit card,
paid the sum of 800, 000 thousand naira
and was shown to his space by one of
the waiters. His space was a pri-vate
corner with a table full of as-sorted kinds
of expensive wines and a pole dancer
was alre-ady leaning against the pole,
waiting on Mr Adrian to ask her to start)
Mr Adrian: Monday, you may join the
others in the hall. Come back to us at
12.30. Thanks. If you nee-d more
money, let me know but keep an eye on
your limits, remember, you are driving.
Monday: sure, sir. Thank you.
Mr Adrian: (turns to the pole dancer)
you may start. Thank you.
Charlotte: this is a very nice place.
Mr Adrian: I’m glad you like it. Well, I
expected your husband’s call but he
never called.
Charlotte: phewww! Deric is just some
kind of man. He might still call
Mr Adrian: if you say so. So, how long
have you been d@t!ngJaykob? (Pours
her some champagne)
Charlotte: (takes the glas-s from him)
Thanks. I am not d@t!ngJaykob. He is
only trying his luck.
Mr Adrian: how long has he tried and
has he had any breakthrou-gh yet? This
lady is great at what she does (referring
to the pole dancer)
Charlotte: yes, she’s good. Jaykob has
not had any breakthrou-gh yet, except
ma-king my work life difficult as I have to
face him every day.
Mr Adrian: that is not happening any
more. His transfer letter is re-ady. I’m
s£nding him to our Lagos br@nch. I nee-d
you to focus and help me take this
company to the next level.
Charlotte: I’ll do my best.
Mr Adrian: so how’s your marriage?
Charlotte: warm enough to melt my
bu-tter, but not h0t enough to boil my
egg.
Mr Adrian: that’s complex. Break it
down
Charlotte: it’s not so bad, but it’s not
great either. How’s your wife?
Mr Adrian: the question should be, do I
have one. Well I was married but we
divorced.
Charlotte: mind if I ask why?
Mr Adrian: she is in prison.
Charlotte: what for?
Mr Adrian: she has an unhealthy interest
in minors…
…to be continued