7/8.
THE PACT
CHAPTER seven
‘’Lee! Good morning,’’ Madam Veronica politely greets when I get to the Hospice.
I woke up quite early, showered and headed straight to the hospice, I couldn’t sleep last night. I was so worried.
‘’Good morning madam V, how are you?’’
‘’I am fine thanks, how are you? I wasn’t expecting you would be here this early.’’
‘’I am fine, just nervous, I couldn’t sleep, I was worried about my girl.’’
‘’Take a seat plea-se.’’
‘’Okay,’’ I say, sitting down on the chair across from hers.
‘’I will not waste much of your time because I know you nee-d to go to work. Joan hasn’t been slee-ping well for the past days, she has been crying and fussing consistently. We ran a few tests and decided it’s time to change her medicine, we nee-d a c0cktail of drugs to keep her comfortable and out of pain. Unfortunately we don’t have the drugs here, they can only be gotten from South Africa at a cost of k30, 000,’’ she says.
‘’30, 000?’’ I ask, ‘’where am I even supposed to get that kind of money from?’’
My hands tremble and my heart races but I can’t st©p the emotions from threatening to overwhelm me.
‘’We nee-d to get the medicine as soon as possible or we will lose her.’’
I draw in a de-ep breath and let it out slowly, ‘’Okay,’’ I mumble, fighting back the tears that are threatening to fall.
‘’Thank you for everything, I will see what I can do.’’
She squee-zes my hand, ‘’I know this is ha-rd but do but this is the only option.’’
‘’I un-derstand, can I see her?’’
‘’Sure! You can go to her room.’’
‘’Thank you.’’
‘’Have a good day Lee.’’
I don’t reply to her comment, instead I walk out of her office and head to Joan’s room where I find her crying while the nurse is trying to quiet her. I get Joan from the nurse and she cries uncontrollably for a long time before she falls asleep.
My heart aches, I hate to see my child in this state- I will find that money at all costs. I leave the Hospice a few minutes later and head for work. If Kristian is in today, I know she will be extremely mad at me. I didn’t tell her I would be late, I was too worried about my child to think of calling her.
*
I open my eyes to the rays of sunshine peeping throu-gh the blinds, turning over my heart aches to find the side of the be-d where Clive usually sleeps empty. This is the first time in months that I have sle-pt alone, my be-d has always been a place where adventurous things happen from ma-king love for hours to cudd-ling and holding each other till morning.
This is the first time in months that I haven’t woken up to the t©uçh of his hands and c@r£ss!ngli-ps. I was content with what we shared and now that he is not here, I feel lonely and empty but I will not beg him- I will survive.
Clive is the first long-term man I’ve had, we met on a Sunday about a year ago at a restaurant, we sat on the same table and exchanged a few words, by the end of the evening we exchanged numbers.
He wanted a relationsh!pbut I told him I couldn’t commit so we opted to be friends with benefits.
I have been with a few men over the last couple of years but nothing lasts, each time I s-en-se that things are taking a serious turn I always bail out. I don’t want what happened to my parents to happen to me so I am better off being alone.
A glance at the clock tells me I nee-d to get re-ady for work or I am going to be late. I have decided to continue working at the company until I get a better offer ~somewhere else, I will s£nd out some applications, with my credentials it won’t be ha-rd for me to find something. Mr. Msizi has managed to humiliate me in the eyes of his daughter but I promise to have the last laugh.
Sli-pping out of be-d, I get into the bathroom, after turning on the shower ~and adjusting the water temperature, I step into the shower, I finish showering a few minutes later and quic-kly get dressed then I step out of the be-droom into the living room, surprisingly Jessie has prepared a~ nd served my breakfast in time. I sit down and eat while re-ading some online newspapers.
After I finish eating, I leave the house and drive to the office. Upon arrival I walk straight to the conference hall for the editorial meeting, only to find Kenzie is sitting in my seat. I smile knowing very well what she is trying to do and instead of starting a fight, I decide to act like a decent person and sit elsewhere, I will not stoop down to her level.
Kenzie clears her throat and looks up at me, ‘’Good morning sister.’’
I laugh, ‘’Good morning Kenzie.’’
‘’I hope you don’t mind but I decided to join the meeting today so I can have a feel of how you do things around here.’’
‘’I see! Before we get started, can you get me a list of yesterday’s approved stories from Lee’’ I tell Nancy.
‘’Okay,’’ she stands up and walks out.
She comes back in a few minutes later, ‘’Lee is not yet in.’’
‘’What do you mean he is not yet in?’’
‘’He hasn’t come.’’
‘’Oh, things are changing around here, let’s get started then.’’
For the next two hours, I listen to the ideas, I shoot down some and approve the workable ones. I am grateful though that Kenzie has kept her mouth shut, I had plans of shutting it up for her if she had said something.
‘’The meeting is done, let’s get to work, I expect to start receiving stories in my inbox as soon as possible,’’ I say.
And with that I rise to my feet and walk out.
‘’Where have you been?’’ I ask Lee when I get to the office.
‘’I had an errand to run in the morning.’’
‘’And you couldn’t call to inform me that you would be late?’’
‘’I am sorry, it was an emergency.’’
‘’Sorry for yourself,’’ I cli-ck my ton-gue. ‘’The next time this repeats itself, I will not think twice about firing you,’’ I say before walking into the office. I sit at my desk and turn on my computer, I am checking my emails when a knock sounds at the door.
‘’Come in.’’
Lee enters and stands in front of me, ‘’Mr. Msizi has called for a staff meeting in the conference hall in five minutes.’’
‘’What’s the agenda?’’
‘’I don’t know.’’
‘’Okay.’’
I do a ret©uçh of my makeup before heading back to the conference hall.
‘’I will not take much of your time colleagues, I would like to announce that I am stepping down as Editor in Chief for the magazine, in line with the same I am also plea-sed to announce that my daughter Kenzie will be taking over from me.’’
Everyone cheers for Kenzie while I try as much as possible to be calm because I don’t people to know how pissed off I am with the situation.
THE PACT
-Chapter 8-
6 P.M., pu-lling up in front of Jada’s house, I come to a st©p and put the car in park, I get out of the car and walk to the front door of the house, I knock twice at the door and wait a few seconds before Jada opens the door, she is carrying baby Else in her arms.
‘’Hey, you,’’ I exclaim.
‘’Hey, plea-se come in,’’ she opens the door wi-der and lets me in, leading me into her living room.
‘’How are you? plea-se feel at home.’’
‘’I am fine thanks, can I hold the baby?’’’
‘’Of course,’’ she says, handing Else to me.
‘’Food will be re-ady in a few minutes, can I get you something to drink?’’
‘’What’s on the menu?’’
‘’I am fully stocked,’’ she laughs.
‘’I don’t mind a glas-s of red wine, I have had such a busy day, I nee-d to unwind.’’
‘’Red wine it is,’’ she says before she disappears into the kitchen and emerges a few minutes later with a bottle of red wine and a glas-s, she pours the wine for me and places the glas-s on the table in front of me.
‘’Thank you girl.’’
‘’You are welcome, how have you been?’’
‘’Well, life has been life can’t complain, how is your husband and how is motherhood treating you?’’
‘’My husband is fine, he is working late tonight and motherhood is perfect, I love spending time with my baby, I don’t know what will happen when I resume work, I am not re-ady to start leaving her yet and you know my job is involving.’’
‘’Being a doctor is quiet involving, I don’t envy you at all.’’
‘’Oh plea-se, how is work? How are things between you and Calvin?’’
‘’Work?’’ I roll my eyes. ‘’I am actually looking for another job, Calvin and I are done.’’
‘’Girl!’’ she exclaims, ‘’what did you do to Calvin and why are you looking for another job?’’
‘’Calvin bec@m£ too serious for my liking, he was talking about introducing me to his sister and being in a committed relationsh!p, can you imagine the fool went to talk to my mother about us, I was pissed I showed him the exit door.’’
She laughs, ‘’you will never change and here I was thinking you had finally found the one.’’
‘’Is there such a thing as “the one?”Fairy tales are for movies and books, wake up.’’
‘’You should be the one to wake up, some of us are living the life that only people re-ad about in books.’’
‘’Congratulations unfortunately not everyone is as lucky as you are.’’
‘’You nee-d to give yourself a chance, allow someone to love you and–.’’
‘’How is Jaden?’’ I ask, trying to change the subject.
She laughs, ‘’Jaden is fine, tell me about work, what’s been happening? Why do you want to quit?’’
Before I respond, her maid walks up to us and says, ‘’food is re-ady.’’
‘’Thank you Tina, plea-se get Else while we eat, I just finished feeding her, try and put her to be-d.’’
‘’Okay.’’
‘’Girl, let’s go and eat, I am starving,’’ she says.
I give the baby to Tina and we walk to the dining room, we sit down, dish up the food and start eating.
‘’So tell me about work.’’
‘’Mr. Msizi is stepping down and guess who he asked to take over from him?’’
‘’Who?’’
‘’Kenzie.’’
‘’Your step sister? You lie.’’
‘’I am still in shock.’’
‘’That’s the worst form of betrayal, why would he do that to you? You deserve to be promoted.’’
‘’Exactly what I said but no the old man wouldn’t have it, he would rather his favorite daughter takes over from him.’’
‘’That’s really bad, I feel for you.’’
‘’I want to quit but I don’t want to just be home, I nee-d a new job.’’
‘’Well there is an opening at dad’s company, it hasn’t been advertised because they are thinking of recruiting internally.’’
‘’What position?’’
‘’Marketing Director, the one holding that position is retiring next month.’’
‘’You should set up an interview for me with daddy P, it would be an honor for me to work for him.’’
She clears her throat, ‘’there is a problem though.’’
‘’Why?’’
‘’They want someone mature and married- you know dad runs his company based on the principles of family and integrity. Daddy P is a family man, he is very p@rticular with the people he hires, he loves to work with people of the same mindset.’’
‘’What is that supposed to mean?’’
‘’I don’t think he can hire you, you are good at what you do Kristian but the kind of lifestyle you are leading isn’t what he would consider acceptable. And you know the opinions that people have about you on social media.’’
I made headlines on social media a few months ago after I had an argument with a prominent businessman, people called me rude and ruthless- for some time my business was all over social media including my personal life.
‘’That issue alre-ady pas-sed, I am sure people have forgotten and I will change.’’
‘’I don’t know if you can fit in though, Sondashi Inc is family oriented, they work as a team, they believe and celebr@te each other, for my father that place is more than business, it’s family- this is why my brother and his wife work there, mummy too.’’
‘’I can change, set up an interview for me.’’
‘’You are not married.’’
‘’Come on Jada, do this for me, plea-se.’’
‘’Fine, I will set up an interview for you but good luck convincing my dad you are not what he thinks you are. And one thing you should about daddy P is that he investigates, if you lie to him, he will find out.’’
‘’Set up the interview and leave the rest to me.’’
‘’Okay.’’
*
Tbc