Author: Rita_writes

•••

Josephine eyebrows twitched in irritation as she glared at the trembling hands of the small lady who she—sadly— called her secretary. Beads of sweat rolled down Funke's face as she searched her briefcase for the file she was to submit to her boss today.

"Funke," Josephine finally called.

"M-Ma'am?" She looked up, her eyes painted with fear. She took a heavy gulp when she saw the calm expression on Josephine's face. A calm expression on her Boss face was never a calm expression.

"First of all, never refer to me as Ma'am if you don't want to lose your job. Don't stutter when you speak to me and will you stop with the trembling fingers and sniffing, It's really irritating."

Funke nodded with each word, she squeezed her small palms into a fist as she tried to stop them from shaking, sniffing even more deeply as she struggled to control her running nose.

"J-just get out," Josephine said. "Go take care of that nose, and I want to see that file today Funke, today."

"Yes Ma—Miss." She corrected herself immediately before running out the office.

Josephine stared at the close door for awhile before letting out a heavy sigh, rubbing her forehead.

Josephine was tired, she was tired of staying in the same office for ten hours every weekday. She was tired of the same office chair which honestly she felt was pushing her buttocks inside because of its hardness. She was tired of having to correct her employees because they kept making the same stupid mistake, above all, she was tired of being alone, but not like she would admit it to anyone, not even her closest friends.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by her ring tone. She gave her phone the stink eyes as she wondered who was calling her during working hours. She decided to ignore the call, but on second thoughts she reached for her phone.

"If it isn't important, kindly hang up now." Was the first thing she said as she answered the call.

"Christ." the familiar voice of her ex came through the phone. "Won't you ever change? You didn't even care to look at the Caller ID."

Josephine clicked her tongue in annoyance, rolling her eyes. "What do you want Emeka, I don't have time for this. If you don't have anything else to say, I-"

"But you didn't even let me get to the reason I called Jo, why are in such a hurry... You know, this is one of the reasons our relationship crashed."

Josephine raised a brow in annoyance, she chuckled wickedly. "The reason? No. The reason our relationship crashed is because you broke up with me, why? Your weak ass couldn't handle me." With that she hung up. "Bastard!" She cursed, breathing heavily.

She knew she was wrong the moment she had said that, Emeka could handle her, in fact he handled her so well—especially in bed. She wasn't surprised when he had broken up with her, even she would have broken up with herself. Sometimes she wondered how he was able to contain their eight months relationship before it finally crashed.

"Reason our relationship crashed," she repeated his words. "Reason my foot!" A beep came from her phone which she still held tightly, she look down at it to read the message showing on her screen.

My ass isn't weak, I can prove that to you if you have easily forgotten.

Josephine rolled her eyes again and scoffed.

I'm on my way to your office, we're going out to talk.

She blinked twice, then read the sentence again. "Ha!" She laughed. "This man is a joker, you and who?" A small knock came from the door again. Josephine looked up. "Who is it?" She asked angrily.

"Ma'am it's me," Funke's tiny voice came from the other side of the door.

Josephine slammed her hands on her desk. Funke's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "What the fuck did you call me!" Josephine shouted.

"I'm sorry!" Funke cried.

~~~

Josephine stepped out her office and immediately, all talks died down. She wondered why they even bothered to pretend, sometimes Josephine wished she could replace them with robots, but then she would have no one to transfer her anger to.

"Funke, I'm going home," she said as she walked past Funke's desk. "Anyone who wants to see me can wait till tomorrow."

"Yes Miss," Funke said nodding her head.

Josephine walked out the building with a sweet image of her bed on her head. She opened her bag to search for her car keys, when she froze in her steps as she heard approaching feets. She feared the worst as she slowly looked up and confirming her fears was Emeka.

He was dressed in his signature black. Emeka had always had a taste for anything black. Josephine remembered the first time meeting him, he gave her a perfect description of a 'bad boy', and that should be because she was one to judge someone by the way they look.

Josephine noticed the new contact lens he was putting on, the last one, when he broke up with her was a shade of blue, this was just light brown. He had both hands in his pocket as he walked towards her, a swag in his steps.

Josephine bit her lower lips hard. "What are you doing here?"

"I know you read my text Josephine," he said as he stopped before her. He raised an eyebrow, a smirk on his face. "Did you miss me?" His voice was warm and inviting, holding a seductive hinge to it. It feels as if he had spoken from his chest, rather than the head—pleasing and not at all nasal.

"I don't have time for your silly questions, say what you want or leave." She tried to walk past him, but he followed, blocking her path.

"Woah, hold on Jo." He chuckled. "Fine, will you please, Josephine Peters, come have lunch with me?"

She crossed her arms before her, just below her bosoms, which made the pound of flesh rise, showing the smooth skin of her cleavage of the open eyes of Emeka. "Are you drunk?"

He cleared his throat. "No."

"You sure?"

"I think so?"

"Who do you take me for?"

"Jo-"

"No, don't call me Jo, you don't get to call me Jo. You broke up with me, it was your decision not mine so you can't come back here, looking all... You know how you look like! And then ask me out for lunch, not happening."

"I just want us to talk Jo."

"Oh no you don't, you just need a hole to shove your dick in this Valentine. Well asshole, I am not your puta."

"You're doing this again Jo, we can't even have a decent conversation without you assuming things. I broke things off with you because your father rules our relationship, you're so bent on pleasing your father, you don't make out time for anything or anyone else. You're right, I shouldn't have come, I'm just the fool who fell in love with you."

Josephine watched him as he walked away, not saying a word or moving to stop him. No, Josephine won't bring herself that low to chase after a man, even if it was one who she had deep feelings for.

Her father was waiting.

~~~

Josephine sat opposite her father in her family's house. She had gotten a surprising call earlier from her father, asking her to come over. She tapped her feet impatiently as she waited for him to speak.

She cleared her throat. "So, how's Mom?" Josephine asked.

Her father was dressed in a native Ankara, busy typing away on his phone. He mumbled a reply to Josephine's question, one she could barely hear. Josephine sighed and looked down at her coffee. "Ohkay," she whispered slowly.

"So, how did you settle the business deal with Mr Matthews?"

"We agreed on twenty one million, sixty-"

"Twenty one million?" He repeated, his voice raising a tad bit.

Josephine braced herself, she knew what was about to come. "It's a good deal father, according to the files, you settled a similar deal for eighteen million-"

"Are you now going to compare my achievements with yours?"

Josephine sighed rubbing the worried brows on her forehead. "Let's not get this twisted Father. Mr Matthews wouldn't have settled for anything above that, I spoke with mum, she agreed-"

"Do not bring your mother into this!" He thundered. "She knows nothing about business." Josephine kept quiet, biting her insides as she struggled to remain calm. "Yes, I had a deal like that and it went off for eighteen million, you could have done better."

Josephine didn't know what to say, she thought she had 'done better'. She had  ended the deal with three million higher than her father and he still didn't think she did better. "I thought that was a good enough deal," she said.

"Of course you did, you're a woman, you people will always think like that," he said angrily, looking very irritated. "I don't know why you keep making wrong decisions in all part of your life, in work, in your relationship-"

"Emeka and I aren't together anymore Father, we ended things two months ago."

"Yes, but you still went against my wish and dated him for eight months! Your relationship with him clouded your thoughts. If you want to handle the business, you handle it. Don't bring in stupid relationships into it. You let your guard down, got carried with his sweet words and your stupid emotions. If I had a son..."

Josephine rolled her eyes, here was the usual topic her father never failed to bring up 'If I had a son'.

"He would have done so much better." He finished.

"I am trying my best father," Josephine said between gritted teeths.

"Your best is not enough."

She stared at him for awhile, all the things running through her head was how she could end his life in five second. Break the bottle of wine on his head and stab his heart with one of the broken shards or the better way not to get her hands dirty was to tell him she was pregnant for Emeka, he would surely have a heartattack and she won't have to go to jail for murder.

"You're wrong," she whispered under her breath.

"What?"

She kept quiet for awhile, not answering his question, she stood up. "I said you're wrong, I'm handling the business better, better than you or the fictional son you have cooked up in your head will ever do."

"Are you crazy Amaka!" He shouted, calling her by her native name.

"No, I am not," she replied and bent to pick up her bag. "It was a mistake coming here, I have someone to see." She began to walk out of the living room.

"Amaka come back here!" Her father shouted after her standing up.

"You should sit down and rest father, we don't want you having a heartattack at such an early age," she told him. "Not like it would be such a bad idea though," she muttered to herself.

~~~

Josephine sighed and she stared down at the familiar number. She wondered if he would even pay her a listening ear. "Lord, I hate this stupid feeling." She sat alone in her car. It was getting dark already, and the clouds were painted with the afterglow of the sun.

She gave a heavy sigh and shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

She scrolled through her contacts till she saw his name, without thinking twice, she dialled it.

Josephine frowned when Emeka picked almost immediately.

"Hello?" His rich voice came through the phone. She sighed as a familiar feeling ran through her spine.

"Hey," she said softly.

"Jo?"

"Yeah, it's me. I... I'm sorry for the way I treated you earlier-"

"Josephine, I'm sorry I have to go, we'll see." Without another word he cut the call. Josephine froze as she wondered if what had just happened really happened.

"Ok, maybe I deserved that," she said to herself, then moved to start up her car. "Stupid feelings." Emeka deserved better she knew that, and if he had moved on, it was best she did.

She arrived back at her house moments later. The huge gates were pulled open by the gate man.

"Madam, uncle dey wait for you," he said the moment she stepped out of her car.

"Who is uncle?" She asked confused.

"Hey," Another voice said. Josephine gulped as she turned round.

"Emeka?" She looked surprised, she wasn't expecting his presence at all.

He chuckled by the look on her face. "Come on, you should know how stubborn I am by now, did you think I was going to give up that easily?"

Josephine gave a small smile. "It's too late to go out for dinner."

He looked down at his watch. "You're right," he said. Then walked over to her. "It doesn't have to be today though."

"Tomorrow?" She asked in a whisper.

He shruggrd. "I was thinking more on the fourteenth?"

Josephine grinned. "Ok."

•••