I sprawled out the papers in front of me and handed each page to my employees. We were all seated in my tiny boardroom as we tried to brainstorm on our latest "love problem".
I read out. "Okay. Let's begin. This one is from a person called Arewa and she says this; "I've been dating a guy for six years and he's not ready to propose to me. Whenever I try to pick up the conversation, he evades it before I can say a word. I'm so tired already. What do I do?'
What's our take on this?"
Mrs. Dada, our middleaged married consultant frowned slightly. "She should definitely talk it out properly with him. Give him a deadline. She needs to stop worrying about what he thinks and voice out her opinions. Proper communication is key in relationships."
Yvonne rolled her eyes. "She should dump the guy, jare. Of course, we won't put it in our article but let's be honest. If a guy makes me wait that long and says nothing about marriage, I'll leave his sorry ass. 6 years is a long time for him to say nothing and I'm not a patient girl."
Ike pointed out. He was the only man in my team and his male perspective helped to balance out our opinions. "What if he feels like he's not ready for it? Guys like to be careful about stuff like that."
Tanto scoffed. Tanto was the youngest of the group, but clearly the most outspoken. "Careful? After 6 years? You don't have to be bias about this, just cause you're a guy."
Ike shot her a look, as his dark eyes gleamed. "I'm not being bias. I'm looking at it from his point of view."
Onome, whom everyone liked to call Nome, had been quiet all these while. She had watched everyone with narrowed set of keen eyes and finally responded. "What makes you think that you know his point of view? He could be a crappy boyfriend or he could be an amazing boyfriend. We don't know the truth, but what we DO know is that he's wasting the poor girl's time."
While the conversation was valid, I wasn't fond of the idea of going off topic. "I think we're digressing a little. I do need to point out one thing Mrs. Dada made mention. Communication. They both need to talk. I think the problem in relationships is that when a woman makes her point known, she is seen as someone who nags or complains, and it shouldn't be so. Even if she wants to express her opinions, she'll be more concerned about he thinks or what he would perceive her as, rather than saying what she has to say."
Yvonne's brown hair bobbed as she spoke. "Exactly, I was on a date with a guy the other day and I told him that I hated the way he slurped his drink. He was sucking on the straw like a caveman and it was so embarrassing. Okay, maybe it wasn't the right first date conversation, but I did want to give out my opinions. I never heard of him after that. And yet, he made mention of something about me and I didn't even complain. Why are guys like that?"
Ike admitted. "Because guys like to be in control. Unfortunately."
Tanto agreed. Her coal black eyes twinkling. "At least you're being honest, for once."
Pulling out my pen from my bag, I concluded my words. "So what are we agreeing on now? What do we tell her?"
Nome answered. "Let her know the importance of communication. Tell him her opinion, whatever his response is, depends on her decision."
I nodded. "I like that. Also it's important that we let her know if she's willing to stay with him, without being a wife, there are other measures she can take. In case she's interested in being a "life partner" or his baby mama or any label both of them would be comfortable with, without actually getting married." I paused to look at my secretary. "Yvonne, I hope you are getting this."
Yvonne was my secretary whose primary role mainly required her to take notes everything we discussed on her laptop. "Yes ma'am."
I continued. "We have make sure she understands that we sympathize with her and not judge her choice, through our article. It's important she gives us a positive feedback about our response too. We shouldn't also be—"
My ringtone rang aloud, cutting short our conversation. I groaned internally, when I saw the caller ID. Tife. I faced my employees with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. You have to excuse me. I'll be back."
I excused myself from the boardroom and entered my office. Picking up my phone, I answered, gruffly. "What is it, Johnson?"
His husky voice boomed with laughter. "What's with the hostility, Nwankwo?"
"You cut short my important meeting. Besides, why are you calling?"
"I just miss my special girl."
I rolled my eyes. "Be serious. Just this once."
The teasing in his words were replaced with concern lacing it. "I just found out that you broke up with Desmond from Imade. How am I just finding out about it when it happened, three months ago, especially since we saw each other thrice within those months? I thought we were close enough for that. I'm sincerely hurt."
I didn't know if he was sincerely hurt by that or if he was messing with me, but I knew he deserved to know the truth. "I didn't want you to tease me about it. Neither did I want to hear you gloat about how right you were about him."
When he spoke, he sounded disappointed. He actually sounded like a real friend. It came as a complete shock to me. "I'm not that insensitive. I knew how important he was to you."
"Then I'm sorry for not mentioning it. It's just a sore topic for me. It's a pretty long story."
"How about this, why don't I take you out to dinner? It's platonic, so relax. Just to talk and catch up on old times. I'm also in a good mood. I won a case and I need someone to celebrate it with. Are you going to be free this evening?"
I cocked my head to the side, trying not to read too much into what he wanted. "Pretty much, yeah. I was supposed to go out with Imade this evening, but she cancelled two days ago."
His response was quick. "Yeah. She told me that too. That's another reason I called. Should I come pick you up by seven?"
"Send me the address. I'll meet you there. Just try to be on time." I warned. Tife wasn't usually the punctual type, no matter how much he tries to be convincing.
I could detect the amusement in his voice. "Have some faith in me, woman."
I chuckled. "See you later too."
I hung up and tucked my phone in my pocket. Walking back to the boardroom, I sat down and said to the expectant faces in front of me. "Now, where were we?"
.......
It's good to be back and I have an extra chapter just for you.
Xoxo
Jasmine
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top