Being Human...
It was 6.52 am. Dolapo snoozed her alarm one more time. She was still so tired. She had an extremely long Sunday and honestly wished she could stay in bed longer than usual.
She managed to wake up from the beautiful dream she was having; Jay was about proposing in the dream, then her boss had walked into the office and somehow, Jay couldn't go on with the proposal with that look on his girlfriend's boss' face. Proposal was ruined, as a matter of fact, every other person had gone back to their various tables to go on with their jobs after sighting Mrs. Olowolayemo's car being parked. Dolapo was obviously pissed but she smiled at her boss, collected her bags and the files from the driver, winked at Jay and of course, Jay got the message... and Dolapo woke up...
"Holy God... 7.25... " Dolapo exclaimed as the light from the power-saving bulb shone on her eyes when power was restored. She hurried out of bed, picked up her bible to read psalms 23; that was her "rush hour" passage for morning devotion. She couldn't step out of the house without reading at least two verses of the bible, praying and getting her make-up done. But today, she had to skip one. She hurried into the bathroom, did a little bit of singing and praying too. She remembered to pray that her dream come true and her boss won't be there to ruin the surprise. This was her year, 2014 wasn't going to end without her getting something tangible out of it. She got out of the bathroom in 5minutes, hurriedly brushed her hair, and applied just her powder and lipstick, and was out of the house.
***
"And this is how you want to end the year?..." Mrs. Olowolayemo rolled her eyes in disgust.
"I'm sorry ma... I take responsibility for my late coming ma. it won't happen again, I promise..." Dolapo hissed in her mind. It wasn't as if she was an habitual late comer.
"Anyway, we have so much to do today... so just get started with the files on your table... and no mistakes in those letters. I have a meeting to attend now, but I'd be back as soon as I can." she said, getting up from her table to step out of the office.
"Okay ma..." Dolapo said faintly. She needed a new job; she thought to herself, that she should have prayed about that instead of the proposal from Jay.
"Sweerie mi... you didn't even buzz me like you always do this morning..." Jay said with a smile that Dolapo could literally feel from the other end of the line...
"I'm sorry jare. I woke up late, rushed out and yes, I had tons of things to do when I got to work. How's your day going?" Dolapo asked with a tired voice.
"Eehya, Pele love... can we meet for lunch then?"
"Lunch will be just fine. I sure need a break... errmm... let me call you back, boss is back" Dolapo said ending the call.
The rest of the day was the usual work, work and more work that Dolapo totally forgot about lunch with Jay, and unfortunately, she had abandoned her phone somewhere and was drowned in the series of documents she had to sort out.
"5.00pm... Oh my God, i've done it again..." Dolapo scolded herself as she summoned courage to go meet her boss.
"Ma, I have to leave now..." she wasn't expecting so much of a positive answer from her boss especially since she had showed up late at work today but she had to give it a try. As she stood, stylishly shaking her legs from impatience, since her boss didn't even raise her head to look at her, Dolapo went to re-state her reasons, more audibly this time, since she thought to herself that maybe her boss did not hear her the first time.
"I heard you the first time. You may leave..." Mrs. Olowolayemo said in the coldest of tones. But Dolapo wasn't moved. She had a fiancee to go apologise to. She leaped for joy in her mind for the "miracle answer" she just got from her boss. She could almost hug her boss that moment but she just calmly said "thank you ma. Have a lovely night ma"
Dolapo hurriedly packed her ipod, Blackberry charger and phone into her bag, she hated her table being disorganized but there was no time for any re-arrangement this evening. She smiled at Lizzy across her table...
"Babe, work well oh, hopefully by 7.00pm, you guys will be through. I'm outta here" Dolapo laughed out this time around and before Lizzy could ask any further questions, Dolapo was out of the building.
***
Mr. Shupo was so prompt. He had literally appeared at the car park of Horizon Group of Companies Ltd to pick up Dolapo. All she had to do was call her cab man and he'd be here; one of the reasons she loved this city; no unnecessary traffic everywhere.
Dolapo managed to speak the little yoruba she knew to the cab man.
"Jay''s house... immediately" she tried not to sound bossy.
"Right away ma..." and so they drove off while Dolapo kept pinging, calling and texting Jay to no avail.
"He sure has the right to be angry with me... this wasn't my first time of keeping him waiting without calling to say I won't be able to keep up with our appointment... Dolapo, what is wrong with you..." Dolapo kept scolding herself...
"Pick up, please..." she lifted her head and here they were at Jay's house.
"Madam, he no dey around oh. I never see oga since he comot for house this morning" Aliu said.
"I see..." Dolapo smiled at the gate man and told him to tell his boss she came around.
"Please take me home..." she turned to Mr. Shupo. She was really exhausted from the day's activities...
And now Jay wasn't even at home. That wasn't his culture, to stay out late. He loved getting home on time, he just enjoyed the comfort of his own cozy apartment. There was only one place Dolapo knew Jay could be anytime he was having one of those days and didn't want to go home on time.
As they drove past the mall, Dolapo was tempted to drop by on Jay at his usual "solace joint" somewhere in the mall but she just couldn't undergo any further stress and embarrassment that could emerge from having to beg him to come out so that they could talk, 'cause she knew her fiancee, no, boyfriend...
"Whatever..." Dolapo sighed.
"Any problem madam?" Mr. Shupo asked.
"No, not at all... just keep going..."
Dolapo brought out her phone... it was time to drown her sorrows by going through fashion blogs.
***
"Tomorrow, 2pm, usual restaurant..." Jay sounded disinterested.
He sure loved Dolapo and he was also a busy man, busier than Dolapo but he couldn't understand why her job was so demanding. Sometimes, he felt she was always exaggerating when she talked about the tons of paper work she had to do. He was losing touch with this babe. And it was even easier for him to get tired because Dolapo wouldn't give in to all his advances. She was too "spiri-koko" like he always said. But too beautiful to let go for such reasons...
"Okay. I'd be there. I promise... I love you" Dolapo waited for Jay's response that never came...
"Tomorrow, yeah..." Jay said as he dropped the call.
*Being Human...
*Faith Tunde-Yara
*photo credit: theguardian.com
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