Gossip at lunch

Aisha

I walk into the office at about thirty minutes past eight and the receptionist—Beatrice looks at me with a knowing smile on her face. She is the first person to see me when I come every morning, and even though my late coming has been a problem that has led me to the HR's office. Nothing has made me change my streak. Just the fact that I don't even want to be here in the first place is the main reason why I am so rebellious.

My nonchalant attitude is known to everyone. They know me in the office as a stubborn and rebellious employee. I keep hoping for something better, anything that will make me stop hating myself when I wake up each morning.

"Good morning,'' I greet my colleagues as I walk into the open office that we call a classroom. They all look up from their computers at me as I take my seat on my desk. I know what they are thinking. They are wondering why I am so loud and proud about my entrance. It is already late. The least I can do is just walk in quietly and start my work.

"Madam latecomer," Ada, my colleague and best friend in the office points out with a smile on her face. We are like night and day. She is the complete opposite of me. Unlike me, she takes her job seriously. Even though she hopes for better, she accepts this one. She is grateful to have a job. The difference between me and Ada is that she is married to an amazing man and they have two children. We are the same age but she has her life figured out already.

"What is your own?'' I glare at her as I press the power button to turn on my computer. The screen blares up as she chuckles loudly.

"You live a couple of minutes away from the office and you always end up coming later than the people on the mainland,'' she breathes out. I close my eyes for a breather because she is just teasing me as she usually does. Ada lives an hour away from the office on a good day with traffic, it could take about two hours.

"You know I don't even want to be here,'' I tell her.

She laughs again because it is almost like she knew I was going to say that. Almost like she knows what I am going to say before I do "You are so predictable.''

We start our work for the day and as I start to respond to emails from customers, I hate my job even more with the responses I get from them.

After a couple of hours, I walk down the stairs with Ada, clutching my lunch bag "There are rumors that there will be an international retreat this time,'' She tells me as we get into the kitchen. I walk over to one of the empty chairs and put my lunch box on it. today, I packed a chicken sandwich. I sit down immediately and she joins me. lunchtime is our usual gossip time. We talk about the people in the office, the gossips, and gists as we like to call it. Ada is the only one that I relate to in this place. she is the only one that understands me and accepts me for who I am. I have been in Trust and Allied for four years. Fresh out of college, I got a job here. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and my father had to speak to one of his colleagues from his old friend, who knew someone, who knew someone. That is how it is in Nigeria, everything is a struggle, even finding a job. I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. It didn't matter, no one was hiring unless you had connections. After a couple of months of looking for a job, I finally gave up and that is when my father took the reins. he was worried that I was going to end up staying at home for more than a year, so he went ahead to beg.

Unlike me, this is not Ada's first job. she worked at a bank before she came here. Which gave her more experience than me.

"They always say that. the last time we had a retreat, they took us to one dead hotel. I had to share a room with Mary. It was pure torture for me,'' I remind her of the last one we had.

She laughs because we both wanted to share a room. The head of HR—Linda, thought it would be a good idea to shuffle us all. A way for us to get to know each other. I hated the idea because it was a whole week and I didn't want to spend it with someone that I didn't get along with. At the end of it, they put me with one of the marketers—Mary. Mary and I have never gotten along.

"Mary wasn't as bad as Nneka. You know how bad she smells. I had to share a fucking bed with her,'' she laughs, to her, it was an adventure. To me, it was just pure torture.

The door to the kitchen opens and Salam walks in. Salam is a family friend and colleague. I have known him since I was a kid. His father and my father are friends from university. His eyes roam around until they stop at me. he smiles and walks over to us. Ada nudges me as she takes a bite of her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "Your man is here,'' she smiles widely as he stops in front of us.

I shake my head immediately but I don't get the chance to reject it. Salam is not my man; we had a thing when I was in university but it never really amounted to anything. at the end of it all, I realized that I didn't actually like him like that. I only saw him as a friend and I wish he would see that too. The fact that our parents have basically matchmade us together in their heads just makes this even harder.

"Hey,'' he waves his hand still standing over us.

"Hi Sal,'' I call him by the nickname I gave him when we were younger. Just because I don't feel the same way he does, doesn't mean I don't care for him. he is a big part of my life and I will always love him like a brother. He will always have a special place in my heart. He smiles and waves at Ada "How far?'' he greets her too.

She smiles and takes another bite of her sandwich "I am okay o, just trying to get through lunch,'' she winks at me, almost like a silent you are welcome. I roll my eyes and face him again "Do you need something?''

He nods. "I want to talk to you, can you come out with me for a second?'' he asks with this hopeful expression. One that makes it really hard for me to say no to. Salam is a very handsome man. He is a dark chocolate complexion, with brown eyes. He is tall and well built. Hussaina my sister can't understand why I haven't just married him already. She seems to think that he is a catch and everyone else does too but I don't want to marry for comfort. I want the adventure of exploring love. I want my heart to beat for the man that I will spend the rest of my life with. I know love only happens in fairytales but I am the one percent that still believes it exists.

"Sure,'' I manage and he rests his hand on the small of my back as he leads me out of the kitchen.