1 New Boss (1)

Kathleen kept tapping her right foot impatiently as the cab driver slowly made his way through the early morning Lagos traffic.

She hissed angrily each time she glanced at her wristwatch which reminded her that time really wasn't waiting for her. The day was yet to begin but she already knew it was not going to be a very good day for her. It had started off too wrongly to be a good day.

She had woken up quite late, which was totally not like her. And it was all because her neighbor's four months old baby had chosen to cry all through the night.

She lived in a 'face me I face you' building and for someone like her who had a very light ear which picked up sounds very fast, it was almost impossible to not even hear the conversations her neighbors were having in their rooms talk more of the sound of a crying baby in the very room which was next to hers.

She had been unable to sleep all through the night but had finally managed to doze off in the early hours of the morning. She had woken up with a start when her phone rang only to discover it was few minutes to seven, and so she hadn't bothered to check the caller or take the call, but had rushed outside to the bathroom, only to discover there was no water and there was a long queue of people waiting to use the bathroom.

She had an appointment by 9AM and by all indication she was going to lose this opportunity to get a promotion. She had moved from Delta state to Lagos in search of greener pastures, and just when she thought she had a good chance at finally making it in life and making her mother proud, her village people had managed to show their ugly face again. So instead of going in search of water to bathe, she had quickly brushed her mouth with the remnant of the satchet water she had kept in a cup the previous night, and without bothering to look for water to bathe she put on her well ironed suit, made up her face, combed her hair and left the house.

There was no way she was going to be using a bus, not when she was this late, after all 'na money they dey use take find money' so she had decided to take a cab instead. Of all the cabs in the beautiful city of Eko, her village people had directed her to stop a slow one, so here she was, stuck in traffic.

When she finally got to the office, she ran straight to the meeting room where she was supposed to make her presentation. She opened the door but the room was empty.

She paused by the desk as panic hit her, 'Calm down Kat, just calm down and think' she told herself as she took in a deep breath. She suddenly remembered she was yet to pray because of the rush. Even after skipping her prayers she still hadn't made it for the meeting obviously, so she took a moment to pray, and asked God to make things work together for her good.

After her short prayer she checked her wristwatch and realized it was just past 9:30AM, she felt calm even though she knew she really needed the promotion, not just for the sake of the title as head of HR but also for the salary raise that she knew would come with it.

She really needed that increment no matter how little it was, in order to meet up with payment for her younger sister's medical expenses, as well as to take care of other family expectations. Being the first child of her parents, she had so many responsibilities on her young shoulders and so she needed the promotion desperately.

She knew the only way to get her much deserved promotion was for her to take a desperate measure, so defying the office protocols she headed straight to the CEO's office and before the secretary could stop her she pushed open the door. "I'm sorry I came late sir please can you..." She stopped mid sentence when the man standing by the window turned around to face her.

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