Chapter 64

A month had gone by and Janet had completely forgotten about Marcus till that Wednesday when she was her way back from lunch, outside the bank and she bumped into him. At first, she did not look at the face of the person she bumped into, instead, she tried to see if anything fell on the floor. She looked up instantly when the deep somewhat familiar voice said, "Janet?"

Then she saw his almond brown beautiful eyes that creased at the side from his wide smile. His teeth looked white and perfectly arranged. His hair was a brown shade and he had a low fade hairstyle which took about ten years from his current age. He looked so happy to see her again. It took her five seconds to figure out where she had seen that face before. The well trimmed beard made him unrecognizable, the last time she saw this man, he was clean shaven.

"Marcus?" She asked, she wanted to make sure she was not making a mistake. But, how could she make a mistake, this handsome and tall stranger was the same man who suggested that she gets rewarded for her act of kindness, which was not really kindness considering that she was just doing her job.

As she said his name, he nodded and smiled more, then he said, "Yeah, that's right. How are you?"

She was relieved that she got his name right. Then she relaxed for a friendly chat. "I'm okay, how are you doing? Are you here to meet Mr. Ian?"

"Well, I came here for another business but not with Andrew, or Mr Ian, as you address him."

"Oh, well, do your thing then. It's good to see you" she said polietly and was about to leave when he stopped her. She looked confused but when he said, "The thing is, I actually came here to see you", she relaxed and asked, "See me? For what? How can I help you? Let's go inside the bank to talk"

He shook his head and said, "I mean, I wanna go inside but it's not a formal thing. It's less about work and more about just talking to you, like on a casual "get to know you more" level—if you permit me."

Janet smiled and said, "Marcus, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

He smiled and said, "Yeah, I'm asking you out on a lunch date. Would you like to go out for lunch with me? We could get to know more about ourselves. Look, I hope I'm not imposing but, I really think you're amazing and that this beauty is not just on the outside, and I'd like to know more about this beautiful woman called Janet Curtis"

She was surprised at his request but what surprised her more was the fact that he remembered her full name even though she only said it once. She wondered if he had been thinking about her this whole time, she couldn't stop herself from asking him, "You remembered my name, how's that even possible? We barely spoke that day."

"Easy, I was interested in you—still am by the way. I cannot forget anything about anyone I really like so...Look, I don't want you to think I'm a weirdo who just ghosted you and now I'm reappearing and asking you out on a date, the thing is, I've actually been away all these time but I couldn't stop regretting that I did not get your contact that day and—"

Then her phone went off ringing and it interupted their conversation—it even jerked her—when she checked, it was her phone alarm notifying her that her break was over so she looked back up at him and said, "Marcus, I need to kinda go now but the date thing, let's do it tomorrow."

"Okay, that would be amazing, but can I have your number now? I promise not to overtext if you hate those type of things."  He said and even did a cross sign on his chest.

She laughed and said, "I don't exactly—okay, maybe don't overtext now, since we've not known much about each other."

"I pinky promise" he replied and held up his pinky finger.

She chuckled and then gave him her phone number and he texted her so that she'd get his number. She bade him goodbye and walked back into the bank smiling. He was watching her and she knew because she turned around and saw him still watching her when she entered the bank. He was smiling and he looked very excited. She wanted to tell him that she loved his smile but she wondered if it as too soon to be flirting with him. As if he read her mind, he texted and when she checked the text he said, "Have a great "rest of the day" and thanks for not saying no to the lunch date, looking forward to it."

She got back to her counter and immediately Fawn saw her, she asked, "Did they serve extra toppings on your pizza? You have been gone awhile." She raised her head to reply but before she could get a word in, Fawn said, "Oh my God, don't tell me, I know that smile, it's a guy, isn't it?"

Janet smiled, nodded and said, "Yup, do you remember Marcus?"

Fawn stopped what she was doing and paid full attention to Janet, "No, who is he?"

Janet was surprised that Fawn had forgotten him so she said, "You don't remember him? The one who told Mr Ian to reward me? The guy from last month?"

Fawn immediately remembered him and said, "Ohhhh, I remember him, you just saw him?"

"Even better, he asked me out on a lunch date tomorrow and I accepted." Janet replied with a smile.

"Aww, he was good looking that day so I approve this date."

"He is goodlooking, no doubt. You should have seen how hot he looked today, and with his beard, I barely recognized him. Oh, and his perfume, I was so distracted by that. He said he had been on a trip this whole time, but he could not stop thinking of me?"

"What? Really? That is so nice. I'm honestly jealous of you right now, you got yourself a nice gentleman. Why did he suggest lunch instead of dinner?"

Janet thought about it too and said, "You're right, why didn't he ask me to dinner? I guess it's because he did not want to make it too serious, since it's our first time going out. I don't mind that it is lunch."

Fawn nodded and said, "Yeah, no pressure from him whatsoever, that's really nice. My advice, look really nice for work tomorrow and carry extra lipstick, powder, mascara and a concealer, you're gonna need it. Don't ask me why I think so, just know that you're gonna need it."

"I did not plan of leaving my house without those things, what is this? The eighties? I seriously cannot stop thinking about what he said, you know, when he said he kept thinking of me while he was away. Did I mention that he literally called my full name? I only said my name once, and to Mr Ian but somehow, he remembered it."

Fawn smiled, nodded and said, "That right there is an intentional man. Girl, I am so excited for you! Do you know what this means?"Janet shook her head and then Fawn said, "You will most definitely get promoted."

Janet rolled her eyes and said, "You're still on this promotion plan?"

Fawn looked at Janet like she was stupid and said, "Why the hell wouldn't I be? We all need that. We need a better salary! Are you happy with your present salary?"

Janet shook her head, she remembered the bills she had to sort out by the end of the month. Her sister who lived in another city was seriously ill and had not been able to go to work for almost six months and she had been sending her money from her monthly salary. She had not saved any extra money in the last six months and Fawn was right, she needed that promotion.

Janet grew up in a family of five, her father had passed away when she was just six years old and her mother had been the one who fended for her and her two younger sisters. Being the first child, she had to raise her sibling while her mum worked to make sure all the bills around the house got paid every month. Since she worked and did other odd jobs so that they could live comfortably, her absence was excused, but the girls, Janet, Joan and Jolene had to pull some weights too. The girls had to start working to assist their mum by babysitting for their neighbors and helping other families from church or their neighbourhood with any little jobs they had—even though their mum continually told them that she did not want them to help out yet, she wanted then to concentrate on their studies and focus on doing well at the public school they attended.

School had not been very rosy for the girls because of the other mean kids that went there. Bulling was something the other kids used to do to her and she'd ignore—it was easier to do so because she trained her mind not to agree to the names the other kids called her, she also figured that since it was basically just name calling, she could block them out and focus on her grades, but everything changed when her sisters got into high school. She was a science student and an A-student. In class, teachers were happy with her brain prowess, but outside class, the news of her violent response to everyone who tried to make fun of her or her sisters was spreading fast, it did not stop the bullying though.

When they started trying to bully her sisters, she started fighting back. At first, the fights were restricted to girls—because they were the only ones who did it—and it always happened in the girls bathroom. She'd jump anyone who made fun of her sisters or even did anything physical to them. Then, the guys started saying mean things to make her sisters cry, she tried to ignore but it got too much, and the first time she ever beat up a boy—she smashed the edge of her food tray on a boy's face because he tried to make fun of her sister's freckles—she was sent to the principal's office.

The boy was one of the most popular boys and everyone feared and respected him so her response to what he said about her sister was a shock to everybody. They thought that she would be expelled that day because his parents were one of the highest donors the school had.

The boy's parents were called because he was bleeding and pretty much crying. At the time, he was about six feet and a senior, and she was just 5"2, and a junior. The principal also called her mum to come, but his parents came before her mum came. Immediately the boy's father was shown the person who smashed his son's face, he was so disappointed because of how small and innocent she looked. He was expecting to her that it was one of the other football players that hit his son. When he heard what had transpired between his son and her, he turned to his son to immediately apologize to her, the children were shocked but the boy obliged and then his father told the principal to let her go and as she was leaving, she heard the boy's father scold him for allowing a girl beat him up and for trying to bully another girl who was much younger than him—her sister. He also asked that the boy apologized to her and her sisters at the location where he tried to bully them. After this, the bullying from the other students stopped.

The rest of the years that she and her sisters spent in the school was less problematic because everyone feared Janet.

After high school, smoved from the city she grew up in because she wanted something better and she felt that she could only find that which she sought after in another city. However, when she came to this city, things were not so rosy at first, she met a guy, Dylan, whom she fell in love with and everything was going well till she had to move in with him. He was very abusive and she had to endure some other embarrassing behaviors he also put up—drinking, womanizing, gambling, etc. It went on for three years and that was the toughest three years of her life. During that time, she worked at a restaurant as a waiter and barely saved anything from her salary because her boyfriend was not working—he quit his paying job as a barista to pursue his futile dream of being a solo musician. He did not have a manager, any good song, a good voice, he practically sounded like he was screeching when he tries to sing—and she handled all the bills around the house, if she didn't, he would emotionally gaslight her and try to make her feel like she did not deserve him and that he was putting up with her and she was lucky to have him in her life. She was with him because he helped her get the job she was working at and she felt indebted to him. Even as though he helped her get the job, she had proven herself to the company and had been recognized several times by the owner of the restaurant. In addition to him being a failure at everything, he used to steal from her to buy weed, she still pretended not to notice because if she did, he'd remind of how he made her who she was.

When she decided that she had had enough was when he got a girl pregnant and went as far as bringing this girl into the house that they both shared, the same house that she practically paid rent for.

That day, she got back home and saw a girl, she looked like she was eighteen years old, sitting on her couch, legs crossed on her table, eating and watching TV. Dylan was not in the house, she looked around, at the messy apartment, figured that he had gone out for his usual gambling and drinking. She asked the girl who she was and what she was doing in her house.

The girl barely turned to look at her, instead, she said, "This is not your house, this is Dylan's house and he told me that you are his roommate. Well, I'm his girlfriend and I just moved in with him." Then she looked at her pregnancy bump and rubbed it lovingly and said, "As you can see, we're expecting our first child..."