Valentine’s Day Series - The Warning Ride

Being a front desk executive in any company is like watching your favorite TV station constantly but when you are in a government agency, it puts a whole new spin on things. I loved my job!!! It put me in the front of affairs as I was the one who had to link calls to various offices and get the juicy gist. I met all kinds of people and had the occasional envelope dropped onto my lap; after all, a girl cannot live on just her salary. I wasn’t complaining and as far as I was concerned life was good.

It was one of those days that I met Laja. He walked into the reception area like he owned the building and asked to see the FD. His attitude irked me so I made sure he waited for at least 30 minutes before I placed a call to the accounts department. He did his business and left and that was that….Or so I thought. That wasn’t the case as he kept coming for meetings upon meetings and over time I got the story of Mr. Laja Adeleke. Young businessman who believed in working hard and playing harder. He wasn’t exactly a hunk but he had his fair share of the ladies. It was a whirlwind of activities and soon we progressed from simply ‘hello’ friends to hanging out. Soon we were seeing each other and I reveled in his attention. Evenings were spent in his company and soon everyone started to complain that they were seeing less of me. I didn’t care, I was happy.

I lost my job the week after the ride. Reason; too much fraternizing with clients. I made a lot of noise but I was battling with forces bigger than me. I shrugged it off; after all, I knew Laja would help me with getting another job. Turns out I was living a fools dream as everywhere I went, I had been black listed and no matter what, I couldn’t land any job. To make matters worse, Laja was constantly busy and he blamed it all on work.

I was already on my third bottle of Smirnoff and though I was tipsy, the humiliating fact was painfully clear to me: I had been stood up again. I looked through foggy eyes at my purchases, nicely wrapped up and waiting to be delivered to my ‘beau’. I had to face the fact that I had been emotionally scammed. I had pointedly refused to see that I was shooting myself in the foot and now, everything had blown up in my face. Dropping some money on the table for the drinks, I stood up and walked away, leaving the wrapped gifts on the chair. “Happy valentines to whomever”, I thought to myself as I walked into the night.