THE ROMANTIC OFFICE SAGA: PART 78

THE ROMANTIC OFFICE SAGA: PART 78

I took the microphone from her hands and looked at her. I looked her into her eyes with a lot of wild thoughts in my head. I could not really come to terms that a woman had just proposed to me; it was totally out of the norm. I knew my answer already and I was sure Sally knew it too. Everyone in there was silent waiting for my answer and I felt like the whole world was waiting for my answer. I breathed in, held my breath, scanned the entire place and finally looked into Sally’s eyes.

“Yes, I will.” I answered calmly. 

Immediately I said that, there was jubilation and ululation in the place. People were clapping, even our directors were clapping too.

“It is time for the girl child to abandon the age-old myths, and I can see Madam Sally has lived by that example. Let us all celebrate that tonight in oneness and togetherness!” The DJ said and put on another love song, and most people joined us to the dance floor to dance.

We danced for some time and everyone was enjoying themselves. I was feeling a little funny, having a lady propose to you still sounded so odd to me.

Later on, the directors called Sally aside and told her they were leaving and left us to enjoy the rest of the night.

As time went by, the DJ began taking requests from the revelers, challenging each one of us to show their dance moves. 

Carol immediately shot with her request and the DJ played for her one of her favorite songs, she took center stage and began to dance. At first, she began dancing slow motion dance moves, picked speed and tempo as the music went on, slowly by slowly she began gyrating her big hips to the beat of the song and each time each move was more sensual than the other. She continued like that until she was shaking her big buttocks as if she did not have bones in her body, twisting, turning and gyrating her hips driving everyone in the room crazy. Carol was a one extremely flexible lady despite her size.

Abdi requested a Somali song which surprisingly, the DJ had it and he showcased some nice Somali moves which he did so nicely owing to his towering height. He kept saying those are some of their traditional songs and one could tell he was really enjoying every bit of the song. 

Maureen Muthoni requested a mugithi song which owing to its popularity, everyone literally joined her in the train like dance, each one of us holding the person in front by his or her waist as we danced to the mugithi songs. Sally was in front of me and right behind me was Carol as we danced round and round doing nice Mugithi moves which I also really enjoyed since the songs happened to be from my community. 

But the night was brought to a climax by Letisha Awino when she requested a song, “Kanungo” and oh! Boy! The lady was just a crazy one. She rolled her hips, shook her buttocks, bent and twisted to the sweet beats of the Dholuo song as she show-cased some complex moves with her hips until Carol got excited and told Letisha, “Wow! Lady, you got some nice moves there.” Carol then did the unthinkable, challenged Letisha to a dance competition and both ladies moved to the stage. Their dance moves threatened to bring heavens down as each lady tried to outdo each other in rolling their voluptuous hips. Letisha pulled her pulled her long dress to her thighs so as she would have free unobstructed dance moves revealing perfect smooth big thighs which I would have ogled longer were it not for the fact that I realized Sally was keenly looking at me as I admired their sexy dance moves.

Suddenly, Collins tapped my shoulder. 

“Tony, I am going outside to cool down for a while.” He told me. I looked at him and the man had a massive boner pushing his trousers and I could tell he was fantasizing. He took along his wife and both went outside.

We continued to watch Carol and Letisha dancing until Letisha got tired and sat down. Carol had limitless energy.

“Can we go outside for a while?” Sally requested.

We went outside. As we tried to locate a nice spot to sit down, we heard some moaning sounds coming at one corner of the compound. 

“Listen…” I told Sally. We listened. I motioned her to follow me silently.

When we reached at the dark side of the compound, we found Collins having sex with his wife, so busy at it he did not even realize we saw him.

“Haha, men get stimulated so easily. I guess the sexy moves by the lady dancers made his groins get in fire.” Sally told me laughing a bit.

“At least he has his wife to help him with his fiery groins.” I told Sally, she smiled. 

“Do men admire a woman by just looking at her?” Sally asked. I hesitated answering.

“Yes, to be honest. But that is where it ends. Love and lust are two different things.” I told Sally. She looked at me and just held onto me tightly. It was cold outside and we were beginning to feel chilled. I could tell she was enjoying the warmth from my body. I unbuttoned my coat, took Sally’s slender body and pressed her over my body as if wanting to have her inside me. She held me tightly. 

“The man who dated and married his boss.” I teased Sally. 

She laughed a little and said, “Come on! You are the boss of my life.”

“Sally, did you have to propose to me?” I asked her. She looked at me.

“Anything wrong? We have broken so many traditions already. Why not this one?” Sally asked.

“I get it. Not that I have a problem with it. It just felt odd. But am ok with it.” I told Sally. She just looked at me and remained silent. I was feeling like I had just crossed a mighty and huge bridge that night. I really wanted time to move on very fast.

“Honey, I feel sick. I don’t know why I am feeling like that.” Sally told me.

“I guess you are just tired, we can call it a day and go home to rest.” I suggested as I took her hand, went inside. We found Carol and Letisha seated having a conversation. It was obvious the two ladies were quickly becoming used to each other. They had a lot in common. 

We went passing over each of them telling them we wanted to go home. 

“Why do you want to go home this early sir?” Abdi asked.

“We are tired.” I told him as we went towards the entrance to leave. 

We took a taxi which dropped us at our gate. 

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The following day, which was Saturday, Sally woke up and went to get some vegetables to prepare for lunch as I continued with my weekend duties. 

When Sally returned, she found me with my laptop.

“Honey, can’t you let the machine rest for a day? You use it daily.” Sally urged me, trying to persuade me to rest for that weekend until I gave in. I went outside to do some cleaning in the compound. As I was working, Sally came to the door and called me to go inside. I followed her and she was smiling, a funny smile.

She led me to the bedroom and asked me, “Guess why I am happy…” She told me. 

“Because you proposed to me.” I told her.

“Oh! That too, keep guessing.” She told me. I kept guessing and could not get it.

“You are so poor in guessing!” she teased me and laughed, giving me a gentle slap on my left hand.

“Ok, I give up, just tell me.” I told Sally.

She handed me some pregnancy test kit and told me to look into it, she was smiling ear to ear. I guessed right away.

“You expectant.” I told her.

“No, I am not expectant.” Sally told me. I felt confused.

“What do you mean?” I asked her. She laughed.

“I am not expectant; we are expectant. I am pregnant. I just went and bought a pregnancy test kit to come and conduct the test and it has turned positive.” Sally told me excitedly. 

“Wow! So am going to be a daddy soon!” I told her and she hurled herself onto me, hugged me and kissed me.

“Yes.” She said.

That morning, we were so happy we just did everything together. We cooked together, cleaned the house together, folded some clothes together, ate together, and did almost everything together. The excitement on both of us was visible and could be felt all over us. She even began teasing me calling me, “baba so-and-so” as I also did the same for her. 

I just wanted time to move fast, if at all such was possible. That entire weekend was fantastic for us. We went to some park to relax that Sunday and even went for a boat ride where I kept teasing Sally to jump to the water and I would rescue her. I would even rock the boat and she would scream and hold me fast, apparently not to fall not knowing if the boat overturned, all of us would get submerged.

As we went home that evening, we met an octogenarian couple walking hand in hand. They smiled at us as we passed them. Their gait was extremely slow due to age. I looked at Sally and told her, “that should be us in 50 years to come. My desire is to grow old with you. To see our children and our grandchildren.” 

Sally looked at me and said, “Amen.”

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The following Monday morning, we held a brief meeting with Carol and Chris so as to brief them on more roles that were expected of them so that I would concentrate on my new roles as Assistant MD of the company. Chris and Carol made a perfect combination. Carol was good on software and handling staff ICT issues while Chris was good in hardware issues. However, I did not hand over every role as I retained some roles, mostly oversight in the department. 

As we went for tea break, we met Zuhura and Sally having a conversation.

“So tell me, how have you been for all that time you were not here?” Sally was asking Zuhura.

“I went and began working at a small cafe in Mombasa. The cafe where Tony met me.” Zuhura said and asked, “What about you?” 

“I volunteered in a certain micro finance in Lokitaung where I gained some experience on work.” Sally told her.

As they continued to talk, Abdi and Letisha joined us too.

Abdi was really connecting with Zuhura in conversation since both were staunch Muslims and most of the time they had religious conversations. 

Letisha seemed to have some interest in the music industry and she knew a lot of musicians, a thing which made them pair with Carol easily as they shared common interests. 

“You ladies were great in dancing.” Collins was telling them. They laughed.

“I just love dancing, but Carol is a better dancer than me.” Letisha told Collins.

“Can you dance like they danced?” I dared Abdi, he laughed and answered me.

“No, I am too tall I will probably lose my balance.” Abdi said.

“Does being too tall pose a problem to someone?” Sally wondered.

“No, but it gets difficult to make swift moves.” Abdi said. It was true since he was a lanky man.

“What if you are to fight. Can you fight well?” Collins asked Abdi. Abdi thought for a while and said, “No, I cannot fight. I would prefer using a sword or a gun.” 

His statement took us by surprise. 

“Can you use a gun?” Sally asked Abdi.

“Oh! Yes. Where I come from almost every home has a gun. We have shiftas who keep raiding our homes so it is a matter of personal security.” Abdi said.

“Are the guns licensed?” Letisha asked Abdi.

“No, they are not. But no one seems to bother about that.” Abdi said confidently. 

“I wish to know how to use a gun.” I said. Sally looked at me briefly.

“Have you ever killed someone with a gun?” Christ asked Abdi.

Abdi thought for a while and said, “Hmm, I don’t know, may be.”

“What do you mean by may be?” I asked Abdi.

“When you are shooting randomly fighting shiftas, it is not possible to know if you killed one of them or not. Shiftas are known to carry their dead. If you kill one, they just carry him so that they do not leave evidence they were there.” Abdi told us. 

“By the way, Abdi, I am yet to get the mail I told you to send me.” Sally told Abdi.

“Oh! I did, I sent in the morning.” Abdi told Sally confidently.

“No, I did not get it. What email did you use?” Sally asked Abdi.

“Saly@smartech.net” Abdi said.

“My name has a double L, go and rectify and send it to me.” Sally told Abdi and Abdi promised to.

As we went back to our offices, Cynthia and Celestine were coming for their tea break. Cynthia looked at me as if she wanted to ask something but did not have the courage to.

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As I settled to do my work, I head a knock at the door. It was Cynthia.

“Tony, I have a problem with my laptop. It won’t connect to the internet.” Cynthia told me placing her laptop on my table.

“Cynthia, I am no longer in IT department. Please be seeking assistance from the IT department from Carol or Chris. They should be able to sort you out.” I told her.

“Sorry, I forgot.” Cynthia told me. I looked into her laptop and I realized the issue was it had a static IP address but our work place required a computer to have a dynamic IP address so that it would use our router. 

“Done, it can now connect.” Cynthia sat down to test her computer. It connected.

“Oh! I also have another issue. My Anti-virus has expired.” Cynthia told me.

“Go to the accounts office, tell them to place an order for you. They should buy for you an Anti-Virus software for your laptop.” I told Cynthia.

“Thank you.” She said as she left my office.

Sally called me to her office.

“My dear, there is a red alert coming from the CCTV control console. What does it mean?” Sally asked me pointing to the device. I looked at it.

“It means the hard disk is full, we need another hard disk soon. Let me place an order to have a new external hard disk of 2 TB.” I told Sally.

“Let Carol place the order.” Sally said.

“Oh! Yea. It is her department now. Thank you for reminding me.” I told Sally.

Sally just smiled and looked at me.

It suddenly occurred to me that Sally was able to view what was going on in every office via CCTV, and the IT department but in my office, it was not possible. It made me feel like I was no longer in control and I missed my IT department. 

Cynthia knocked at Sally’s door. She brought in an order to be approved to purchase a new anti-virus. Sally was about to sign it and I told her, “I guess that is my department.”

“Oh! Thank you for reminding me. You are actually the one supposed to approve every order made around here.” Sally said turned to Cynthia and told her, “Cynthia, next time you make an order, please take it to Tony’s office for approval. Also ensure any order is done before 3 pm so that it can be approved on time.” Sally told Cynthia.

“Thank you, Madam, I will adhere to that.” Cynthia said respectfully. 

“Cynthia, also note that your work also is to do purchases. When departments place their orders, and their orders are approved, it is up to you to do the follow up, go to purchase the goods and bring them here. I will pass a Memo to the rest so that whenever they write their orders they shall be giving them to you, then you are to take them to Tony’s office for approval before you go to accounts department to get some money to do the purchase.” Sally told Cynthia. 

Cynthia left after that.

“I like this girl, she is so hard working and dedicated to her work.” Sally told me. I did not answer.

We talked about a few other administrative issues and after that I left to go back to my office. Administrative roles seemed odd to me since I was so used to technical roles. I also knew administrative roles involved a lot interaction with employees, a thing I was not so used to since I enjoyed working alone most of the time. But with my new roles, it meant my office was to be very busy, and anyone could come to my office anytime provided he or she has something to come for. Also, consultative roles were upon my new roles, and since most of our operations were automated and worked with the help of an elaborate ICT system, it meant I was in the best position to handle administrative roles as I already knew most of them from the automated business process aided by the computerized operations. 

As I sat at my desk, I heard a knock at the door. 

“Come in.” I said. I thought it was Cynthia but in came Letisha beaming with a smile.

“Sorry to disturb you, but my roles in the IFMIS are too limited, I am unable to even make corrections once I feed the data.” Letisha told me. It was then I remembered I had not adjusted the user rights since Irene left. I was also impressed by the fact that she had quickly noticed that, meaning she was keener than Abdi.

“Have you gone to IT department to be sorted out?” I asked Letisha.

“I was there, there were unable to and they referred me to you.” Letisha told me.

As we were talking, Celestine came, took out some dustbin full of papers and left.

“Ok, I will log in and adjust them for you.” I told Letisha. As I was doing that, I asked her, “How good are you with computers?” 

Letisha answered, “I can gauge myself to be on the better side, but would love to know more.” 

“Rate yourself from 1 to 10, one being worst, 10 being best.” I asked her.

She thought for a while and said, “5, average.” She sounded frank and honest.

After I adjusted her roles, I told her to go and log in to test her user rights. It seemed I had so much to teach Carol and Chris over their roles. I also thought of engaging Sally so that she would elaborate more in employees’ roles, and offer room for training, interdepartmental coaching for proper integration of roles.

As I thought about that, Cynthia came and brought me 3 newspapers.

“Cynthia, newspapers should stay at the boardroom where each one of us can access and read at their own pleasure.” I told Cynthia looking at her keenly.

“Sorry, Madam told me to bring them to you, she wants you to look at some news inside there in THE STAR newspaper.” Cynthia told me. I was keen to know what story that was, that took Sally’s interest.

I perused the paper, the 5th page story caught my attention.

Irene, who was, according to the newspaper, taken to court for forgery, embezzlement, swindling, among other crimes was released on a cash bail of Kshs 2 million and a surety of similar amount. Her case was left open for later hearing.

My heart sank and I found myself muttering, “What a fucking country we live in! Those who steal millions are roaming free while those who steal chicken, bananas and such petty items are rotting in jail.”

>>>To be continued>>>

As narrated by Dr. Love.