2. I AM SMART

Getting up from bed every morning was one of the tasks Ben considered herculean.

Her mother always performed the ritual of pouring a half bucket of water on her whenever she was sleeping deeply and needed to be somewhere early.

She whined when the blaring alarm woke her up,

"Mom." She cooed, then opened her eyes and realization hit her that she wasn't at home.

"My bad." She chuckled, "Thought mom was here." She stretched and yawned, "Work starts today."

It's been a stressful three weeks for Ben , moving to the camp ground was no fun at all from the morning exercises they had to go through everyday to the parading of different venues, collecting of call-up letters and looking for the director in charge of mobilization. The stress of walking around in the sun almost darkened her skin and she vowed never to stay in camp.

She rented an apartment through a housing agent, it was a small but well structured two bedroom flat. It was spacious enough for her since she'd be living alone.

She was posted to one of the Private companies in the town,

She got dressed up in her Khaki trousers, a white t-shirt and was putting on her white sneakers when her mom called.

"Good morning mom." She greeted.

"Morning, my dear. Shey daadaa lo ji? (Did you wake well?)" Her mom asked.

"Beeni ma (Yes ma)." She smiled.

"The lord will be with you my dear and your  place of assignment shall favour you in Jesus mighty name." Her mother prayed and she yelled a loud AMEN.

"Thank you ma, how is daddy?" She asked.

"He's fine, he sent his greetings." She prayed some more and finally ended the call.

Ben smiled, that one call was enough to brace her up for the day. She wore her sneakers and wore her NYSC cap over her head. She stared at the mirror in front of her, she had lost some weight within the last three weeks, her body type doesn't go well with stress, her fair skin had small dark holes that came out as a result of mosquitoes bite in the camp, she was thankful she was able to get an apartment more bites from those tiny insects would damage her skin and she couldn't bear that.

She turned around, and peered over her shoulder to check her back out. Her ass seem huger and she loved it, she'd trade anything just to keep her hourglass shape. It was one of her assets as she fondly called it, Esther was really skinny same as Ben but the latter had more flesh on her lower body.

She darted out of the house and strolled down the street to board a cab, she got one quickly after giving him her descriptions she hopped into the cab and the white-haired cab man drove off.  Shortly after, he got to the  address and halted the car, Ben paid him and alighted from the car.

She stood in front of the gigantic building, painted white all round and boldly inscribed on it was "ABDULLAH HOLDINGS." Swiftly, she knocked at the transparent gate.

The four gatekeepers turned towards her direction, but only one attended to her, he directed her into the reception.

Ben got to the reception and marveled at the interior, it was really catchy.

The cabinets were painted white, the sofa was painted white, the whole reception was painted white.

'Why was everything here white?' Ben thought, she walked towards the receptionist and smiled at the blonde-hair receptionist.

"Good morning ma'am, how may I help you?" The receptionist asked.

"Good morning, I'm the corp member posted to this company." Ben introduced herself.

"Oh, you're welcome." She picked the telephone and dialed the director's office number, after she was done she explained the directions to Ben.

Ben got into the lift and smiled, the company was really a fancy one. She pressed the button and waited for it to take off, soon, she was on the fourth floor.

She walked out of the elevator and went to the secretary's office. There, she met a chubby woman seated on the chair, her eyes were focused on the desktop screen in front of here, she wore a pink  hijab over head, she was dark and her skin glowed and for the very first time, Ben wished she had a dark skin.

"Hello ma." Ben greeted.

"Good morning, young lady." Her rich voice filled the room, she smiled and her dimples revealed. She was beautiful "Are you the new corp member?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." Ben smiled.

"Miss Benedicta Olayiwola right?" She failed to pronounce the 'Olayiwola' well, Ben just smiled, it wasn't her fault but it sounded funny with her accent.

"Exactly ma, O-l-a-y-i-w-o-l-a." She corrected her.

"Ooh," She shrugged her shoulders. "So, you're here to see the director before resuming your duty right?" She asked again.

"Yes ma." Ben answered her.

"Do, have a seat." She gestured to Ben to sit down in the empty chair in front of her.

"I'm Mrs Hadiza Ibrahim by the way." She told Ben, she smiled and nodded her head.

Mrs Hadiza called the Director's office and later directed Ben to the office, she mouthed a 'thank you' before leaving for the office.

Immediately, she got to the door post, her feet glued to the ground and she couldn't move them, she got very nervous and her palms began to sweat, 'Was the director one of those old men that were always harsh on their employees? Would he be nice?' She thought. "Well, I will survive." She muttered and gently knocked at the door.

"Come in." A deep husky voice said.

Ben entered the office and wowed at the interior once again, the reception and other offices she had seen looked nice but this, the director's office was out of this world, the chandelier beamed with lights of different colours, the furniture was ethereal, the rich fragrance that filled the room was enough to make her lose her mind completely, she looked round and fed her eyes well almost forgetting what brought her to the office, she brought herself back to reality and she noticed no one was in the office.

"But someone told me to come in?" It sounded like a question. "Where is he?"

"Who are you?" Came the voice again, she turned around but saw no one.

What was happening, where was he?

"Am I working for a spirit now? Oh my God I never knew I'd be working for an invisible human with a sweet voice someday. " She placed her hands over her head and sighed.

"So, who's the spirit you're working for?" Ben heard something clicked, she looked towards the direction of the sound and saw a very tall male figure standing and staring outside the window, he wore a gray suit that fitted him perfectly. He turned to face Ben, she stared at him. He was really adorable, a very beautiful human. 'Is he Fulani? Only Fulani guys looked this  good but wait he's dark or is he Yoruba? A Yoruba demon? He must be one' She thought. But he doesn't look like Yoruba at all, but she was sure he wasn't Hausa, they were not this cute.

His brown eyes were cold, he looked pale like he was stressed out from work, his dark skin glowed and again Ben wished for that skin colour, he had a bored expression on his face and still he looked so perfect. 'Are directors this cute?' Ben asked her subconscious mind, she blinked her eyes and pretended not to be looking at him when he hit the table for her attention.

"Huh, I was singing." Ben lied. "Good morning sir, I am Ben the corp member that was assigned to this company." She introduced herself, He sat down and played with a pen in his hand.

"Your full name please." He sounded harsh,

Ben looked at him and muttered quietly "Young but harsh."

"What?" He asked, and again Ben began the staring contest, oh my God! Did she just notice the accent?

"What?" She deadpanned and he stared at her with a bored expression. "I'm Benedicta Olayiwola."

"What are your qualifications?" He asked,

Damn! His accent again, Ben knew she was a goner.

"Here" she gave the documents that contained her credentials to him. "I studied business administration in the university of Benin and I graduated with a first class degree, look through it." She smiled proudly.

He glanced through the documents and looked at her. "This."  He pointed at the file on the desk, "Doesn't make you smart, does it?" He asked rudely, Ben gave him a scornful glare, rude cutie! She worked hard to get that result. What was he talking about? And she felt like chopping his cute lips and feeding it to her dogs at home.

"I am smart and I will prove that to you." She told him boldly.

"We shall see, meet with my P.A she will put you through your work in this office. You met her while coming in right?"

"Yeah, I saw someone..."

"Yeah." He snapped "That's my personal assistant and in case you don't know yet, you will be starting your work as my new secretary."

"Secretary? " Ben asked.

"Yes, I fired my secretary last week due to incompetence and I hope same doesn't apply for you. I hate laziness, you can leave now." He twirled his chair back to face the windows.

Rude, the first impression Ben had about him. She was clearly annoyed  but she said nothing and walked out of the office, she got to the secretary's desk and halted.

Mrs Hadiza smiled at her,

"I don't like the director. " Ben blurted out.  "He's rude." She added.

"Miss Ben, you will like him if you get to know him. He's actually a nice man." She told Ben.

"Nice? Not with that I just experienced  inside that office. " Ben frowned. "He directed me to you though."

"I guess I have to hand over to you from here, I will put you through the processes and I'm glad I won't have to combine the work of a PA and a Secretary anymore, I'm so relieved." Mrs Hadiza beamed with smiles.

"Must be really hectic." Ben said.

"More than hectic dear," She explained some things to Ben, to which she'd nod at intervals and after some minutes of explanations. She said "I guess my job is done here." She packed her files looking up at Ben, she said again "Take it easy on the director." With that she left for her office.

Hey guys,

Been so busy.

So, how was this chapter?

Why was Ben ogling all over the cute boss?

Do you think she likes him?

And the director is too harsh right?

Drop your comments and share. 

Star loves y'all so much

Don't forget to wash your hands and stay safe!

Star❤