B•I•T•C•H_(Babe In Total Control of Herself) by Steven.C.Osaji Chistar EPISODE 16. VENUE: IMMACULATE STUDIO, Lagos Island. TIME: 6:45PM. So there Zainab was, sitting on the sofa and wondering was was possibly going through E.A’s mind as he called her name out loud. “Yea, any problem?” she replied as casually as she could. “No, not really. You are doing an awesome job even though am fully aware the questions you have asked so far isn’t from the script we gave you…” E.A replied sounding kind of sarcastic. Zainab shrugged, “Those questions were to vague na, just check this one out,” she picked up the script which was on a table close by and scanned through it in search of something, then suddenly her eyes went bright in excitement, “Enhen, look at this question, “what is your favourite colour?”, who wants to know what 3face favourite colour is on a relationship talk show? That’s why I decided to go deep.” “Yea yea, I know and I agree with you, I’ll have a talk with my script writers after today’s shoot. But that’s by the way, and not why I came her,” E.A said. “Oh!” She exclaimed, “so why are you here?” She asked with a raised eyebrow. “I know this is probably the wrong time to say this but, I’ve been staring at you all day through that camera, “he turned and pointed at the camera,”and I’ve come to the conclusion that no one on this earth is more beautiful than you, Zainab, am really attracted to you and you know this, so why do you keep pushing me away?” Zainab was speechless, she had a lot of things in her mind and adding E.A wahala to the list wasn’t part of it. “E.A am sorry but I…” “Don’t reply now, you might say what I don’t want to here, how about I take you out for dinner after this shoot so we can talk better, I’ll take you anywhere! Just name it,” E.A cut in. “E.A its not like I’m pushing you away, its just that …” “Please don’t say no,” E.A cut in again, this time with the best puppy face he could conjure. Zainab shrugged, sighed and closed her eyes for a second. Going out with this guy can’t cause any harm na, its even a guarantee of free good food, she thought, “Okay then, but I don’t want anywhere too fancy, you don’t have to try and impress me, okay?” She replied trying to sound modest. “Yes!” He then leaned to hug Zainab, then walked out of the stage smiling. “Okay time up people, we roll in 5… 4…3…2…1… Action!!” * * * * * John wasn’t sure about how exactly he was expected to react to what Jummy had just told him, he didn’t know either he should be sad and say sorry, or be angry and actually do something about it, he took a deep breath and went for the easier option, “Jummy am so sorry,” he paused and then continued, “why were you sacked anyway?” Jummy had already dried her eyes, if she had lost her job, at least, she still had John, or so she thought. “I dunno, I think it has something to do with me about not being available for some days and not calling the company to let them know, or me screaming at a customer today at work, I don’t know which one warranted the sack” John was disappointed, he couldn’t believe someone can be so evil as to fire a staff for being absent even though the staff had a reason as genuine as a serious motor accident. “Who exactly sacked you an how did he do it? I mean, what were his words?” John asked in annoyance, he just couldn’t picture the scene and wanted to know more details, he wasn’t really bothered about Jummy loosing her job because with just one call from him, Jummy would be employed in a better company, he was that influential. “I dunno yet, all I got was a sack letter, let me even read the content directly to you,” she quickly opened the letter and after scanning through the address and all those plenty stories at the first paragraph of letters then she read out loud over the phone, “This is to certify that you, Miss Jumoke Olukoya, for you diligent and consistent hard work have just been promoted from a low level customer care agent to the post of assistant branch manager, please see the personnel officer for further instructions! Congratulation,” Jummy was confused at first, she didn’t understand a sh1t from what she just read, with a straight face, she dropped the phone, even though John was already screaming “congratulations” over the line since he understood what just happened. Jummy read the letter three consecutive times, thinking she had read it wrongly the former time, and the letter still remained the same, Jummy dropped the letter and jumped on her table screaming “Yes!!! Finally! Oh my gosh!” And other things, the sudden stare of the other employees made her realise she was over reacting, she murmured a sorry and sank back into her chair still excited, she picked up the phone and said, “John, I’ll call you later on, I have something I need to do now!” John replied, “Yea, I know you do, I’ll be expecting your call, bye” he hung up. Jummy looked around and stared at her fellow employees, busy talking to annoying customers over the phone in their tiny cubicle, she then stood up and headed to Mrs Ogbonaya office, they had some scores to settle. * * * * * After a rough journey, Richard finally got back to the hotel. He had to board a bike to the nearest ATM and beg the bike man to wait while he queued and after an hour, it finally got to his turn, only for the ATM machine to seize his card, with annoyance he stormed out of the line and into the bank. “Where is the manager of this useless bank!” He screamed to no one in particular, everybody just stared at him and was hoping the security guards would hold him before a bit someone. Richard saw a sign board which had “Customer services” written on it, he walked towards it and slammed his hands on the table, “I want to see you bank manager now!” He yelled at the lady. “Sir please calm down and have a sit, what is the problem?” She asked politely, but Richard was too angry. “I didn’t say ‘where is the chair’ or ‘I want to sit down’, I said WHERE IS THE BANK MANAGER OF THIS USELESS BANK?!!!” Richard replied, laying emphasis on every single word. “Sir, if you would just tell me your problem, maybe I’ll be able to help, the manager is in a meeting and wouldn’t want to be disturbed,” she replied calmly once again. It became obvious to Richard that nothing he could say or do would make this lady to take him to the manager, so he calmed down a little, “my ATM card just got withheld by one of your machines,” he finally said. “Was the card issued by Diamond bank plc?” “Yes, it was. See, I don’t have time for all this your who wants to be a millionaire questions, I just need my card now and some money, that’s all” “Sir, we can’t open the machine now and bring out your card, you have to come tomorrow for that, if you really need some money now, you can withdraw through the counter” Richard looked at the counter and saw the long queue, he couldn’t bear another round, “I can’t go there and stand for another one hour, a bike man is waiting for me outside and I need to get somewhere tonight, so if you aren’t going to do something about it now, better get me your bank manager,” Richard threatened. “I understand sir, just fill the teller, I’ll hand it over to the cashier myself now,” the lady replied and handed Richard a blank teller and 10 minutes later, he walked out of the bank with more money than he had ever held at once, he had a feeling he might be needing to spend a lot soon, really soon. Well, all of that was hours ago. As he walked into his room, he jumped on his bed, while lying down, he made a call, “Hello, this is barrister Anthony” the recipient said as he picked the call. “Hey Tony, this is Richard, I’ll be needing your services, can we see tomorrow and talk?” Richard asked. “Yea, sure nah, just come to the office by 1pm, we would talk over lunch,” Tony replied. “Okay then, see you later, thanks,” Richard replied and hung up, he wasn’t going down without a fight too. * * * * * Meanwhile, BACK IN THE STUDIO… “Welcome back from the short commercial break, if you just joining us, then you aren’t too late, we just asked our celebrity guests some question, and now the phone lines are opened to you guys, you can call in and ask your questions. Since the show wasn’t a Live Show, E.A had to make some of his employees who obviously had some questions to call, over the intercom of course. “Okay, we have our first caller.” Zainab pressed a button and picked the call, putting it on loud speaker. “Hello, you on to Single and Married and I’m Zainab, what’s your name and where are you calling from?” “Hello Zainab, my name is Maurice, and I’m calling from Oshodi,” the caller replied. “Hi Maurice, we have two celebrity guests in the studio here with us, 3face and P-cube, do you have any questions to ask them?” “Yes, I do” “Okay, go ahead then, am sure they are listening.” “Okay, thanks, err.. Hi P-cube…” “Hey! Hello Maurice, how you doing?” Prosper replied. “Am good, okay, this question is directed to you guy collectively. Rumours going all around is that the most cute bachelors, that is you guys, are off the market, how true is that?” Prosper laughed, “I you are trying to ask if we are engaged then you are quite right, Philip is engaged but am not engaged yet…” “Wow! So you mean you are still in the market?” Maurice asked mischievously. Prosper chuckled, “Not exactly,” he replied, trying to kill two birds with one stone. Maurice was about to push further “But.. I was wondering..” When Zainab intervened. “Okay, thanks for calling maurice,” and she hung up. “We have a new caller, hello you on to single and married…what’s your name and where are you calling from?” “Hello, am Eric and I’m calling from Ijegun, Lagos,” it was E.A calling. “Okay, Eric, you know the drills right? So just go ahead,” Zainab replied. “Okay, this question is directed to 3face… So 3face, you can have almost any Nigerian girl you want but still ain’t married, why if I may ask?” 3face forces a smile to hide his frown, he was already regretting accepting Zainab’s Invitation. “Cut!” He suddenly yelled without even thinking, to the surprise of everyone in the studio. ********** EPISODE 17. Unlike the first time she walked into the office of Mrs Ogbonaya anxious and scared, this time, she felt the exact opposite of how she felt the first time. As Jummy approached the office, she started hearing voices from Mrs Ogbonaya office and thought it would better for her to wait before she knocked or walked it, so she stood at the door waiting, and unintentionally eaves dropping. “I thought I told you to sack the girl?” She heard a male voice say. “Sack her? Why would I do that? She’s arguably the best employee in this company!!!” A female voice said. “Cynthia! You have been daring me for too long in this company, just so you know, you are just a co-acting branch manager, I am an acting manager too and I can choose to file a report of incompetence to the board in a minute and you’ll be out!” The male voice replied. “Stephen, I really don’t have time for this you chit chat! You can go ahead and file the report as a matter of fact, I’m curious about what you would write in it. That I promoted our best staff to a position she merited? Yea! Good luck with that!” Stephen seemed to have calmed down a little, “You didn’t even consult me before promoting her, is that how it is now? We don’t tell each other things anymore?” “Hey! Don’t even go there oh! You didn’t tell me that you had a wife and two kids when we were dating did you?” “For crying out loud! Look at the luxurious name tag on your table! It says ‘MRS OGBONAYA,’ You are now happily married, why can’t you just let the past be the past.” Stephen paused and watched Cynthia facial impression change for the angry one to a sober one, “That was personal and this is business, you letting your personal feelings get ahead of your professional feeling. Don’t worry, I assure you that this won’t go like that!” Stephen replied. “Whatever! I’ll be here waiting for you to do your worst!” Cynthia fired back. Stephen stormed out of the office, he suddenly walked into Jummy at the door, and nearly ran her over, he adjusted his suit and added, “Oh! Great! She has even heard everything, now the whole company would know about us! Thanks a lot Cynthia, thanks!” And he walked away. Cynthia walked to her door and gave Jummy a deadly stare, “if you speak just one word about what you just heard to another person, I’ll make sure you’ll be sweeping the office and cleaning the windows by monday!” Cynthia said and slammed the door on Jummy’s face. Jummy was speechless, “funny to think that this so called co-acting manager, Stephen, was hitting on me when I first resumed work at GNP,” she thought and walked to the personnel office, she knew better than to knock at the door. * * * * * Everyone in the studio seemed to be in a trance, even the camera had stopped rolling in surprise, the question in everybody’s mind was, “did 3face just yell cut? Or are we hearing double?” Their question was answered soon enough as 3face broke the silence. “What’s all this JAMB questions on my personal life? Zainab, what you told me was that this show was just a casual interview on relationship talks. In fact am out of here,” he stood up and walked out of the studio, leaving everyone still in shock. It took the question of Prosper to bring back every one to life, “Are we still shooting this or what?” He asked. E.A saw the opportunity slipping from his fingers so he replied, “Yes, we definitely are, we just have to start all over again since we can’t feature 3face on the show again, thank God it was a live show,” he replied. “We have a show at UNILAG by 8pm, so I’m not sure starting all over would be possible since we’ve got to consider traffic, Akoka isn’t exactly at the back yard of the Island, you know?” Philip replied. “So what’s going to happen now?” E.A answered. “I dunno, maybe we would come over some other time, Prosper, let’s go now, the time is almost 7PM and we would need to head home to prepare before going,” Philip said and stood up. “Going home isn’t such a good idea, let’s just drop by any good boutique and buy something nice to wear, you know as UNILAG students are na?” “Sure sure.. That’s a better idea, good thing I brought enough cash with me, let’s go then…” Prosper stood up and they both walked out of the studio without saying any word to anyone else. E.A glared at Zainab and felt like shooting her, he looked away and screamed, “Okay, we are done for today, everyone pack up! I guess there won’t be any special edition anymore thanks to someone here,” he was glaring at Zainab now. Zainab was transfixed on her chair and couldn’t move, she just looked down at her feet and waited for everyone to pack up and leave before going to talk to E.A, she knew he was really pissed at her. After 20 minutes of continuous noise of pissed staffs, the studio was empty with just Zainab and E.A in it, E.A picked up his bag and walked to the door, he looked at Zainab and said, “lock up when you are done, we wouldn’t want to find our gadgets next time we are here, good night” Zainab wanted to say something but couldn’t find the nerve to, she just looked at E.A walk away. It took her a minute for her to gather enough courage to run after E.A, she was lucky to have caught him just as he entered his car. The first thing that came out of her mouth was rather silly, “aren’t you taking me out to dinner again?” E.A looked at her and if his eyes had guns, then Zainab would have been shot, luckily for her, it didn’t, he didn’t reply her but inserted the key in the ignition and zoomed off, leaving Zainab standing in the middle of the road looking “stewpeed”. She walked back in to the studio, picked up her stuffs, locked the studio and drove home. * * * * * After an hour that seemed like it didn’t want to end, work hours was finally over and Jummy walked out of company excited, she had just been instructed by the personnel manager that she would resume ASAP, and ASAP for Jummy meant the next day, she was dying to tell Zainab the good new so as she waited for a cab to take her home, she called Zainab on her cell. It took Zainab four rings before she finally picked up, she had been on her bed sulking, she still couldn’t believe how bad her day went. “Hello,” Zainab said in a low tone. “Hey babe, how far na.. Or wait, that’s not important. You won’t believe what happened today at work!!” Jummy yelled. Zainab assumed it was one of Zainab boring gist about some guy she was crushing on and hoped would talk to her one day, “what?” She asked reluctantly. “Guess!” Jummy replied excited. “I hate guessing, I know you have been dying to tell me so just go ahead and tell me before you explode!” “Ohhh.. Just try and guess na, please” Jummy just said please? Okay, that’s a first, Zainab thought, “okay, if you insist, errr… Obama proposed to you?” Zainab replied mischievously. “Be serious jhur! Try and guess!” “Ohhh, Jummy now you have made me curious, you know am a horrible guess, just tell me,” Zainab replied calmly, Jummy surely made her calm or laugh without even trying. “Okay okay! I just got promoted to assistant branch manager!!!” Jummy yelled. “Wow! Go girl!!! Yea!!!!” Zainab yelled. “Yea!!!” Jummy joined her and they kept on scream “yea” over the phone for the next five minutes. “Hope you coming to pick up in my house now? No sleeping tonight oh!!!” “Ahh.. Am coming girl, but I’ll have to sleep oh, I resume duty tomorrow and wouldn’t want to be late on my first day as assistant branch manager!!” Jummy replied, they both seemed to be screaming at each other over the phone. “Who sleeps on her night of promotion? Jummy don’t dull me oh!” Zainab replied. “Taxi!!” Jummy suddenly yelled at a taxi that was zooming by, it stopped and she quickly hopped in. “Hello! Are you still there?” Zainab asked. “Yes yes, I am, am heading to your house now, just go and put on something hot!!! I have a feeling I might reconsider sleeping tonight.” “Confirmed girl!! Okay! Just holla when you around, I need to go and dig out that my mini skirt that I haven’t worn for ages,” Zainab replied and hung up. She went to her wardrobe and started throwing stuffs out of it all around the room in search of the miniskirt, she had already forgotten about all that happened in work. * * * * * TIME: 9:42PM. About an hour later, Jummy got to Zainab house and ran inside, she quick grabbed the pair of clothing she left in Zainab house for emergency partying situations like this. In another twenty minutes, both ladies were packed in Zainab’s car as they drove to the island in search of any nice club the could spend the night in, little did they know that things don’t always go the way we planned. •••Sheyifunmi•••
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 12:03:54 +0000
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