I am startled by the knock on my office and I tell the person to come in.
"Hello Miss June," Mr Peterson my manager greets.
"Hello sir," I greet back
"There seems to be a problem with Mr Black's debit transactions for the month of April, I wanted you to help me have a look at it," he says.
"No problem Mr Peterson," I tell him.
"No however, let's do it tomorrow, go home and get some rest, you look exhausted. I had suggested you take today off, after the long day we had yesterday, I don't know why you are here," he says sternly.
"No, I'm okay sir, I just need some coffee to keep me focused," I respond
He looks at me warily, says okay if you say so and then leaves the file on my desk.
Mr Peterson is my manager here at the bank. A strict man in his late forties, extremely punctual and a master with numbers.
Once he is out I take a long breath in and out. I try to push away what has been haunting my mind for the past 12 hours and I start looking at the file.
I am an accountant here at the Secure Bank in Accra and I have been working for just over two years.
About 10 minutes into working on the file, I hear a knock.
"Come in," I state.
Before I can even lift my eyes, a scent of fresh fresh lemons hits my nostrils and I already know it's Samantha.
Well what can I say. Samantha is Mr Peterson's niece. She is in the auditing department. An extremely beautiful brown girl with a body of a model. I think I once heard she used to do a bit of modelling during her high school years.
"Hello Zuhrah," she nearly whispers seductively.
"Hi Samantha Williams, how can I help you today?" I retort back.
She laughs
"Why the government name..." she whines like a child
"Must you always be such a kill joy Cherie," she continues.
I finally look up and she looks beautiful as always. I try not to falter.
Today she is wearing a green pantsuit with a white polka dotted shirt, black heels and her has her locks in a low ponytail.
"Is that not your name? Or are you ashamed of the name your parents gave you?" I ask her
Before she can answer me I continue,
"Or perhaps you are married now and your names have changed," I tease her
"How can I be married when you haven't even asked for my hand in marriage yet?" She comes back
I resist the urge to smile, she's such a playful girl.
"You look tired, why don't you go home and rest? I know you guys worked till 10 pm yesterday" She says softly.
By now she is sitting on my desk, looking at me intensely. I have long given up on scolding her for sitting on my desk instead of the chair each time she comes to my office.
"I don't need to rest, I am fine," I tell her.
"Well if you don't go home to rest, I will just hang around your office all day and annoy you," she tells me.
"Mr Peterson sent you to convince me to go home, didn't he?" I ask her.
"What!? No of course not, my uncle did not send me.." I am my own person, I act on my own accord... What do you think of me, I am a feminist to the core, an independent thinker, why would I allow my uncle to bully me... I just wanted to see your cute face..." She rambles on
I chuckle
"You are a terrible liar, you know that?" I ask her
"What!? I'm offended" she feigns being hurt and pouts
A fleeting thought about kissing her pout away crosses my mind and quickly shake my head.
I can't believe I just thought of that.
"Anyways, okay. I will leave now. Seemingly no one wants me at work today," I tell her.
"Aww that's not true, I want to be around you all the time... Can I go with you?" She gives me her puppy eyes and I can't tell if she's joking or not.
"No Samantha go to your office and do your work," I say
"You are never fun..." She whines
"What are you 5 years?"
"For you I will be anything," she comes back
I shake my head and smile as I pack my laptop into its bag and some of my stuff into my hand bag. All the while she's watching me.
I switch my computer screen off and stand up to leave.
"Let me carry your bags for you and walk you to your car," she offers
"No, thank you, I'm alright" I tell her.
She grabs them anyway and walks me to the car.
I open the car and she puts my items inside.
"Thank you Samantha, bye" I tell her
"You are welcome, get some rest okay? I don't want to see bags under your eyes like today tomorrow," she tells me
I chuckle and get in the car
As I start the engine she waves bye and I wave back as I drive off.
I shake my head and smile thinking of Samantha as I drive.
Samantha is a flirty sweet girl. She asked me out two years ago when I first started working at the bank. We used to work closely together back then as she was still an accountant as well, that was before she moved to the auditing department.
Although I was flattered, I turned her down because I don't believe in dating at work. I think it just causes a lot of unnecessary drama. I also thought that she was probably just playing around.
Well she's also a very gorgeous woman... Above my league. I just didn't think it would work...
And then I remember what I saw yesterday and i feel goosebumps on my skin.
Yesterday we were working on a major account for this company that has just started business with us and we worked till late around 10 pm. It was Mr Peterson, myself, his secretary, Rachel, a junior accountant and Mark, a guy in the it department.
The truth is that I am actually exhausted. But my exhaustion does not come from having working late yesterday. Working that late is not a rare occurrence with us.
I didn't sleep a wink yesterday.
How could you sleep at all after witnessing a murder scene right before your eyes?
YOU ARE READING
Taking Chances
General FictionZuhrah is working late one night when she sees a scene which has her life rolling in a motion she would have never thought of.
