03/08/2024
STELLA: EPISODE 65
When she arrived Emmanuel’s apartment, he was watching a football match on his TV. And after he opened the door for her, he went back to continue watching the game. He didn’t even acknowledge her dressing, or the makeup she had taken pains in applying on her face.
She went over to the couch where he was sitting, and sat down with him.
“Emmanuel please can we talk?”
“Go ahead and talk Oge, I’m listening” his eyes were glued to the TV as he spoke.
“Emmanuel please look at me”
“Oge I can hear you, it’s my ears I’m using to listen to you, not my eyes”
Oge kept quiet for a while, not knowing the right way to react, Emmanuel who wasn’t even bothered about her silence, kept screaming, and shouting when the referee blew against his team. At that moment she knew she has lost him. The Emmanuel she knows, would never ignore her to watch a football match, if the match was so important to him, he would beg her to watch it with him, or even turn off the TV, if she insists on talking to him about something that was important.
Emmanuel ignored her for about ten minutes, before he decided to turn off the TV and faced her. That was when he noticed the dress she had on, he smiled within himself, because he knew what she was trying to do. But she would have to try harder than just putting on a dress he loves, before she can be able to get him to fall for her again.
“You have my full attention now, what was it you wanted to say?”
As he turned to look at her, Oge sat there wondering what made her cheat on him in the first place, what was it she saw in Vincent that made her ever considered him worthy of flirting with in the first place? First of all, Vincent wasn’t even as handsome as Emmanuel, and neither was he half as caring, as Emmanuel was to her. If it were to be for the money, Emmanuel is far richer than Vincent, what then was her problem? Truly they say, you don’t know the value of what you have, until you have lost it.
“If you don’t have anything to say, I might as well just put the TV back on, and go back to watching my game” Emmanuel spoke out of exasperation.
“Umm… I am sorry, I actually want to let you know that, it was never my intention to cheat on you, I never meant to hurt you, I was just being stupid, and you ended up getting hurt, I’m truly sorry”
“I thought you said, you didn’t have anything to do with that guy, and that he was the one who forced himself on you? So how come you are now saying you were being stupid? I don’t understand please enlighten me?”
“I was… emmm” Oge knew if she really wanted to make things right with Emmanuel, she needed to be totally honest with him.
“I was flirting with him as well, I don’t know why I did it, but I flirted back every time he flirted with me”
“So you were planning on having a qui¢kie with him in your office, before coming to have dinner with me?”
“No, no, no... I actually that kiss was forced, he practically forced himself on me, you have to believe me”
“I have heard all what you said Oge, so what do you want me to do? What exactly is it that you want from me?” Emmanuel asked Oge.
“Emmanuel please I would like for us to get back together, I would love to be your girlfriend again, and I promise to do better this time”
“This is not just a job that you can just come back to Oge, it’s not something that you can just wake up some day, and decide that you want to get back to. Oge I don’t want to be in any form of love triangle”
“Emmanuel it’s you I want, not Vincent, not anyone else for that matter. Emmanuel what we had was special, it was beautiful, please let’s not throw what we had away, give me another chance, I beg you”
“Throw what we had away, you say? You threw whatever it is we had away, the moment you decided to start flirting with that new boss of yours, or didn’t you think of what we had, when you were busy flirting, and kissing him?” Emmanuel asked in anger.
“Emmanuel I’m sorry, and if you will have me, I’m willing for us to start afresh”
Emmanuel stood up and paced the sitting room."Oge, what you did was very bad, it was heart breaking, I don’t know if we can pick up from where we stopped”
“Emmanuel we don’t have to pick up from where we stopped, we can start on a new note, we can start afresh”
“We can’t just start afresh Oge, I can’t just forget what you did” he walked to the wall dart board, that was hung on one end of the living room, he took the darts, and started throwing the them at the board, each missing the target.
“If we are to come back together, What then becomes of your relationship with your boss?”
“I’m definitely going to be totally professional with him, and I would stop flirting with him too, in fact I have stopped flirting with him already, I promise”
Emmanuel threw the last dart on the board, before turning to look at Oge.
“If we are to get back together, you would have to stop working with your boss”
“Emmanuel I would love for that to happen too, but I can’t choose my boss”
“You would have to stop working there then”
“Wait I don’t understand, are you suggesting I quit my job?” Oge asked in disbelief.
"Oge you don’t expect us to get back together, when you are still working with that guy? He is the reason we are here in the first place”
“Emmanuel I’m sorry, but I can’t quit my job, I just got recently promoted, and now you want me to quit simply because you are feeling insecure?”
“I’m sorry? Did you just say I’m insecure? You are the one who went and cheated in the first place, if you hadn’t been going about flirting and kissing your boss, we won’t be having this discussion”
“I’m sorry Emmanuel, but I can’t quit my job, that’s not possible, it won’t work”
“You are right, it won’t work, we can’t work like this, asking you to quit your job, is selfish. But I still can’t look past the fact that you will still be working closely with that man. So we would have to forget about this, and go our separate ways”
Oge stared at Emmanuel as he spoke, she knew he was right, there was no way she could quit her job, and he would always see Vincent as a threat, and a constant reminder of the mistake she had made. They would have to go their separate ways.
“I’m sorry Oge, but this is the end of the road for our relationship”
Oge stood up from the chair she was sitting on. “I really wish things had turned out to be different for both of us, and for all it’s worth, I’m sorry, and if I could turn back the hands of time, I would never have flirted or kissed that guy”
“And if I could turn back the hands of time, I wouldn’t have pestered you to be in a relationship with me, the way I did. I would have just left you alone”
Oge did her best to not show how hurt she was by Emmanuel’s words, so she turned, and picked up her purse from the chair.
“I wish you the best of life Emmanuel, I wish life treats you well” she leaped and kissed him gently on the corner of his lips, before turning to leave the house.
Emmanuel watched as she walked out of his place, he really wanted to go after her, and stop her. But he couldn’t get himself to do it. He knew letting her go was a good idea. It was the best thing for both of them. He needed to let this bed fly.
The next day, Oge got to her office, and was surprised to find a rose flower, and a box of chocolates, sitting nicely on her desk. She picked up the flower and smelt it, wondering who it came from.
she was still looking at the items, trying to figure out who they could be from, when Vincent walked into her office.
“Good morning Oge” he had his hands in pant pockets, smiling at her.
“Good morning sir” Oge greeted him as she went to the other side of her desk, so she could put a distance between them.
“Oge I am very sorry for the way I behaved last time, my actions were totally out of line, please forgive me, I hope you like chocolates? Because I got those for you”
“It’s okay, but these are not necessary” She said referring to the box of chocolates, and rose flower.
“I’m sorry, don’t you like chocolates? I could get you something else, I was just…”
“No it’s fine Vincent, you don’t have to get me anything else, please just take these ones back, no need to get me anything to apologize with, I hold nothing against you”
“Oge please don’t reject them, I actually got them for you”
Oge stared at Vincent for a while, trying to figure out the reason for his sudden change in behavior, what was he getting at?
“I’m sure you are trying to figure out, what I’m up to, but I want you to know that, I’m up to nothing, I just want to let you know how truly sorry I am, and if it’s okay with you, I would like to take you out for dinner”
“I’m sorry Vincent, but I can’t have dinner with you, I have gotten your apology, and that’s enough”
“Oge please, I would really like to take you out to dinner, or maybe even lunch, I would really love to spend some time with you outside of work, I want to get to know you better Oge”
“I’m sorry but that won’t be possible, the only time I get to spend with you, is the time we spend working together, aside that, we can’t spend anymore time together”
“Oge I would like for us to…”
“Our relationship is only a work related one sir, thank you” Oge folded her arms, as if trying to dare him to speak any further on the issue. She just lost a good man, because of him, and wasn’t ready to jeopardize her life, or career any further because of him.
“All right, once again I’m sorry. Please send the report for last week’s campaign to my email”
“I will do that now sir…” Oge made sure to stress the sir, so he would know she is serious about being professional with him.
Vincent slowly nodded his head at her, before turning to leave for his office.
As she sat down to send Vincent the reports, she asked herself why she wasn’t this firm with him, when he started flirting with her the first time? ‘that’s because you liked, and craved for the attention he showered on you’ her subconscious said to her. But Emmanuel was showering her with more attention than, Vincent did, why then did she decide to cheat with Vincent?
Deep down, she knew she was just trying to be rebellious, just like she has always been. A part of her hasn’t still forgiven Emmanuel for the way he treated her, even if she tried to tell herself otherwise. A part of her wanted him to feel a little bit of the pain she had felt, when he had told her the next morning after sleeping with her, that he was in a relationship, and couldn’t date her. She knew she should have addressed the issue with Emmanuel before going into a relationship with him, for he kept apologizing for his actions, and she kept telling him, she had forgiven him.
‘Oge you have an unforgiving spirit’ she reprimanded herself. What she didn’t know about trying to make Emmanuel feel a little bit of pain, was that, she was going to hurt herself in the process too.
Now she wants nothing more than for them to get back together, she missed him, his laugh, his voice, the way he looked at her, when he thought she wasn’t looking.
Oge was lost deep in thought, when Laura’s personal assistant, came into her office.
“Good morning Miss Oge”
“Good morning” Oge didn’t bother calling the girl by her name, because she couldn’t remember her name.
“Laura would like to see you in her office”
“Now?”
“Yes ma’am”
Oge wanted to correct the girl about calling her a ma’am, severally she has warned her to stop referring to her as such, but she decided against it. She would have to leave it for another day.
“Tell her I would be there”
She quickly finished compiling the report, and sent them to Vincent, before going to meet Laura in her office.
When she got to Laura’s office, she was standing with her back to the door, as she looked at the ocean waves, through the glass wall in her office.
“Good morning Laura”
“Good morning Oge, how are you doing?” Laura still had her back to Oge as she spoke.
“I’m fine ma, your assistant said you wanted to see me?”
“Yes I requested to see you, please have a seat” she turned to face Oge.
Oge did as she was asked, while Laura walked around her table, and sat down on her chair.
“How is work?”
“Work is fine”
“And your new boss? You both have been getting along well enough, I see?”
“Yes we are” Oge’s heart was already beating hard against her chest, why would Laura call her to her office this morning, to ask after her relationship with Vincent? Could she have seen them kissing? If she did, then Oge knew she was in a deep s**t.
“That’s good then, and how would you describe your relationship with him?”
“I’m sorry who?” Oge asked in confusion, she was already tensed, and couldn’t understand why Laura was asking her these questions.
“Your boss, Vincent. How would you describe your relationship with him?” Laura was looking at Oge with all seriousness, making Oge even more tensed. Did she hear something? Or had she seen something? Oge thought within herself.
“Oge, can you hear me?”
“Yes… Yes I can”
“So?”
“So…?” Oge asked Laura back, not quite understanding what she meant.
“Oge is everything alright with you?”
Oge was still lost in thought, thinking about how to respond to Laura’s question.
“Oge?” Laura called her name with a look of concern on her face.
“Ma?” She looked confused.
“Are you okay?”
“No, no not at all, I am not feeling fine, I have not been feeling too well for a while now, and I think it just got worse now” Oge spoke so fast, Laura became suspicious of her.
“I’m sorry about that, probably you can take the day off...” Laura wasn’t done speaking when Oge got to her feet immediately.
“Thank you ma, I will be on my way…”
“Oge, I meant after this meeting”
“Ehnn…? Oh I thought you meant like right now, because my body temperature is beginning to increase and..”
“Oge sit down please”
“Okay” Oge sat down reluctantly, even if she wanted to make a quick dash for the door, and run out of Laura’s office.
“When we are done, you can take the day off, and go take care of your health. But first I need you to tell me about your relationship with your boss Vincent”
“I understand your question Laura?”
“Are you having an affair with Vincent?”
“What? Of course not. I’m not having an affair with Vincent, sorry I meant my boss”
“Are you sure of that? Because that is not the report that I have been getting about you two lately”
“I’m very sure, my relationship with Vincent is strictly professional, nothing more” Oge spoke with a straight face, trying her best to convince Laura that whatever she must have heard about her, and Vincent was not true.
“Then why do I have a picture of you two kissing in your office?”
Laura pushed her phone on the table over to Oge. Oge was scared of what she might see on the phone, so she didn’t pick it up from the table, she just kept staring at Laura.
“Go on, pick it up and see for yourself” Laura encouraged.
Oge reluctantly picked up the phone, and on the screen was a picture of her and Vincent kssing.
“Does that look anything close to professional, to you?”
“I can explain this Laura”
“What would you like to explain to me about? The picture clearly speaks for itself. I’m sure you know what this means Oge? You know how the company treats issues like this”
“Aren’t you going to allow me to explain myself?”
“And what do you have to say?”
“Vincent has been coming to lay complaints, of how you have been constantly throwing yourself at him, but I never believed him, until he came with this proof”
“Vincent did what? He was the one who even forced himself on me in the first place, how can you just believe his words, when you haven’t even heard my own side of the story?”
“Because we have this” Laura took her phone, and opened to a video, and played it for Oge to watch.
In the Video, Oge was the one who forced Vincent to kiss her, it was as if they both traded places.
Oge replayed the video to make sure she was seeing correctly, and she kept gasping in surprise, as she watched the video. She couldn’t believe what she was watching.
“No this can’t be, it doesn’t even make sense, how can I be the one throwing myself at Vincent, when he was practically the one who forced himself on me?”
“But that’s not what it looks like in the video Oge”
“But you have to believe me, you can’t just take his words over mine, Vincent has been the one flirting with me, and even forced himself on me”
“And if what you are saying is true, then why didn’t you come and report to me? Why didn’t you say something all these while?”
Oge was silent, she knew Laura was right, all these while, that Vincent has been flirting with her, not for once did she report him to Laura, but Instead she encouraged him by flirting back. The only person she ever told was Stella, and that wouldn’t even count.
Oge knew she needed to think of something really fast, something that can prove she was actually telling the truth. She then, immediately remembered that Vincent had gotten her a flower, and box of chocolates as a means of apology.
“Just to prove to you that, he was the one who forced himself on me, he bought a box of chocolates, and a rose flower this morning, to apologize for forcing himself on me on Friday” Oge was glad Vincent had refused to collect the items back, when she had asked him to.
“And where are these items?” Laura asked.
“They are on my desk”
“Come show them to me then” Laura stood up and motioned for Oge to lead the way.
TO BE CONTINUED
Follow Vera official for the next episode and more interesting stories
