The Romantic Office Saga: Part Three

“Please come to my office”, boss said and hang on.

I found my boss seated looking a bit relaxed with a bottle of mineral water. I pretended not to get surprised by the fact that she was wearing a red mini-skirt and a tight-fitting pink blouse that revealed a lot of cleavage.

“What am about to tell you or rather to ask you should not leave this office, treat it with the confidentiality that it deserves.” She said. “You can count on me madam”, I replied as a matter of fact.

“I want you to tell me anything that you know about Sam, your neighbor”. Actually, I knew so little about Sam. Who cares anyway, the houses are so self-contained each with its own separate inner gate we only shared the outer gate. So, I simply had no idea where to begin. But seeing boss was so serious I just said, “Sam is a silent man, he mostly keeps to himself and all I know is he is a good man”.

“Do you ever see him with any other woman, or is there any other women who come to his place?” She asked. “No, I am yet to see another woman there”. I lied, despite knowing that Sam was married and his wife occasionally came but never used to stay there.

“Now Tony, I want you to investigate for me Sam, tell me anything possible that you know about him and if you happen to see him with another lady around his house, alert me with this number.” Madam said giving me her private number which was not known to any of my colleagues. She added, “That is my private number, make sure not to give anyone else…”

-------------------

“Tony, can you hack anyone’s emails or communications?” Madam asked adding, “I know you IT gurus can do anything.” I said, “Yes, I can. But hacking is not ethical so we simply do not.”

“I am giving you further details of my assignment for you, it is inside this flash disk”, she told me handing me a flash disk of 8 GB. “Inside that flash disk is a word document, you will go and open it, read those instructions carefully and give me feedback later, within the next 3 days. Is that ok?” she asked, “Yes”, I answered not knowing what I was getting myself into.

----------------

I returned to my office and continued drinking the chocolate that Sally had brought me. It was so sweet and refreshing considering that I was so thirsty and was already feeling hungry. I kept pondering on what is it that boss really want me to do for her.

Come lunch time, as Sally was taking boss’ lunch to her office, she managed to sneak by my office and drop me some lunch, a thing she has never done before. Sally knew we were not allowed to eat in the office but she just did not seem to care. So, I just ate as fast as possible so she can come for the containers before anyone gets to know am eating in the office. After finishing my lunch, I texted Sally to come for the containers.

When she came for the containers, she seemed more jovial than usual. She was not even in a hurry to leave office. I could not just tell her to leave but I sure wished she would leave.

“What are you doing?” Sally asked, inching closer to my computer. “I am just updating our computer’s anti viruses for the company servers”. Despite Sally not being proficient in IT she somehow knew some terms associated with the field, a thing which puzzled me since most tea girl I know are just too dumb to care, but Sally was a tea girl in her own league. I pretended to be busy with whatever I was doing but I could not ignore the fact that Sally kept looking at my eyes, and whenever I looked at her she would look down and smile softly. This was making my heart begin to race and my mind to start imagining things.

Since there was no one else in the office with me, I held Sally by her waist and pulled her to come closer to where I was seated. She inched closer and just stared at my lap top. Then she lifted one of her legs stepped on my shoes before saying, “Sorry, let me wipe the shoe for you”. “No, no, it is just ok, am ok”, I said. It was not ok. I loved being extra smart but I did not want to offend Sally. Somehow, she took out her handkerchief and wiped my shoes with it.

“Have you now become a Ugandan woman?” I asked her. “Why?” Sally asked. “They are the ones who are known to even wipe their husband’s shoes out of love.” At that instant, Sally stood straight, supported herself with my table and said, “I can do anything for the one I love.” She said and as soon as that sentence ended, she bent forward and planted a quick kiss on my lips before reaching for the food containers and thermos flask. She hurriedly placed them in her serving basket and walked out of my office, saying on her way out, “See you in the evening, let me go to the kitchen and finish what I was doing”.

--------------

I felt something strange; whereas I was used to working alone in the IT office, I missed Sally as if she was part of that office. There was something in Sally that was irresistible if not alluring. Was it her cool nature, was it her charming behaviors towards me, what was it? How will people think of me when they realize I am in some relationship with a mere tea girl being the System’s admin, among the highest-ranking posts in this company? I was confused. I was so lost in my train of thoughts I did not realize our secretary was standing at the door.

“Tony, you seem like your mind is so far away, how can I stand here for close to 5 minutes and you haven’t realized?” Irene asked. “May I come in”.

“Oh, please come in, have a seat”, I told Irene and she sat. She wanted me to help her with some excel sheet formulas as she was preparing some report and she was stuck. So we opened her excel workbook and I told her to sit right next to me as I sort her out. One thing is, I was a good teacher when it comes to teaching ICT concepts and I really enjoyed it explaining to someone. So, the talk got so animated as I tried to explain to her some functions, how to draw some graphs and produce a report. Irene was so attentive all the time, not sure if she was really getting all the concepts or she just enjoyed seeing me working on the excel sheet, all in all, she would urge me on calling me a genius, but it is my job and it was pretty easy to accomplish that.

Just as she was about to leave she saw some cookies that Sally had brought to me. “Can I have one of those please?”, Irene asked, “Oh! Yea, welcome.”

She took one. “Oh! they are so sweet, where did you get them from?”, Irene asked. I lied, “I made them myself yesterday evening, I love cooking when am bored”. Irene gave me one prolonged look and just said, “I can’t believe, few men know how to cook, you must be special, I like that.”

“Oh! Thank you”, I told Irene for her complement. She just did not know that Sally made them, I did not even wish her to know. But she insisted, “Are you sure it is not someone who made them for you, I would wish to have more, they are so sweet. I will come for some more.” Irene said and walked out of my office that instant.

At the evening, after accomplishing much of my day’s task, I took my laptop and opened the flash disk that my boss gave me. I wanted to know what it contained. So I opened and it had one folder. In the folder was one word document and 10 photo graphs. The photos some were Sam with another woman not my boss holding each other seated on the beach. Another was same lady with a little child about 4 years old, and another the lady alone. I just could not understand why boss would be interested with them.

I opened the word document and it had 3 paragraphs of what my boss intended me to do. In short, she said she had picked those photos from another Facebook profile and wished to know if the lady ever visits Sam. She explained that Sam was telling her he is single, and got divorced about 10 years ago but insisted he was not in a relationship with any other woman except her so she wanted me to use my IT knowledge and investigate online who this lady was and if possible I should hack into her account and see if she communicates with Sam. Being an IT expert that was pretty easy for me, but the ethical issue that might arise bothered me. Why? This felt like a love scandal building up and I did not like the feeling of it.

I was about to leave, it was well past 5:30 Pm and most staffs had left. I heard a gentle knock at the door and I just said, “Come in”. Expecting Sally. But it was Irene who came.

“What are you still doing in office this late?” She asked but by the look on her face she did not expect me to answer that since she knew I remain mostly to do daily backups before calling it a day.

I knew Sally would be late too since she remains to wash some dishes before going home, and I knew she would come by my office.

Irene sat and we began talking, just usual casual talks of current affairs, job related issues etc. But I could tell Irene was not in a hurry to leave. But I just wished she would leave.

After sometime, Sally knocked and just came in. There was no extra seat in my office and I offered her my seat and opted to stand as I finished shutting down the server. The awkward silence that followed as it was obvious none of them expected each other in my office. It is me who broke the silence and said, “Am done with my day, let me close my office and we go home.”, I said and both Sally and Irene stepped outside as I locked the door.

We began walking just casually talking generally like colleagues would do. Irene whose work involved interacting with me most during the day dominated the talk as Sally just kept silent most of the time since she did not have much to talk about office work. I kept trying to change the topic to accommodate Sally but for some reason, Sally just responded and kept quiet. We just walked to a point where we were to part as each heads home. Since Irene lived some distance than both of us I suggested we stand there as she waits for Matatu to take her home. So we just stood there. The first Matatu came but Irene simply said she does not like loud music and she let it go. The second came and she did not board it for whatever reason. I was getting impatient but being a gentleman I did not want to just walk away with Sally or leaving them there on their own. Call it being manly but wanted to ensure all go safely. When third Matatu came, I told Irene she has to go it is getting late. luckily, the air got cooler and it began drizzling so Irene simply hopped into the Matatu, bid us goodbye and went home.

------------------

That instant Sally brightened and began talking as if Irene’s departure opened her and set her at ease. At least I felt relieved too.

“How was your day?”, I asked Sally as if we worked in a different organization. “It was fine, just feeling tired”, she answered smiling at me. Since it was dark, I reached for her hand and we began walking till the intersection where we were to part and she goes her way as I go home. We got at the intersection, we hugged each other and Sally went her way as I went my way.

On my way, I just imagined, “silly me, I could have offered to escort her a little bit”, I guess I was just too tired I just wanted to go home and have some rest.

-------------------

At around 10 PM, on my bed dozing, my phone buzzed with a text message. I opened the text which was sent with a new number. The text read, “good night, sweet dreams”. I opened my true caller to check the name of the number just in case, since I wanted to know who it was from. My true caller returned, “Irene bebs”. I had expected it is from Sally but since it was not from her, I just placed my phone under the pillow and dozed off not caring to know who that was.

------------------

The following morning, Sally as usual passed by my office. “Good morning Tony, you did not reply to my message”. She said. I was surprised. I nearly told her that I got a message but was Irene bebs her name? But that instant, my mind raced and I just took my phone and checked my messages. Sure enough, Sally sent her message at 11:15 PM. I was fast asleep. Before I even tell her I was a sleep she just said, “Its ok, yesterday you seemed so tired may be you slept before then”, Sally said as she wished me a good day and went to her work.

So who is this Irene bebs? I wondered.

I continued with my work wondering how to go about this boss’ assignment. In the back ground was some blues music that I enjoy whenever am working. Some of the lyrics that were playing made me feel like I wanted to hold someone by her waist and dance with her to the slow rhythm of the soft beats.

As expected, during tea time Sally brought me some cookies and some tea-masala seasoned drinking chocolate whose scent filled the room with pure sweetness.

“Tony, can you help me recover my email password? I forgot it and I really need to open it.” Sally said.

“Oh! Yea, that is pretty easy, take a seat and am going to recover it for you right now, take about a minute or two.” Her face brightened, am not sure which of the two made her happy; recovering her password or telling her to sit down in my office. Luckily, I did felt rather at ease since our boss had not reported to work that day, and I was not sure if she was to come or not. I could also sense Sally was at ease too.

So, Sally sat and I asked her the last password she entered in her mail; it failed and the mailing system prompted password recovery mechanism. The next step it asked her what was her phone number, I entered her phone number and next question was her birthday, luckily, she had used her real birthday when opening her email address and it just accepted. Then the system accepted a new password and she could log in to her email.

“Wow, you are such a genius, I never thought it could be recovered”. I wish she knew that was part of my job and I have recovered numerous email passwords for staffs in our company.

Sally did not seem in a hurry to leave, but I also wished she stay a bit longer too. It sure felt nice having her around. Her periodic jokes, a smile every time and her touch on my shoulder made me feel empowered to work more and impress her more, like a male peacock displaying its colorful feathers to impress a female peacock.

I started ogling at her and I noticed she was wearing a figure hugging long grey dress and a black sweater. Her cleavage was a little visible and her breasts were firmly tucked inside her clothes making a clear mount on her chest. She was smelling nice too and I could tell whatever spray she had used had a lingering effect wherever she passed.

“Seat right here, log in to your email and see if it is fully recovered.” I told Sally as I excused myself to go to the male washrooms for a while. My telling her to seat there was a tricky way of ensuring I would return and meet her there, but I surely knew that email is fully recovered.

On my way, back, Irene called me to her desk. She was stuck opening a word document and she thought it was corrupt. I realized it had been prepared with Office 2016 version and on her laptop was Office 2007. “I will just upgrade your system, let me go and fetch my hard disk then I will come and sort you out”. As I finished that statement Irene asked, “Why didn’t you replay to my message?” Irene asked.

That instant, I realized she was the Irene bebs in my true caller. “I was dead asleep”, I lied. Truth is, I did not replay since I had not saved her number in my phone, at least this one she used.  “Am sorry, next time I will reply”, I answered her smiling and she replied, “Thank you, I thought you ignored me. Anyway, sorry I sent with a strange number that you do not know. That is my personal number only known to my closest friends and relatives only.”

I noticed Irene wanted to follow me to my office to install for her the latest Office system, but since I knew Sally was in my office and I wanted more private time with her, I did not want Irene to come so I persuaded her to wait.

On returning to my office, Sally stood up, poured for me a cup of drinking chocolate and placed for me some cookies on my table. “Thank you, my email is ok now. You are such a nice guy.” Sally said looking at me smiling shyly. “You are welcome, anytime dear.” She took a deep breath as if she wanted to say something but no word came out of her mouth. It was like the word dear caught her off guard.

------------------

I heard a gentle knock on the door, and Irene pushed the door open holding her laptop.

“Hi” she said to Sally and began talking to me even before Sally replied. “Sorry I couldn’t wait. I really need that program soonest since am finishing up some urgent work.” Irene said as she continued to lean with her buttocks on my office table. She was wearing a brown mini-skirt which was also a full suit and had high heeled shoes. Her spray was so strong its fragrance filled the room that instant she got in. She held her neck high looking at me as I placed her laptop on my desk to install it with the latest Office system.

Irene was a chatter box, she dominated the entire conversation.

From where Sally was seated, we could see each other’s face but Irene could only see my face since she was more of facing me more than Sally. Sally upon noticing that, she made a funny face, smiled then winked at me, making my heart skip a beat. “Let me go back to my work, will see you later.” Sally said and left.

“Oh! Sally had come to see you? I thought she just brought you some tea”. Irene said. “Well, she just dropped by to say Hi. She is a colleague too so she can pass by and have a word or two with me. Besides, this office is so lonely am mostly alone here so no harm having some little company for some minutes.”

That statement sparked Irene. She interpreted that I needed some more company in my office and she said, “Oh, really, I will be coming more often to keep you company then.” I did not reply. I sure did not need her company either, Irene talked too much and she was so much into office gossips a thing which I did not like. I hoped she would interpret that gesture but I was wrong. Irene continued, “tomorrow I will spend some more time here with you. I have this report am writing and it is giving me hard time to edit and am still new to Office 2016 system so I will really need your help and expertise. So, I will be your guest.” I felt like she was trying to manipulate her way into my office, kind of, imposing herself. At this point I told her, “You are welcome, but for a short while since I have a tough schedule ahead. Am supposed to redesign our network infrastructure and I need to concentrate. Currently the one running our system is too costly and boss does not like how it ends up being too costly to our monthly budgets.”

“It is ok Tony. I won’t disturb you, I will just seat here and work, will only disturb you when I need your help.” I felt cornered. Our company had an open office policy and anyone could work from any desk except our boss. Our boss encouraged that work place culture to foster togetherness and team work, and to enhance social interactivity among employees a thing which had a really positive impact on our organization and improved productivity. So I had no reason to tell Irene no. In fact, if I turned down her request to come and work from my office for a day or two, if that got to our boss, it would not go well with her. My boss hated workers who turned other colleagues down especially on office work assistance. She discouraged work selfishness completely. Besides, she too was very sociable to all her employees and would assist you like any time you needed her assistance.

But that meant Sally would not spend much more time in my office the following few days as it was clear she enjoyed more when am alone with her.

--------------------

Irene sooner returned to her office. But she kept calling with our office landline to inquire how to use the new system that I had installed in her computer. As if she was really driving a point home; that she indeed needed to stay in my office for a few days in order to learn more. Either way, she was justified since all other employees would at times camp in my office for a day or two to learn any new system that had been introduced via the ICT department.

The following morning as soon as I opened my office Irene came with her laptop. She was wearing a yellow tight blouse, a red mini-skirt that was rather too tight for her buttocks. That day she was really jovial, and talkative too as if she was excited for something, like being in my office was a morale for her to work that day. Immediately she saw me she complemented me, “Oh! Today you look so smart, I like your shirt” she said and touched my collar, I realized she was rather straightening it since I had left home in a hurry did not really bother to even look at myself in the mirror. As she did so, she said, “you need someone to take care of you, I know bachelors are always in a hurry to leave him. Did you take breakfast?”

That question caught be by surprise. Sure enough, I had not taken any breakfast and I was famished. All I wanted was break time to arrive and Sally to bring me some tea and a few snacks to energize my day. But before I even responded, Irene had fished out some biscuits she was carrying in her handbag and handed me some. I could not decline, I thought it would be so impolite to decline. “Thank you”, I said not really looking at Irene. One thing I could tell, Irene was trying to really be nice to me, a thing I enjoyed too.

So, we settled to work and Irene sat at one of the office chairs on the opposite side of my table directly facing me. She opened her laptop and got working. I could hear her typing so fast, actually, Irene was famed for being the fastest typist in our organization having done secretarial and speed typing courses. But her constant tapping her keyboard was rather exaggerated as if she was doing some interview. Irene was even able to type while not even looking at her keyboard or even while talking to someone and I could notice most of the time as she was typing, she was at the same time talking to me and looking at me.

I then heard a gentle tap at the door and before I could respond, Sally came in carrying a thermos flask and some cookies as usual. She greeted both of us. I could see she had carried two cups only as usual but now we were 3 of us in the office.

Sally settled to serve us some chocolate drink. Somehow, she had discovered chocolate was my favorite beverage and not the usual tea that we used to take, and she made it a point of preparing me some chocolate instead. Immediately she poured some chocolate on my cup, the whole room filled with some sweet aroma of tea masala which made it so appetizing and refreshing at the same time. I was starving and I just reached for it and began sipping it.

“Let me go for an extra cup”, Sally said looking at Irene but before she could go Irene responded, “no don’t worry, am ok.” But Sally persuaded her to take some and she agreed to use the extra cup that Sally had come with.

“How is work?” I asked Sally, motioning her to take the extra chair in the office of which she did. Not that I was interested in knowing about her work, but I just wanted her to stay for some time in my office.

Sally was wearing a long navy blue dress, pink blouse which had white collars. For some reason, I just felt my heart begin to race seeing her seated there. Her bums protruded clearly on the dress as she sat and in my mind, I was doing comparison, Irene was taller than Sally but a bit slim while Sally who was shorter had larger hips than Irene. Crazy thoughts were racing in my mind.

To be continued.

As Narrated by Anthony Kerry.

Did you find this article helpful? Then click the share button for your friends to read too. Thanks.