ENE

"You are fired" Ene blinked twice as she stood there, baffled. hearing her boss scream those words to her.

 "sir I i i i i don't get you" she all but stuttered.

 "I'm not repeating my self again, now out of my office". She was a little bit repulsive at first but she realized that she would only make the situation worse. 

'I'm waiting, young lady' he repeated ,

After seeing his unflinching attitude, She did not need to be told twice as she picked her bag, staggered out of his office . She almost knocked her self on the floor. She could not believe that she would face such cruel approach after years of faithfulness and diligence.

As she waited for the cab she had called to get to her, her mind wandered to the events that led to just concluded senerio. 

She had woken up very early that morning. She made preparations so she could beat the Lagos traffic. The recent ban of her favorite means of transport, tricycle popularly known as 'keke', the government has just placed a ban on tricycle and Bike which made a lot of people leave their abode earlier than usual. Ene isn't left out, she had to drop her 10 year old son at his school before proceeding to her work place and on this day, luck was a bit not on her side. 

She had a lot of trouble getting to work. 

After she had dropped off Denis at his school, the heavens decided to open up on her with a heavy downpour, though she was already on a cab. The traffic that had brewed ahead of her was nothing to write home about eventually she got to her work place around 10:50. About two hours late, she knew it was going to be war between her employer and herself. 

Ene is an executive assistant to the CEO of an Advertisement Agency and her boss is nothing but an arrogant and egocentric man. Luckily for her, her boss was in a meeting when she got there. 

While preparing for her boss's twelve o'clock meeting She discovered that she had forgotten the required documents at home. She knew her boss would not spare her for that. When he realized such mistake had happened, he showed her no mercy during the meeting even though she had scaled through and gotten them the account of a multimillion deal she was still fired. A honk made Ene snap out of her reverie, she looked up to see the cab in front of her. 

"Mum you early today, and it's just Monday, are you feeling well, is anything the matter" Ene looked up at her son, her beautiful boy, the reason she's in the kitchen presently, the only person she'd strived so hard to get it together for, all her worries disappeared in to the thin air when she heard his voice "uhmmm no nothing is wrong, I'm perfectly o.k but I have a little issue at work so I'll be home for a while' she had manage to smile at him "c'mon mum I'm 10 not 2 so I can read your face well, so tell me what's going on?" Ene sighed, hee boy wasn't letting her on the hook anytime soon "wellllll" she dragged "I've been fired" the little boy's face turned into a grimace "ohhhhh, I'm sure you'll get a job very soon, a better one at that" "I pray so" Ene responded as she turned of the stove "now, go change and come have your lunch, I made porridge" the boy skipped out of the kitchen while Ene made a move to dish out the food.

Days passed by and Ene still hadn't gotten a hold of any job yet, and if she didn't secure a job soon she'll been in trouble. She scanned through her phonebook maybe she could ask for favor but no one seems promising, she frowned as she drop the phone and decide to run a little errands she was out of stuffs at home and Denis will soon be home crying for food. 

She scanned through the beverages aisle, everything seems to have increase in price or so she thought, she had to manage her resources or she will be rendered penniless. "You are not a kid so why should you be picking children's milk' En whipped her head back to catch the sight of the intruder and she almost died of shock, there stood the main source of her problem Wole Coker. She hissed and picked a can of milk, she tried walking away but his firm grip on her won't let her go "ah Ene you haven't changed one bit, still the feisty girl I knew back in Unilag." She snatched her hand away and gritted her teeth "and you are still the same fool who thinks he's the it, now out of my way."

As she layed on her bed that night sleep eluded her, and it was because of the handsome devil she had met earlier, she tried to forget him as he was a blast from her tragic past but it wouldn't bulge so she let her mind wandered to the year it all begun.

In September 2009, she had just gained admission into Unilag, and she was new to Lagos as she was originally from Abeokuta in Ogun state, she had chosen Unilag as opposed to her parents who wants her to go to Babcock university. She was the first child and only daughter of her father, her mother had died during her birth leaving her to the hands of her stepmother who did everything to avoid her at home and her father being so overprotective of her, so escaping to Lagos was her only chance at freedom and coming out of her shell. It was during her orientation she had met Kike, an outgoing girl originally from Lagos who introduced her to her nemesis Wole Coker, they had been intoduced at a party for the freshers tho he was in his final and also very popular on campus, he was so full of life and also a life of the party he was but he took interest in the timid Ene.

Ene who had never gotten that kind of attention in her life fell stupidly for his charms until he took everything away from her. She had found out she was pregnant during the summer holiday after her first year and when she tried to reach him through his friends Ene found out he had traveled almost immediately after graduation, she was against ab*rtion. 

With the help of her stepmother her father disowned her, she had to drop out of school and do menial jobs like waitressing, salesperson in other to survive until she met her breakthrough. She met Mrs Adanijo in one of the supermarket she had worked during this time who took interest in her and helped her through the rest of her pregnancy and also help trained her back in school. Mrs Adanijo was and is still the only relative she knows, the woman had helped her secure her last job and she was still too ashamed to tell her she had been fired because the woman had offered Ene her car because she seldomely goes out to which she had refused so she was avoiding the case of had I know. 

Ene took a glance at the wall clock at the other end of her room, her eyes widened in shock as she sees it's after 3 a.m and she had wasted her better part of the night thinking about her sorrowful past.

"Ene when are you going to tell me you no longer have a job?" Ene almost dropped her phone. She looked at her son who only shrugged, there and there she knew he was the one who told her "Ene answer me o" the woman retorted "mum see I don't want to worry you, I'm looking for...... Mum let me call you back there's someone at the door" 

"Wh....aaaat are you doing here?, ho..ow did you find me?" Ene almost screamed at the man at her front door. "I'm a man with mission and I mostly get my ways just like you've always known" he pushed past her and enter into to the living room as his eyes bore into his miniature playing a video game, the boy dropped his game pad and flew into the arms of the man who he knew without anyone telling him is his father "oh how I've waited for this day to come, I can't believe I got my valentine gift already, mum thank you so much, I love you" the little boy rambled "Denis to your room" Ene snapped. When the boy was gone she faced Wole "now what are you doing here?" "as you heard my boy, valentine came early" he replied with a smug grin "that doesn't answer my question" Ene screamed at him "I'm back for my family..." He noticed Ene wanting to talk but he motioned for her to be silent while he continued "....11 years a go I didn't know I'll be traveling after graduation, it was all impromptu and there was no time for me to tell you and a little part of me believed you would have moved on because you were so beautiful and innocent, all these years while I was away you were always on my mind. I came back last December to head my father's company and I decided to do research about you, that was when I found out all you went through just because of my lustful desires, I an friends with your last boss." Ene's eyes widened with this information "oh don't be surprised he was my friend in secondary school and yes I made a deal with him to fire you so that I could have my grand entry into your life, ah oh about Denis" he paused "I went to his school and talked to him and the little boy was so happy, don't be surprised the boy is just like me, and your mum is in on this surprise as well, so when I say I want my family back I really d... Ouch" he rubbed his face "what was that for?" She slapped him hard again " that's for all the stress you've put me through" he drew her closer and gave her a tight hug, raising her chin he kissed her hard.