Dysfunctional - Episode 14

 

I lifted Dr. Sommy on my shoulder into her house. It was a very small home. Her room was unmissable. I dropped her on the bed then I heard her sob.
 I couldn't leave her alone; better still, my conscience would not allow me.
"Do you want to talk?" I asked sitting on the bed. 
"If I want to talk, I'll rather talk to a damn therapist" she snapped at me. "Can you do me a favor and just leave already?" She added and I stood up. 
"You're supposed to be nice remember?" I asked forcing a smile.
"Screw you Bosco! Screw the deal, screw the damn car, Screw all men in the world . I don't even want to see you guys again!" She stood up pushing off everything on her dresser table. 
I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew waiting around would help me understand.
"Urgh! I've worked my ass all these years for a relationship that is as useless as your peestick" she laughed in the midst of her tears. Then she closed her mouth with her palm probably in guilt. 
"I'm sorry" she apologized. "Please I need to be left me alone" she added. 
"I'm sorry but I can't leave you, not in this condition. What happened?"
"Guys, your specie that was what happened

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/dysfunctional

. I found Joshua banging another woman on our bed, technically his bed but that bed could have been ours."
"He's not supposed to be back until Thursday"
"He fooled me, actually it was supposed to be a surprise" she shut her eyes then licked off the tears that had tricked down her lip.
"He was going to propose" she added sobbing uncontrollably. I passed my handkerchief to her and she blew her nose in it.
 "He did after I caught him" she paused and I felt her pains. She found it difficult to speak. I didn't even want any explanation anymore. 
I didn't understand why he would cheat on her and then propose.
"Guess what?" She asked, "He also gave me a car. It has always been my dream to have my own car and prove to every one in the family that Sommy can also have a car. I'm tired of being the only one coming out of Keke in every family meeting" she paused.
 I felt touched. I suddenly felt tears building up in my eyes. "That was one of his big surprise which could have been perfect if I didn't catch him .. Maybe I shouldn't have gone"
"And stay stuck with a cheat. Marriage is a forever deal, when your in, there's no going back." "There's divorce" she answered and I scoffed. 
"You seem really hurt by what he did" "It's not what he did, it's the fact that I trusted him...I had so much faith that he wouldn't cheat not since his therapy"
"Wait, Joshua was your patient?"
"Yeah, a sex addict i helped and fell in love with. It was stupid right?" She asked and I scoffed again. "No" I replied, "Stupid can't describe what you did" "I shouldn't have fallen in love"
"Don't say that Sommy it wasn't your fault" I consoled. It was actually my first time calling her by her name. "Falling in love is a wonderful experience, but in your case, you fell for the wrong person."
"You both were stupid, but he's more stupid cause he lost you. So what if he cheated? It's his loss. Someone would definitely come in time. Someone better" I avoided and I watched as her eyes scattered insanely around the room.
"I think I'm jinxed or something" she added and I gaze speechlessly at her. For the first time, I needed her to say something nasty to me, something to make her happy but there was nothing.
I raised my car key up, "You won the bet, you'll have my car"
She scoffed then stared blankly at me. "Don't make me feel anymore pathetic, I don't need your pity"
"You won Sommy, you deserved it, I know how many times you wanted to rain abuses at me but you restrained yourself not to"
"You can keep your car John Bosco, I don't need it. She snapped, this was the first time she called me by full name.
 "Someday I'll buy my own car, even if it's secondhand, I'll definitely buy myself a car." She promised laying her head on the bed. 
I felt really sorry for her. Slowly she closed her eyes to sleep. I covered a bed sheet over her then watched her for a while before leaving.

I couldn't sleep half the night, all I could think of was Dr. Sommy. She has always carried herself as a lady who is impenetrable with firewalls and defenses. These few days with her has made me realize she's different. 
She might actually be the sweetest and softest person I've ever met. With those defenses broken down, you can see her for who she truly is.
I had to go to work to continue from where I left off but my mind wandered afar off. All I wanted to do was to go to the therapy clinic to see Dr. Sommy. 
The moment I realized I was only deceiving myself, I drove over to the clinic. I saw Filda yelling at a man. "I'd rather be jobless than work for you!" She yelled. "You don't have to be a b*tch about it" the man responded harshly.
"Seriously? Now I'm being a b*tch about it?" She scoffed and I carefully observed what was happening. "I'm sorry for calling you a b*tch"
"You can't eat back your vomit can you?" She snapped then folded her hands.
"Dr. Sommy is having a bad influence on you. You've never been like this"
"Being with Dr. Sommy was the best thing I've ever done" she yelled walking away. I think she took notice of me then she turned back at him. "For the record Jack, I'm engaged. Stop trying to woo me. You're nothing but a pretentious jerk" she snapped then walked up to me. "Good morning Sir" she greeted then hissed loudly.
"You seem angry"
"I am" "Is Dr. Sommy in?" I asked and she shook her head. "Let me guess, she hasn't resumed yet to work" "She resumed this morning before she was relieved" "Wait, she was fired?"
"I believe the term used was relieve"
"What happened?"
"The CEO, screw it! It wasn't the CEO. It was Dr Jack O'Brien that mad doctor from Port Harcourt, he had her fired"
"Isn't Dr. Sommy supposed to be the company's finest asset"
"Well Dr. Jack just toppled her in that hierarchy of power" "I'll go talk to CEO, he can't possibly do this. I'm not through with therapy"
"Don't bother"
"I'll make threats to sue him"
"Seriously?" She asked then scoffed. "If Dr. Sommy wanted to fight back, she would have but she didn't"
"Why?"
"I don't know Sir, you should have seen the look on her face. She seemed so dead" she paused almost in tears. "I knew Joshua was ono good" she chipped in.
 I she knew about him already.
 "Why does she have to be unlucky every damn time" Filda leaned on the wall. I think I saw tears roll over her cheek. She quickly cleaned it off. 
"You care about her right?" 
"I don't know what I'll do in this company without her" "What would you do then?" I asked, "I'll quit and find another job. What the CEO did is treacherous. Dr. Sommy has given up a lot for this pursuit"
"Why was she fired again?"
"Because she was pictured drunk last night and she had drinks in her office. Dr O'Brien planned it all."
I got her contact Incase I wanted to find out any information from her. Then I drove quickly to her house but she wasn't at home. 
 "Are you looking for Dr. Chisom?" A lady asked, probably her neighbor.
"Yes"
"You just missed her, she left with her luggage like five minutes ago."

Sommy's POV
I woke up to the loud ringing from my phone. I lifted up my head to slightly, then i stretched my hands in search of my phone. 
I felt like my head was about to spilt into two. The world was still spinning. 
I struggled to open my eyes, my bag was at the edge of the bed. By this time the caller had dropped the call. I pulled the bag closer then pulled out my phone and saw twenty six missed calls, several from Joshua, two from Juliet and six from the CEO.
"Jesus!" I yelled. I must have slept past work time, I thought then I looked at the time on my phone. It was just 8:08 am. 
The call came in again and I picked up. "Good morning Sir"
"I need you to report at the office with immediate effect"
"Hope no problem Sir?" "Can you make it here in the next thirty minutes?" He asked and I agreed. 
All I had to do was take some aspirin, brush my teeth, spray some perfume and I was off to work.
I walked into the CEO's office where I found Dr. O'Brien with a stupid grin on his face.  Something smells fishy I thought, and it wasn't just his perfume.
"What's going on?" I asked, "Is that your good morning?" Dr. O'Brien asked and I scoffed. "Please Sir, what's this goat doing here?" I asked and he hissed. 
"Most times I wonder why a company as great as this would employ someone has nonsensical as her"
"Sir if I want to talk to you, I'd like to do so without this idiot"
"That's enough Dr. Sommy" the CEO finally said. "Something smells fishy, why does it look like I'm being summoned?" I asked and he threw some pictures on the table. 
I picked it up to see snap shots of me drinking in the club and being taken out by Bosco. 
I knew this was a dirty job done by no one other than Jack. 
"Screw you!" I said to him, "Watch it Dr. Sommy"
"Screw you too Lawrence!" I yelled, "I can't believe you brought me out here for this. This is my personal life for crying out loud"
"Getting drunk in public is against the company rule"
"Fuck the company rules Lawrence, this doesn't add up. Fine I got drunk, so what? How does it affect the company? How does it affect my job"
"We found drinks in your office" Lawrence revealed and I rolled my eyes. "That's invasion of my privacy"
"I'm the Boss here I have the right"
"You have no right to walk into a woman's office!"
"We better run a drug test on her, I bet she'll fail it" Jack suggested. This was the last straw that broke the camel's back, I just wished I could slap some sense into him.
 I unconsciously punched him on the nose. "Jesus!" He yelled covering his nose, I didn't even know how he got to find out about the drinks in my office. 
"That's it Doctor, you've been relieved of your job"
"Why would you guys do that?" Filda walked, apparently she was eavesdropping.
"Were you....?" Lawrence asked and I saw her hesistate, "Well you're not supposed to invade her office but you did anyway, since we're all breaking rules, fine! I was eavesdropping"
"Filda" Dr. O'Brien called out to her softly. 
Urgh! His pretentious and Mr. Perfect act gets me angry all the time!
 In his little hypocritic movie, I'm the villain and Filda's the girl he's trying to woo.
"I won't say it twice, Dr. Sommy has been relieved of her job due to incompetency and careless habit of drinking. I'd like a word alone with her, everyone dismiss" he ordered. Filda and Dr. O'Brien left us alone.
"How dare you?" I asked and he shook his head ruefully. "I didn't want to do this but with your piling scandals and all, Dr. O'Brien threatened to use his closeness to the press to ruin me if I don't fire you"
"Oh screw him, I should knock off his teeth" I withheld my forming tears.
"I'm sorry Dr. Sommy but this company is my sweat and I can't watch it ruin because of you" he added and I scoffed. 
"You have a week to pack your stuff"
"Don't deceive yourself Lawrence even If you give me a month to pack my stuff, I won't be able to"
"But"
I told him that i would stop by to pick my stuff one by one. Even if I'll have to pack two books in a week.
I met Filda by her table. "What happened?" She asked, "How long were you given?" "Till further notice" "Ma you've done nothing wrong. What did that bald head tell you in that office?" She asked, for a moment there, I noticed she's been rubbing off on me. 
"Dr. O'Brien threatened to involve the press" 
"You've never cared"
"Apparently, Lawrence cares about the company's face" tears rolled down my cheek and I cleaned them off. 
"I caught Joshua last night with another woman" I blurted out to her. I needed to tell someone.

Read " Palm lines " by the same author ( Essien Eno )

. " 
Filda moved close to me for a hug.

After I left the clinic, I zoomed off to my house where I packed a few of my clothes into a luggage then I went over to my aunt's house. She called Mom who seemed even more angry than I was at Joshua. 
"When would you get married now?" She asked, and I rolled my eyes. "Is that what you should be worrying about Uju?" My aunt snapped while Juliet patted me on my back.
"Nne you need to snap out of this mood" my aunt advised and I sighed. 
"All I need is a vacation away from this place"
"Consider it done" Mom agreed, "Where do you want to go to? Paris? Los Angeles? Name it"
"Something that my savings can afford" I answered and she hissed.
"I'll pay for the trip"
"I don't need your money, I can help myself"
"I thought you were saving towards buying a car" Juliet asked and I hissed.
"Now I'm using it to help myself. If I don't get out of here, I might end up being the one in need of a therapist or worst I can go to jail for killing Joshua"
"God forbid! You will not go jail. So where do you want to travel to?" Mom asked and I sighed. 
"Nsukka" I replied and I saw a lot of disapproving look. "What happened?" "I was going to suggest Ghana, it's affordable" Juliet suggested.
"I have friends in Benin republic" my Aunt chipped in.
"I don't understand, are you guys the one taking the vacation for me?"
"If you're going to Enugu, don't call it a vacation, just say you're going to visit someone, please don't use the term vacation" Juliet snapped, "Or say you're traveling" My aunt chipped and everyone laughed. 
"Aunty you too?" I asked then I joined in. "After you guys would say I'm the one with the bad mouth" I chipped In and Juliet hissed. 
"Aren't you the one who taught us?" She snapped and I agreed. "At least you're smiling now" she added and I chuckled.
I had my mind set on going to Nsukka in Enugu state. Specifically because that was the same place I went to the University there. I left a lot of fun memories there, I thought maybe If i could relieved those moments once more, I would be fine.
The thought of Bosco crossed my mind. I would just have to find him a replacement.