Jabali's Redemption - Episode 18

 

‘Okay I expect the report on my desk by tomorrow morning, the sports event will be the most anticipated event of the year and I wish all of you would participate in it,’ Jabali flipped his tablet close ready to adjourn the meeting, Neema was glad the meeting was coming to an end, she didn’t like the cold tension in the room. For some reason the meeting was different.

Neema was seated behind Jabali, taking minutes, she was seated next to Akila’s secretary who frowned at her whenever their gazes locked . Neema wondered why the woman would be antagonistic towards her. Maybe Akila’s secret smiles and winks could be the reason, she mused.

Akila had been serious when he said he wanted to date Neema. He gave her small surprises like buying her chocolates and sending flowers to her desk every morning. Neema was fluttered by his attention but her heart was reluctant to commit. Jabali didn’t bother her anymore, he behaved like the perfect boss. He didn’t overwork her and kept his distance when she was around. Neema always wondered if her encounter with Majid changed that. He seemed to be concerned for her too, asking if she was alright and needed to take a rest. He stopped sending her to perform his personal errands, his driver took charge of that

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. Poor guy. The best part, to Neema’s surprise, at the end of the month part of her salary was deposited in her bank account. Neema thought everything would go back to the company to pay back Ngao’s debt.

Speaking of Ngao, she had seen him settled in the school in the next town. He appeared to be meek, doing everything she asked. He didn’t raise his voice at her again. Mama insisted he was apologetic for his actions. Neema knew that Ngao was speaking about of anger that day so she didn’t give it much of a thought, all he wanted was for her brother to stop causing trouble.

‘Any other business before we close for the day,’ Jabali’s deep drawl brought her back from her thoughts.

‘Yes, Mr. Kasri,’ one of the elderly board members started and Neema could see other few members nodding their heads,’ we had a proposition,’ from her point of view, Neema could see Jabali tense his broad back muscles. It was a slight change and without a keen eye nobody could know he was tensed. The temperature around the board room dropped a few inches.

‘Yes,’ Jabali prompted, his controlled voice betrayed the tension in his muscles.

‘Mr. Kasri, we wanted to talk about the leadership of the company,’ this declaration sent a rapture of murmurs inside the boardroom. Some members were smiling and others frowned at the speaker but that didn’t disturb him. Neema noticed that Jabali squeezing his fist around the ball pen he was holding.

‘What about the leadership?’ Jabali asked in the same indifference tone.

At this juncture, Akila tapped the small micro phone in front of him, signaling for a chance to speak. Jabali nodded his head towards him.

‘Thank you, chairman,’ he cleared his throat, ‘I think what our esteemed member here is trying to say, is that since we have two shareholders with the same number of shares. Some of us thought it would be wise to have new elections to select one leader so that we can have one single chain of command.’ Neema could not believe what she was hearing, was Akila trying to challenge Jabali on the leadership of the company?

‘So, to put it bluntly, you Akila,’ Jabali pointed his pen at Akila, ‘want a fair chance to be the new Director General of Tembo Tea Company?’ Neema couldn’t see Jabali’s facial expression from where she was seated but she could tell he was pissed.

‘I don’t see how that cannot be done,’ Akila smirked at Jabali and some board members chuckled, Neema wanted to wipe their smiles from their faces, Jabali had worked so hard for the company, he didn’t deserve to be ousted like that. What was Akila thinking?

‘How is that possible? Mr. Kasri is the only leader of the company. He has not given us a reason to oust him?’ an angry member shouted through the micro phone in front of him and Neema cringed at the loud voice.

‘The laws of the company have given us a choice to change the leadership, if we feel like,’ another old member retorted back, ‘you can’t dictate us the way you want,’

‘To hell with the laws, this company couldn’t be here without Mr. Kasri’s dedication, Mr. Okumu having the same shares as Mr. Kasri, doesn’t give him a chance to take over the company,’

‘The company needs new blood to move on. The Kasri’s have been the leaders of this company from the time it started but we can change that. Change gives us a chance to shake things up a bit. Change is good,’

Neema gathered that there were two sides of the argument, those in favor of Jabali and those in favor of Akila, and both were defending their sides vehemently. Through all this, Jabali didn’t say anything. He interlinked his fingers and followed the argument before him keenly. Neema wondered what he was thinking. She would be flipping out if it was her birthright being snatched away like that.

‘Mr. Okumu doesn’t have any knowledge of managing such a big organization. Kasri has experience,’ the argument went on hotly,

‘That is because he had never been given a chance,’

‘Honestly people if we fight over the leadership of the organization, the price of shares might drop, we have to be careful about how we go about this. Investors don’t like a shaky company.’ A neutral voice spoke, ‘so whatever is going on here, we have to resolve it first,’ and Neema couldn’t help and agree with him. An internal fight between them wouldn’t be good for the well-being of the company.

‘That is enough,’ Jabali’s voice boomed across the wide room and everything went quiet, ‘I have heard your suggestion and I agree we have rules in the organization that guide us on how we shall go about the change of leadership. We shall have a vote on the next meeting and decide if the members want a new leader or not, from there we will know what to do pending the results.’ Members nodded their heads in agreement. Neema saw Akila grinning at the member beside him and suddenly, his boyish charms didn’t look so attractive.

‘Now, if there is nothing else to discuss, the meeting is adjourned,’ Jabali was up from his seat and Neema hot on his heels. He left the door of the boardroom rotating behind. Neema had to practically jog to keep up with his long strides,

‘Call Aluvisa in my office immediately,’ he commanded her tapping on his phone, ‘and put a don’t disturb notice on my door. Cancel all my meetings for today,’ he continued his instructions and Neema noted all of them down quickly. She could see that he was rattled and she didn’t want to agitate him more though she wished she could calm him and tell him she supported his stance. The company was like his creation, he had breathed life into it and he was supposedly going to watch it fall into some else’s hand.

They stepped into his personal elevator and the door locked. The two of them were alone and like every time they were alone in an enclosed place, Neema’s body reacted to his. Would it ever stop, she wondered?

‘Jabali,’ she distractedly called to him, she was standing behind him in the elevator, the tablet and notebook clasped in her hands,

The tone of her voice must have caught his attention and he turned to look at her, his intense gaze prompted her to speak.

‘If…,’ Neema cleared her voice, his ardent gaze made her nervous for some reason, ‘if someone was to ask me what my opinion is, I think you are the best thing that had ever happened to this company,’ her intent was to support him, Jabali had single handedly stopped the use of child labor in the tea plantations.

He didn’t say anything, and Neema wondered if she had said anything wrong.

 ‘You have done so much for this company and the people of Tembo town. More than your father did, the good roads and the electricity installed, running water and the new school you built,’ Neema realized she was rumbling but that was because he was staring her at her so ardently, his gaze was unflinching and that made her uncomfortable. ‘You are a blessing to a lot of people Jabali, nobody will ever change that,’

And he next thing she knew, Jabali had pounced on her kissing her like a man starved. The notebook on her hand plus the laptop cluttered on the elevator floor in her attempt to hold on to something. For a second Neema was surprised, releasing a yelp but Jabali took that chance to deepen the kiss. He hauled her tighter to his chest and Neema was pressed between the elevator cool metallic wall and Jabali’s warm hard body. She was taken aback by the emotions coursing through her, she relished at the kiss as she always did whenever Jabali held her in his arms, her body was tired of fighting the attraction between them and begging for release that only he can offer. On the other hand, her mind was urging her to stop, kissing Jabali was going to lead to complications she didn’t need in her life.

In the end, her body won and Neema wrapped her arms around Jabali’s neck to be closer to him, closer to his heat. Jabali sighed his appreciation, ‘yes baby, I missed you,’ he squeezed her closer to him and Neema moaned, she agreed with him, she missed him more. Her heart was soothed by his words. Why did her relationship and Jabali have to be complicated? Her body yearned for him, she missed the easy times they had together, the friendship they shared. Neema wished time would be reversed and she could be young and free again, free to love Jabali like the way she wanted.

Love? The dampening thought had her pushing Jabali away from her, it took a second for Jabali to register that the mood had changed,

‘Jabali stop.’ She pushed him away ignoring how warm his body was, how his hardness complemented her softness.

‘Why?’ he turned his attention to her neck, nipping and sucking on the soft skin behind her ear, causing shivers to run down her spine,

‘Jabali…’ Neema’s words sounded breathy

‘Why should we stop?’ Jabali stopped up his ministrations for a second, using his finger and turning her face towards him, Neema turned the other way. She could not let him see her like that, needy and raw.

Read " The Dancing Bride And Her Spirit Warrior " by the same author ( Razia Iminza )

. she needed him like she yearned for her next breath but Jabali didn’t have to know that.

‘This is not right,’ she whispered and swiped his hand away when he tried to force her to look at him,

‘What is not right? The feelings we have for each other. Neema you might deny it as much as you want but the attraction between us has never lost its strength,’ Jabali leaned in again to kiss her but Neema turned her head and his lips landed on her neck, she bit her lips to prevent a moan from coming out, ‘I want you Neema, you know I do and I know you want me too,’ his voice crooned as his hand sneaked from the waist to cup her breast, squeezing her gently, sending shock waves through her body. Neema responded by forcefully pushing him away from her body.

‘No,’ she roughly said as the warm gathered in her lower stomach.

Jabali stepped away from her and Neema missed his instant heat. She straightened her clothes trying to wipe his intoxicating scent from herself. Jabali was trying hard to control his rugged breath and he ran his hands through his short hair, the scar on his right eyebrow gave him a lethal look and Neema knew her resolve would be weakened if he took her into her arms again. She threw a glance at the light on top of the lift showing the progress but found that they had stopped. Neema sighed, she hadn’t even noticed that, it was only Jabali who had the power to stop the world around her.

With a trembling finger, she pressed the button to last floor and the lift started moving again.

Jabali didn’t say anything, he watched as she righted her clothes with a closed look on his face, his tie had come loose and Neema bit her lower trembling lip thinking she was the reason of his rough look.

It occurred to her that Jabali was still able to turn her into a wanton woman. Maybe that was the reason she was reluctant to fall for Akila’s charms.

But Jabali was a murderer, he had killed Naiti. Neema didn’t know why the idea was now becoming absurd to her. What if he didn’t? the question was lying heavy on her. Neema realized that if she stopped believing that Jabali was a murderer she would have to forgo the thoughts of anger and hate of him and face something else.

Something more potent and intoxicating than hate.

……………………………………………

Hello good friends, i hope you are fine.

Another late update, i know and i apologise for it but my situation is about to get better.

I hope you enjoy the story.

Much Love.

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