Getting my new job was one of those life providential workings that change one’s life. I was fresh out of school and frantically searching for white-collar jobs but then I got a place in a Boutique uptown just to keep body and soul together. I became the store manager in the littlest time and before long I was the bane of the shop. We had many high-end customers which were one of the upsides of my job, meeting people whom I had only seen on TV and social media. After my Boss became widowed she decided to sell her business and move abroad but she had plans for me to be employed by her sister who is a partner in a big firm in Lagos.
I had only worked as the receptionist in my new office for three weeks when my new Boss came herself to inform me that I’d have to move from the reception to understudy her PA who is about to resign. After her resignation, I became her new Personal Assistant. If I’m being honest I wasn’t really looking forward to resuming my new position because I saw her scream and lose her mind at my predecessor and it scared me. On my last day as an Understudy her previous PA (before my predecessor) came to visit, she now has her own recruitment agency and came to greet her Boss “who taught her everything she knows and uses in the cooperate world”. I only asked her the secret to working well with my new boss and she said “To please Mrs B you have to see her as the engine room of this firm and do whatever you can to make her job easier for her because she is doing so much, once you stand in that gap, you will no longer be her staff but her person. Please be her aide, she needs that” she spoke with so much emotion that I promised her I would do my best to help her.
By my second week, we took our first work trip out of the country, my first trip out of Nigeria and she did her best to ease me in by telling me what best to pack for the weather and what foods to avoid in case of allergies, no it’s not the first time she was showing concern for me, she holds my hands during take-off and landings on days we seat together on a plane because she noticed my fear, I hate take-off and landings. The next morning I went for a morning walk, just a way to clear my head for a new day and I saw a Coffee shop so bought us both breakfasts, thank God I had money on me. I got varieties of pastries and three different types of coffee they had because I didn’t know how she likes them. The same night before we left for the conference dinner, I got ready earlier and went in to help her get ready even took pictures of her afterwards, this woman never takes pictures. “These pictures are so fine, I miss taking pictures, forgotten how I looked in them”. I promised to take as many pictures of her as I can since she likes them. I also took some more at the dinner, when she spoke and when she said “Hello” to people the other executives, when she received her award, a video of her speech, just proper documentation of the moments that mattered that night. The day we spent in the city for her shopping and sightseeing was a photo shoot day too so and by the time we came back I had her pictures all over my phone.
One day she walked in on me kissing a girl, don’t curse me yet, it’s nothing serious. I had met this girl while job hunting but she was just bi-curious and I couldn’t find a reason to take her seriously as she was shameless about her escapades with strangers of all genders. I am not judging but I only do exclusives. Cherry (my crush at the time) came back to Lagos to see her family after her Masters in the US and had called to catch up so I invited her to my job since I had no time to catch up and wasn’t getting off till late in the night. We got talking and just wanted to see what it’ll be like to finally share a kiss after brain-teasing about it for so long while she was abroad, we decided to fool around a bit since my boss was in a Board Meeting and those meetings usually took long. I guess I was too engrossed in it that I didn’t hear Mrs B coming.
She didn’t make it awkward and didn’t speak of it at all, I thought she had forgotten until we were in South Africa for an Inter-country conference. She had given me the night off to tour the city since it was my first time, got me a tour guide and a hundred dollar note. I had a ball as my tour guard understood the assignment literally and took me to the right places. A strip club and a beautiful restaurant.
My Boss and I ran into each other on my way back in the long hallway. She saw I was a little tipsy and had a corny smile on her face while I was struggling not to appear how I felt.
“You are back so early?” I felt caught but didn’t show it, I simply turned to the jokes.
“Good evening Ma, it’s not early o did you see the time” she gave a cheerful-hearty laugh.
“In South Africa, it’s too early to go home from a fun night” She touched my shirt and continued “You look really good” just then I realised she had been drinking too, her eyes looked happy, and she lights up when she drinks. I excused myself and began to walk to my room. “Are we on the same floor?” she asked, increasing her pace to catch up with me so I slowed down. “No Ma” I responded without stopping. I dialled my number on the elevator and was waiting for her to do the same but she didn’t so I wanted to dial her floor as well but she stopped me, “We are going to your room first, let me see where you live” It must have been the alcohol because she was being too chatty. It was awkward but I obliged her. I held the door and she walked in observing everywhere. “It’s decent,” she said “You guys are lucky now; when I was a PA I slept on couches in my Boss’ suites. She said while still looking around the room.
I was waiting for her to excuse herself to leave but she sat by the edge of my bed, gestured me to the cushion opposite the bed and I obeyed like it was her room and not mine but she is still my Boss regardless.
We sat facing each other and a million thoughts going on in my head on why she would want to come to my room and seat with me instead of her Presidential Suite with 5-star services with her fellow executives as usual. She sighed heavily and turned to look at me.
“I love your dress, the colour suits you” I blurted before she could muster her words, I think that eased her as she smiled her usual broad, cheerful smile, I’m also sure I saw her blush a little while she muttered “thank you” obviously avoiding my eyes.
“Thank you, dear, I’m glad you like it” she fell back into her shyness like she has said something out of place.
“So!!!!! I have something I have been wanting to tell you for a while now but it scares me that it would come out wrong and I would lose you even as my PA and I’d hate that but I’m here and I have to tell you”.
“Are you okay ma?” I asked with my heart beating fast.
It has been two years now that I have worked side-by-side with Mrs B and I have never heard her voice shake or her stutter, she was and I was scared too but at least I know my job is safe.
“I haven’t been able to get the picture of you and your girlfriend kissing in the office out of my mind and……..
“I’m so sorry ma, I promise it won’t happen again” I pleaded almost kneeling, almost in tears.
She motioned me up, the weird thing is how she resumed from where she stopped her sentences like she had it rehearsed and didn’t want to miss a line.
“I don’t like what that does to my emotions. It makes me jealous and sad and I don’t like that, I haven’t been jealous of anyone or anything in a very long time. It’s even harder working with you every single day and how you take care of me, I see things I like and I go for them and face the consequences and this is me telling you how I feel about you. I don’t have that many people who care about me or want to do things for me except they are gaining something from me but you do that and I’m attracted to kindness”.
It was then I realised that this woman whom I have been trying so hard to shut my brain from romantically processing despite how much I would like to be held by her is also into me. It felt good and scary as well.
“So, I’m old and I don’t know how it works for you younglings these days but you know, I am a straight-to-the-point person, blame my job for that. I’ve had a crush on you since you worked for my sister, the afternoon I walked in and you helped me choose this dress I knew there was something special about you, you were so calm and kind” she raised her so I could see it clearly. “When my sister was leaving I worried so much about you, I didn’t have a crush on you then though hence I agreed to offer you a job after she moved and every day you keep giving me reasons to trust you more, bring you closer. It might be love but I really can’t place it”.
I guess she realised I was frozen while she ran her lines so she walked to me, held my right hand and looked me in my eyeballs and for the first time I saw her look helpless and vulnerable. This woman who controls the affairs of the many organizations she has worked with, whom people don’t look in the eyes while they spoke, who is an authority in finance and planning is here shaking to express herself to me, a mere PA.
“Please say something or I will run out of that door,” she said to me in the gentlest ways possible.
“You are my Boss, I work for you, we…..we are…..”
“That stops nothing Baby Girl, I promise your job is safe and if it makes you uncomfortable I would recommend you for a good position in any of our partner firms with the same or better benefits. I just want to know if you’d let me love you while you learn to love me back” I slumped back into my chair not knowing what to say or why she has to choose me, what special thing had I done for her to prove that I like her?
“You know the first day I saw I said to myself that you are so beautiful and I felt a tingle under my belly it happened each time you walked into the store but when I came to work for you I knew it was just work, I erased the part of you that treated me better than any other customer and even looked out for me even as your PA” She knelt by my feet listening to me and each time I called her my Boss she looks away. “Miss Joan, your former secretary told me to be your aide and do everything I can to make your job easier for you and that’s just what I have been doing and I don’t want us to ruin the work relationship because of the crushes we have on each other” she moved back as if to think about it but sprung back on her knees and pulled me into a warm, deep, gentle kiss. It must have lasted for like an hour because we laid in bed afterwards reminiscing on it; we stayed awake all night talking about little nothings. Early that morning, I had the very best sex of my entire existence before then, she touched me in ways I didn’t think was doable and we both had explosive orgasms, one after the other. She was easy to make love to. Pointing me to the right spots and telling me what to do and when. She glowed as we fucked
That night I learnt that she is one hell of a romantic human and despite working for her I would never have to worry about my place in her life, she had it all figured out and assured me of all my fears.
We woke very late the next morning; don’t blame us, we barely slept. I had fun watching her run down the hotel hallway to her room to get ready for the day’s event. We both had a good laugh on our way to the event about that but she grabbed my hand and kissed it. “I have only slept with you once and you are already ruining my life” This melted my heart, the look on her face made me feel safe. I promised to wake her every day as a good PA no matter how many rounds of sex we have.
It hasn’t been awkward like I thought it would be because there is no replacement for the stolen kisses even in world events, how she looks and hold my hands even in the midst of people, being able to sit in rooms where she is the superstar of the occasion. We have had a good ride so far as we travel the world, working and making the love story we both thought we had lost out on.
She is the best decision I have ever made. Holding my hands through life and loving me from every aspect of my yearnings.