“Hello there!”
“Good afternoon Miss Caroline” Kate, Charles, and Tobi responded
Kaison Company, where Caroline worked was a well-organized corporation where all the workers were treated well including the interns. Four interns were usually given an office to work in, but since Caroline had three working with her, the company decided to give the three of them a mini office, attached to Caroline’s office. Depending on the project assigned to her department, she used to meet with the interns at least once a week.
“Do you all have a moment?”
They all looked at one another with a look of ‘not this afternoon again’ but Kate quickly responded
“Yes, please come in”
Caroline noticed their expression and knew what that meant. She smiled
“Don’t worry! I’m not here for one of those seminars”
They all laughed
“So, Kate. I heard the presentation went well. Hope you enjoyed it. Thank you for standing in.”
“Thank you Miss Caroline for the opportunity. I was nervous at first but I summoned up courage having thought of the efforts we all put in, especially you. I think it went…”
“You summoned up the courage? Just you? You didn’t mention the part where Charles and I practically rehearsed with you about twice before the presentation. What happened to your heart of gratitude” Tobi jokingly cut in
“My bad. Thank you Charles and Tobi for your support”
“You’re welcome” Charles and Tobi chorused
They all smiled
“I’m proud of you all! Thank you for standing in. Tomorrow is Friday, so we won’t have any briefings in the morning and no task for next week. The concluded project proposal brought a huge success to our department. I’ll see you all on Tuesday”
They all beamed with joy as they appreciated Caroline. As she was about to leave, Kate asked if they could still get books to read from Caroline’s library. Caroline answered in the affirmative and left.
“Kate, what was that about?” Charles asked
“What was what about?”
“Playing the itk game” Tobi added
“itk?” Kate asked, confused
“itk means ‘I too know’. Come on! She just told us to relax and chill for the rest of the weekend and you were there, asking if we could get access to her library. Did you do that to make us look unserious?” Charles said
“I’m sorry guys, I didn’t look at it like that. The presentation I had today made me appreciate Miss Caroline more. The interns in other departments and even some junior staff here do not get the quality of training we have under her. After the presentation, many of the directors were impressed and some of them who had worked with her said they were not surprised that she was one of the best we have here”
“Really?” Tobi asked
“Yes really”
“Wow! We had better maximize this opportunity very well. I’m glad. Tobi, what do you think?”
“I always knew there is something intelligently special about her but I couldn’t place it before now. Yes, let’s do that Charles. We should also show more motivation to encourage her to impact us more”
“I’m glad you both saw it this way! Yes, let’s do it” Kate said, as she stretched her hand forth and the other two placed theirs on it.
“Team Caroline!” Charles called
“What should our response be?” Kate asked, with all of them laughing
“Taking over?” Charles said
“No, becoming our best?” Tobi said
“Yes, I like that! Becoming our best in every way” Charles said
“Great, guys. Team Caroline!” Tobi called
“Becoming our best!” Kate and Charles responded
They all laughed
***
Caroline started avoiding Sola and didn’t want to have anything to do with her especially in the office. They stay in the same apartment and it was difficult to completely avoid each other. Sola noticed and called Caroline’s attention to it.
“Welcome!”
“Thank you”
“I prepared yam and fried eggs. I already ate mine, yours is in the kitchen”
“I’m not hungry”
“You are not hungry, Caro? Yam and fried eggs, your favorite”
“I just said I am not hungry” Caroline curled up on the sofa and started pressing her phone
“Really? Did I do anything wrong?”
Caroline did not respond.
“Oh! That means I must have done something wrong. I’m sorry. Please, forgive me. Do you want us to discuss it?” Sola moved close to her and touched her
“Leave me alone, I’m fine” Caroline snapped
With that, Sola withdrew and went into her room. They rented a 2-bedroom apartment with a common living room. Sola knew it must have been as a result of what she said at the office but it was the truth and she was not ready to say otherwise. She let it slide.
© Temitope Ibidunni Akinloye