We Knew Them Part 14

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Thank God it’s Friday! The series continues on Monday but till then, please keep sharing and buying my work.

Next week, Jumoke meets one of the Williams. Who will it be and what will this mean for her and Hope? Be here to find out!☺

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“He walked out of my office.” Lanre said stiffly.
“What?” Gbemi replied, sitting up.
Lanre had summoned the Deputy MD to discuss a project that the company had embarked upon, which he hadn’t approved. The meeting hadn’t gone well, the deputy didn’t see why he had to run the project by him since his father had been the one who had initiated it. Lanre had reminded him yet again that he was now the MD and not his father. The deputy had then bluntly told him how naïve he was about the company’s operations and how incompetent he seemed not to see the potential in the project. After an exchange of words, he had walked out of the office angrily.
“He called you incompetent?” Gbemi said unbelievingly.
Lanre simply smiled.
“What are you going to do Lanre, things can’t go on like this?”
“I’m going to take Remi’s advice.”
“And what is that?” she asked speculatively.
“I’m going to take charge.”
“And what exactly does that mean?”
“I’m going to weed the staff.”
“Lanre you can’t do something rash…”
“Don’t worry. Everything will be alright.”
Gbemi looked at her brother uncertainly and shook her head. He was going to do something that would make a lot of people unhappy.
**********
Jumoke looked at the email again. The meeting with Wilpac Ltd was in the next hour and she was looking forward to it. Brighton Consulting, where she had worked for the last three years was the country’s foremost human resources consulting firm. A new client meant a new challenge and she loved the rush of strategizing and executing the new structures that she and her team members would come up with for the company. She opened her browser and typed in the name of the company in the search bar. She barely knew anything about this company. Bode, her boss had simply said that he got a call from a friend whose friend’s company was in distress.
She looked at the search results, it looked like an FMCG.
“Makers of TropicJuice… Milkie Crackers…” she muttered, reading the results and searching for the history of the company.
She was about to click on the information on the board of the company when her phone rang.
“Hello?” she said distractedly looking at the picture of a Milkie Cracker and immediately observing that the product needed to be rebranded.
“Hello Ms Oludare?” said the pensive voice on the other end.
“Yes?”
“This is Mrs Balogun, I’m calling from MountPeak College…”
“Is everything alright? Is my daughter okay?”
“Well she had an allergic reaction…”
“Is she alright?” Jumoke asked in a raised voice.
“Madam please calm down…”
“Answer my question and stop telling me to calm down!”
“She’s stable now…”
“What’s that supposed to… where is she?”
“She’s at Isle Hospital…”
“I’m on my way!”
Jumoke threw an explanation about her daughter’s condition at her secretary and drove like a maniac to the hospital.
**********
“She knows she’s not supposed to eat chunks of garlic! Why would she do that?” Jumoke practically yelled at Mrs Balogun, the medical officer of MountPeak College.
“Apparently she didn’t know it was in the food she ate…”
“What food did she eat? I didn’t give her anything with garlic in it.”
“She was eating a friend’s lunch…”
“Dear God!” she shook her head. “She knows better than that! And who puts chunks of garlic in their food?”
Mrs Balogun took a deep breath and prayed for the patience to handle the frantic mother. “She’s a child! Children eat their friends’ food! She’s fine madam, let’s be grateful for that.”
Jumoke realized that she may have been overreacting and exhaled. “I’m sorry… it’s just that she’s all I …”
“It’s okay ma’am. I’m a mother too, I understand.”
“Her face is swollen… ”
“The doctor says the swelling will reduce…”
“I know, I’m just sorry that this happened.”
“The best you can do is remind her about the condition and trust God to watch over her. You can’t follow her everywhere, can you?”
Jumoke nodded. “Thank you Mrs Balogun.”
“You’re welcome.” Said the other woman who left shorty after.
Jumoke collapsed on a nearby seat, she would wait until Hope woke up.
“I’m sure she’ll be alright.” Said someone behind her.
She turned around to see Derick Dede.
“Oh hello…” Jumoke couldn’t remember his name.
“Derick Dede.”
“Of course… Err… good afternoon…”
“She’ll be fine. Try to relax.”
Jumoke sagged her shoulders. “I’m just glad that she’s in a good school. What would have happened if they didn’t have good medical services?”
“Thank God for the school.” He said.
Jumoke nodded and made to turn away when she noticed the subdued look on Derick’s face.
“Umm… you look dull. Are you here to see the doctor?”
Derick smiled. “Yes I am.”
Jumoke shook her head. “I’m sorry, that was a stupid question. Of course you’re here to see the doctor…!”
“It’s alright.” Derick chuckled. “I’m sure you’re still in shock over your daughter.”
“Yes, I am actually.”
Derick felt light-headed and leaned back in the chair.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just feeling a little light-headed.” He replied and closed his eyes.
Jumoke looked at him in alarm, he really wasn’t looking so good. Derick on the other hand was irritated by his current state of weakness, he didn’t want to appear as if he was taking advantage of the situation to get her attention, still he couldn’t help how he felt.
“Are they attending to you?” Jumoke asked.
“Yes… waiting for test results.” He managed to reply, as he felt a wave of nausea.
Jumoke got up and looked back at the nurses’ station about to call their attention when Derick suddenly threw up all over the floor.
“Nurse!” she yelled even as two of them ran over to her.
“Oh my God you’re burning up!” Jumoke said when she touched his forehead.
“Madam please excuse us!” One of the nurses said. “Patrick!” she called to an orderly. “Bring that wheelchair!”
Jumoke watched them wheel him away and wondered if he would be alright.

**********
“Thank God she’s alright.”
“So how did the meeting go?” Jumoke said to Bode over the phone later that afternoon.
“It went well. We’ve sent them a contract.”
“Ah that’s good! You managed to get the deal without me.” she teased.
“Yes, but I missed you.”
“Of course, you would be absolutely useless without me.”
“Which is why I need you by my side Jummy…”
“Stop being silly Bode, you have a woman by your side.”
“You’re right, I have a woman. But I need the woman…”
“And she isn’t me…”
“How can you know if you don’t give us a chance?”
“Are you going to flirt with me when my daughter is lying on a hospital bed?” Jumoke asked with mock annoyance.
“Oh, how insensitive of me!” he replied with mock remorsefulness. “Take the rest of the day off. Tomorrow though, you might have to be at Wilpac.”
“So soon? They haven’t signed the contract yet have they?”
“They will, there’s a huge crisis going on over there. I’ll brief you tomorrow.”
“Alright then, see you.”
“Err Jummy…”
“Yeah?”
“Wear that yellow dress tomorrow will you?”
Jumoke rolled her eyes and hung up on him.
“Such a pest!” She muttered and thought about Wilpac Ltd.

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