Relationships are a
fundamental part of the human existence. Companionship is equally so integral
that providence orchestrated interaction from the very beginning. Man was
created to socialize and fill the voids of emptiness lurking in the pit of his
soul. However, interactions differ gravely from plain platonic ones to the very
intimate kinds, people relate under different circumstances and at different
places but then, in this one place, anything beyond the plain platonic
interaction, raises eyebrows and draws a lot of attention. You guessed right,
it is the OFFICE.
Most times, it begins
with the very cordial professional interactions but soon enough, it becomes
warmer, when a personal level of interaction is reached and much later, subtle
flirting and sheepish smiles are the order of business. This could be noticed
between singles, which could be considered normal, as so many colleagues have
ended up walking down the aisle in holy solemnization but it is definitely
disconcerting when this kind of chemistry is exhumed between a married and a
single colleague or two married colleagues within the same establishment.For Georgina, 28, she
didn’t have to visit Disney land to get her happily ever after, as a matter of
fact, her prince charming had come in the form of the new IT expert and after a
relationship of three years, a huge diamond stone was gracefully resting on her
finger to indicate that she was taken and eventually, a beautiful plain silver
band accompanied it, both sparkling on her penultimate finger.
Approximately five years ago, Isaac had
strutted into the advertising firm, looking smug in a designer suit, his
cologne filling the air and a sardonic smile lining his dark lips and she had
said to herself he was nothing but trouble. However, the trouble kept calling
out to her and somehow, she yielded the temptation despite the numerous
warnings from other female colleagues that Isaac was simply a playboy and
didn’t want anything serious. Yet, their romance blossomed every day, a typical
Cinderella story because everyone at the advertising firm thought they were
strikingly distinct and as a result, incompatible but they had choked on their
own words when the invitation cards came flying in.
Heart break and a child
outside of wedlock was sadly what Derinola got after a whirlwind relationship
with Ikechukwu. Both had been employed into the Human Resource department of an
oil servicing company at the same time. They immediately got struck by cupid’s
arrow and evidently became an inseparable pair. Their amorous relationship was
not in any way surreptitious as they openly expressed their fondness for each
other with tiny gestures at every given opportunity. They would sit together at
lunch and laugh heartily over some weird joke, blow each other kisses in the
hallway when they thought no one was looking. They were officially named the
“love birds” of the organization and everyone was secretly planning their
wedding alas! It never happened. Ikechukwu’s mother showed up one day from the
village and with her was a pregnant girl in her early twenties, Derinola, with
an hesitant smile had welcomed in her prospective mother in law, coddling the
old woman while frantically trying to get Ikechukwu on the phone
and break the news of his mother’s arrival barely paying any attention to the young lady but it was shock and horror when Ikechukwu eventually showed up and quickly introduced her as his colleague from the office without breaking a sweat. Urging, more or less pushing her out of the house as he screamed “see you at the office” through the closed door. Derinola was broken into pieces and enraged. She had gone over to Ikechukwu’s apartment searlier; letting herself in with the key he had given her two years ago, to tell him she was pregnant with his baby. She had secretly been glad his mother had come over thinking it was perfect timing because she had always wanted to meet his people. A devastated Derinola got a lawyer and sued Ikechukwu to court, but she lost the case because his lawyer argued that she had consented to dating a married man with a child on the way. They produced legal papers affirming that the girl from the village was his legal wife. The court case got too messy and the organization was forced to terminate both their employments.
Aisha was the pawn in
her bosses’ game of chess. A naïve personal assistant to the Executive Director
of a top notch Bank during office hours and his mistress later at night, she
felt like the smartest girl in the universe. However, like the English proverb
goes, “you cannot eat your cake and have it too”. Aisha’s Waterloo came when the ED, her lover
and married boss, began to force her to “entertain” members of the board and
top officials of from other banks that he paid obeisance to. Life became
miserable for Aisha, as she was caught between the rock and a hard place. She
was constantly hounded by the ED’s humiliating remarks in public and haunted by
his threats and blackmail. Turns out, she wasn’t so smart after all but all of
that emotional torture was only a tip of the ice berg. Ultimately, she paid for
her sins the hard way as she was given an acidic bath on a stormy night as she
closed from work. The ED’s wife had gotten a wind of Aisha’s relationship with
her husband and had decided to teach the home wrecker a message.
15 years of bliss and
sanctity in holy matrimony was desecrated and flung at the swine when Deborah,
a married mother of three began an illicit affair with a colleague at the
University teaching hospital where they both worked as medical practitioners.
Secret lovers they were but they couldn’t let go of their depraved and
forbidden passions until that which was meticulously hidden became common
knowledge. Deborah’s marriage had crashed immediately her husband found out of
her infidelity as she was served divorce papers by her husband’s lawyer,
leaving her nothing from the separation. On the other hand, Adeyinka’s wife had
made sure she got hold of all the property she could in a fair fight at the
court of law before letting go of her husband and father of her two girls after
a bloody divorce feud.
While some relationships
have led to the walking down of a gaily decorated aisle by two lovebirds,
filled with beautiful promises for the future and bliss, others have chronicled
shame, regret, destruction, annihilation of promising careers and ultimately,
colossal tragedies but it takes two to tangle, doesn’t it?
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