‘You are in early, sir. I didn’t place your breakfast order with the cafeteria.’
‘No. Get me coffee from the kitchen. I am skipping breakfast today.’ I have no appetite.
‘Sure thing. I’ll get someone to bring it to your office right away.’
Email alerts go off when I connect my laptop to the wi-fi. Endless pings fill the room. Phew! It is going to be a long day. I scroll down, searching for urgent matters to be attended to. Most emails are not meant for me to action. I am just copied in emails going back and forth between teams.
What a relief that there is nothing urgent that I need to do today. I still need to gain back my strength. I still need to get my head around things.
‘Betty, where is my coffee?’ I ask my PA over the phone.
It shouldn’t take anyone thirty minutes to bring coffee to my office. That is just unacceptable.
‘We have new –’
Someone knocks before the door opens slowly. A lady in black jeans and a black T-shirt blankly nods at me without actually looking at me. She mumbles a greeting as she hurriedly pushes the tray to where the coffee table is. She knows that she kept the boss waiting; that is why she is doing her job with such urgency.
I can’t believe my eyes, because this lady is the beautiful woman I met in Venda.
I hang up.
‘Thandeka?’ I huff out her name with a chuckle and she twirls around to meet me. Her eyes widen.
‘Oh!’ she exclaims. The sugar jar drops from her hand, landing on my black fluffy rug.
‘Oh no …’ she says and covers her mouth with both her hands.
CHAPTER 4
THANDEKA
What is with the clumsiness though? I get down on my knees to pick up the sugar container. Oh, Lord! How am I going to clean up this mess?
Luckily the sugar fell all in one spot on the rug. It is not that bad, really. Oh, who am I fooling? It is bad. It is so bad.
‘Don’t worry about that, you can get that cleaned up later,’ Rudzani says while standing up and putting his hands in his pockets. I wish I could wipe that smirk off his face. It is his fault that I was startled.
What is he doing here anyway?
He is wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and brown chinos. Not your typical chinos though. They look like high-quality pants.
‘I will quickly go get you another bowl of sugar,’ I say while getting to my feet.
‘No, no, relax. I don’t take my coffee with sugar. I have my coffee with just cream, thank you,’ he responds.
Who takes coffee without sugar?
I stare at him. He looks very different in his work clothes. But I won’t lie to myself: He looks as handsome as I remember him. It has been three weeks – not that I was counting.
‘Okay then.’ I take a deep breath before placing his coffee on the table. I set down the cream and a side plate with rusks too.
Why am I shaking? My hands are trembling and my heart is beating so fast that it feels as if it is going to jump out of my chest. I was not expecting to see him here. I left him at his home back in the village.
‘You disappeared,’ he utters as I am preparing to push the trolley out of this enormous office. I take a second to look around. There are dozens of trophies in the glass cabinet in the corner of the room. Pictures of him in different suits at various occasions are hung neatly on the grey walls. He has the longest white desk and a white upholstered office chair.
It must be nice to be him.
I also notice a picture of that boy who passed away. The very same picture was on his small casket that day. I heard he was the eldest brother’s son. Rudzani must have really loved his nephew.
‘Where did you go?’ he asks. I forgot he was standing there, waiting for a reply.
‘I scored the job from Ms Diana. I had to jump on the offer without thinking twice.’ I wanted to get out of the village and when Maria told me about this opportunity, I grabbed it. I honestly didn’t know he also works at this company. And on the fifth floor, just opposite Ms Diana’s office. That means he is part of management. But I guess it makes sense: Ms Diana told Maria that she was at the funeral as a family friend. She must know the family through her colleague, Rudzani.
‘Who is running your business?’ he asks.
Business. He makes it sounds like something big.
‘My brother,’ I chuckle. I suspect Thulani will deliver only two buckets and then give up. I just don’t see him knocking on people’s doors and counting eggs in their kitchens.
‘You should ask him to go see my aunt … He should supply to my father’s restaurants. I don’t get how Ronnie didn’t think of empowering one of our own.’
Well, Ronnie was my ex’s friend so I had to cut ties with him when Vhonani left me. There was no way I could ask for a favour from him. I hardly knew him. But in all honesty, I didn’t think about supplying my eggs to restaurants. My customers were just my few neighbours.
I turn the trolley towards the door. I think we are done here.
‘Thandeka, do you mind joining me for coffee?’ he asks. We are not done yet. ‘Just coffee.’
We’ve hardly met again and he already wants to jump into my pants? I roll my eyes with my face turned away from his.
Men!
‘Unfortunately, I need to come back and clean your rug before heading downstairs to get the boardroom ready for a meeting,’ I say sweetly. There is no need for me to be rude – I am at work here.
He walks closer to where I am standing and stops right in front of me. He stares into my eyes, forcing me to catch my breath.
He is too close, I can smell him. Lustful thoughts are running through his head, I suppose. I stare back at him and our eyes lock.
Why does he have to be this handsome?
I clear my throat to remind myself who I am standing in front of. A serial cheater.
I know to play it safe when it comes to this man. What I heard after the funeral was worse than what Maria told me. I need to stay far, very far, away from him.
There is a soft knock on the door. We both turn our attention there. Ms Diana peeps around the door and frowns when she notices me. I suck in my breath and take a few steps back as she slowly walks into the office. Her long weave makes her look rich and glamorous.
‘What the hell happened here?’ she calmly asks, command noticeable in her voice. Her eyes are on the rug. And then back on me.
‘I … accidentally spilled the sugar but I am going to get it cleaned up,’ I quickly say.
‘What are you waiting for, roll that thing out of here and clean it up.’
‘Roll it out? Come on. She just needs a dustpan and a brush, no need to roll this huge thing out of here,’ Rudzani says in my defence.
He doesn’t have to.
‘Are you kidding me? I don’t want ants crawling in here,’ Diana retorts.
‘Yes, ma’am. I will roll it out of here and get it cleaned up.’
‘First bring me my coffee from my office,’ she orders and then turns to Rudzani.