Dominic buried his head in his palms, willing the headache to a stop. Courtesy of Kamsi and Anjola, he’d suffered a rough night, and now a bone seeping tiredness accompanied with a throbbing headache.
For the first time in two years since hiring Anjola, Dominic had spat angrily at her. Though he hated it, it was well deserved. The twenty-two-year-old should have known better not to expose Kamsi to such a vile movie. In spite of Kamsi’s astounding play of maturity, he would want it to be always remembered she was first a kid and a fragile hearted being. Her mind was too young for such violence and he wouldn’t expose her to it. In fact, he could not begin to fathom how one would enjoy throat slashes and morbidity for entertainment. Cutting up the human members was no fun whether fictitious or non-fictitious. And Kamsi had displayed it when all night she’d snuggled into his arms and cried, occasionally awakening on a fright to burst into fresh rounds. He himself had caught only a bit of sleep while mostly drying her tears.
The night’s event was nothing he ever wanted to re-live. He would not bear to see his bold and smart tongued child turn fearful, It was such a sore sight. Dominic had always wielded strong parenting measures, but now they would be stricter. Kamsi from the following week will begin to spend her after school hours with him, and whenever she couldn’t, the electronic camera will be his eyes. Not that he didn’t trust Anjola, but he just would feel safer that way knowing she was keeping to his rules as regards his daughter. And that was exactly why he’d dialed the engineer that morning. What better weekend to get on the installation than now when Anjola was gone visiting her family and Kamsi her maternal grandparent for the weekend. Her visit to them had been long slated. The old couple despite having themselves desperately itched for more company. They’d turned so companion needy, especially when Ebube their last child got married and moved abroad to live with her husband like the other siblings who lived in diaspora. Not like she’d been of much company even when she was single and around. Kamsiyonna had been the only married one in Nigeria and had grown to be the parent’s favourite during her lifetime. Now that she was no more, little Kamsi had physically claimed her mother’s place, but never her place in their hearts or anyone’s. Kamsiyonna had left such an unforgettable pact on everyone she’d ever met, she could never be replaced.
A low thump resounded at the door, and Dominic raised his head to the woman who walked in.
“Are you okay Sir?” Titi flashed concernedly. “But you look really tired.” She piped, unconvinced by his answer and demeanour.
“Rough night.” He wanly revealed.
With tentative steps, she advanced towards him and stopped a foot from his desk, peering down at him as he turned his neck to the sides as one under a lot of strain.
“If you don’t mind, I can help with a massage.”
Dominic stared closely at her. Just as Kamsi’s’ warning shot to his mind, his lips widened a suppressed smile. And he bid the innocent-looking woman forward as if to prove to his intuition the absurdity of Kamsi’s words. And besides, a massage would not hurt, after all, he thought.
Titi’s grip on his shoulder was firm, and her hands experienced. With eyes shut, soon he moaned his relief as he felt the knots loosen. The magic lasted a moment longer, and he’d started to commend her ability when all of a sudden he felt her palms begin to slide down his built chest, moulding. His eyes snapped open, immediately jolting to his senses.
“Stop!” He barked, abruptly jerking out of her reach. He turned to gaze at her, hoping somehow he’d misread at her signs, but instead, her eyes relayed his fears. And even more dazed was he as she round the back of his seat and perched on the desk right in front of him intentionally letting her dress lift, and showing a generous amount of flesh.
Her eyes were outright lustful as she slid her dress higher up her thighs.
As if struck by a bolt of thunder, Dominic snapped back to his senses. “What is this?!” he charged dazed at the unfolding event.
Ignoring his inquiry and the edge in his voice, she slowly slid down her front zipper “I’m tired of taking unnoticed passes Doctor, so I have chosen to take the bull by the horn.”
She continued, taking advantage of both his silence and daze as certainty. “I like you, Sir. I always have.” Her dress peeled open wider revealing peeks of firm bosom in black push-ups. “Just let me show you.” Now, she reached for him but caught thin air as he impulsively sprung to his feet with blaring eyes. “Get out!”
She sat even more erect, jutting out her chest and showing abundant cleavage. Her eyes grew intent and unremorsefully darker. Dominic wondered how he’d ever missed it.
“Get out!” he growled between gritted teeth and when she started to reach for him again with a lazy seductive smile, he screamed angered, and this time she jumped off the desk, and scrambled out of the office zipping her dress shut without a backward glance.
Stunned, Dominic glared at her retreating back and even moments after the just exited door as his mind replayed the past minutes over and over again, as he was having a hard time digesting it.
The signs had been there all along, now he saw it all clearly. Her overt care to him and Kamsi, her slightly suggestive remarks that he’d never counted. How had he missed it?
Dazedly, he plopped into his seat as reality set in more vividly. Titi had just tried seducing him. Who in the entire world would have thought so? And then in overwhelming awe, Dominic threw his head back and gave in to an outrageous laugh, rocking deep to the bones until spent. Shortly after as the surprise waned, he suddenly felt alive and charged for a new day.
