#Surpriseawaits 3

On stepping into the two-storey building with faded painting of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) ,my face suddenly fell sullen and my body chilly from a rush of anxiety which swept through me, causing goose-bumps all over my body.

The whole busy-beehive ambiance of the different offices with staffs  behind desks, jotting notes on files and others frantically waving excitedly,saying hello to colleagues as they resumed for work had a strange effect on me which made me nervous and quite slow,affecting my walking and overall quick assimilation of the things people said to me which isn't  how I normally am thereby lulling my usually lively self  which was now beginning to irritate me but sadly couldn't help myself, I couldn't explain it,I guess am always like that when in a totally new environment,miles away from my comfort zone.

All through school,the dream has always been to get a job,work behind a desk and sign files away,get paid and all that and now,it seems the future I dreamt of back then is  here and I feel quite unready because in all these time,through having new experiences,thoughts,education,exposure,knowledge et al,my dreams have inadvertently changed but what I want now,I couldn't exactly put into words or maybe am just a little overwhelmed from the thoughts of what it would feel like working in an office or the thoughts that adulthood and being responsible for myself had officially begun.


I  asked around for the office of Mom's acquaintance and was directed to a cubic office where I saw a very dark complexioned and an apparent hausa man in a brownish-gold flowing robes  sitting behind a desk,picking an islamic rosary while his lips mumbled an inaudible prayer,I hesitated in greeting,not knowing whether to disrupt his prayers or hang around till he was through,he turned around and his gaze met mine and rather than nod to acknowledge my presence and with his gaze,direct me to go take a seat in the exiguous-looking office,he simply turned away and mumbled his prayers on. That action irked me a little as I just stood by the doorway,not knowing what to do. After a while,he hummed some prayers loudly then rubbed his face with both his palms and with a wave of hand,ushered me in,I bowed in greeting and told him I came from Mrs Adagiri,

"Ohhh! You are her son...oh yes,you sure are,you kind of look like her,aha! Let me see your credentials,a parastatal asked for graduates of your discipline and it was quite sudden,so we have to fast track all these so you can start at once"

I nodded in the affirmative as he glanced through my degree certificate and other necessary certificates then stood up to get forms for me to fill,he asked me to go and make some photocopies outside the premises of NDE building and I thought he also said something about going to get a form from the floor beneath the one we were sitting and when I went and came
back,in his loud hausa accented voice,shouted at me for being slow and kiddish,

"Haba ma'na,you are an adult oo,why you dey behave like that,you should be smart and ready for the work environment,is this how you will be acting when you get to work?I asked you to go and make photocopies,you went into another office,did I ask you to go there? Chai! "

I muttered my apologies under my breath,flushed with embarrassment and stealthily flapping my eyelids at him in a disdainful look,he collected and affixed my passport photographs then handed me my posting letter to NIMC,I thanked him then left. On my way to NIMC office in wuse zone 7,Abuja,Mom called to know how my day was going and I told her so far,it was well,she wished me all the best again and hung up. I alighted at the front office of NIMC and walked in confidently. At the security post,I was thoroughly frisked on my mission to the office,I explained again and again what brought me there as the head of
security apparently from the look on his face wanted to play god by unnecessarily wasting my time and proving he also matters in that organisation,demanding I bring out supporting documents as proof indeed that what I came for  was what I came to do,exasperated and irritated now,I yanked off my letter and handed it to the man before he then decided to call the DG's office and the secretary asked us (myself and a colleague with the same mission from NDE and who had met me at the gate) to come in,the male secretary looked at me and the other guy who was also posted alongside me to NIMC whose name is Udofia from head to toe quite unfazed about the stress their security team had put us through,he scanned ceaselessly at the letter before asking us to come back the next week,I almost shouted "why",I mean if we were asked to report from NDE to NIMC with the kind of urgency it supposedly required,why report the next week,I dragged in a few calming breaths then
slowly exhaling,I asked why next week and throwing me a look that says

"you don't think I know my job?",

 He told me the DG was out of the country...

"...and he would have to see these and minute on it so you know what to do,until he gets back,these letters would just lie here till he comes and attends to it,should I now tell you to come every other day?",

I nodded understandably and together with udofia,thanked the secretary and we left the office,chatting all the way out till we got out of the premises and parted ways. Lots of weeks passed after that,we went to NIMC and were being told to come back as they were working on our letters. Finally one tuesday,we were told our letters had being forwarded to the human resource department and we went there and were told to come back yet again and that was the same response we got several times before until one day,out of frustration,I voiced out to the secretary to the general manager of the human resources
department,Vivian,a sweetly chubby cheeked lady who quite succinctly explained why there were delays on our letters being acted upon,

"There's been a lot of overhauling going on within NIMC which is causing delays on Madam acting on your letters and besides,we have to have a meeting with NDE concerning the terms of your job here since you are coming via them,so all these and more would have to be done before we can ask you guys to come aboard"

I sighed dejectedly,thinking it was just a coy way of telling us we weren't wanted,so I put it to her straight,asking for a rejection letter if we wouldn't be absorbed but she told me that wasn't the case so we thanked her and left.  The weeks went by pretty fast and I'd already posted a few episodes of Kuwda pertaining to issues which had happened in the household weeks earlier and was now busy frying meat in the kitchen to accompany our lunch of rice and stew which I had earlier prepared when a grumpy looking
QT waltzed into the kitchen and picked a piece of hot,fried meat and threw it into his mouth,my eyes flared up with rage as I lashed out at him and rather than apologise,he went aggressive and this led to a blow out row between the two of us,Hamz on hearing our charged voices rushed to the kitchen and separated us just in time before QT landed his fist on me. My entire system got disturbed,I felt frustrated,used and angry,I sat on the tall stools in the kitchen by the working slabs and running my hands across my hair bursted out crying,quite frankly,over the weeks,I'd been depressed,tired and lash out for the flimsiest of reasons. Writing had for a while became quite a chore for me,I wasn't getting the thrill and satisfaction it usually gives me,I'd been reading up other writer friends' blog and it made me feel quite mediocre,fans kept telling me how awesome I was but somehow,it didn't suffice,I felt like I needed more but honestly,I didn't know what I
wanted,I wanted to give up Kuwda so bad but it's my baby and I just couldn't bring myself to doing it,my best friend Tchubs said I was having the writer's depression which chimamanda adiche also battles with most times. That and so many more frustrations got my insides so riled up I couldn't focus and was wiping my tears just before Hamz who was walking into the kitchen to placate me could see I was all teary when my phone started ringing,I quickly wiped my tears with the back of my palm,stared into my phone's screen,it was an unknown number,I sniffed repeatedly then picked the call,

"Hello,am I on to ah, Abuudulllmajeed Adagiri?"

The soft voice filtered through,dragging out my name in an apparent struggle with pronunciation,I stammered out my yes,my face squeezing into a puzzled frown trying to do a quick mental calculation of who the person could possibly be and met a brickwall,the soft voice which ostensibly belonged to a lady continued,

"Am Vivian from NIMC and I just wanted you to know with regards to your letter which you submitted along with your friend some weeks back,you both have been accepted and are to report tomorrow for briefing and job description"

Totally shocked,I covered my mouth to stop myself from squealing excitedly,swallowed quickly,cleared my throat to act all professional then I responded,telling her I would be there,she hung up and I quickly called udofia to inform him of the news,once done,I screamed happily as my brothers rushed into the kitchen,thinking I had spilled hot vegetable oil all over my sexy body *winks* lol

What happens next?

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