I arrive at the firm. At least there isn’t a new receptionist here. I get to the elevator and head to the floor where candidate attorneys are at. Every year we hire about 5 candidate attorneys and if they are lucky they all get hired permanently. I get to their floor and find them busy working. This is what I want to see when I arrive at my company. Seeing people doing what they are paid for makes me happy. I just look at them for the last time and then head to the elevator. I head to the boardroom because I know for sure that there is a client with one of the advocates there. I find Advocate Stemmer with 2 young gentlemen. She smiles and stands up as soon as she acknowledges my presence.
“Miss Thompson.” She shakes my hand. “What a pleasant surprise.”
“Advocate Stemmer. I was in the neighborhood so I thought why not stop by and say hi. Can I join you for this meeting?”
“Of course. Please sit.” I sit down and open the bottled water in front of me. I drink and then place it down.
“So what is the meeting about?”
“This is a private consultation miss. We don’t care if you are the boss’s daughter. We don’t need you here.” one of the guys speak in an annoyed tone. I just chuckle and shake my head.
“Mr. Chansa, this is Miss Thompson, the owner of this company. She usually sits in in some of the meetings.” Advocate Stemmer responds. “Anyways boss lady, Mr. Sisonke Chansa is being emotionally and physically abused by his girlfriend. She is currently in police custody because the last time she beat him up, he landed in the hospital. They want her to rot in jail, they just don’t have enough proof yet. Just his word against hers.”
“What is the name of your Sasha Banks?” I ask in an amused tone.
“Don’t make fun of my brother. Women like you annoy me.” The brother replies. The victim’s head is bowed down. I look at the brother with my intense soul penetrating look.
“Next time you talk to me with that tone, you will regret it.” I say in a calm tone but I see the brother shifting uncomfortably. I smirk and look at Sisonke. “What is the name of your Sasha Banks?”
“Her name is Ntsakisi Lekgwathi.” Sisonke answers in a low tone. I just burst out laughing and they all look at me like I am crazy. I continue laughing until I calm down.
“Damn I don’t know when was the last time I laughed like that.” I take a sip of the bottled water. “How long have you guys been dating?” Sisonke clears his throat and looks at me.
“19 months.”
“And how long has the abuse been happening?”
“For 10 months.”
“Why did you stay with her if she was abusing you? For a whole 10 months?”
“I love her and I thought she will change. And this one time she threatened to kill me of I dump or leave her.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that Sonke?” the brother asks clearly getting angry.
“I really thought she had changed. Kisi was my friend. We met on the streets. She is abusive in nature. She gets off with inflicting pain to men. It makes her feel good about herself. She started doing this in High School. Most of her ex-boyfriends were afraid to come out because they were scared how people will treat them after they find out that they were abused by a woman.”
“Did she ever tell you the reason why she is abusive?” Sonke asks.
“She has anger issues but there isn’t a reason for them. She doesn’t come from an abusive background. She just has a bad temper. If you need some people who will testify then I can get you some of her boyfriends. If she was a lesbian, there would be her own record of women killed by their partners because unlike men, women can’t defend them sometimes.”
“Has she ever,” Sonke asks but I can see that she is scared the finish the question, “Has she ever killed a man before?” I sigh.
“She has. She abused him and when he had enough he left. Like packed all his things and moved into a new city. He found a new girlfriend, they were in love and eventually he impregnated that girl. Kisi found him when his girlfriend was 6 months pregnant. She didn’t do anything to the girlfriend but she strangled him to death in the presence of the girlfriend. The girlfriend miscarried that night. She was taken to a hospital and to there she was taken to a mental institution because she was a danger to herself and other people. Kisi buried his body in a site and built a house on top of it, so unless you demolish the house and dig him up, you won’t have enough proof.”
“She sounds like a man, Ntsakisi, she sounds like a man.” I look down contemplating whether I should tell them Ntsakisi’s secret or not. She confided in me and I don’t see a reason to reveal this information. However I don’t want my firm to lose a case so I have to give them something.
“The woman’s name is Akhona Mazibuko. She is at Akeso Umhlanga. I don’t know if a testimony of a person who is in a mental institution will be taken into consideration but you can try. Also there is this guy Vhutshilo Netshiozwi. He is in a wheel chair because of Kisi. He also dumped him and she ran him over with her car.” I stand up. “Anyways I have said a lot. Take the information I have given you and put it into good use. Try keeping her behind bars for at least 5 years but know that when she comes back, she is coming for you. The only way to stop her is to put a bullet in between her eyes.”
I get out of the boardroom and head to Cole’s office. I don’t owe him anything but I feel like greeting him. I get to his door which is slightly opened. I find a sight that amuses me, Cole banging his PA from behind. I just stand there and slowly clap my hands. They both freeze and turn to me. I laugh.
“The perfect prince isn’t so perfect after all. Wonder what your wife will say when she hears about your shenanigans. Wonder if you parents know what you do behind closed doors. But don’t worry, I am not a woman like you, I don’t talk about things that don’t concern me. I am out of here.” I get out leaving them both still shocked and frozen on the spot.
I go to the CFO and ask for financial report. He asks to send it via email and I tell him that should I not receive it in 20 minutes then we will have a problem.
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Sindi finishes pitching the Revlon idea and sits down. Hlumelo is the one who did the Herbalife pitch and Sange made him uncomfortable the whole time by giving him bedroom eyes. I don’t know what to do anymore. The whole staff is here. Even the management.
“I am not happy with the Herbalife and if I was a consumer I wouldn’t even look at it twice. I will just be annoyed by it the first time. I wouldn’t even consider buying a single product. You ad is basically attacking chubby women. Try coming with a different approach.” I say and sit back on my chair.
“If I were a chubby women I would also feel attacked. Not all women who are chubby wants to lose weight. We live in a different era. Women are getting comfortable with their bodies, whether they are chubby or petite. Your ad make it seem as if they are not human enough because they are fat. And the petite women are also not human enough because they are skinny. Try a new approach. Appreciate women and men of all sizes. When advertising you must be careful with your wording. Watch the phrases you say. They may be catchy on some people but to others it would rub off the wrong way.” Sange says and I nod.
“But I must say you got me on the shampoo idea. I even thought about standing up and rushing to buy it at the store.” Salizwa says and everyone chuckles and some laugh. “The client will surely be happy about this.”
“It is not our problem that this may rub off the wrong way on some people. What we must know is that not everyone would love a product or be willing to buy it. We should just focus on our intended target market.” says the guy who was presenting the Herbalife ad. I just chuckle shaking my head.
“If you continue with this attitude of yours, you will find yourself unemployed. You are being ignorant and that might cost me my reputation. What you should be doing is taking notes and not giving me this stinking attitude.” I click my tongue looking at her. “I am hoping to see everyone on the year-end party. I am very impressed by the company’s management that I am rewarding them with something special.” I smile and in turn I receive surprised smiles from the management. I stand up. “Meeting adjourned.” I exit the room with my friends following me.
“They got Bo.” Seipati says with a sinister look.
“Let the games begin.” Salizwa says and whistles not giving a damn about the workers on the corridor.
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#TheEmpress
