Still Waters

SEVEN

--Amara's POV

"Amara...!"

I scrunch up my face and grumble to myself. I swear she yells our names like a hundred times each day. She just sits in her office and shouts like a drill sergeant, and whichever foot soldier she wants to see reports asap. She's lucky our office is right next to hers. For us it's a curse, scurrying into her office every ten minutes, especially when she already gave us tons of work to do. She's the reason I'd rather scout the streets of Lagos than handle desk work.

I stand up and look towards her office. The partitions were opaque halfway down so you can only see into another office if you are standing. She beckons impatiently at me to come.

What did I do now?

"Yes ma." I answer poking my head through her door.

"Sit." She says, eyes still glued to the computer. I fully enter her office and sit, all the while racking my brain to remember my wrongdoing. Does it have to do with my performance? Did Human Capital query me? Oh God, let it not be a query.

"Still Waters Ltd. Tell me about them." She says, finally looking up to meet my eyes.

My exhale is full of relief. "Ughm... He's my new customer. I opened the account last week."

"Line of business?"

"Importation and supply of deep-sea exploration tools and equipment." I explain. She is silent as she clicks the computer mouse and squints at her screen.

The suspense is killing me. "Hope no problem ma" I say in a small voice.

"He just moved in 200 million naira into the account you opened" she responds like it is nothing.

"What??!" I stand up and dash over to her side of the table. All my respect for boundaries totally fly out the window. I need to see this for myself. Mrs Kit obviously doesn't mind because she angles her laptop towards me so I can see better. There sitting in all its glory is N500,000,000.00 in his account. Five hundred million naira on my balance sheet!

"Arrrrrhhh" I scream. "It's a lieeeee."

Even Mrs Kit broke out into a full smile. "Well-done. That's a good one."

I can see people poking their heads over the opaque partition wondering why Mrs Kit and I are smiling like buddies. I feel like a champion. I can't wait to tell Susan.

"I'd need to visit the company soon. Because you can be sure compliance will send a mail asking questions." Mrs Kit says, breaking into my thoughts.

I nod and retake my seat across her, still smiling. I wasn't worried about compliance. I had done my due diligence.

"So set up an appointment with him and let me know. What's the promoter's name?"

"Tonyekiri Dokubo." I respond.

She furrows her brows and leans back. "Tonyekiri Dokubo. That name sounds familiar." She suddenly snaps her fingers and leans forward again. "Yes, yes I remember now. He's the MD of a popular company that deals on manufacturing of engine oils.... can't remember the name. But we financed their projects some years back. Yes, I think that's him."

She looks at me with curiosity mixed with joy. "He's loaded, I mean big boy loaded and he has so many connections."

"He does?" I am genuinely surprised. I have never heard of him; he must like to fly below the radar. From the details I recall while filling his form, he is only 28. I honestly didn't expect so much from him that day, he seemed too young to be that loaded and connected. I have been underestimating him.