Another Love Story

Six

Every bank courted big clients; wealthy individuals or successful businesses. United Bank courted Kampala's wealthy every now and then. We usually accessed their publicly declared financials and used the information to demonstrate how we could manage their finances and multiply their wealth. Since joining the executive team, I had worked on several accounts. The information was circulated anonymously during the financial analysis stage. If the client was successfully wooed, the team assigned to the client would be privy to more privileged financial details.

Managing the branch's credit portfolio meant that if the bank was offering a loan to any big clients, I had to review and approve the loan's viability. I was not surprised when the marketing manager came into my office a fortnight later with a familiar blue file.

Amanda Mugasha was one of my few close friends in the workplace. We had risen to our senior positions around the same time; her in marketing.

"Hey sweetie," she said as she closed my door and sat in one of the guest chairs.

"Hey yourself," I said as I turned away from my computer.

"I need you to do me a solid. We are wooing a big fish. I can't seem to screw my brain straight long enough to do the books," she said.

"Tell me about the account," I invited.

"Serious money. Seems to be a business. The boss wants us to run numbers to show how the business can be more profitable in the next financial year. It's easy to see that the business is already making a healthy profit. But there is always room for improvement. I just don't have the heart for brain-intensive analytics today," she said.

Luckily, my wild night out had been a long two weeks before. All the residual cobwebs were long gone. I yanked my brain away from the path to Missy's memories as Amanda continued.

"The file was coming to your desk after mine because the boss wants us to offer this big fish a loan; either a business loan or a personal loan. Though, God knows, the owner of a 920million business probably doesn't need spare cash," Amanda shared.

I whistled at the figure and reached for the file. She was happy to hand it over. I skimmed through the figures quickly.

"I'll do the financial analysis and credit report and bump this up the ladder," I told Amanda. This was the kind of work I needed to sink my teeth into.

"You're the best," she said and blew me a kiss as she stood. I shooed her out of my office and got to work.

*

Three days later, I was seated in my office with my heels off, eating yogurt and listening to a podcast. My office phone rang. I put aside my yogurt and answered. It was Peter Oundo, the other Credit Manager at United Bank's Kampala branch.

"Hi Peter," I said easily.

"Hello. Do you have a spare minute?" he asked.

"Yeah. What's up?"

"I need you in my office," he said.

"Sure. Be right there."

I slipped on my heels, tucked away my yogurt and rose. Within a few minutes, I was at Peter's door. I pushed the door open as I spoke.

"Mr. Corner Office, how may I be of service?" I teased. I was glad that Peter and I had a professional but easygoing relationship. I pulled up short when I realized that Peter wasn't alone. Both Peter and his guest looked to the door as I entered.

My eyes widened when they met Tiger's. He looked sharp in a grey suit. He was holding a sleek tablet. My mind was flooded by memories of our night out and my belly stirred. In rapid succession, I realized that if he was here, then he was a bank client. I steeled myself and approached the men. They both rose.

"Engineer Kawaase, this is United Bank's other Credit Manager, Michelle Kaaya. Michelle, this is Engineer Tiger Kawaase," Peter said.

"Michelle," Tiger said as he shook my hand firmly.

"Tiger," I returned and released his hand.

Our first name basis clearly communicated that we knew each other. Peter kept it professional and masked his curiosity.

"We drew up a financial report for Engineer Kawaase which he would like to discuss at some length. I could tell these were your numbers so I thought you could join us for this meeting," Peter said.

"The big fish," I murmured. Shark, more like. My eyes cut to Tiger when I realized he was the 920million. And that was just his business. What on God's green earth was his personal net worth? I knew in that moment that whatever friendly flirtationship we had going was over. I already had firsthand experience of what powerful men were capable of. The same ruthlessness that secured their power was unleashed in their personal relationships. I wasn't signing up for that ever again. Not after two years with Sam, the Snake.

I turned to Peter, nodded and signaled for him to hand me his laptop. I sat and the men followed suit. Tiger and I were in the guest chairs at Peter's desk, facing him. I noticed that Tiger had the report I had drafted open on his tablet. I opened the same document on Peter's laptop.

Focus, bitch, I told myself as Tiger's cologne wafted over to me.

I gave a short presentation of the figures to both Peter and Tiger. This was my element. I could easily forget that two weeks ago, I was grinding along to Kampala's best hits with Tiger.

"You did a phenomenal job with very little information, Michelle," Tiger said when I finished.

"Thank you," I said.

"She would never admit it but she is a whiz with numbers," Peter supplied. I smiled and turned to face Tiger.

"What questions do you have Engineer...?" Before I could finish my statement with the formal address, Tiger cut in.

"You can call me Tiger," he said. His statement encompassed Peter and I but his eyes were on me. I had no imagination that he would ever call me Miss. Kaaya. But I had thought that I would have the option of keeping it formal with him—especially in front of Peter.

I nodded and simply waited for his questions. We discussed the financial report on his business for the next hour and a half. He was impressed with my ideas to improve his company's profit. As expected, his auditors had been over his books before and made their own recommendations which we discussed. The purely intellectual discussion stimulated my mind and kept me from drowning in Sam memories which had unexpectedly stirred up.

"This has been fruitful," Peter said as Tiger closed his tablet. I returned Peter's laptop and wrapped my hands tightly around my coffee cup.

"Certainly. I must say, I didn't come with very high expectations of United Bank. You have to understand that I am regularly courted by financial institutions here and abroad," Tiger said, "None thus far has been this extensive on the financial report."

"Thank you. Let's re-run the numbers, now that we know more about the company. We could meet within a week to discuss," Peter said.

"My team will reach out to set something up," Tiger said. I took a long sip of my coffee to avoid having to contribute to the conversation.

"We understand that this is not a commitment by you or your business to bank with us," Peter said. But we hope you finally choose to, was the silent addition. I smiled behind my cup.

"Let's see how things play out," Tiger said. He picked up his coffee and tablet and rose. Peter and I rose as well. He shook Peter's hand and then mine. We stared at each other for a long moment before he turned away and left the room. When Tiger cleared the door, Peter put out a hand excitedly. I slapped his palm and we squeezed thumbs before letting go.

"Good job, Michelle," he said.

"You too," I replied.