Chapter 6 - The Test

Geena left her office at mid-day and headed to Sophia's office. Sophia was the head of human resources department at Stones Conglomerate - a position she gained by merit. Sophia was so good at her job.

Sophia was the key part of Geena's test but even Sophia had absolutely no idea about it. Geena smiled while responding to her staff greetings along the way.

She was already tired of the whole greetings and the extra respect being shown towards her. She was just another human being, she was just lucky to be born with a silver spoon.

Finally, she arrived at Sophia's office and knocked with a laugh on her face.

“Geena, for God's sake, you own the whole building, why are you knocking at my office?”, Sophia asked with a laugh.

“Well, my dear Soph, it's courtesy to knock before coming into people's private space”.

“Geena please come in, it's lunch break and you don't exactly look like lunch”.

They both laughed and Geena walked in. She gave herself a seat and bent straight towards her friend.

“Soph, my best best best friend, how're you doing?”

Sophia looked at her suspiciously and asked “What do you want from me?”. Sophia's eyes were half shut, as if to scan her brain to decipher what Geena's intentions were.

Sophia's expression made Geena laugh so hard. She said “My dear friend, I just came to see you, what wrong have I done?”

“You're the CEO, yes? You could have called for me but you chose to walk from your office to mine just to check up on me? That's really suspicious my dear” Sophia noted.

“Well, well, well, among other things, I came to check up on you” Geena responded.

“And what could the other things be?” Sophia inquired.

“I need a favour from you, it may be a little stressful but I would really appreciate it” Geena said, making a baby face.

“As long as it doesn't involve working overtime, I should be able to do it” Sophia stated.

“Okay, so it's about Dariel,” Geena said, trying to hide her face. She knew Sophia wasn't completely okay with her love involvement with Dariel.

“What about him?”

“I wanna test him, Soph”.

“Test? How? Why?”

“Soph, you know my past ordeal with men, I need to validate his intentions. Dariel's sweet, nice, receptive, gentlemanly, he's….”

“Geena, please will you allow me to breathe? I don't have a man, please don't rub yours on my face” Sophia begged.

Geena laughed and apologized “I'm sorry Soph, Dariel's just too good to be true”.

“If you say so, how do you intend to go about this test of yours” Sophia inquired.

“Thats where you come in Sophia”.

“Explain, I'm all ears”.

“I need you to make advances at him. Let's see if he'll fall for you while claiming to love me. I want to be sure that he loves me for who I am not what I have”.

“Phewww!!! That's so much Geena, but that's very smart too. Are you sure I'll be able to do it?” Sophia asked, almost reluctantly.

“I trust you, there's absolutely no one else I'd love to do this for me. Plus you don't completely trust him, so you’d be the judge of the whole affair”.

Sophia heaved a sigh of relief “It's hard but I'd only do it because it's you. There's a condition attached though”.

“Anything my dear Soph, mention it”.

Sophia laughed “I'm getting free lunch from now till the end of the month”

“I'll give you a double lunch, in fact, I'd start now,” Geena noted. “Your free lunch offer starts today, my dear. Thank you very much”.

Geena stood up and hugged Sophia, she felt so relieved that her friend agreed with her plan. She just hoped Dariel wouldn't disappoint her like the other men she'd been with.

********************************

Dariel packed his tools to the store. He was done for the day. Time to go home. Grandma was making her special delicacy today and he sure didn't wanna miss it.

He had gotten down the elevator and was on his way to the street when he heard someone call his name behind him. He turned back and saw a lady smiling and beckoning on him to wait for her.

He waited, surprised how she knew him. He had seen her once or twice at the office, but he didn't know her department. He just hoped he wasn't in any form of trouble.

“Sorry for the delay, good day” the lady greeted.

“No problem ma'am”, he was still waiting for her reason for stopping him.

“Let's walk, please” she pleaded.

“Okay ma'am, I was heading home already” Dariel agreed.

“You may be surprised. I'm Sophia, Sophia Londane. I work here, human resources department precisely”.

“Oh okay, I guessed so. Your face looks familiar”.

“That's good Dariel, that means I'm visible”, Sophia teased.

“I work here too, I'm a janitor,” Dariel added.

“I know, I work in the human resources department, remember?”

Dariel gave a little smile, “Yes, you just mentioned. Am I in any sort of trouble ma'am?”

“Not at all, I just saw you and thought to walk with you. Nothing much”.

“That's a big relief, I wouldn't wanna lose my job”.

“Your job is perfectly fine, and I must commend you, you do a good job”.

“Thank you ma'am”.

“I'm Sophia, please let's keep ma'am aside”.

“I'll try my best to remember”.

They got to the street, she got his number and they exchanged pleasantries.

**********************************

Sophia called Dariel every now and then to check up on him. He gave her good responses, although he didn't initiate anything with her and he rarely called back.

He kept wondering what she wanted with him. He wasn't the type to meddle in office business, he just did his job and went home.

Sophia on the other hand was surprised that Dariel wasn't nonchalant to her. He responded very nicely and he was receptive. He didn't make her feel like she was disturbing him but was very approachable.

On a particular night, Dariel was home sourcing for some online jobs to apply when his phone rang. It was Sophia. He let it ring a little and he picked it up.

She sounded very cheerful over the phone “Hello Dariel, good evening”.

“Good evening Sophia”, he had outgrown calling her ma'am.

“How're you doing today?”

“I'm doing very well and you?”

“I’m okay. I hardly saw you at the office today”.

“Well I wasn't assigned to your part of the office today”.

“That makes sense now, I was kinda looking out for you”.

“You did?” Dariel asked with a note of surprise.

“Yes dear” Sophia replied.

Dear? Dariel didn't understand why she was using that word. He sure wasn't gonna act surprised, he decided to pay deaf ears to it.

“Okay Sophia”. That was all Dariel could say. He was becoming uninterested in the conversation already.

“You know what? How about we have lunch tomorrow? Not a date, just us getting to know each other”. Sophia suggested.

“Ohhhhhhh. Do you think it's necessary?” He asked, trying not to sound rude.

“Absolutely, besides it's part of my job to know the staff better”.

“Okay then, you pick the place, date and time” Dariel suggested.

“I'll text you once I'm sure of the location, good night Dariel.

“Good night Sophia”.

*******************************

Dariel arrived a little late at the restaurant Sophia suggested - D’Angelo Restaurant. The place looked quite exotic. Dariel was confident that he dressed well.

He looked at her text again, table 23, that was the reserved table. He opened the door, looked at the restaurant, and he saw her, waving towards him.

He walked to her, drew his seat and sat directly across her.

“Good day Sophia, sorry for arriving late, it's not usually my style”.

“It's fine, guess it wasn't your fault”.

“Thank you”.

“You look good by the way, seems the office space does conceal you a bit” Dariel said, very honestly.

Sophia couldn't understand why she found herself blushing so hard from his compliment. He actually didn't look bad, she was impressed by his efforts to look that good

“Thank you very much Dariel, you're not looking bad yourself”.

“Thank you, I'm just doing my best”.

“What would you like to order, Dariel?”

“Ladies first, right?”

“Right” Sophia responded with a smile. Dariel knew how to be a gentleman, she sure it.

Sophia called the waiter and ordered mashed potatoes and steak. Dariel ordered the same food she ordered. Sophia added a bottle of champagne.

They chatted for a while, getting to know themselves better. Sophia found it hard to believe the way Dariel made her feel.

She had not chatted this comfortably with anyone in a long long time. It felt like she was opening up to her therapist.

“Dariel, thank you for today, you've really made my day”.

“It's nothing, just enjoying a good conversation”.

“Can we be friends?” Sophia asked, keeping her face down, trying to avoid his eyes. She knew all this was a test but she had a genuine feeling from that question. It felt real!!

“At this point, I can say we've been friends already,” he answered. Grandma had taught Dariel to be nice. He didn't understand Sophia's agenda but he just had to make her happy. Besides, she wasn't a bad person.

“That's good, thank you Dariel”, Sophia appreciated. His response made her feel so good. She liked him and she couldn't deny it. His energy was pure and his presence was sure enjoyable.

At every point, Sophia had to remind herself that all this was a test for her friend. She could clearly see what made Geena go crazy for this guy. He was clearly what every woman wished for.

Dariel had to go, he had an appointment with his lawyer, and he was 10 minutes late. He got angry at himself, being late twice in one day, it was just unlike him.

“Sophia, I know it is so rude to leave you here but I have an appointment and I'm 10 minutes late.” Dariel pleaded

“I understand you, but it's fine, you can go”

“Thank you, see you around”, with that, Dariel stepped out.

***************************

Sophia dropped herself on the sofa. She threw her keys on the center table and tilted her head back to rest on the sofa. She had just finished a month’s job in one day.

She would call Dariel and he'd help her unwind from the day's stress. Somehow the thought of that made her smile almost uncontrollably.

She dialed his number. Twice. He didn't respond. She reasoned he may be busy.

She left the living room and while she was undressing, her phone rang. Her heart skipped, hoping it was Dariel. She looked at the screen. It was Geena.

“Hey babes, what's up?” Geena said cheerfully over the phone.

“Hello Geena, I'm exhausted my dear, how're you”.

“I'm good, sorry about your exhaustion”

“It's alright my dear”

“I know it's probably the wrong time, but how's the Dariel thing going?”

“Well, so far, he's doing well, although I haven't started making direct advances yet but I've been beating about the bush”, a sense of guilt hit Sophia. She had almost forgotten the original reason for her affiliation with Dariel.

“Okay, my dear, let me not stress you any longer, have a lovely night”.

“Goodnight Geena”. Geena ended the call.

Sophia sat on the bed and felt stuck in the whole drama. She was to test Dariel but at the same time she found herself feeling something strong towards him.

Her phone rang again. It was Dariel this time. Her heart leapt for joy. She coughed in a means to keep her voice low and tired but also to sound romantic.

She spoke first. “Hello, hello Dariel”.

“Hello Sophia, Good day, sorry I missed your calls”

“It's okay, you must have been busy or something”.

“Actually I was reading”.

“Impressive. And where do you find the time to read?”

“Well, time is the most available resource. If we say we don't have time, then that should be the world's biggest lie”.

“That's true, which means most of us are guilty of this deception,” Sophia noted with a laugh.

“Exactly, exactly”.

“How was your day Dariel?”

“Same difficult job, different offices. The usual”.

“Interesting, I'm as heavy as a bag of bones right now”.

“So sorry, what's wrong?”

“Today's workload was something else. I had to stay till 8pm so I could finish up”.

“My apologies, Sophia. That must really be a lot”.

“It was more than a lot but in the end, it was done”.

“And that's what matters most - results”.

“Yes my dear”.

“So what are you up to now?” Dariel inquired.

“I just got home, I'm tryna freshen up”.

“Okay then, I'll leave you to it. Good night and have a peaceful rest”.

“Good night Dariel, thank you very much”.

Sophia felt at peace. Finally she heard his voice. Just like medicine for an ailment, that's what Dariel's voice did to her and he had no idea about it.

Sophia knew that what she was doing was absolutely wrong but she couldn't stop herself from what she felt for Dariel.

He was sweet, kind, accommodating, very receptive and many more things a woman would wish for.

Yes, this was supposed to be a test but what if she could make Dariel love her and keep him all to herself? She had not felt this way by any other man before.

She could probably tell Geena that Dariel fell for her and Geena would move on with her life while she could be with Dariel. In any case, she'd be the victor.

The idea seemed good to her because one thing was certain, she didn't just like Dariel. SHE WAS IN LOVE WITH HIM!!!