My new room was smaller than the room at my parents place but I had less stuff so it was just fine. Alex insisted on helping me unpack. When we got to my cosmetics he had so many questions. "Why do you have so many pomades?" He asked. "This is hand cream, this is body cream and this is to drive away mosquitoes, " I explained as I put them on my table. "Isn't your hand part of your body? Why do you need cream for just your hands?" He asked again. I giggled. This boy was getting smarter by the day! I had to think for a while before answering. Before I could tell him what I had come up with my phone rang. I stretched for it and smiled when I saw who it was. It was my mother doing her usual, "have you arrived safely" courtesy call. I told her we were home and I was even unpacking with Alex. Immediately Alex heard his name he asked who it was. Immediately I told him that ended my conversation. He took over my phone and chat with his grandmother. I'm sure she had forgotten about me too.
The next day I got ready for my new job as early as I could. Kuukua decided to drive me to work so I didn't get lost or anything. Luckily for me the location had easy public transportation routes back home. "Should I come and get you after work or you will find your way back?" She asked when she dropped me off. I told her I'd come back on my own so she nodded and waved as she drove off. I looked at the huge building, took a deep breath and walked inside.
The company was much bigger than where I used to work. Just by looking at the staff I knew this new experience was going to be something else. I was directed to the office of my boss, Mr. Obeng and he greeted with a smile and asked me to take a seat. He was a fashionable middle aged man who seemed to like smiling. This really calmed me down as he spoke to me giving me a brief description of what he expected from me. He told me the product development team used to have a brilliant graphic designer but she left the country to further her studies so I had a lot of pressure on my hands. "I'll do my very best to be as good as her and hopefully with time even better, " I said in the most convincing voice I could master. He smiled and said he expected nothing less.
The rest of the day at work was basically full of introductions and some kind of orientation. I met the team I would be working with and recognized one of the guys immediately. Steven was a mate from university. I smiled at him and he smiled back. When it was lunch time I rushed over to him and we had a long fun chat as we ate at the cafeteria. "This is such an upgrade from where I used to work." I confessed looking around at the cafeteria. Steven just smiled and said I hadn't seen anything yet. It was nice to have a familiar face there. Especially one I used to have a crush on back in school. A lot of my anxiety at the new place went away after our chat.
Somewhere in the conversation Nina's name came up. Steven said she was having her birthday party the next weekend and wanted to know if I wanted us to go together. I thought it was sweet of him to want to go with me but I wasn't sure how to tell him I didn't know about the party and I hadn't spoken to Nina in over a year. Luckily for me someone approached our table and the subject instantly changed.
That day after work Steven nicely showed me how to take a car back home. We walked together to the bus stop, took one taxi to the main station and from there he showed me the trotro I needed to take me to where Kuukua's house was. He had visited me there on one of my trips to Accra so he knew exactly where it was. "See you tomorrow," He said when I was seated. He waved and he walked to his own trotro. I smiled as Steven left, glad to have him at my new office. This wasn't going to be bad at all. The expectations for me at the job were high but a good challenge was what I needed right now, besides the pay was good.
To be continued...
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