Читать книгу Second Time Lucky - Malihanelo Molapo - Страница 7

4

It was around four o’clock the following afternoon when the sudden loud ring of her office phone startled Criselda.

She was deeply occupied, working on her computer and trying to break down every component that linked the S 5.2. She was bent on figuring out the weakest and strongest formulas that operated the system.

“Hello,” she answered.

“Mr Dlangamandla on the line,” said Tseli in her usual morbid tone.

“Put him through.” Criselda braced herself. “Hi, Justice, any progress?”

“Well, I’ve made headway in other avenues, but I need your help in shedding some light on a few matters. Shall we meet for dinner?”

She was amused and surprised at the same time, but decided to play it down. “I would assume you’d want to discuss this in the office, not at a restaurant.”

Sounding slightly irritated, he replied, “The place I have in mind is very quiet. So we should be able to tackle the issues at hand.”

“Okay,” she said, although she really found this a bit inappropriate. “When and where?”

“Pitseng, it’s by the Sugar House Creations building on the corner of De Villiers and Main. I’m sure you know it. Let’s say seven-thirty. You’ll find me waiting,” he said as if to make sure that she would show up.

As the click of the phone brought Criselda back to her world, something suddenly dawned on her. The kids. What was she going to do? Florina wasn’t back yet.

She wondered for a moment whether she could ask Suthukazi, but felt two days in a row was pushing it, even though they were friends.

Just then, right on cue, her friend walked in, took one look her and said, “What has rained on your parade now, besides the Hampshire saga?”

“Eish, Justice just called and he wants us to meet for dinner tonight ... To discuss the Hampshire hacking, of course.” Criselda almost bit her tongue trying to reassure Suthukazi.

“Justice? Since when are we on first-name terms? What happened to ‘that rude guy’?” Suthukazi smiled wickedly.

“We have to get acquainted, seeing that we’re going to be working together on this investigation. It’ll be a business dinner, but I can’t go.”

“Come on, Criss, I can smell your excitement a mile away. You want to go. What’s the problem?”

“The kids. I agreed to meet him, but I forgot that Florina wasn’t back yet.”

“Is that the only reason? You know I’m more than willing if I can, and tonight I can, so go spruce yourself up and have some fun. You deserve it, especially after Sifiso and his shenanigans.”

“It’s only a business dinner, Kazi. Besides, I really don’t trust men. They’re no-good and selfish – and did I mention cold-blooded?”

“Who knows, maybe you’ll swallow those words by the morning. Let’s get out of here and go pick up those adorable twins.”

Despite a feeling of dread, Criselda smiled.

* * *

As she slowly entered Pitseng restaurant and looked around for Justice, Criselda was met by the delicious spicy aromas of traditional South African cuisine. She could almost taste the food as her mouth started to water.

The décor was relaxing, the patterned orange lights were dimmed and went well with the paraffin lights on each table. The walls were adorned with orange silk cloths, and these were also draped across the ceiling from one corner of the room to the other. African jazz was coming out smoothly from the speakers, not too loud and not too low. It was cosy indeed.

As Criselda was taking in the beauty of the place, her eye caught a familiar face and she made her way gracefully to the table.

“Good evening,” she greeted firmly. “Have you been waiting for long?”

Justice got up like a gentleman and she couldn’t help but be impressed. Nodding in appreciation, she made herself comfortable at the small round dinner table covered with an orange silk cloth.

“No, I haven’t,” he responded as he sat down again. “I hope you don’t mind, I’ve already ordered us wine. Dry red. May I pour you a glass?”

Criselda nodded and then asked, “So what have you been able to figure out so far?”

“Well, I’ve been at Hampshire the whole afternoon and to me it’s starting to look like an inside job. But then again, maybe the hacker disguised it that way. Enough of that, though, I’ll brief you fully tomorrow morning. Let’s meet at Hampshire at ten in the server room.”

“But I was under the impression that you wanted to ask me some questions,” Criselda queried. “Isn’t that why you wanted us to meet?”

“Of course, of course. But I feel in order for me to ask you these questions I have to get to know you better.”

The pearly smile once again emerged, and Criselda wondered how long it would be this time before he slammed the door to his mysterious world in her face again.

As if reading her mind, Justice’s deep frown returned, and he suddenly looked as if the weight of the world had just come down from the orange draperies and landed smack between his shoulders.

He sat staring into his wine, running his index finger around the rim of the glass, and then unexpectedly confessed, “I’m a divorcé myself. That day at court ... It was the end.”

“Oh,” Criselda sighed with a hint of disappointment. She had secretly been hoping that maybe he could be the one to keep her mind off what had happened in her life the past year. He was obviously still feeling bitter and raw, the same way she had felt a while ago, and he was probably looking for revenge on some poor woman.

Well, it wasn’t going to be her. He must have seen that she was vulnerable to his rudeness and therefore saw her as an easy victim to help him get over his divorce. No way, she told herself while downing her wine and pouring another glass almost to the brim.

She was starting to feel nervous now that he had actually let her take a step into his mysterious world. She didn’t like what she saw. Damaged goods, she thought to herself.

“Easy with the wine there,” he said, smiling wryly. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” she answered in an aloof tone.

He frowned and then continued, “It was mostly her fault, really, I never wanted ...”

But before he could finish his sentence, Criselda was on her feet. “I’ve heard enough, thank you. It’s clear you summoned me here under false pretences. I was under the impression that we were going to work.”

With that she made a swift turn and headed straight for the door, leaving Justice sitting with his mouth wide open.

As she drove home Criselda couldn’t believe his gall. Asking her for dinner only to sulk about his divorce, and then having the audacity to blame the ex-wife when it was common knowledge that a break-up is mostly the guy’s fault. How uncivil of him, she thought in disgust.

What a wasted evening ...

* * *

The following morning Suthukazi burst into Criselda’s office with two skinny lattes, croissants and blueberry muffins. “Come on, Criss, out with it. Last night you walked in looking like a thundercloud. What happened?”

“I shouldn’t have gone in the first place ... Wow, looks can be so deceiving. He’s divorced, can you imagine that?”

“What has that got to do with your bad mood last night?” Suthukazi looked confused as she took a sip of her latte.

“He had the gall to smear the wife for their divorce. That man has a ton of baggage – and I’m not going to subject myself to that. No siree.”

“But Criss, you’re also divorced. And anyway, what did he say about his ex?”

“Do you really think I was going to wait for a blow-by-blow account? As soon as he said that it had been her fault, I was out of there,” Criselda shot back.

“Well, I think you’re overreacting, but if you feel that way I’ll forgive you, because you’ve been through a lot this past year. So how’s he proceeding with the investigation?”

“Oh shoot, we have a meeting!” Criselda looked at her watch. “I have to be at Hampshire in five minutes. Thanks for the goodies, doll, but I have to run.” With that she grabbed her laptop and sped out of the door.

Half an hour later she drove through the gates of Hampshire Holdings, parked and rushed inside.

She found a very annoyed Justice sitting at one of the small desks in the foyer of the server room. Some employees were working at tiny partitioned desks on the other end of the room.

“Sorry I’m late, I completely lost track of the time,” Criselda stammered, out of breath.

“That’s the problem with you,” he said icily. “No wonder this system was hacked into.”

The frown which seemed to have melted last night was back, deeper than ever.

“We’ll work through these notes together,” he continued, and it sounded like an order. “Then we’ll go into the server and enter some of these investigative formulas to see what we can come up with.”

She sat down on the chair opposite him and they proceeded in silence.

* * *

Criselda looked at her watch with a yawn and saw that it was already 8pm. Justice was still typing fiercely on the computer in the server room. They had not said a kind word to each other all afternoon, but spoke only in computer jargon.

Just then the phone rang and the security guard downstairs informed her of their pizza delivery.

“Our pizza is here. I’ll go get it,” Criselda said.

Justice didn’t respond, but when she reached for her handbag, he said, “No, take this,” and took out some money from his wallet. Criselda didn’t want any favours from him, but decided not to be childish. She took the money and rushed downstairs.

When she came back Justice was pacing up and down, stretching his back and rubbing his neck. There was a sofa and small coffee table against the wall and they sat there, quietly having their pizza and Coke.

Justice eventually broke the silence. “So who is taking care of the kids while you’re here?”

“A friend and colleague. But let’s please leave the personal stuff and keep it professional,” Criselda responded coolly.

It was quiet between them for a moment, then he cleared his throat and said, “You know, I really thought you of all people would understand, but the minute I said ‘divorcé’ you looked at me as if I were a leaking sewage pipe. Dammit, can’t you see I like you and I want to get to know you?”

Criselda looked at him, shocked. Not in her wildest dreams had she expected to hear those words come from his mouth. And before she knew it, the warmth of his lips came down forcefully on hers. She quickly pulled away.

“Why are you doing this, Justice? We’re supposed to be solving this problem, and yet you keep flashing intimate moments at me in between your rude remarks.”

“I’m sorry, but like I said, I’ve really started to like you and I’d like to get to know you better. But you keep building up a wall.”

Criselda jumped to her feet. “You’re the one with the rude wall around you, and now all of a sudden you want to get to know me? I’m afraid I don’t trust your intentions, Justice. I really don’t.” With that she quickly grabbed her handbag and left the room.

* * *

Suthukazi was already waiting for Criselda when she arrived at her office the next morning.

As she sat down, her friend started probing. “There’s something different about you, Criss. I wanted to ask you last night when you got home, but judging by the way you looked I thought I’d better not. What happened?”

Criselda pretended ignorance. “What do you mean? What happened with what?”

“Never mind, I’ll get it out of you sooner or later.” Suthukazi smiled naughtily. “Anyway, fill me in on the Hampshire debacle. Any progress?”

“Well, after the deprogramming yesterday I’ll wait to hear from Justice. He’ll give me the go-ahead on installing another system which I still have to research. As far as who’s the culprit, we’re still none the wiser, but his company is working on it.”

“Are you sure that’s all you guys worked on?” Suthukazi pried again.

“Yes, Kazi, I am sure. Now please bring in all the quarterly reports on our accounts so that we can go over those before we give them to Martin for the board meeting.”

“All right then, I’m on it – but be warned, I’m not giving up that easily.”

Suthukazi walked out of the office and as soon as she closed the door behind her Criselda’s thoughts drifted back to the night before. It had been so unexpected and so intense.

How would this impact on her working relationship with Justice? She wondered what his angle was. Perhaps he wanted to use her to get over his ex. It was hard to trust him, considering how he’d treated her initially. Why the sudden change?

All these thoughts rushing through her head were rudely interrupted by the ringing of her cellphone.

When she answered, it was Florina on the other side. “Hello, Sisi,” Florina said. “I’ll only be arriving next week Monday, but I’m glad to say things have settled down. Please forgive me, I’m sure you must be struggling.”

“Hhayi man, it’s okay, Rina. Most days everything runs smoothly, even though I’ve had an unexpected crisis at work. I’ll manage. See you on Monday then. Bye.”

Criselda ended the call and smiled, thinking about how lost she would be without Florina in her life. Just then the office phone rang and she picked up.

“Mr Dlangamandla on the line,” Tseli said in her tired voice.

“Oh, put him through,” Criselda answered unenthusiastically.

“Hello,” Justice said huskily, “I just wanted to apologise for making you uncomfortable yesterday.”

“No need for that,” Criselda replied stiffly. “Let’s just put it behind us.”

“Okay. I’ll talk to you later then.”

The line went dead.

* * *

It was two days later, and at around three in the afternoon Criselda went home. She had decided she would prepare dinner and then pick up the kids from aftercare.

She was feeling exhausted, what with the whole Hampshire debacle, and on top of that she couldn’t stop thinking about Justice. As she was driving along the N1 she kept wondering what would have happened if she had returned his kiss at Hampshire the other day.

At the same time she couldn’t shake the feeling that he could perhaps be playing her, wanting to get her in Adam’s bad books so that he could take over her account. Maybe he was trying to distract her so that he could move in for the kill. He had just changed attitudes too quickly for her liking.

When she got home she was surprised to see Sifiso’s car in the driveway. She would have to change the locks if he kept on showing up unannounced like this.

Criselda braced herself as she stepped out of her car and walked through the front door, where she got an even bigger surprise when she was greeted by shrieks and loud laughter from the twins.

“My turn, Dad, my turn!” she heard Sandile shouting. When she entered the lounge, she found the furniture rearranged to make a goal post at one end of the room. Sifiso seemed to be the goalkeeper as the boys kicked the ball back in his direction.

When Siyanda saw Criselda he shouted, “Mom, Dad got us two new soccer balls for practising.”

“That’s great, honey, but you can’t play in here. You guys are going to destroy my furniture, not to mention the windows.” She gestured for Sifiso to follow her to the kitchen.

He kicked the ball to the boys and suavely followed her, making her feel unsafe in her own home.

“Hey, baby, how are you?”

Not bothering to answer, Criselda came straight to the point. “Sifiso, you’re not supposed to show up unannounced. You need to keep to the schedule so that things can run smoothly.”

“Come on, Criss, you know how it is. When I miss my boys, I miss my boys. Where’s the crime there?” he replied nonchalantly.

“I’m not going to argue with you, Sifiso. Please say goodbye and wait for your turn in two weeks’ time,” she said firmly. He smirked and she added, “And another thing – why did you pick them up from aftercare without informing me? That’s a really irresponsible thing to do.”

“Okay, okay, I’m out of here.”

Sifiso went back to the boys and played with them for another half an hour before leaving.

Criselda then took the opportunity to finish the “match” with them, after which she was too exhausted to cook, so she ordered pizza instead.

Later that evening, when the boys had gone to bed, she thought about how much she had enjoyed spending the late afternoon with them. Lately she hadn’t been able to do that due to her heavy work load, especially now with the Hampshire mess.

She ended up by deciding to dedicate at least one weekend a month to doing whatever the boys felt like and spending quality time with them.