the hard way...

Not a chance

"Excuse me sir, the minister is here to see you." another worker announced to him.

"Guess luck is on my side." Su Yan muttered to himself. He had missed the first inspection but missing the second might have been a bit much.

"Mr Su! The older man waved cheerfully as he got closer and gave Su Yan a hand shake.

"I hear you took a break for a while, hope all is okay." the man talked with a heavy Nigerian accent.

"Very much okay, I had to take time out to take care of my girlfriend."

"Wow! Of course it is understandable. How is she now?"

"She's here with me. Tale?"

She was under the shade of a tree talking to a few workers like she knew them before now, laughing out loud and clapping to some story.

Su Yan felt his heart soar a little at the sight of her. Just like the meaning of her name, she was a light in his life he never thought he needed.

"Tale, come over."

She hurried over as a smile was still on her face.

"I would like to introduce you to Mr..."

"Oh my god! I can't believe it, Mr Odu. It is a sincere pleasure to meet you." she turned to Su Yan smiling widely as she could not keep calm. "I see him on television all the time."

"But you don't even watch..."

"Oh my god look at that pelican!" Tale cut Su Yan short as the two men turned to where she was pointing and saw nothing.

At this point Su Yan was doubting her sanity and liking it.

"What do you do?" Mr Odu continued.

"I'm an accountant in a church currently..."

"Yes but she is an amazing interior decorator on the side, she is simply amazing." Su Yan added boldly.

What? Since when was she ever that.

"That is beautiful, it's a career path less traveled and I am sure you will make it big in it."

Tale gave a tight smile. "I try sir. Thank you."

"It is also a pleasure to meet you. You picked a good one Mr Su," Mr Odu turned to Tale again. "Keep him happy always and don't give him any trouble. He is a good asset to our state."

Tale nodded as the man talked because she got the underlying meaning of what he just said.

"You got it sir."

"Mr Su, let's talk. It was nice to meet you again Tale."

"All mine." Tale replied as she walked back to the spot she had been.

...

All seemed calm and the corridors a little bit too quiet, as it should be. But on this day all that should be normal irked at Precious. It felt so much like the calm before the storm.

A bell sounded off in the distance, the morning papers were over, that means she could go home, take her scripts and go home.

Hurriedly packing her bags and a few documents she would be needing, Precious hurried to the department general office to get her scripts. She saw him then, but it was too late to hide.

"Miss Precious." Oke looked calm and had a suspicious smile on his face. He was taunting her... "I found this with your name on it." He held an envelope and she could only guess what it contained.

No one seemed to notice the two of them, so she was alone in this.

"I didn't loose anything." she moved back a step when he tried to stuff what he held into her tote bag.

The look he gave her said it all. She was in trouble, but taking a bribe and passing a student who well didn't deserve it was not in her books.

"You should take it!"

"You should leave me the hell alone, now!"

"Okay then. The hard way it is." and with that he left with the money in his hand and a determined heart to get what he wanted. One way of another.

...

"Tale." Su Yan was utterly confused. First why does everyone seem to want to be around his girlfriend and secondly, why was she smiling with everyone.

"Hm? Tale looked up from the cement block a worker had brought for her to sit on. She was surrounded by three guys who looked to be a bit younger than her. They had come to the site to help any way they could for a little stipend at the end of the days work.

"Time to go."

"Already?" She was enjoying her time out in the sun a lot and she never thought she could like the atmosphere at a construction site almost immediately. Even the noise didn't bother her as it mixed with the voices of workers talking loudly to their colleagues so they could be heard. She simply liked it.

"Yes, you need your daily rest."

She turned to her new friends and felt for them. They had told her their story, what was she going to do???