Sacked

Later that evening after Steve had calmed down, he decided to give Joan a call and tell her about his meeting with her parents.

"Hey! Good evening," Joan answered the phone in a calm voice.

"Good evening, how did your day go?" Steve asked, sounding very tired.

"It went okay, how did yours go?"

"It went well," Steve said, trying to stifle a yawn to no avail.

"Steve I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you this morning." Joan apologized.

"It's okay, no need to apologize," Steve replied, dismissing her apology.

"No I have to, I was clearly out of line with my behavior and I'm truly sorry for that."

"Joan it's fine, we are both under pressure so I understand where your anger was coming from."

"Thanks." This was one of the many reasons she loved Steve. He was because was very understanding and slow to anger.

"You sound tired, is it work-related or does it have anything to do with your visit to my parents?" Joan asked in a concerned tone.

He slowly exhaled, "It's actually both. I had a lot to do at the office today, and also when I went to talk to your parents about this whole marriage thing, they wouldn't budge. They still insist on us getting married."

Joan was silent, she expected her parents to act the way they did. And that's why throughout the day at the office, she kept racking her brain trying to come up with a better plan on how they can get their parents to drop this whole marriage madness.

"I actually expected this to happen. So what do we do now?" Joan asked.

"To be honest, I have no idea. My head is blank right now, I haven't been able to come up with anything." Steve replied.

Sophia sighed "Same here."

"Well I think we would just have to ignore them and go on with our lives, they can't force us into doing something that we don't want," Steve suggested.

"I agree with you, let's just ignore them and when they realize that we aren't budging, they will have no other choice but to give up on the idea." Joan concurred with him.

They both ended the call in agreement that they weren't going to talk to any of their parents about the marriage issue anymore. They were just going to go about their lives as usual.

The next morning Joan arrived at her office in high spirits.

"You look happy this morning." Her assistant observed.

"Yes I am, I actually found a way to solve a problem that has been giving me headaches for days," Joan told Mercy with a wide smile on her face.

"Thank God for that, I'm happy for you." Mercy said.

"Thanks. Today is going to be a good day, I can feel it." Joan's smile widened. "So tell me my itinerary for this beautiful day."

"For starters, the boss is around and he would like to see you in his office."

"I told you it's a good day." Joan winked at Mercy as she left her office to go answer her boss.

"Good morning sir." She greeted her boss who was a middle-aged man in his fifties. He was seated behind his desk and was typing on his laptop.

"Good morning Joan, please have a seat." He pointed to one of the chairs that were across his table.

Joan pulled out a chair and sat down, observing the grim look on his face she could tell he wasn't too happy about something.

He closed his laptop and kept it aside, "How are you, Joan?"

"I'm fine thank, you sir," Joan replied with a small smile.

"And how are things at home? Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine sir. Why? Is there a problem?"

"Joan you know I love you like my daughter and you are a treasured asset to this law firm, I see all the work you have been putting in since you came in here and I want you to know that none of them has ever gone unnoticed."

Joan smiled, "Thank you, sir."

"You are welcome, my dear. You are a very talented lawyer and you are truly good at what you do. That's why this has to be one of the hardest decisions I have made in a long time." He was no longer looking at Joan's face as he spoke.

Joan's heart skipped a beat and she felt a butterflies in her belly. This wasn't sounding good at all, "What decision?" Joan asked, trying not to be alarmed as her boss brought out a white envelope from a file and handed it to her.

Joan collected the envelope with a shaky hand. "Sir please what is this about?" Joan asked, praying it wasn't what she was thinking.

"Believe me when I say this was a very difficult decision for me, but I'm sorry this is something I have to do."

She opened the envelope, it contained a letter and as she read its contents she felt her head spinning, "You are terminating my appointment?" She asked in disbelief as she raised her head to look at him.

"I'm sorry Joan this is painful but I have to let you go."

"I d...don't un....understand this, why, what have I done wrong?" Joan asked in a shaky voice.

"I'm sorry Joan, the firm is experiencing some financial difficulty and we have to let some of our staff go."

"And the first person you let go of is one of your best hands? Are you being serious?" Joan could feel her world collapsing.

Her boss slowly shook his head, "This is a difficult decision for me."

"You keep saying this is a difficult thing for you to do and yet you are doing it." Hot tears streamed down her right cheek, and she quickly wiped them off with the back of her palm.

"My father had something to do with this, right?? He put you up to this, didn't he?"

"Ehn... Joan my hands are tied, I'm sorry." He looked really sorry.

She wasn't going to cry. She wasn't going to beg either, since she knew it would be useless. Joan stood up, "It has been a pleasure working with you sir." She didn't wait for him to say any other thing as she angrily left his office.

"You have a 9 o'clock appointment with that lady from yesterday, she just called to confirm that she is on her way." Mercy said as she followed Joan into her office.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she noticed the way Joan sniffled.

"Hand that woman's case over to barrister Osas," Joan said to Mercy.

"But why? She specifically requested that you be the one to take her case."

"Unfortunately that won't be possible anymore. Tell her I no longer work here," Joan answered flatly.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Without responding to her question Joan left her office and went down to the chamber's storage, but Mercy followed her.

"What do you want to do with that?" Mercy asked Joan as she picked up a carton and went back to her office with it.

"Mercy I'm no longer working here, the boss just sacked me for no reason, now please assist me in packing my stuff into this carton." Joan handed the carton to her but she refused to take it.

"No, I don't believe this." Mercy said with a shake of her head. She looked like she wanted to cry.

Joan started packing her things by herself. "Mercy, I'm not joking. I have been sacked."

"B...but how? What did you do?"

Joan sighed, "It is complicated."

After Joan was done packing her things, Mercy helped her to carry them to her car.

"I still can't believe you are leaving." Tears gathered in Mercy's eyes as she spoke.

"Oh come on don't cry, don't worry we are still going to be seeing each other," Joan assured her.

"No it's not the same, I'm going to miss working with you, this Chambers is never going to be the same without you." Mercy was already crying.

"Please stop, you are making me teary already." Joan sniffled as she threw her head backward trying to control her own tears.

"Don't worry, like I said we would still see each other." Joan hugged Mercy before she got into her car and drove away.

After Joan left the office, she went straight to her mother's boutique.

"Joan, what happened? Why aren't you at work?" Joan's mom asked as Joan walked into the boutique.

"I have been sacked, and considering the fact that you and Dad had something to do with it, I don't think you be surprised."

Joan's mother didn't respond. "And don't even think of denying it, because this has you and dad's name written all over it."

To Joan's surprise, her mother didn't deny having anything to do with the termination of her appointment.

"Oh! So you really have a hand in this don't you?"

Her mother shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "Well I'm sorry but we had to do it so you can know how serious we are about you getting married to Steve."

"Seriously? I can't believe this!" Joan threw her hands up in frustration. "My job is my life and you know it! You know how much I love my job and you didn't even stop to think twice before asking my boss to sack me, all because you want to pass a message to me." Tears pooled in Joan's eyes. "Why are you and Dad bent on doing this? Why are you bent on seeing me unhappy?"

It broke Joan's mother's heart to see her daughter crying. She really wished she could tell her the reason they were doing this, that it's for her own good.

"Omo Mi (my daughter) it's not like that." She said calmly trying to pacify Joan.

"Then how is it, mum? Please tell me, I will like to know why you want to marry your only daughter off to someone she doesn't love."

"Yinka you won't understand, this is for your own good, everything we are doing is for your good." Her mother wished she could see reasons with her.

"Indeed! Well, I hope you are happy now that I have lost my job?"

Joan turned around and left her mother's boutique in tears.