HER FIRST DAY
Chis woke before her alarm.
For several seconds, she remained still beneath the thin sheet, staring at the ceiling while yesterday moved through her mind in pieces.
The interview.
The job offer.
Damian standing in the doorway of his office.
And the way his expression had changed when she mentioned her father.
Then there was her mother’s reaction.
Chis turned onto her side and reached for her phone.
5:47 a.m.
“Too early,” she murmured, dropping the phone back onto the bed.
Her alarm wasn’t due for another forty-three minutes, but sleep had already left her.
She had spent most of the previous night trying not to think about what her mother had said.
It hadn’t worked.
That family has already taken enough from us.
Chis pushed the thought away and sat up.
She had more important things to worry about.
Her first day.
By seven fifteen, she was standing in front of the mirror, smoothing the sleeves of her cream blouse for the third time.
Her clothes had been laid out the night before.
Her handbag was packed.
Even her shoes were waiting beside the door.
After arriving twenty-four minutes late for her interview, she wasn’t taking any chances.
She picked up her handbag and checked herself one last time.
“Let’s not embarrass ourselves today,” she told her reflection.
Her phone buzzed on the bed.
She reached for it and found a message from Chinny.
If you embarrass me by marrying your CEO on your first day, I will never forgive you.
Chis stared at the screen for a moment before laughing.
She quickly typed a response.
Please go and sleep.
The reply came almost immediately.
I am awake because some of us have friends with important first days.
Chis shook her head, smiling as she slipped the phone into her handbag.
At least she had Chinny.
Whatever happened today, she knew her friend would find a way to make her laugh about it later.
She left the house feeling a little more confident.
The confidence lasted until she stepped into the lobby of Adetola Holdings.
Chis slowed down as she looked around.
The building seemed even more intimidating than it had the previous day.
Employees moved through the entrance with laptops and files in their hands, some speaking quietly into their phones as they headed toward the elevators.
Everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going.
Chis tightened her grip on her handbag.
“First day,” she reminded herself under her breath.
“You’re allowed to be nervous.”
She approached the reception desk, gave her name and was directed upstairs to Human Resources.
A young woman named Amaka met her there and spent the next thirty minutes taking her through the basics of her new role, introducing her to members of the administrative team and showing her around the department.
By the time Chis returned to her desk, the nervousness had begun to settle.
Her workspace was smaller than she had imagined, but she liked it.
A computer sat neatly on the desk beside a notepad and the company handbook.
Through the glass windows, she could see part of the city below.
She placed her handbag beneath the desk and sat down.
For the first time in a long while, she felt like she was starting something.
Something that could actually become hers.
She had barely opened her first document when a shadow fell across her desk.
Chis looked up.
A man she didn’t recognize stood there holding a file.
“Ms.
Nwankwo?”
She straightened slightly.
“Yes?”
He held the file out to her.
“I was asked to bring this to you.”
Chis accepted it and looked at the name written across the front.
Mr.
Damian Adetola.
Her stomach gave a small, unnecessary flutter.
She immediately blamed it on nerves.
“He wants these documents reviewed before noon,” the man explained, pointing briefly toward the file.
“If you notice any corrections, his office should be informed.”
“Alright.” Chis nodded.
“Thank you.”
The man left.
She stared at the file for another second before opening it.
The work itself wasn’t difficult.
She had handled documents before, and the instructions were clear enough.
Still, she found herself becoming unusually careful.
This was Damian’s work.
She frowned at herself.
He’s your boss.
That’s all.
She picked up her pen and returned to the document.
Damian was halfway through a meeting when his assistant entered quietly and placed a folder on the table in front of him.
He glanced down without much interest.
Then he saw the name.
Ms.
Chisimdi Nwankwo — Administrative Department.
His eyes remained on it for a moment.
“She started today?” he asked, lifting his gaze.
“Yes, sir.”
Damian closed the folder in front of him and glanced briefly toward the presentation screen.
The meeting continued, but his attention had shifted.
He hadn’t seen her since yesterday.
For some reason, he wondered whether she had been nervous coming into the building that morning.
He dismissed the thought almost immediately.
There were more important things occupying his time.
When the meeting ended, however, the thought returned.
He picked up the document Chisimdi had reviewed and scanned through the pages.
His assistant had marked several sections where she had made corrections.
Damian stopped at one of them.
She had caught an inconsistency in one of the figures.
He checked it against the supporting figures.
She was right.
A faint smile touched his lips.
“She’s observant,” he murmured.
His assistant looked at him.
Damian closed the folder.
“Send Ms.
Nwankwo to my office.”
Chis was halfway through another report when her desk phone rang.
She picked it up quickly.
“Hello?”
“Mr.
Adetola would like to see you.”
Her fingers stopped above the keyboard.
“Now?”
“Yes.”
She glanced at the clock.
10:36 a.m.
Her first day had barely begun.
For one brief moment, she wondered whether she had done something wrong.
She saved the document, closed it and stood.
As she walked toward Damian’s office, she reminded herself that there was nothing unusual about being called into her employer’s office.
He was her boss.
He could ask to see her whenever he wanted.
Still, when she reached his door, she took a slow breath before knocking.
“Come in.”
Chis pushed the door open.
Damian looked up from his desk.
He was dressed differently from the previous day, wearing a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled slightly above his wrists.
Without the jacket, he looked younger, although there was still something controlled about him that made the room feel quieter.
“Good morning, sir.”
“Good morning, Ms.
Nwankwo.”
He gestured toward the chair opposite his desk.
Chisimdi sat and placed her handbag beside her feet.
Damian picked up the document she had reviewed and turned a page.
“You corrected this figure.”
Chisimdi looked at the page he was holding and nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
“Why?”
She leaned forward slightly.
“The total didn’t match the supporting figures.”
“And you checked them?”
“I did.”
Damian looked at her for a moment.
“You were asked to review the document.”
“I know.”
“Then why did you check the figures?”
Chisimdi hesitated.
Suddenly, she wasn’t sure whether she had overstepped.
“I just thought…” She glanced down at the document before meeting his eyes again.
“If I’m signing off on something, I’d rather know it’s correct.”
Damian leaned back in his chair.
There was no displeasure in his expression.
If anything, he seemed amused.
“You’ve been here less than three hours.”
“I know, sir.”
“And you’re already correcting documents.”
“I wasn’t trying to correct anyone.” A small smile appeared on her face.
“I just didn’t want to leave a mistake there.”
Damian studied her for another moment before placing the document on the desk.
“Good.”
Chisimdi relaxed slightly.
“If you see something wrong,” he continued, “don’t ignore it because you think it isn’t your responsibility.”
She nodded.
“Alright, sir.”
Their eyes met briefly.
Chisimdi looked away first.
“Is that all, sir?”
“For now.”
She stood and picked up her handbag.
She had almost reached the door when she stopped and turned.
“Sir?”
Damian looked up.
“Thank you.”
His brows drew together slightly.
“For what?”
“For giving me the opportunity.”
Something softened in his expression.
“You earned it.”
Chisimdi smiled.
“Thank you, sir.”
She left, closing the door gently behind her.
Damian remained still for a moment.
His eyes stayed on the door.
He could have sent the instruction through his assistant.
He could have simply written a note on the document and sent it back to her department.
Instead, he had called her into his office.
He didn’t like that he couldn’t quite explain why.
His gaze dropped to the document again.
He forced himself back to work.
By lunchtime, Chis was beginning to think she might actually survive her first day.
She had just finished eating when her phone rang.
Chinny.
Chis answered with a smile.
“Hello.”
“So?”
Chis leaned back in her chair.
“So what?”
“How is your first day?”
“Good.”
“Has the handsome CEO fallen in love with you yet?”
Chis immediately looked around to make sure nobody had heard.
“Chinny, you’re not serious.”
“I am very serious.”
Chis laughed under her breath.
“Nothing like that has happened.”
“But something happened.”
The certainty in Chinny’s voice made Chis smile.
“He called me into his office.”
There was a brief silence.
Then Chinny’s voice became suspiciously excited.
“He called you into his office?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“Nothing happened.”
“Then what did he want?”
Chis picked up her pen and turned it between her fingers as she remembered the conversation.
“He noticed I corrected something in a report.”
“And?”
“He told me to keep doing it.”
Chinny was quiet for a moment.
“That sounds like praise.”
“It was.”
“Hmm.”
Chis laughed.
“I know that ‘hmm.'”
“You like him.”
“I don’t.”
“You do.”
“I barely know him.”
“That has never stopped anybody.”
Chis shook her head, smiling despite herself.
There was something comforting about Chinny’s teasing.
It made Damian seem less intimidating, less like the untouchable CEO everyone else in the building seemed to see.
But when the call ended, Chis’s smile slowly faded.
Her eyes moved toward the glass doors leading to the executive offices.
Her mother’s warning came back to her.
She still didn’t understand it.
And she wasn’t ready to ask Damian anything.
Not yet.
That evening, Damian returned home later than usual.
He had barely stepped through the door when he noticed his stepbrother sitting in the living room.
Damian stopped.
“You’re here.”
His stepbrother looked up from his phone.
“I needed to talk to you.”
Damian dropped his keys onto the console and loosened his tie as he walked farther into the room.
“About what?”
His stepbrother watched him for a moment before answering.
“You hired her.”
Damian glanced at him.
“She already works here.”
“That isn’t what I meant.”
Damian stopped removing his watch and looked at him properly.
His stepbrother stood and slipped his phone into his pocket.
“You’ve seen her today?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Damian frowned slightly.
“And what?”
“How was she?”
The question made Damian pause.
He removed his watch and placed it beside his keys before walking toward the sofa.
“Competent.” His stepbrother gave a short, humourless laugh.
“That’s all?”
“What else do you want me to say?”
His stepbrother shook his head and walked toward the window.
“Nothing.”
Damian watched him.
“You came all the way here to ask me about her, and now you’re saying nothing?”
“I wanted to know if you noticed anything.”
“Anything like what?”
His stepbrother remained by the window, his back toward him.
“Did she ask about her father?”
Damian’s expression changed.
“No.”
“Did she mention him?”
“Why are you asking?”
His stepbrother finally turned around.
For a moment, he seemed to consider his answer.
Then he said, “Because sometimes the past doesn’t stay buried just because we stop talking about it.”
Damian leaned back against the sofa, studying him.
“That seems to be your favourite sentence lately.”
His stepbrother looked away.
“Maybe you should start listening to it.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Then tell me what I’m supposed to be listening for.”
Silence.
His stepbrother reached for his phone again.
Damian straightened.
“You’ve been warning me since yesterday.
You keep mentioning the past, Emeka’s name, my father, and now Chisimdi.
If you know something, say it.”
His stepbrother’s fingers tightened around the phone.
“You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Then let me decide whether I want to know.”
His stepbrother looked at him.
“You were twelve.”
“And I’m not twelve anymore.”
The words came out harder than Damian intended.
His stepbrother lowered his gaze for a moment.
“You were a child when everything happened.
There are things you were never told.”
Damian stood.
“Like what?”
His stepbrother said nothing.
Damian took a step toward him.
“What is Emeka Nwankwo really to you?”
His stepbrother’s jaw tightened.
“Nothing.”
The answer came too quickly.
Damian stared at him.
“Nothing?”
His stepbrother reached for the door.
“I’m going home.”
Damian followed him with his eyes.
“That’s not an answer.”
His stepbrother opened the door, then stopped with his hand still on the handle.
“Some answers are better left alone.”
Damian’s expression hardened.
“You’ve already made sure I can’t leave them alone.”
His stepbrother looked back at him.
For a moment, something passed between them that neither man put into words.
Then he stepped outside.
“Goodnight, Damian” The door closed.
Damian remained where he was, staring at it.
He could still hear his stepbrother’s words in his head.
There are things you were never told.
He turned slowly and walked back toward the living room.
His eyes fell on the file he had brought home from the office.
Chisimdi Nwankwo.
He picked it up.
For the first time, he wondered if his stepbrother’s fear had anything to do with what Chisimdi might discover.
Or if it was because there was something the Adetola family had been hiding all these years.