WHEN THE DEVIL CALLED

Encounter with Francisco

AUTHOR

Inside the kitchen, Cassie was confused. "What is even wrong with men?" She asked. "We are not even dating, and he is already talking about marriage!"

Her memory shifted to about four days earlier, on the morning she walked into the premises of the Obama Breweries, a multi-million company where she served as Secretary.

At the entrance, Cassie found three junior employees standing.

"Good morning?" Cassie greeted, a look of confusion suddenly revealed on her face. She had not seen anything like that before.

"Good morning ma'am." They chorused.

"What is going on, why are you all outside?"

None of them spoke. They just kept their hands on their back and fixed their gaze on the ground.

Then the footsteps from the corridors followed. Cassie lifted her gaze. It was the CEO. He was dressed in a dark-matched suit in a subtly pinstriped colour with a white dress shirt, conservative tie and leather dress shoes.

"Francisco, why are you here this early?" She asked, calling him by his real name the way she was used to. "... It must be urgent!"

"Yes, it is." He said, shifting his gaze to the three employees.

Each of them removed a placard and showed it to Cassie. She read. WILL YOU MARRY ME?

Looking at Francisco, he had already placed one knee on the ground. "Please my love, marry me." His tone was imploring.

"Francisco, get up!" She said angrily.

"Baby..."

"Get up! I said you get up! Stop embarrassing me!"

If there is something every man dread is the idea of proposing publicly to a lady and she says 'no.' Nothing kills one's ego as fast.

Before he realized it, Cassie walked past them. She walked to her office door and removed a key from her handbag.

Walking inside her office, Cassie found herself developing a bad feeling about that day. She hated Francisco for spoiling her day with his stupid proposal.

She wondered why men were that greedy and promiscuous. Not the ones at her workplace, not the ones she met at social functions. Some she found in religious functions.

Each time a man asked for her phone number, Cassie knew what was to follow. She could not imagine how at times, after meeting a man for just a few minutes, the man was already asking if she loved him.

It was as if she was in a love business and there were no conditions to love. Hers was to love and the sole reason was her being sexy, attractive and beautiful.

Some men could even go to the extent of calling her at night which made her quite uneasy. Sometimes she just needed to rest and think about important things.

Then there were her friends. Becky especially enjoyed picking up issues with her. She insisted that Cassie should find a man and settle down as if she could not settle without a man in her life.

Lizzie was considerate at times, and would occasionally side with her. And although she did that, she would trade guns with her in other moments, asking some rather too personal questions.

"How do you manage to keep multiple relationships, and they all consider you their main chick?"

It was offensive but Cassie found herself getting used to such talks. She could even start feeling uneasy when her friends failed to put forward such offensive talks.

Their friendship dated way back, to the time when they were in college. Cassie and Becky majored in accounting, while Lizzie was a lawyer. The two of them would occasionally refer to her as "an advocate of the devil" because of her many success stories from the courtroom. Lizzie seemed to be having the jury in her palms.

When evening came, Cassie drove herself home. She knew what was going to happen. With social media all over the place, everything had just gotten worse.