Have you ever loved someone you never imagined you could even blink at twice? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where words failed you when you tried explaining to a third party why you love your partner the way you do? Have you ever been in a relationship that makes sense to only you and your partner and no one else? If you have experienced any of the scenarios above, then you might probably have a little glimpse of the reality of an amazing young man named 'Ned'.
It all started several years back when Ned returned from the United States back to his motherland to help run his dad's multi million dollar company. His family was a perfect example of what the upper class and elites looked like. They were stinkingly wealthy to the extent that they had piled up money for future generations to come. Despite coming from such a wealthy background, Ned was a humble and compassionate man. He loved the simple things of life and hardly ever bragged about his family's wealth.
When Ned returned from the United States, he was given a lavish welcome party and all his friends were in attendance. It was a wonderful evening and the warm reception made him happy to be back home. It was fun catching up with old friends and seeing his family again. After that day, work begin almost immediately at his dad's company.
Back in the US, Ned managed an annex of his dad's company that was situated there so it was a bit easy for him to manage the big headquarters back home. He was put in charge of supervising and managing all staffs even down to the cleaners. The job description of managing and supervising all staffs was in a bid to train him for the bigger responsibility of running the company someday.
Being a very hardworking and zealous young man, Ned went about his job at the company with all seriousness without slacking. He never tried to feel too important and certainly never behaved as the son of the CEO. Due to Ned's attitude, he was able to get genuine respect and obedience from the staffs he was put in charge of and this made his job a bit easier for him.
It's been about two months since Ned returned from abroad to help run his dad's company. So far so good, he was doing an excellent job and his father 'Mr Tony' couldn't hold back his excitement and compliments. "My son, I am very proud of you. Most times, I often wonder if you are truly my son due to how different you are from your younger siblings. You are too humble for a person with such affluence and I wish I have your meekness and humble traits. You make me so proud to the extent that I ask myself if I truly deserve a son like you; judging by how pompous and proud I am. It's apparent you took after the humble nature of your late mother: she was such a gentle, kind and loving woman. We miss her everyday and I'm glad I have a piece of her in you. Keep being the amazing man that you are; I love you son" Mr Tony said. Ned smiled and gave his dad a warm hug; "Thanks dad, I love you too" he said.
It's no mystery as to why Mr Tony was in awe of his son's humble personality. Those who know Ned's dad would testify of his proud, arrogant and pompous nature. For a man that also grew up with a diamond spoon in his mouth, he was nothing like his son 'Ned'. The wealth in that family didn't start today but rather, it has been passed from generations to generations. Ned's grandfather was a business mogul that owned a conglomerate of business ventures. Mr Tony also knew what it felt like to be born into wealth but he was the opposite of his son 'Ned'. However, despite the contrast in personalities between father and son, Mr Tony was still very much proud of Ned and was a great father to him.
Ever since Ned returned from the US, his dad has asked him occasionally about the woman in his life and he usually replied "I haven't found her yet". Ned was single despite having women of all shapes, sizes and nationalities flocking around him. He had women that would do just anytime to be his girlfriend but he never led any of them on, neither did he open his heart to any. He couldn't quite tell what exactly he was looking for but he definitely knew that he would know once he found it.
Due to the confusion surrounding what Ned was looking for in the woman he wanted to spend forever with, it made it really hard for him to explain to his dad why all the suitable ladies from different affluent families weren't his spec and were certainly not what he wanted. He couldn't give a reason as to why he didn't want to date the ladies his dad felt were perfect for both his standard and social status. This made it difficult for Ned to engage in conversations that centered around his love life.
It could be that Ned sought for something beyond physical appearance and what the eyes could see. He wanted a deep connection with the woman he would spend the rest of his life with and sadly, none of the available options gave him such deep connection. Whenever he tried engaging them in conversations, it usually seem shallow and it got him easily bored. Deep down, he knew he hadn't found 'The One' and he was never going to settle. Everything carried on the same until one fateful day that changed everything.
It happened one date that there was shortage of staffs in the cleaning department so Ned alerted 'Human Resource' to recruite new staffs. Whenever a new staff gets employed in the company, Ned usually had a briefing with them as the manager before they officially began duties. That day, HR employed 3 cleaners and they were two males, one female. Ned was busy with a conference meeting all afternoon so the newly recruited employees had to wait till he was done. After over 4 hours of being in a meeting, he was finally done and called the new cleaners one after the other into his office for briefing.
The guys went in first one after the other so it was remaining the lady. After the last guy walked out of the office, the secretary called tha last person to go into Ned's office; which was the lady. Immediately she walked in majestically with a warm smile on her face, Ned froze the very minute he set his eyes on the enchanted beauty that stood right in front on him. He was smitten and didn't know why.
"Good day sir" the mysterious lady greeted, "Good day, have a seat" Ned said almost immediately. She sat down and looked into his eyes as he briefed her of the company's ethics and values. While ned spoke, she brought out a notebook and pen to jot down the things he was saying which was different. This was the first time a new employee felt the need to jot down things while being briefed and Ned was a bit impressed with that. After speaking for about 5 minutes, he was done and proceeded to ask her few questions before finally dismissing her.
"As an individual, what are the values that guides your everyday decisions and code of conduct?" Ned asked and sat back anticipating a shallow response as usual but the reverse was the case. The lady took a deep breath and said "Love".
For a moment, Ned was confused as to how 'Love' was a suitable answer to such a question that deserved a high magnitude of explanation. Without hesitating, he probed her. "Explain your answer" he bluntly said and she smiled faintly then gave a befitting reply. "I choose Love because that's one language everybody understands despite their background, religion and views of life. I often imagine a world where there is no judgments, no slander, no hatred and no war. As an individual who seek for such a world to become a reality, the only way I can play a part to making it come to pass is to let Love guide my every decision, actions and words. Before I speak, act or make a decision, I first let Love lead the way so I don't get triggered or influenced by what my mere eyes can see. With love as the primary values of my life, I sure know that every other thing will fall into the right place. As an employee here with a core value such as this, it would also put me on track whenever I want to come in late for work or not do my duties on time. I would always put myself in my employees shoes to be able to feel their pain when things aren't done rightly and this would help condition me to never want to put them thought that stress by not living up to their expectations of being an effective clearer for this company. With love as my core values, it makes life a lot easier to never want to intentionally hurt anyone. Love is actually the ultimate because it's one language everybody understands regardless of who they are" she calmly said.
At that moment, words would fail me to fully describe the state of Ned's heart and mind. He was blown and for the very first time ever, a woman swept him off his feet. Still shocked and dumbfounded, he smiled and informed her that the briefing was over. "Thank you sir" she smiled and got up to leave.
As the mystery beauty headed for the door, Ned realized he didn't know her name yet; "I haven't gotten the chance to know your name yet, can I know your name?" He calmly asked and she smiled; "My name is Akunna" she replied. "Nice meeting you Akunna and you are welcome to this company" he said and she thanked him.
Immediately Akunna walked out the door, Ned leaned back on his chair and fell into deep thoughts. His heart couldn't stop beating fast. It felt as thought his heart had been touched in a way like never before. He became vulnerable just at the thought of Akunna and how intelligent she sounded for someone with the job description of a cleaner, when top staffs didn't sound half as intelligent as she did when he briefed them.
It was a rollercoaster of emotions for the once hard guy and at this point, it's safe to say that Akunna had unknowingly made her way into the heart of a man that once seemed impossible to impress.
As Ned laid back on his chair in deep thoughts, the only thing that overshadowed his thoughts was no other person than the mysterious 'Akunna'. It might be too early to declare this but it seemed as though the young man was 'Love Struck' and all he found himself doing occasionally was exclaim "Wow!".
End of episode 1 😉
Thank you very reading
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Omo, this story is becoming interesting. Akunna really tried with the reply she gave I hope their two matches each other at the end, I will patiently wait for the next episode.