On Friday morning, after packing a small travelling bag, I headed to the office.
Mia and others were already there waiting for me. Checked my wristwatch and discovered I was a little bit late. It was already 10:30am.
I have this bad habit of being late.
Even during my school days, I was always late to classes. Hanging out with friends, I was always the last one to get ready.
Sometimes it wasn't intentional but other times, it was.
Although, it wasn't really intentional today. After my alarm woke me up from that terrible dream, I became restless.
I was debating on whether to stay back home or go for the trip. I kept telling myself it was all a dream but that inner voice kept telling me Girl you know it was more than just a dream.
I sat on my bed for more than 2hours, just thinking of the worst case scenarios.
I had to draw out the pros and cons.
What's the worst that can happen if I actually went on that trip?
I might end up seeing him in that restroom. I might end up telling Mia about him. And he might eventually carry out his threats(which was as good as ending my life) for telling Mia.
And what was the worst that could happen if I didn't go?
The answer to this one was very easy.
I COULD GET FIRED
I mean, this was kind of a direct order from the boss. Not going was as good as handing over my resignation letter.
After much deliberation, I decided I was going to go for this trip.
Human or not, ghost or evil spirit, he was not going to stop me. I won't give him that power over me.
All I had to do was stick to Mia at all times. No restroom business whatsoever. I'll empty my bladder before leaving and try not to take plenty of water. I can use the restroom when we got back to our hotel room.
The company had booked the best hotels in the towns we were visiting.
Mia sent me details of the trip today.
We were to visit three farms for three days. Each day for each farm. These new farms were going to be additions to the old farms that were supplying us with milk before. This is all because, the level of milk production supply in this farm is now less than that of the demand and no longer enough for the dairy products that we produce, so we had to seek for suppliers in order to be able to reach the level of demand.
I can already tell it was going to be stressful.
My life was kind of routinised. I considered anything out of normal, a stress.
We were five in number going on this trip. Three female staff and two male staff.
I got into the car and sat at the backseat with Mia. One male staff, Ziko and one of the company's drivers was sitting at the front. The second car carried two of the remaining staff and also a driver for them.
According to the gossip going around in the office, those two in the other car were said to be dating.
Don't ask me how I knew this. I told you Mia talks a lot. And no gossip passes her by. She kind of gossips a lot too. Not that it was really a bad thing. Or was it?
Okay, who doesn't like a good gossip? I was always available to listen to any new gossip though.
The car started and we left for the first farm.
It was a two hours drive to the farm. And Mia slept throughout the drive.
I sat in the car restless. Still scared of what might happen on this trip.
We got to the farm. The farm was built in the outskirt of the town. There were only few houses present in this part of the town. It was called The Alfalfa Dairy Farm.
According to the staff in the farm, the name of the company was based on the feeds given to the cows. The cows fed mainly on the alfalfa grass, hence that name.
They believed that grass was part of what made them very successful. They grew the grass in their field. They owned a very large field just for the production of this alfalfa grass.
They said, the alfalfa grass is one of the most nutritious grasses fed to cows for dairy production because it highly increases the milk production.
They also said, although the alfalfa grass was very good for the dairy cows, it wasn't that good for the beef cows.
I was jotting down all these things. They were all new to me.
Like who knew the food a cow eats could determine their milk production.
Okay, I might sound a little dumb when it comes to all these stuff. But it wasn't even considered at all in my field of study in the University. Nobody would ask a Business Admin student about what food a cow eats.
Pffffft...Hahaha. I know right.
I was getting carried away in my own thoughts until I heard Mia spoke to the farm manager who was also with us along with two other staffs from the farm, "So, can we check out the milking parlour? We need to know the level at which hygiene is maintained" she asked. "of course, this way" the man said leading us to the milking parlour.
From the milking parlour, we went to the pens the cows were kept, also to check the cleanliness.
The male staff that rode with Mia and I, Ziko, took samples of the feeds and milk to be tested in the laboratory.
Mia kept asking questions upon questions. While all these was going on, I was jotting everything down. That's the least I could do.
And as for our two lovebirds, since we got here, all I've heard from them were giggles and they kept murmuring to themselves.
Okay, this is getting annoying!
Left the farm and got to our hotel rooms in the evening, exhausted from all the walking round after the two hours drive.
After taking a hot shower, I laid on my bed and closed my eyes briefly. Then opened it quickly again when I realized my phone was still on flight Mode. I'm sure Daisy has been trying to call me. I forgot to call her this morning.
Or maybe I was trying to avoid talking to her too frequently, for fear of blurting out the words that were meant to be kept secret.
I kept my phone aside and still didn't call her.
"What a day!" Mia breathed out and plopped down beside me on the bed. I insisted on sharing the room with her. Even though I didn't like sharing a room with other people on a normal day. This trip was a different case.
And hey, day one was over. There was nothing abnormal. Everything was fine. And I hoped the rest of the days goes this way. I don't mind the stress, as long as what I feared most didn't happen.
I can't wait for all these to be over.
I feared his threats. Mia or any other person must not know about these nightmares.