When Joan got back to her bedroom, Steve was coming out of the restroom.
"Who was that?" He asked her as he walked towards Joan's bed and sat on it. His shirt was unbuttoned, giving Joan a good view of his chest. Not wanting to be distracted by it she quickly looked away.
"Vicky," She responded leaning against the door as she looked at him.
"How is she? It's been a while since I last saw her," Steve said, remembering that they had agreed to meet and hang out on Joan's for that particular reason, but Victoria had been unable to make it, and as a result, other unplanned things had happened.
"She is fine."
"Is she in the living room? I should go say hello," Steve said, wanting to stand up, but Joan quickly stopped him.
"No need, she has left already. She got a call to come to pick up some delivery for her pharmacy, so she had to quickly leave."
"Oh, I see," Steve responded. Judging from Joan's body language he could tell that she was a bit uncomfortable by his presence.
"I'm sorry I came in unannounced I...."
Joan scoffed, "What are you talking about? You're my best friend, and I gave you that key so you can always drop by whenever you want to," Joan said, waving off his apology.
Steve looked at her, and the sides of his lips twitched slightly. For a moment there she had almost sounded like the pre-one nightstand Joan he knew, and not this post-one nightstand he was still trying to figure out. He sighed, "Well, you know after what happened..."
"Let's not talk about that. What brought you here though?" Joan asked, walking from the door to sit at the edge of her dressing table.
Steve decided that it was best to focus on the issue at hand, "I went to your office to look for you and your assistant told me you no longer worked there, I was worried and decided to see if you were okay. What happened?"
"I got fired from work today," Joan told him calmly.
Steve exhaled softly, "I guess that makes two of us."
"I'm not surprised," Joan said with a shake of her head.
Sweeping his palm across his face, he looked up to the ceiling. "Fuck! These folks are going too far!" Steve hissed.
"They are trying to send us a message. They want us to dance to their tune," Joan said with a shrug, not knowing where this outward calm she was exhibiting was coming from since she was inwardly trying her best not to break down in tears as she thought about the job which she had just lost.
"We have to find a way to get ourselves out of this situation, before it gets out of hand." Steve groaned in annoyance.
"Hmm. What do you suggest we do? Because it seems to me like they mean business." Joan pointed out.
"I don't even know. Right now I'm at my wits' end. The most ridiculous thing about this whole issue is that they are even expecting us to get married within the next month," Steve said, making Joan's mouth drop open.
"You can't be serious!" Joan exclaimed with a shake of her head. Not that she was considering marrying him, but why would her parents be in such a haste to marry her off?
"Unfortunately I am serious. I heard that directly from my father. He even said being out of job will give me time to think things through, can you imagine?" Steve asked with a humorless chuckle.
"Even my accounts have been frozen," Steve told Joan who was still trying to process this new information.
"Your accounts were frozen? Why?" Joan asked him in shock as she quickly picked up her phone to check her bank apps.
Steve had never felt so helpless in his life like he felt at the moment. How was he supposed to survive without any money? His father knew how much he loved to live in comfort, and that was why he had frozen his accounts. He wanted Steve to be at his mercy.
"Yeah. They had all my accounts frozen. So now, not only am I jobless, but I'm also broke as well."
Joan sighed in relieve when she noticed that her accounts were still intact, but felt sorry when she glanced at Steve who looked frustrated.
"This is bad! How do they want you to survive?" Joan asked, her brows coming together to form a worried frown. If they were doing this much to Steve, then she could only imagine what her parents would do to her. Well, she would go and withdraw as much money as she could before they come for her account too.
Steve had a resigned look on his face which made Joan feel sorry for him. She thought her case was bad but Steve's seemed to be worse. Now was the time to act like his best friend and put their awkward situation behind her, Joan decided as she went to sit on the bed beside him. She placed a hand around his shoulder, "I'm so sorry," She said, patting his shoulder.
He gave her a weak smile, slightly touching her arm, "You don't have to apologize, none of this is your fault."
"But the whole idea is my parents___"
Steve's phone started ringing at that moment,
"Sorry I need to take this, it's my landlord," Steve said to her before answering his phone.
"Hello, good evening sir."
"Ha! Mr. Steve finally I have been able to get through to you, I have been trying to reach you all day." His landlord said to him over the phone.
"Sorry about that. I guess it's network issues. I hope there is no problem?" Steve asked curiously since he wasn't owing the man, and he hadn't made any complaint about the house, so why was he calling?
The man chuckled nervously, "Er.... not really, actually there is something I would like to discuss with you."
Steve stood up from the bed and walked away from Joan who was looking at him curiously, "Okay. Go on I'm listening."
"No. It's not something that can be discussed over the phone, I was hoping if we could see and talk in person?"
"Okay... when would you like us to meet?" Steve was beginning to have a bad feeling about this, he wasn't owing rent so why would his landlord suddenly want to meet with him in person?
"If you are not too busy I can come over to the house and see you this evening?" The man suggested.
"That urgent?"
"Uhh, I'm afraid so."
"I'm not home at the moment, but I'm about to leave where I am. Can I call you when I get home?"
"Yes. Please do."
After Steve ended the call, he kept staring at his phone trying to figure out the reason his landlord suddenly wanted to see him.
"Is there a problem?" Joan asked as she observed the worried look on his face.
"I hope not," He said as he returned to the side of the bed where he had left his shoes, and sat down on the bed to put them on, "I have to leave. My landlord wants to see me."
"Did he say why?" Joan asked, following Steve's every move with her eyes.
"No. He didn't. I will give you a call later. We really need to figure a way out of this." Steve said as he finished putting on his shoes and stood up.
"Alright."
Joan saw him to his car, and as he got in, he gave her forced smile, "Nuh too think am, (Don't worry too much), I'm sure we will get through this and come out victorious as long as we are in this together," Steve said with much enthusiasm that he really didn't feel.
Joan smiled at him, "Let me know what your landlord says. I'm just hoping it's not what I'm thinking," Joan said, and Steve gave her a nod before reversing the car and driving out of the compound.