Sipho was chatting away on my couch not noticing my red face, and I was caught up in my own Walter scenarios when I suddenly said, "Sipho, be my boyfriend"
"What, really?!?", he said with a shocked look,
Sipho had been pursuing me for two weeks now, I admit I didn't love the guy, but he had quite a few good qualities I could work with...for instance, he was fun to be around, although we didnt have much in common, I liked his view on things. I hoped this would take my mind off Walter. I am very loyal by nature, once I get a boyfriend, it's like all the men around me stop existing, and I needed that more than anything.
Don't get me wrong, I was not proud of my reasons for dating Sipho but I had hope that I would one day be crazy inlove with him...
Sipho was ecstatic, he spent the night at my place, I offered him the couch and I took the bed...
The next three months were fun, Walter would continue to drop by the office now and then, first to check if I was bored with my manager being away, and when she came back, he would pass by to greet her. With Sipho being around, I stopped paying much attention to Walter's activities, and everything was almost back to normal.
Project Jess was also progressing very well, we managed to get our stars, and the filming sites were confirmed, it was now time to start working on the movie. With my manager back in town, she took over some of the tasks from the project but she still involved me in some of the decision-making moments. One of the filming sites was a resort in Cape Filli, as the project team, we had to go and negotiate prices with the resort and work out a schedule so as to not disrupt their business during filming. My president decided to bring me along, she felt that I would learn quite a lot on this trip. Initially, I was not part of the people going, hence I was not booked a flight ticket and a room with the rest of the team, but never fear when you are the President's secretary, she invited me to use the private jet with her, and I was booked to the same hotel as her and Jess.
I was very excited as this was my first business trip, I looked forward to sharing the news with Sipho but to my surprise, Sipho was not as excited. " When did you find out that you will be leaving?", he asked with a serious face I have never seen him wear before while standing at my bedroom door watching me take out my suitcase,
"Today, I know it is short notice and we already made plans for the week, but Sipho, please understand, this is the biggest project of my career, and I really have to impress right now, the fact that the President invited me herself is huge...I will make it up to you, I promise", I said while excitedly packing my suitcase because we were flying out early morning the next day,
"Thandie, you are not being fair though, we made these plans a long time ago and now you are choosing your job over us, how many of these moments are we going to have in the future?!?"
"Sipho, traveling is part of my job, and it's something I mentioned before, probably in future it won't be sprung on me....but I am sure traveling is part of the package"
Sipho sat down next to my suitcase, his expression went from being angry to a more desperate pleading look, "Thandie, how about you look for a different job, I mean who is to say that you will really be doing your job during these trips and not entertaining other men...I don't wanna lose you Thandie..."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing, my whole body froze, I looked at him piercingly hoping to have misunderstood him, "Sipho, what do you mean lose me and entertaining other men, what kind of work do you think I do?!?