I know movies can be dramatic and are designed to entertain us.
“This scene is unrealistic,”
“That is too much of a coincidence,”
“The world is too large for these two to keep meeting,”
These are some of the commentary my brain runs when I sit to watch movies.
I had never set my eyes on him until the dean introduced us during one of the faculty meetings. He was tall, fair and properly dressed in a coffee brown Italian, slim-fit suit, a white shirt underneath and brown shoes to match. He seemed to have good taste in fashion.
“Dr. Osei, meet Francis Smith(PhD). He is the newest addition to the Business School. He will lecture in Finance,” the dean said.
“Pleased to meet you, Dr. Smith,” I said with my hands lifted to meet his in a firm handshake.
The two of us sat across the dean to discuss the course structure. We were still going to lecture for ten weeks, conduct interim assessments, give the students one project work to be executed in a group and finally examine them at the end of semester.
“I am glad you will be working together to make this semester a successful one,” the dean said. “But Francis, keep it strictly professional. She is definitely not your type and she is married.”
The dean said while sharing a hearty laugh with Dr. Smith.
I couldn’t tell how far their friendship went but I was simply not interested in where this joke was headed.
I packed my notebook into my bag and quickly made my way to the door of the dean’s office.
“Let’s just say I haven’t grown out of my boyish desires,” I heard Dr. Smith respond with another loud laughter which rang through the office and was followed by another handshake.
This Francis guy or Dr. Smith was good looking and God knows he looked great in that suit. Many women would definitely kill to date him but who really is Dr. Francis Smith?
*******************
My sense of style cannot be described as classy or chic or trendy. I dress to feel comfortable and on regular days, I wear my African print dresses and my natural hair is always pulled up in a bun.
Today, I am dressed in a crisp white long sleeves with a navy blue body con skirt and a three-inch high heel. This is how I dress whenever I needed to represent the Business School at meetings off-campus. The dean offered me his spot at a high level meeting with some government officials and I had to look, act and speak the part. No wonder most of the participants wanted to interact with me right after the meeting.
I needed to grab some breakfast from the Senior Staff Cafeteria before heading over to the dean’s to debrief.
“There you are,”
A voice behind me made me turn and it belonged to no other than Dr. Smith. What do they say about coincidences again?
“Hi,”
“I haven’t set my eyes on you since we had that meeting at the dean’s office. We’re supposed to work together, you know,”
His eyes moved from my face, down to my little cleavage and they rested on my skirt before making their way to my eyes again.
“You could have have simply asked the dean for that information,” I said.
“You know, why don’t we sit at the table in the corner and have a little chat. The waitress could serve us,” he said.
“Second floor, Lecture Theatre 5, Room 7. You can find me there,” I said quickly while picking my meal and leaving the cafeteria.
…..to be continued
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