9 - It's not a bad thing.

Isis took a taxi home from the company. On the way, the taxi driver kept making jokes about the country and how everything was, or how they were supposed to be. Isis however, didn't say a word as a response to him because her mind was somewhere else. Not only was she mad, she was hurt that she was called names she wasn't.

And before she knew it, her anger turned into pain and she burst into tears. The driver, who had been talking along heard her crying and looked at her through the front mirror. She had her face in her palms as she cried. Though wanting to mind his business but worried, the driver decided to question her.

"Are you okay, miss?" He asked, moving his eyes from the road to the front mirror to look at her an back to the road. He kept on doing that to focus on both the road and his passenger.

In between her tears, she responded, despite her voice being shaky and quite obvious that she wasn't fine. "I'm fine, thank you," she said without looking up.

The driver simply nodded his head and continued driving. It was none of his business anyway, he thought. A couple of minutes later, she stopped crying, and when the taxi got to the front of her compound, she alighted from it and watched as it zoomed off. Still not satisfied enough and wanting to cry more, she got to the front of her door and saw that Pheonix was home, since it wasn't locked from the outside.

"Ugh," she groaned and sat on the bare floor in front of the floor. She had planned to go inside to let go of the tears more, but now that her friend was home, there was no way she'd be able to do that without being asked what was wrong. So, she decided to let all her tears out outside before she goes in.

After a couple of minutes and she was done crying, she got up from the floor and let out a loud sigh, before turning the knob and opening the door, then she walked in, closing the door behind her.

As she walked in, the television was on, so she was able to tell that Pheonix was in the sitting room. She wondered why she didn't go to work today as well. It's not like her pregnancy has started affecting her yet, Isis thought, then she shrugged her shoulders. It's her choice anyway.

Turning around to go meet her in the sitting room, she said as she sat on the nearest couch to her. "Babe, I'm home." Her voice was dull, and anyone who knew her before now could easily tell that she wasn't okay.

"Wow! This is just a few minutes past nine. Thought Pheonix said you got a new job?" A voice that wasn't Pheonix's, replied, and Isis, who hadn't noticed that there was someone else in the room asides Pheonix, turned to look at who it was.

"Lizeth?" Isis called with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't know you were there. How're you doing?" She managed to ask her.

Lizeth was their other close friend, who is more closer to Phoenix than Isis. She used to be a stripper alongside Phoenix in the club back in the days, which made both of them very close. But suddenly, Isis came in the picture and convinced Pheonix to stop the dirty job of hers. Phoenix was able to heed to her reluctantly and searched for a job. Luckily for her, she was a very smart lady, so she was able to get a job quite easily. So, she quit being a stripper at the club.

Lizeth didn't find out about thie early, but when she eventually did, she was a bit mad. Pheonix tried her best to persuade Lizeth to stop the work too and find something more reasonable to do. Soon, she also stopped being a stripper and got a job, and due to the many times she comes to greet Phoenix at her place, Isis grew fond her too and they became friends.

"I'm cool. Been a while," she said to her from where she sat. "Thought you got a new job? Why are you back so early?"

"Nothing," Isis replied curtly and turned on her couch. Her back was now to them. How would she explain to them that she got fired before she got the job?

Phoenix who had been staring at Isis all along, studying her facial expressions, suddenly got up from her seat. "Did you cry?" She asked as she walked to meet her.

"No. Why would I cry?" Isis quickly said to avoid any suspicions from her. However, Pheonix caught her red-handed already. 

Getting to the couch she lied down on, Pheonix dragged her up from the chair and made her sit, while she also sat beside her. Looking at Isis's face, she was now so sure that she did cry.

"What happened? Did something happen at work?" Phoenix asked, a look of concern on her face as she wrapped her arms around him.

"No," Isis replied.

Pheonix scoffed. "You do know that I know whenever something is wrong with you, yeah? Just as you always tell me, I'm your sister and you're my sister. And sisters keep nothing from each other, yeah?" Isis nodded gently, while Lizeth just sat there staring at them. "So, tell me, what happened?" Pheonix added.

"He asked me to be his sex buddy if I want to get the job," she summarized the entire thing for her in a sentence.

Lizeth gasped, while Pheonix stared at her in shock, not sure that she heard what her friend had just said, clearly. "Say what now?" She asked.

"You heard me, babe. He wants me to have sex with him and when I said no, he fired me," Isis said furthed and broke down into tears instantly.

"Oh my God, babe. Come here, it's okay," Pheonix drew Isis closer and pulled her into a hug, while she cried her heart out. Lizeth had recovered from the shock now, but was still staring at both of them.

The room was silent for a few minutes, and only the sound of the television and Isis's sniffs could be heard. After a while, Isis stopped crying, then she released herself from Pheonix's hug.

"Why didn't you tell me this yesterday, uhn? I would have known what to tell you to do while going today." Phoenix said to her, genuinely bothered about the issue. She knew how much Isis wanted a job, and how happy she was when she saw the mail informing her that she had gotten the job.

"I wanted to, but I couldn't tell you because of the mood I met you in yesterday," she explained to her, and Pheonix pulled her into a hug once more.

"I'm so sorry you have to go through that," Lizeth said to her as she stood up to go sit by her other side, to also calm her down.

"He even went ahead to tell me how powerful he was, that as I'm leaving, he'd make sure I don't get a job anywhere else in the whole of Europe, that I'll go back crawling to him," Isis said to them.

"That's some serious shit, man. What would you do now, uh?" Pheonix asked, concerned about it. Left to her, she'd have accepted the offer and had sex with him for the job, but Isis being who she is, she definitely wouldn't.

"Is he hot?" Lizeth suddenly asked her with raised eyebrows.

Isis and Phoenix turned their heads in her direction with a questioning look on their faces.

"What?!" Lizeth said aloud and shrugged. "It was just a mere question."

Isis rolled her eyes and replied. "Fine, he's hot and all that. He even went to the extent of flirting with me and giving me some weird stares."

"So, since he's hot…" Lizeth shrugged her shoulders again. "I mean, left to me, I'd have done what he asked me for. It's a plus for you, you know? A whole sex buddy to the boss?"

"So, what are you implying?" Isis looked at her witb raised eyebrows and a small frown on her face.

"It's not a bad thing if you accept the offer and take the job. That's what I'm saying," Isis replied nonchalantly.

"What the fuck?!" Isis looked at her in shock as she raised her voice at her.