The Devil you Know….

Jide, an accountant, waited six months to tell his coworker and best friend Frank what he’s been up to. It was the longest six months of his life because every time they hung out, he always felt like telling Frank everything about the house he was building and how everything was going great for him. But he decided to say nothing until he was done building it, it would be better to show his best friend a completely built house than an uncompleted one.

It took a lot of hard work and expenses but Jide was finally done with it. He had promised himself the previous year that he would get himself a house, a promise Frank had laughed at, now he couldn’t wait to see the look on Frank’s face. If only he knew that revealing his new house would bring out more revelations, he probably would have done it sooner.

Jide had asked Frank to accompany him to go see a friend. He didn’t want to tell him they were going to see his new house because he wanted the surprise to be a good one. When they got to the building, Jide had brought out a key and opened the gate, asking a surprised Frank to come in.

“I thought you said we were visiting a friend, how come you have the keys to the gate?” Frank had asked before an excited Jide told him the good news. Both friends had jumped up and down happily. You could tell Frank was really happy for his friend.

“So I now have a place to crash whenever my girlfriend is mad at me” Frank had joked before they proceeded to go celebrate more at a bar. Everything was perfect. Jide had mentioned that he would be moving in next week and would need Frank’s help to move some of his things, a request Frank had accepted wholeheartedly.

The next day, Jide had gotten to work and had just gotten seated when he got a call from his boss asking him to come see him at his office immediately. It was an unusual call because his boss rarely speaks to him directly, he always loves to respect the chain of command.

When Jide got to his office, his boss had once again congratulated Jide on finally becoming a landlord (he was one of the very first person Jide told about his new building because he needed some days off to oversee what the workers were doing) before asking him to sit.

“I’m sure you must be surprised why I called you up here” his boss said ..”See for yourself” he continued, handing his phone over to Jide. On the screen was a chat between his boss and Frank and what Jide read broke his heart.

Frank had gone ahead to text their boss “You’re sure Jide isn’t stealing from you” before sending him pictures of Jide’s new house.

“You don’t have to say anything to him, just be careful of the people you call your friends” his boss said to him before asking him to go back to his office.

Jide thanked him before leaving and as he left, the one question that was on his mind was “What if he had not told his boss about his house, what would have happened to him?”

_Unsplash