More than friends

"Mélie…" He called desperately.

"We have a child, Ken."

Silence.

"Hahahaha." It started as a weak, throaty laugh then turned into roars of laughter.

"You have a child!" He remarked spitefully, "You should have just told me that you're another Lizzy Gold who got under the sheets with a billionaire for clout!"

"Ken!" I yelled, shocked to the core by what he had just said.

"Is that what you think of me?" My voice dropped, "I thought we were friends."

He scoffed, "Don't mock me, Mélie." "You know that I'm in love with you."

"But you just chose to ignore me." He added and then chuckled, "Now I know why."

I looked away from him, "You can't force me to love you, Ken." I said.

"And you can't just assume I forced my way into Damien Jaeger's life because I wanted his money." "You don't know anything."

He remained mute but I could feel his eyes digging into me. His shoes clicked against the floor as he started walking, "It was nice knowing you...Mrs Jaeger." He said.

My eyes moved to meet him but he had already opened the door and walked out, banging it harshly behind him.

"Mélie?" A familiar voice called.

"Racheal!" I shrieked when she opened the door to reveal herself. She too had a distraught expression on her face.

"When did boss and you get married?"

My heart felt heavy at the familiarity of the scene, "We have a child together, Rachael."

"She's 3." I added.

Rachael studied me for a while without saying a word. Then a smile curled her lips, "A prince or a princess?"

"What?"

"Your child." She said, her tone less sombre than it originally was.

"Her name is Darcy."

She chuckled, "I had no idea I was already an aunt."

My eyes teared up as she said those words and I rose to my feet and strode to meet her, "Rachael!" I said in a breathy tone filled with relief.

She opened her arms in welcome as I wrapped my arms around her, "I heard what Ken said." "Don't take his words seriously, he's just hurt." She said.

I wasn't going to. I knew that deep down, Ken was a nice guy.

"I guess I should kiss our lunch breaks goodbye then?" Rachael asked as we broke off the hug.

I laughed, "Absolutely not! We're just getting started."

"If you say so...boss!" She said with a laugh.

"I should leave you to work then. You have a lot on your desk."

"Literally." I said with a laugh.

"See you at lunch." She said.

"See you!"

Rachael walked out of my office and silently shut the door. I remained rooted on the spot for a while, lost in my thoughts.

"Oh!" I exclaimed when I realised what needed to be done. I still need to call Trisha! I ran back to my big girl desk and picked up my phone, dialling her number.

"Hello?" Her voice echoed through the phone.

"Trish!" I yelled in excitement, "You won't believe what has been happening in my life!"
~

My hand bag vibrated as I strode out of Paradox. I exchanged brief greetings with a few staff before reaching into it to pull out my phone. My lips curled into a smile as I saw Damien Jaeger's name popped on my screen.

"Hellooooo!" I said, not making an effort to hide my excitement.

He chuckled, "Seems your first day as a CEO wasn't so bad afterall."

"Not at all. Quite the opposite, in fact!" I beamed, "But I know it's gonna get tougher from here."

"You'll be alright." "I'm in LA."

"What?!" I almost yelled in surprise, "When did you fly to LA?"

"This morning." "The company is a mess over here. I've had to send home 20 workers to think about their lives."

I laughed, "You fired 20 of your staff?!"

"I don't like playing with my business."

"Ush!" I let out a breath, "I should be careful then."

"Oh, you will be. Or else." He said firmly and I almost felt a shiver down my spine.

"Just kidding." He said with a chuckle and I broke into a nervous laughter.

"You shouldn't be scared of me, Mélie."

I sighed, "I know."

"Wait. I do want you to be scared, but not like that." He said and I arched my eyebrows as if I was looking at him standing infront of me.

"Like how?" I asked.

He chuckled again, "You'll find out."

I sighed but said nothing, already realising that my husband was the king of suspense.

"Talk later, my love." He said.

"Okay…love you."

" 'I love you' ." He said, "Not 'Love you'."

I couldn't help but grin, "I love you, Damien Jaeger."

That seemed to satisfy him as he ended the call with a reciprocating comment.

I sighted Gray standing beside the Maybach in the parking lot and waved at him, "Hello, Gray."

"Good evening, Madam." He greeted me and opened the door for me.

There was a joy in my heart knowing that I wasn't going back to the mansion to meet Stacy and Ella. The mansion now felt like home more than anything else.

The maybach drove into the compound and parked behind the myriad of cars parked in the compound. I sighted as I walked past it, the white Porsche Damien Jaeger had given me during my personal assistant days. I had grown quite fond of the car.

"Gray." I called as we walked into the mansion.

"Madam?"

"I'll be driving myself to work in the white Porsche from now on."

"Whatever madam wishes." He replied.

A childish cry hit my ear as I walked past the living room. Darcy ran out of the hallway and headed towards me, "Mommy!" She cried. A maid followed behind her and stopped to greet me as soon as she saw me.

"What's wrong, baby?"

"I want to play with my sisters but the unfriendly lady won't let me!"

I looked at the maid who had run after her and then at Darcy who looked at me with desperation, then I puffed a breath, "Darcy your sisters aren't staying here anymore."

"What?" Her little voice asked with confusion.

How was I going to explain to a 3 year old that the ones she came to know as her sisters had only been living in a lie made by their conniving mothers?