33

His lover.

They baptized me.

They turned, some pretended not to look, others were obvious with their disgust as I walk by. I was the biblical asunder.

I kept a straight face as I walked towards the elevator. I shouted wait but they just sneered as the elevator closed.
I shouldn't have returned here.

Behind me, a group of fellow interns walked in.
They are all the same.

I decided to take the stair than to be part of them. They too would stare at me with disgust, they have hated me from the start especially when they found out I had a past with the Director, Quinn. They think I didn't know that they called me the blabbermouth bitch, since they assumed I snitched on them to Quinn. I never did. One of them did.

As I take the stairs I pray that Quinn doesn't show up today. How could he refer me to the devil? How could he lead me on then blame me?

I must be the devil's amusement. The moment I am on my floor, I find Courtney and Roxanna outside the secretary's office.

Chaos!

She walks towards my office and lets herself in.
Of course, the modest Courtney never makes a public drama.

The people on that floor stand, move to hear and see as the drama unfolds.

I follow Roxanna into my office.

"Out!" Courtney orders the girl I share the office with.
She jumps with fear.

She meekly scouts out.

I turn to face Courtney and my former best friend, Roxanna.

"Leave my husband alone." She is straight to the point.

I sigh, the most underrated cliche statement.

"Tell him to leave me alone." I push my seat to sit.

"The audacity." Roxanna breaths.

I glare her up to down and sneer. "How could I have never seen this before, your desperation for acceptance stinks." I scrunch my nose. "No wonder Chad can treat you the way he wants and get away with it."

I hate myself for tearing another woman especially an abused one. I am depleting her worth as a person but she is annoying.

She nervously looks everywhere but me before she pulls her sleeves to cover her exposed wrist, of course, Chad still hurts her.

"You followed him here, how did you even get this job?" Courtney speaks.

"Again. He followed me and I earned the job." I take my laptop out.

"I will get you fired."

I huff in disbelief.

"I don't think so." I start to go through my reports.

"How do you sleep at night?"

"Sometimes on my left side," I state.

"What will it take for you to leave Quinn?" She asks seriously.

"Supposedly I leave him. A dog is still a dog. He will still chase other women."

"In this case, there are any other women. It is just you, he just wants you."

"Did he tell you that?"

"I see it. I may live in denial but I am not a fool, so please leave him alone. He is my husband."

"I thought you wanted to divorce him."

"It was a moment of indecisiveness. I am ashamed of that."

I rub my temple, "Be assured whatever was between Quinn and i. It is over." I bury my head on my reports. My goal this day was to stay clear of Quinn's name but here we are.
Courtney moves to occupy the empty seat nearby, she takes a pen and starts to scribble on a paper scattered on my desk.

"I'll ask again, what will it take for you to leave Quinn alone or in shortstop entertaining him?"

"Take my word, I am done with him."

"In my world words aren't enough they must be intentional."

"How intentional do you want me to be?"

"How about quitting your job, changing cities?"

"All that because of a man?" I can hide my surprise. "No thank you."

"So you want to keep on sleeping with my husband?"

"Your words not mine." My response agitates her further.

"He is my husband. He is mine and I don't intend to share."

She stands, "Think about my offer, I have power and money..." She states.

I don't offer her another look as she steps out of my office. Once the door is shut I bury my head in my hands. How did I get myself in this entanglement? They delay the mission. Who knows what Courtney's next step is, This could jeopardise everything and I may end up losing my job and any other future employment considering how my name is tarnished. While Queen plays the hero, he loves his family. He is just human he strayed and realised his mistake- which is me- and he is ready to mend his ways. I remain a villain. Such a sexist society.

My office mate walks in. We never socialize we only talk when needed and I am okay with that. She is quite a girl that prefers her own company.

"Sorry about earlier," I say.

She is inaudible when she speaks I have to ask her to repeat.

She hands me an envelope. It is from the C.E.O. I open it and keenly read the brief summon to his office. It is unexpected, there is a hierarchy that is followed only a few get to meet the C.E.O. The last time I was face to face with my Uncle was at the Gala Ceremony. He didn't recognize me. I have heard his office has a private elevator to his private parking space. That explains why we haven't bumped into each other inside the building.

This is going to be interesting being in the same room with my mortal enemy.