Chapter 10 The boss has diabetes!

Rachael bent down to kiss her mother on the cheeks. Mrs. Britney gave her a weak smile, but her eyes held sadness. Rachael wanted to use the opportunity of her being at home to give her the best month of her life, but now she had a job and couldn't miss it.

"I have to go now," she said, clutching the hand of her bag.

"Okay darling" her mother uttered in a strained voice. She coughed afterward which brought a sting to Rachael's heart. When Mrs. Britney was done coughing, Rachael swirled around, exposing every angle of her purple blazer jumpsuit with her hair wrapped into a bun.

"You look perfect"

"Ok then" Rachael smiled at her. I have to go now.

She left the room, fighting the urge not to hit herself against the wall and cry ugly. She met with Chloe in the sitting room who had a better look on her face, unlike the one she had the previous day.

"Here" she handed Rachael her bag. "Have a nice day at work"

"Come over here" Rachael stretched out her arm. Chloe with shaky lips, trying to fight back the tears, walked towards her and honored the embrace. "It's okay" Rachael pressed her head on Chloe's.

They broke the hug.

"You look good by the way"

"Fuck I know" Rachael playfully rolled her eyes. After a quick smile, she left.

*********

Rachael thought she could impress her boss by going to work early today, but now she was stuck for over 30 minutes in traffic. In frustration, she bent her wrist to check the time for the hundredth time.

"Can't you take another route?" Rachael snapped at the cab driver out of annoyance

"We are surrounded, I can't make a revise"

"Well, how long will this hold?" that question was stupid, judging from the fact he was just a driver and not a traffic director.

"Usually, it doesn't take more than 10 minutes for the road to be cleared, but today is different. Seems there was an accident. Cleaning up takes quite a while"

Rachael hit her head against the egde of her seat. She had to get to work as soon as possible and this wasn't working.

"I have to go" without warning, she got down from the car, handed the driver his money, and began the race of life and death.

"Sorry..... Pardon... Out of the way.....coming through" all these words were said to her as she ran through the busy streets. She wasn't the only one who got down from her cab because of the traffic.

By the time Rachael sighted her office, she was drained of all her energy, sweating profusely. The hair she had earlier wrapped in a bun now cascaded on her shoulder, all messed up.

Damn! She didn't bring a brush. She adjusted herself, dabbing the sweat with a napkin. The napkin had smeared foundations on it which made her frown in disapproval. This had to be the worst day of her life.

She got in nevertheless, heading straight for Xavier's office. If he hadn't made the rule of her reporting to him immediately she got to work, she would have gone scot-free with her late coming.

This time she didn't run, instead, she walked. It was useless to rush anyway when she was late. She bumped into Jerry whilst she strode recklessly.

"Miss Anderson" he snapped at her, staring down at his white suit. Her foundation was visible on it.

Rachael's mouth parted to speak, but no words came out. Why did she always have to get fake products?

"I'm sorry" she mouthed, bringing out a napkin, but she had already used it on her face. Her makeup was on it.
"It's fine" he walked past her with the frown not leaving his face. She knew it wasn't okay, but glad he didn't make a scene about it. At least she would focus only on how late she was.

As soon as she got to his office, she barged in. Xavier was seated calmly, typing mindlessly on the computer in front of him. Rachael knew he knew someone entered but still didn't raise his head. She cleared her throat to get his attention, but still nothing.

"Go back out and knock," he said not raising his eyes to her.
Was he serious? She had gotten in. Was there any need to send her back just because she didn't knock? How could she think of that when she late.

Out of frustration, she groaned, walking back outside. Her hands were brought to the door as she knocked. It took him over a minute to give her a reply. The moment he gave her a response, Rachael wasted no time. She opened the door and walked in. This time he wasn't staring at the computer but at her instead.

With his eyes on her, she felt conscious of herself. Her messy hair and smeared makeup. She bet her mascara was also messy around her eyes. One look at her from top to bottom brought a negative shake to his head.

"You are late" he placed his palm together on his table, heaving himself closer.

"Traffic. I promise I'm not lying" she said with a loud voice.

"I didn't say you were"

"Oh thank you so much, sir. You see...."

"I also didn't say you were forgiven" he cut her off and she gulped. "This is your second strike miss Anderson"

Rachael had a lot of questions when he said this. What was her first and how many more strikes she had?

"I'm sorry sir. It won't repeat itself"
"For your sake, I hope it doesn't"

He hit a heap of files incessantly on his desk and stretched it to her. She rushed to it and took it from his hand.

"Sort them and have them transferred to the warehouse"

"I will"

"Get me coffee as well"

Racheal was about to leave with the pile of paper when her eyes caught something. Insulin shots on the other side of his table. Her eyebrow furrowed and he noticed it.

Rachael parted her mouth to speak, but couldn't say anything. Her heart broke at the thought of him having diabetes. She stared at him again, noticing how uncomfortable he was.

"Miss Anderson, you may leave now"

"I...."

"Now" he ordered

Rachael placed her lips together and headed for the door. She had a lot of questions, but no one to ask. Insulin shots were only given to people who had serious diabetes. Or was he trying to lose weight? No, it was impossible. His physique was perfect. even though she hated him, she prayed silently that it wasn't diabetes.

On her way, she stumbled on someone. The lady she helped the other day. She curved her red painted lips into a smile the moment she saw it was Rachael

"Oh, honey. I haven't seen you since" she said to Rachael, brushing her hair off her dark skin.

"I Uhm, don't stay on the 12th floor. I stay on the 6th floor"

"Oh dear, and you look like shit," Claudette said, accessing Rachael from top to bottom.

"I know" she sighed. "I was stuck in traffic. Had to run all the way here. My foundation got smeared and my hair ..... Ughh! She exclaimed.

"Honey I would have done your makeup, but my shade won't match urs"

"I know"

"Here," Claudette rummaged her hands through her pause and emerged with a brush. "You can use this to blend it out" she pointed at the disaster on Rachael's face. "Try getting marvel make-up instead. It's waterproof"

"Thank you so much"

"Anything for you sugar" she smiled and was about to leave, but Rachael stopped her, coming closer to her, then she whispered.

"Does the boss have diabetes?"

"Diabetes?" Claudette said loudly. Rachael almost died. She signaled her to bring her voice down because Xavier could be around. There weren't even far from his office.

"No he got no diabetes but I heard his sister does. No one has seen her though"

"Ok thank you...."

"Claudette"

"See you later" Rachael left.

She rushed to her office to sort the files. It wasn't as hard as it was yesterday because she was starting to get a hang of it. It was sorted. Instead of taking it to the 12th floor herself, she gave it to one of the janitors and marched to the nearest restaurant.
This time, she ran as fast as she could, making sure the coffee didn't get cold before it was delivered to Xavier. She even made sure the seller didn't add any sugar In case he did have diabetes.

Again without knocking, she barged into his office but regretted afterward. Her eyes burn at the sight of it. Xavier and a blonde woman in a heavy make-out session right on his table. They still had their clothes on, but Rachael felt awkward, turning around instantly

"It's okay miss Anderson," he said to her. The sound of clicking heels could be heard approaching her, but she still didn't turn around to look. The blonde brushed past her with a smirk on her face as she exited through the door.

Rachael finally turned. Xavier was seated now, acting as if nothing happened. He simply didn't care. She walked over to his table without saying anything and dropped the coffee on the table.

She headed for the door immediately with the lesson of knocking before entering lingering in her mind. As she held the door to go out, she was called by Xavier, startling her from her land of shock.

Xavier had a grimace on his face as he stared at the drink." where did you get this?" He asked in annoyance.

"Oh I uh... Made sure the coffeemaker added no sugar"

"Why?"

"I don't think you need sugar, sir. I made that mistake with the coffee yesterday"

Xavier sighed, resting his back on his chair. "You don't have to worry about my sugar intake"

"Insulin is only used for higher stages of diabetes sir "

"Insulin? Who told you the insulin shot was for me"

"I thought it... Was" she muttered inaudibly.

"It wasn't and you need to keep yourself out of people's business. I also like my coffee with sugar"

Rachael felt stupid once more, scolding herself for not listening to what Claudette said. She earlier thought it was just office gossip."It won't repeat itself" she muttered underneath her breath

"Well it better not" he cautioned