It wasn't like I had been doing something bad with him. So, there was really no point in feeling embarrassed.
"Oh, gosh," Ryan muttered underneath his breath.
I gazed at her, admiring how good she looked tonight.
Sherri Dustin was a person no lady would like to be friends with. She had a way of intimidating people, either by her excessively, luxurious style of dressing, or by her blatant way of speaking. I truly didn't appreciate her personality. I would say she was mean.
She was dressed in a dark mini skirt, a white off shoulder crop top. As she wore that crazy stern look, she squeezed her purse in her palm, which was evidence that she was so angry. She took a step close, and that was when I noticed she was wearing stiletto shoes.
"What's going on, Ryan? Do you wanna lose your job by hooking up with her?" She obviously wasn't able to contain her anger.
I scoffed. One thing I hated was if my character was being questioned. Nobody had to tell me I was decent. I knew it myself. So, how the heck would she accuse me of hooking up with the guy she liked?
"Hey, no one's hooking up here. Don't spit out some trahsy words." Yes, I was furious. Who cared if she was the visitor?
"Excuse me?" She tucked some strands of her flat-ironed hair behind her ear, linked her arms on her chest. "Did I ask you to speak? I was talking to your boss, woman."
"Yeah, but don't question my attitude." I faced her, ensuring my sassy look was menacing enough to keep her mouth shut. "Ask Mr. Arthur what he was doing, rather than making a conclusion that we were smooching each other."
She snorted. "What do middle-class people like you do to rich men like him? Don't try to act like a saint. I know you don't mind letting him taste your body for some cash."
"Hey!" I couldn't control my fury, so I gripped her arm, yanked her to me. "Mind your words, woman. Fine, you're rich. And so? What makes you think every middle-class woman's a gold digger?"
She sniggered "Um, cause, obviously, y'all are too poor to afford the basic things of life. So, I guess you have no choice but to extract some money from the rich ones."
I tightened my grip against her arm. One thing I knew was, no one, absolutely no one, had the right to speak to me in such an insulting manner.
"Serene." Ryan's voice cut me off my thoughts. Who knew if I was already planning to hit her hard? He held my arm, spun me around to face him. I glared at him as if he was the reason for my predicament, while he just twitched a brow at me. "What's with you, woman? This isn't the first time you see Sherri being this way. Why are you overreacting?"
"Overreacting?" I scoffed. "You see nothing wrong about this, sir? How can she speak that way? Yeah, whatever, she's rich. And so what?"
He frowned a little. "Hey, you need to respect the visitors. Enough of this now. Just leave."
I snapped my arm from his hold. I knew I was supposed to pay some respect to my boss, but I really didn't like this woman.
I twirled around, ready to take my leave. But, before going, I gave her a smirk. She was glaring, and I liked how she seemed frustrated. Ryan sighed out loud, and just walked to his seat. She was also about to walk away, but I held her arm back.
"What?!" She spat out in a whisper.
I sighed. "Insecure people are the ones who cry out at every little thing. If you're jealous, just ask him to pin you to the wall. It's as easy as that. And yeah, I've got a boyfriend. I've got no time for your man."
She gritted her teeth, and choke out, "Bitch! You're messing around with me?"
I shrugged, being so indifferent to her threatening look and voice. "Nah, nah. You're messing around with yourself. Goodnight, my lady."
"I swear, I—"
"Night." I cut her off. Still angry, I took my leave.
Walking back into my office, I didn't think twice before preparing to leave. I couldn't believe someone could accuse me of such a disgusting thing. And, this was all Ryan's fault.
***
It was past eight already. After leaving the office, rather than going home, I had decided to pay a visit to my boyfriend's place. It had been a week since I had seen him, and I knew he wasn't happy about the fact that I hardly had time for him.
I smiled as I took a turn to the next street, which was the street he lived. I was a bit fearful, knowing that he would be annoyed at me. Well, since he had a good heart, he might not be as angry as I expected.
I glanced at the bag I was holding, which contained two burgers and an orange juice. Ralph was lazy when it came to cooking, and there was no doubt that he would be glad that I had bought dinner for us.
I took a deep breath when I got to his apartment. Knocking on his door, I waited patiently for him to answer me. I pursed my lips, thinking of calling him. What if he wasn't around?
About grabbing my phone to give him a call, the door opened up. I sighed in relief, smiled as I stared into his nut brown eyes. He smiled back, but I could sense something wasn't right with him.
"Hey, baby?" I stepped in, curled my arms around his neck, giving him a small kiss on his lips.
He smiled. The smile really seemed like a feigned one. "Hey," he returned my greetings.
Oh, yes. Something was going on with him. His body language was proof that he wasn't fine.
I caressed his hairline, then pulled my lips into a pout. "Are you fine? What's with the low and tired voice?"
"Let's have a seat." He pulled away, seeming even more exhausted. It felt like he didn't want me around here.
My eyebrows knitted, as I fretted. "Okay. Please, do tell me what's going on, hm?"
"Sure." He nodded.
We settled to sit on the three seater sofa in his living room. He sat beside me, gazed at me intently, but said nothing.
I raised a brow at him. "Do you wanna keep staring at me like that? Go on. Say what you wanna say, dude."
He sighed hard. His eyes looked down, and his fingers intertwined in one another. It seemed so much like he was being hesitant. This was creepy, and it made me even more nervous and worried. Ralph wasn't a great talker, but he was never this silent and gentle.
He finally stared at me, sighed again. "Serene, I've made up my mind. At this point, I need us to break up."
My heart throbbed against my chest. I trembled in fear. Wait, he had to be playing a prank. There was no way he would ask for a breakup, after two years of dating me. That was surely not possible.
"Wh-What?" A word eluded my lips, after a short silence between us. If this had to be true, my life would crumble. No, my Ralph couldn't do this to me.
Numb, I just laughed weirdly. Yes, I had a boring boyfriend, but that didn't mean he couldn't joke around. Maybe he was only trying to crack me up, or pull my legs.I shifted close to him, took his hands, smiled weirdly. "What's up with you? You're playing around, huh? Fine, fine, I get that. But before you continue to joke around, let's eat first. I missed lunch today, so I'm so famished right now.""I'm not joking." He shook his head. The terror, anguish, and every other emotion in his voice was killing my heart.I huffed. "Come on, stop it. Things like this aren't to be used for jokes, okay?""It's really hard to have a girlfriend who hardly has time for me." He ignored my words, only resumed stating what he wanted to.My eyes watered. This had to be a lie. I couldn't bear losing him. No. Not now. I loved him so much."Ralph?" I cal
Okay, I had never killed anyone. So, of course, murdering him wasn't an option. But wait, how could he be kissing me? This felt so dumb. How disrespectful and stupid of him!He pulled me even closer, though there wasn't an inch left between us. I didn't know what I had done to him, but for sure, he was upset. He was kissing me as if he was trying to tug my lips off its position. A kiss ought to be cute and enjoyable. But no, this kiss was torture.After a while, he pulled away, breathing slowly. I tried to catch my breath, my eyes jutted out of their sockets. I didn't know what to say or do. This man had just kissed me like I was his chick. How could he?"Ryan." Mr. Shawn hurried over to us. He pulled me aside, stood in between Ryan and me. Obviously, he was furious. "How dare you? Do you realize that you've just broken the rules of this company? How can you smooch your secretary?"Ryan sniggered, an
I heaved a sigh, glanced at my wristwatch, feeling quite bothered about how Ryan would scold me. He had sent me on an errand, but I had taken too much time than usual. Well, it wasn't my fault. There was this weird person who had been trying to flirt with me at the bank. I hated being flirted with in public, but, when the person had been wooing me, it had made me hopeful that someone would eventually like me someday. That was good news.I bit my lower lip, took a glance at my outfit. I had to ensure I looked good. I had taken a long walk, which could've made me sweaty and tired. Good for me, I hadn't worn high heels. Since I was this tall, I had decided to never wear high shoes. It made me feel like a giant sometimes.My phone beeped. Grabbing it from the pocket of my skirt, I grunted on seeing Ryan's text."Why are you taking so much time? You don't wanna lose your job, do you?" He texted.
Vicki threw scowls at me as she stood by my bed. She had her arms tucked around her chest, her lips pursed. That dirty look was pretty menacing, but I really wasn't ready to listen to her. I didn't believe she wanted me to go with Ryan. She fully knew how mean and crazy he was."No." I tossed the blanket off my body, stood up from my bed, then walked to the standing mirror which was placed by the wall on the left side of my room.She grunted a little, and walked behind me. "You're so annoying! I wish I could open your brain box, and add some senses in your head.""Yawn!" I sat on the stool in front of the mirror, adding a skin lotion to my face. "See, you're young. You don't know certain things. Like, this is ridiculous. I shouldn't let a man control me. What am I? A toy?""Ugh!" She groaned. She grabbed the wooden stool behind her, sat on it, and faced me. "Please, stop. This isn't a jok
It was really hard for me to keep this smile on my lips. I felt so frustrated and angry, but well, I just had to keep pretending to be fine with this craziness."Is she your girlfriend?" The oldie in front of us asked Ryan that question.Ryan and I glimpsed at each other, and he laughed weirdly. "Oh, yeah. She is. We only began dating recently."He had his arm wrapped around my waist, my hip locked to his body. The moment he called me his "girlfriend", I curled my arm around his waist as well, pinched him from behind. He flinched a little, his jaw clenched. If this cost my job, then so be it! Why would he tell such a lie?His girlfriend? Yuck!"You're such a beautiful couple," the old man remarked, grinning so hard to the extent I could spot his missing canine tooth. "Hopefully, my son will have a pretty woman like you someday."I feigned a
Anyone could go giddy by only shopping with people like Praise and Tracie. They were pretty crazy. They always wanted to buy everything in the mall. Aside from Vicki and the rest of my family, they were my best friends. Though they could be so annoying sometimes, they were the best friends anyone could ever wish to have. We had been friends for about twelve years, so I understood them a lot.Praise was the eldest. She was twenty seven, and was married to a black English man. They had a pretty two year old girl, and were hoping to have a baby soon. She was tall, had a beautiful dark skin, and was very beautiful. Since she was an American, her husband and her decided to settle down over here. That was good for me. At least, I wouldn't have to miss her."Oh, that's the curling cream!" She hurried over to the shelf which had a couple of hair products. I rolled my eyes, knowing that she had been dramatic when she had screamed out that
I scanned my eyes around, looking for Praise. In a short while, I saw her standing by the other side of the mall, just opposite Tracie and me. She was smirking, and I knew she was ready to do something stupid."Oh, help! Please, do something!" Sherri kept hopping around like a maniac. Of course, it was hard for anyone to help her out. Would anyone want to open her panty only to kill the cockroach in it? Well, in fact, a couple of people were filming her.She threw her hands into her hair, her face squeezed like she was weeping hard. Her butt poked backwards, her hands dashing into her miniskirt, probably trying to get the cockroach.She rolled her eyes around, seeming like she was searching for something. And, the moment her eyes landed on the corridor which led to the restroom, she gasped. All of a sudden, Tracie disappeared. I didn't know where she went, but all I knew was that she stepped backwards.&
I ran my fingers into my hair, feeling so drained. Propping my elbow on the table in front of me, I let out a sigh. I couldn't wait for the weekends. Work could be very tiring sometimes.The knock on the door caught my attention. I had thought it would be Ryan, but well, I didn't think he'd be dumb enough to knock, when he could easily walk in.Grouchily, I pulled my swivel chair backwards, stood up after dropping my pen on the table, walking to the door. I could have just asked the person to come in, but due to how tired I was, my voice might not be loud enough.I pulled the door open, took a step backwards. "Oh, you." I noticed a smile creeping to my lips. "How're you doing, Kenneth? Nice seeing you again."Those green were staring deeply at me, his lips smiling widely at me. I really liked seeing this guy. But woah, why had he come to my office?"I'm gr