Chapter 5: I'm Mr Harper's Girlfriend

By the time Sean came back to Harper Group, it was 11:00am.  He worked solidly for another hour and a half when his secretary Rachel interrupted him. “Mr Harper, the reception desk downstairs have contacted me telling me that your girlfriend has arrived wanting to come up and see you.  Forgive me if I am mistaken, but we haven’t been given any instructions from you about any girlfriend, so I thought to check in with you first before allowing her to come up.  She is insisting that she is your girlfriend and that she will arrange for you to fire all the reception staff if we do not let her in to see you”.  Sean just sighed and told Rachel that he indeed did not have a girlfriend but asked her to bring up the cameras for the front lobby. 

It was no stranger, it was Claire. ‘What is she doing here at his workplace. Better still why is she claiming that she is his girlfriend?’, he thought to himself.  He knew that he was going to have to deal with Claire not only today, but right now.  “You and the reception desk in the lobby did the right thing.  She is not my girlfriend and nor do I have any intention to make her my girlfriend.  She is someone that helped me out of a sticky situation, but this behaviour is not acceptable. I think I need to have a word with her to make sure this does not happen again. Have security escort her in, however, do not allow them to use my private elevator”.  Rachel had been working for Sean for four years and in that time, there were a stream of women coming to the lobby reception purporting to be his girlfriend and so it wasn’t anything unusual.  Rachel also knew that only Sean’s close friends and family used his private elevator. Even her as his Personal Secretary that had her desk right outside his office used the main elevator to get to the floor and not his private elevator.

The arrival of the elevator was indicated by a ‘ding’ and the light above the elevator lit up. A young girl walked out of the lift wearing very little clothing.  Her skirt was so short, her undies could be seen and her top was short and tight revealing more than just her cleavage.  Rachel introduced herself and then took her to Sean’s office.  After Rachel knocked, Sean’s assistant Leo opened the door and let Claire in. Rachel nodded at Leo and then went back to her desk.

Claire saw Sean behind his desk and smiled as she made her way to him.  She ran to throw herself into her arms, but Sean stopped her and in an annoyed tone said: “Claire, what’s the meaning of all this?  Not only were you rude to the receptionists at the front desk, but you also told them that you were my girlfriend and threatened their jobs. I’m afraid that this is not acceptable behaviour here at Harper Group. Let me make this clear, apart from me being grateful to you, we are not in a relationship”.  As soon as Sean said this to her, she started sobbing and then tried to explain in between her sobs, “I, I, I just wanted to see you and perhaps take you out to lunch. They wouldn’t let me in and I didn’t know what to do, so I told them I was your girlfriend.  I didn’t mean anything by it, I just wanted to see you”. 

Sean rubbed his temples; he didn’t have time for such drama. Firstly, her dress sense was very provocative which he did not appreciate in his workplace, but to threaten his staff and claim to be his girlfriend, he would not have it.  “Claire, my Personal Secretary already ordered me lunch.  Furthermore, this is my private work space for which I do not like unannounced visitors and do not like lies or anyone causing a scene in the lobby. Please leave and go home and if you are so bored, perhaps you should look at finding a job a few days a week, surely you can do that”.   Claire’s tears ran down her face. She looked at him and with her pouty, hurt face and pleaded, “Sean, I know I should not have done any of those things.  I promise I will be nice to your staff from here on.  I only wanted to spend time with you.  I can’t find a job; I am still recovering from the injuries in saving your life.”  Sean’s heart tightened at the mention of her injuries after saving his life.  He really did owe her and it saddened him that he had made her cry.  “Alright, it’s ok Claire, let’s have lunch together in my office as my secretary has ordered more than I can eat”, he softly told her.  Claire at once stopped crying and waited as Rachel came in and set up lunch for them. “Rachel, I know you keep some spare jackets for yourself in the office, please can you lend one of your long ones to Claire so that she can cover herself up to look more respectable and then feel free to use my card to buy yourself a replacement”, Sean said. “Of course, Mr Harper, right away”, she replied as she hurried off to get a jacket for Claire.  Claire was gobsmacked at what Sean had just said.  The only reason she dressed the way she did was because she thought she’d draw his attention to her body, not repulse him so that he’d make such a crude remark directed at her.  From Sean’s point of view, he had a reputation to upkeep and did not want to be seen with Claire dressed provocatively.  He liked classy women that respected their bodies and dressed appropriately.

During lunch, Claire made comments indicating that she’d like to do this more often, but he just changed the subject and encouraged her to get out there and meet new people and find some hobbies. Thirty minutes later, Sean told her that he had a meeting with Leo and so it was time for her to leave.  “Can I stay here and wait for you until you finish work and then we can have dinner together, or you can take me home after that”, she pleaded whilst latching onto his arm.  Sean did not like people that were not close to him touching him, so he released himself from her hold.  He then looked at her and softly said to her, “Claire, I am an extremely busy person. I have lots of meetings and will be working late.  You need to go out, meet some new people and make friends. Straco City is very big with lots of places to go and meet new people.”  He then asked Leo to escort Claire to the lobby.  Claire clenched her fist behind her back and then looked up at him and did not know what to say to him.  As Leo opened the door and was leading Claire out by her elbow, Sean then looked up from his desk and said to her, “One other thing Claire, please ensure you apologise to the receptionists on your way out for your outlandish behaviour and please do not come to my workplace again.  Whilst I thank you for making the effort to come here to try and take me out for lunch, I have my secretary that arranges my lunch for me and occasionally I meet friends and business associates for lunch. Whilst I am grateful for what you did for me, we need to maintain our distance”.  At that, Leo guided her out the door before Claire could say anything to Sean. Claire’s face went red and showed she was angry which Leo and Rachel noticed.  Rachel had a bad feeling that this girl was bad news for her boss Mr Harper.

After Leo returned, he told Sean that not only did Claire dump Rachel’s jacket on Rachel’s desk without thanking her but she also did not apologise to the receptionists even though he had tried to guide her to the reception desk to do so.  Sean let out a breath of exasperation and thought that at least he made it clear there would not be any relationship between them and coming back to Harper Group unannounced was a big no-no.  Sean then discussed a few business items with Leo and got on with the rest of his day.

Outside the Harper Group, although Claire thought she had made some progress by at least getting Sean to accept having lunch with him.  She was not pleased that he rebuked her for the way she was dressed, for her behaviour when dealing with the reception staff and she was not impressed that he indicated she was not his girlfriend.  This man was made out of money, she read about him and knew that he was the second richest man in Straco City.  She knew being his girlfriend and then his wife, she would get anything she wanted and also become someone people adored and looked up to in society.  Claire imagined herself walking into his office, using his private elevator, ordering his staff around and evening firing whomever she wanted.  Life would be perfect once she snagged Sean.