Chapter 7

• “I told you I want to sleep. The least you could do is to let me have some privacy.” Melissa groaned, burying her face deeper into the pillow the moment Emily entered her room.
• Emily ignored Lisa’s words and sat beside her on the bed.
• “I really want to let you be but I just can’t. I have never seen you this freaked out and it terrifies me.”
• “Can you please face me so we can talk?”
• “If it’s about today's experience. I don’t want to talk about it so can you please respect my decision?”
• “I am not here to talk about the interview. Just sit up and face me.”
• Melissa sighed, slowly doing as her sister requested. The duo were facing each other now.
• “Your outburst today just reminded me that we never had a proper conversation about that night.”
• Melissa groaned. “No Emily, please don’t talk about the stranger. I don’t want to hear it.”
• “This is not about him. This is about our sisterly relationship.”
• “Then you’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m the one who slept with a stranger and refused to take a morning-after pill. And that wasn’t on purpose. I had slept with Zion a couple of times and I didn’t get pregnant. I thought I wasn’t a very fertile lady so a night with a stranger without protection was probably nothing. But it’s cool. I can’t imagine living a life without Ryan in it. He is my greatest blessing of all.”
• “The stranger’s sperm was definitely stronger than Zion’s own.”
• Melissa glared at her sister, “Not funny.”
• Emily sighed. “I’m sorry. The goal was for you to come to the club, have fun, and forget about Zion. I have never seen you angry like the way you were earlier on and that made me so guilty.”
• “I don’t like it when you are being serious. Are you dying?” She frowned at Emily.
• “No, I’m not. I know it’s been back-to-back situations for you lately and sometimes I wish that there’s something I could do to make you happy and make all the pain go away.”
• “And just as you said I’m always proud to be Ryan’s auntie. I also cannot imagine a life without him.”
• “It’s okay if you don’t want to have anything to do with the stranger. I respect you. I respect your decision.”
• “And I’m so sorry about the bad experience at the interview. I’m sure you will get a better job. And just so you know, I’m not complaining about footing the bills for you and my nephew.”
• “Thank you.” Melissa smiled, intertwining her hands with Emily’s own. She was about to say something when her phone buzzed on the nightstand.
• Mel wanted to ignore but Emily reached for the phone.
• “Who’s that?”
• Emily shrugged, “The number is not saved.” She stretched out the phone to Melissa.
• “I don’t want it. It’s probably a random person. I’m not in the mood, Emily.” She said, lying comfortably on her back and covering herself with the duvet.
• Mily had no idea what had come over her. She watched the phone ring for a second and then went ahead to answer it.
• “Hi.”
• “No, this is her sister, Emily.”
• Emily was silent for a while, ignoring the glare that Melissa was giving her.
• “That’s sad to hear.”
• Another seconds of silence.
• “That’s fine. She will be there.”
• “That you so much. Bye.” Emily ended the call with a small smile playing on her lips.
• “Who the hell was that?” Melissa stared at her sister suspiciously.
• “That was from Rolas Incorporation.”
• She sat up instantly. “I didn’t get the job, right? That was the quickest interview response I have ever gotten.”
• “No, you didn’t. I’m so sorry.”
• “It’s fine. It was expected.”
• “But the interviewer saw some potential in you and they wanted to know if you would be interested in working as a secretary to the owner of the company.”
• “Are you for real?” She asked and Emily nodded with a small smile on her face.
• “I’m grateful for their generosity in wanting to offer me an alternative position. But a secretary? We both know I’ve got bigger degrees for that role.”
• “According to what this dude said, You won’t be doing much of the administrative duties. The boss needs someone with business experience since the secretary will be attending meetings with him for all other official duties. He didn’t give me a quote but he said the pay is great and it comes along with other benefits.”
• “Look, babe, I know this isn’t what we want but why don’t you try it out? Trust me, it’s not everyone they gonna call back to give an alternative role. I would say that we grab this opportunity. What do you think?”
• “I don’t know. I don’t think I have a good feeling about it.”
• “You should show up, babe. You would never know if it’s a good offer unless you check it out.”
• “The interview is for 10 tomorrow. I told him you would be there.”
• Melissa massaged her temple, not knowing what to say.
• ..........................
• Damien was doing some work on the laptop when his phone buzzed beside him. Taking a glance at it to see who was calling, he instantly reached for his phone.
• “Good day, Mr Rolas,”
• “Hi, Gabby, How may I help you?”
• “Rumi is still here. I just wanted to know when you will be here to pick her up.”
• “What?” Damien said in disbelief, taking a glance at his wristwatch. “What do you mean she’s still in school, Silvia is meant to pick her up.”
• “I called Silvia but She said that she’s been fired.”
• Damien cursed, massaging his temple.
• “I’m so sorry, please keep an eye on her, I will be right there.” Ending the call with his daughter’s teacher, Damien scrolled through his contacts and finally dialed a number.
• “Pick up this call, dammit!”
• “Did you by any means fire Silvia?” He asked when the person on the other end finally answered the call.
• “She was being rude to me.” The individual replied without a care in the world.
• “Are you being serious right now?”
• “Come on, Damien, you should be on my side. You don’t expect me to keep housing a very disrespectful staff.”
• “Be on your side? Are you freaking kidding me? You know the stress I go through every time I get a nanny and all you do is to fire them as though they mean nothing to you.”
• “Of course, they mean nothing to me and I won’t hesitate to get rid of anyone who disrespects me.”
• “Okay, since you fired her, did you make any arrangements for Rumi to be picked up at school?”
• “Oh, I didn’t think about that.”
• “What time does she close from school? It’s not too late for you to go pick her up, right?”
• “You know what? Fuck you!” Damien said at the top of his voice, ending the call.
• He shut down the laptop, picked up his phone, wallet, and car keys, and exited his office.
• There was a bit of traffic so it took a while for Dam to get to Rumi’s school.
• “Daddy!” Rumi got up from the chair she was sitting on and ran towards her daddy the moment he walked into her classroom.
• “My love,” He crouched down to her height, kissed her cheek, and hugged her immediately.
• “How are you, princess?”
• “I’m fine, Daddy.” The little girl said with a small smile. “I was scared because I was the only one here but I’m happy now that you are here.”
• “I’m so sorry I came late to pick you up,” Damien said, placing a deep kiss on the little girl’s forehead.
• He picked her up in his arms, rose to his feet, and came face to face with Gabby, his daughter’s teacher.
• “Thank you for watching her. I honestly had no idea that her nanny was sacked.”
• “It’s fine, Mr Rolas. Rumi is such a darling and it’s a pleasure to look after her.”
• “Thank you.”
• “I wanted to ask if you have a family member around here. I asked Rumi and she said she had no idea.”
• “What do you mean?” Dam asked, sounding confused.
• “We have a new student in class and he looks so much like you. I thought he was related to you.”
• “Like me?”
• Silvia nodded.
• “Sorry if this topic made you feel so uncomfortable. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned it. I mean, people look alike all the time. I genuinely just thought he was related to you because of the striking resemblance but it’s fine.”
• “No problem. I should get going. And thank you so much for watching Rumi. I will try my best to make sure this doesn’t repeat itself.”