I have waited my whole life for this. Finally, I'm going to get dumped by my boyfriend, Alex, of seven years for good

It's not something I need to cry about, though I'm throwing away seven years of holding onto him which is excruciatingly painful, that's the least of my worry

“Pet” he would always call me “I think we need a break”.

His facial looked nothing like someone who is heartbroken and this left me wondering why I ever found him attractive

He is cute, with honey brown hair with green eyes and fantastic height, but those are the only features I can see. The rest? Nothing.

He has no empathy, he is clumsy and really bad at what he does. I could only manage his negative side because I loved him and now, I don't see any reason to continue this one sided love

“Fine” I shrugged my shoulders “we can just put a stop to this relationship then”

He was taken aback by my agreement. The Patricia that would have begged him to stay again for the fifth time wasn't the same here, and I'm willing to prove it to him

“Just like that?” he asked, stunned by my indifferent facial expression “You are willing to end it?”

“Isn't that what you want?”

“I never said that”

“You don't have to” I paused “Because I know the reason why you want this”

Alex glanced at me “What reason?”

“Daisy, my little step sister” I spoke almost immediately after him “She's back”

Daisy just graduated from Law school when she was given an internship in a big law firm thanks to my best friend, Krista. I found out that she just got transferred and is finally back for good

Alex shook his head, disagreeing with everything I said but that's not the only thing he is hiding from me.

He is also preparing to marry her secretly behind my back and yet, we are engaged.

We have been engaged for almost five years because he kept bringing up excuses why he wasn't ready, yet he does not want to let go of me. How does that make sense?

When I saw that he wasn't able to come up with a reasonable explanation for that, I went ahead to let him know “Since you need this break, I'm also going relief myself too”

Alex raised an eyebrow “What do you mean? Do you want an open relationship?” and I nodded

No one believes that I'm capable of getting a man yet keeping one and I could see that in Alex's quizzical look

“You? In another relationship?” and then, threw his head back to laugh out loud.

He was so loud that it stole all the attention at the restaurant we were in which was embarrassing enough for the both of us.

I clenched my fist in anger as I glared at him, thinking of a million ways to tighten that neck of his.

“You think I can't get one?”

“I don't think” he cleaned the tears from his eyes “I know you can't”

He went on to talk about my low social life and how I'm only focused on being an uptight mother rather than a girlfriend to him.

He crowned it with my lack of fashion sense as he compared me to my step sister, Daisy, who is seen as a fashion icon wherever she goes

I picked up my bag and stood up from my seat as I was getting tired of hearing all the nasty subtle jabs he was throwing at me

“Leaving so soon?” he mocked. “You aren't going to tell me how you can snatch another man. Admit it, you are nothing without me”

I briskly walked towards the door, almost as though I was trying to run away from danger.

“I need to get the hell out of here” I thought as I got closer to the exit door

As I approached the door, I tripped over something that made me lose my balance

“Oh great” I cussed as I fell forward “Dumb luck always follows me”

Surprisingly, a hand caught me right on time, stopping me from falling any further

“Are you ok?” a male voice asked me. His voice was so deep with a honey-dripping accent that I felt it send shivers down my spine

It was only then that I realised my eyes were entirely shut as though I was anticipating the fall.

I looked up and locked eyes with him. His dark hair, well maintained and trimmed, with his eyes as green as the amazon forest. His shoulders looked so broad that I could lie on it and I'm sure I won't be exaggerating on that.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks” I stammered as he helped me up to my feet

“Where were you off to? You could have gotten hurt”

“You don't need to tell me that” I murmured, making sure he was unable to hear it. I was just too embarrassed to say anything to him

Just when I thought I was going to escape from this, Alex caught up with me.

“You were yet to tell me —” he paused to sweep his gaze between me and the handsome stranger “Is he the other fling you were talking about?”

The ground should just open and swallow me whole because this embarrassment keeps getting worse

“And why will you assume such?”

“Because it would be a shock to land with such high standards, especially for someone such as yourself”

I could feel the tears slowly forming in my tears as I glared at him. Before I could say a word, the stranger stepped in

“Come again?” he asked Alex, his tone serious and angry. Alex stood confused as he gazed at the stranger

“Hold on, you are really with her?” he shifted his gaze to me “You have also been cheating on me?”

“I did not” I uttered “Until I found out that you were secretly planning to marry Daisy”

He went mute for a while, perplexed that I knew his secret

“How - How?”

“A girl will always find a way” was all I could say before I wrapped my hand on his buffed arm, leaning closer to the stranger “Please take me out of here”

“With pleasure” and with that, he grabbed me by the hand and we both walked out on Alex

Once we were out of sight, I slowly peeled myself away from him

“Thank you for standing up for me” I started “And I'm sorry for pulling you into this”

He shrugged his shoulders “The guy is a douchebag, I'm surprised you were able to bear it”

“It's years of experience” I replied quickly realising that it is not something to be proud of.

He dipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out a card

“If you want a backup for this, you can always reach me with that line. It's an exclusive line for important persons”

I studied the card carefully and read his name “Leon Blackwood” which sounded familiar to me. I must have come across the name somewhere

He excused himself before I could further ask him any questions which left a lingering thought

Who is this Leon Blackwood?

I spoke to Leon Blackwood. An actual Blackwood that owned almost eighty percent of all luxury shopping in the country. The man of every lady's dream. Tall, ivory and handsome Blackwood

I held a fistful of my hair and squeezed it tight as I stared at the tabloid. My heart beating really fast as I scrolled through every news and gossips concerning the Blackwoods, most especially Leon

“I made a fool of myself yesterday” I sighed as I glanced at my friend, Krista, who threw me a quizzical look

“What's the problem, Pat?” she asked and when she saw I was quiet, she knew something was up “Spill”

I explained what happened last night which made her switch her facial expression from shocked to excitement

“My friend has finally grown up” she clapped her hands delightfully “I never knew a day like this would come”

“Me either” I chipped with a melancholic tone

Krista sat beside me and wrapped her arms around me to console me

“Alex was never worth it, you know that”

“But seven years?” I buried my head on her dark curls “He just decided to throw that all away”

“So what's the problem now?” she raised my head up and clapped her hands on my both cheeks to keep my face in place, her blue gaze filled with delight “You have a hottie replacement, that's really an upgrade”

“Do you think so?” and Krista nodded her head sweeping my brown locks behind my ears

She pulled up my phone and dialled a number

“You just need to call him and tell him that you are free today. It's Sunday for a reason”

I wanted to decline the suggestion but she plastered my phone to my face to see whom she was calling. It was Leon.

I tried grabbing the phone from her but she was way faster than she looked

“Krista, I can't abuse an access given to me”

“It's freaking Blackwood, Pat, and you want to throw such a chance away because of your timidity. Oh, please”

The moment he picked up the call, she threw it at me to answer

“Oh, um hello, Leon?” I stammered, glaring at Krista who moved forward to hear what he had to say

“This is a surprise” he replied “Didn't expect you to call the next day and learn my name”

“Circumstances made me to” I glared at Krista over my shoulder who whispered sorry to me

“Is he still demanding that it wasn't real?”

“Sort of” I rubbed my neck nervously “If it's not a problem, can I just —”

“When are we meeting?”

“It's fine of you are busy—”

“Where are you?”

I paused to look at Krista, begging her to help me figure out what to say to him. She quickly pulled out a plain sheet, uncapped my marker and started writing.

Leon was on the phone, patiently waiting for my reply until Krista was done and then she pulled the paper very close to my face to read it

“I'm currently on my way to go grab something to eat but the lunatic —” I paused to throw Krista a confused look as to why she added such a word but she urged me to keep going on “isn't getting the hint. Do you know a place I can go to unwind?”

There was a pause on the phone when all of a sudden, we heard the doorbell ring and Krista had to go answer it

“Where is she?” Alex demanded as he bashed through the door, looking for me. When he spotted me, he strode towards me and grabbed me by the wrist

“Alex stop, you are hurting me”

“Is it true? That you are leaving me for him?”

“It wasn't my decision to cheat first, was it?”

Alex let go off me and smoothened my wrist when he saw how red they were

“We can make amends, Pet, I can leave Daisy if you want me to. Just don't leave me”

My heart was panting heavily so much that it could burst. It felt as though I was being attacked and I didn't like this kind of feeling, especially when it is from a man that I shared everything with.

“Get out Alex!” I screamed at him “Leave me”

“I didn't mean to hurt you, Pet, I just felt angry that you were leaving me”

“I don't want to see your face ever again”

He was begging me when he noticed the caller ID on my phone and instantly snatched it from my hand

“Who is this?” he asked me as he read only the number

“None of your business” I reached out to grab my phone back but he just lifted it up to have a look at it

“Is it that guy?” he asked as he placed the phone on his ear. “It's you, right? Listen, I want you to stay away from my woman. If you come anywhere near her, I won't spare you from whatever I'm going to do to you” before hanging up the call

He deleted the number and threw my phone to me

“Don't contact him ever again or I'll have no choice than to take this to your step father”

I glared at him, angry at the fact that he wants to threaten me by involving my step father

My step father is a man that had been so strict towards me that he literally limited me from everything a normal girl ought to do

I had no hobbies, no friends and no social life thanks to him. While he exalts his children, he will place me at a corner and force me to watch his children excel.

I'm only fortunate to meet Krista at college thanks to group project and we've been friends for almost a decade now

Alex came into the picture because of my step sister who persuaded me that getting into a relationship will pull me away from their father's grip but that only got worse from there

“Go ahead” I dared him “The highest he will do is lock me up but at least, I won't see this ugly face of yours”

Alex got so angry that he stomped out of my house, leaving me and Krista to finally catch our breath.

I quickly dialled Leon and apologised for whatever he said to him

“He just got my work so much easier” he stated “Now, I'm really going to snatch you away from him”

What's Leon doing at my workplace? And why is he walking with the executives?

“He is probably a partner they are trying to impress,” said one of the colleagues.

“Or an investor that will pump money into this company” said the other

I glanced at him again and saw that someone was talking to him and then to the executives, that must be his secretary.

Just then, a lady walked into our office and knocked on the door

“I'm looking for Miss Richardson”

“That would be me” I raised my hand to grab her attention, wondering why she's looking for me

“You are being summoned to the CEOs office” she announced “And I'm expected to bring you”

Curious to know why I'm being summoned, I followed her to the CEOs office where I was later ushered in.

“Miss Richardson has arrived, sir” she announced and gave me way to come in

“Thank you,” he said.

I instantly looked up to see who it was as I recognized that voice. Lo and behold, it was Leon.

“Nice to see you again, Patricia”. I was too stunned to speak as I still couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Leon was my boss

I think he noticed because he stood up from his seat and strides towards me. When he was two steps away from me, he bent forward

“There's alot going on in that pretty head of yours”

I cleared my throat, and looked away, trying to hide the heat of my blush slowly crawling up to my face.

“I'm sorry, I'm just confused” I admitted “I didn't expect the stranger to end up being my boss”

“And why is that?” he took a step forward “Are you perhaps attracted to me and you're disappointed you have to be formal with me”

I shook my head, even though I really wanted to know him, it didn't cross my mind that I wanted to date him.

“Then why did you call yesterday?” he took another step forward which prompted me to take a step backward

“I - I” I didn't know what to say next. I wished I could just go back in time and give Krista a hard knock on the head for doing that foolish phone call. It's because of her I'm in this tight, awkward situation.

He kept taking more steps while I equally tried to maintain the distance until my back met the wall.

“I dialled the wrong number” I lied “And I only realised too late” but he didn't seemed to buy the lie as he just nodded his head

“Then I should do something in return to make it right with us, don't you agree?” he placed both arms at each side of my face, pinning me firmly to the wall

“What is that?” I asked, wondering what kind of thing he was thinking and he placed his fingers on my chin to raise my head up

This forced me to look at him and within a few seconds, he leaned closer to me, finally closing the gap between us and planted a kiss on my lips

The kiss was a mixture of fire and brimstone, like we were both relieving ourselves off something, like a problem weighing our shoulders like concrete.

God knows how long it was until we finally parted and stared at each other while trying to catch our breath

“Pat” he called out my name “Is it weird if I want to do this again?”

I wanted to scream no but seeing the circumstances of this made me feel sad. He was my boss and I knew nothing about it up until today.

As he leaned in for another, I placed both hands on his chest to stop him from forging ahead

“We can't” I reminded him “We shouldn't”

“And why is that?”

“You're my boss and I'm an employee. I need this job and won't want any form of distraction”

I wanted to give him more explanation but it just would be too much. He does not need to know too much

“Fine” he walked back, letting go of the warmth that I'm now craving for again. The last time Alex got intimate with me was almost three years ago during Christmas and that was to put on a show for my step father.

I loved that moment even though I knew it was a fake. I desperately hoped it wouldn't be in the near future.

“We can only be intimate if we are not separated by office hierarchy” he turned to look at me “can't we be that outside this”

“I'm sorry Mr. Blackwood” I acknowledged him formally “But we have to put an end to this. Thank you for helping me last time but I hope we forget about what happened here”

I took a turn and walked out of his office and since that day, he actually respected my boundaries and never made any romantic gesture towards me again.

Although I felt really bad as I craved for such attention for so long, I knew it was for the best. Any romance in the office might stop me from achieving that position I wanted.

I want to finally boast about my achievement to my family and don't need to feel like I'm a failure that only stained their whites thanks to my existence

This, however, didn't come without a price as I was bombarded with lots and lots of workload. Some that keep me longer at work.

“This week evaluation, Timore mall have made an exponential sale thanks to the discount gift pegged together” I would report to him

Another time, I would have to be at his office to organize files for him. Duty that is solely meant for his secretary

“I'm sorry, ma'am” his secretary, James, would apologize “He instructed me not to touch any of them”

“It's not your fault, James” I assured him, hoping it wasn't a form of punishment for rejecting him

I was given a task one day which didn't go well

“I don't seem to find the file report for the clothing brands at Kiltal store"i lamented as I searched through the files given to me

“I'll just go explain it to Leon” I muted as I made my way to his office to inform him of it with hopes that he would pardon me

If the situation couldn't get any worse, I was called to the HR office the next day where I was suddenly handed a resignation letter

“Miss Richardson” the HR called my name “You are hereby relieved off duty in this corporation”

A news that totally broke me