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

I thought he was different. I thought he was caring. Guess I was wrong about him

I threw my bag on the chair and slouched beside it

“Patricia, you are stupid for overly trusting him”

If not for that mere kiss I won't be such a klutz. I expected him to pardon me once, after all, I had to do two different types of work every single day.

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was eight pm, Krista would soon be back from work too

“I hope she brings food as she's coming home” I thought “Or should I quickly rush to the grocery store and pick up some food items?”

I have to tell her what happened today and I did not want to spill that on an empty stomach.

I thought for a while and decided to go with the latter.

I put on a comforty cloth, wore my favorite crocs and headed to the grocery for some shopping.

“Hey Krista” I called her through the phone “I'm at the grocery, is there anything you'd like me to pick?”

“Strawberry jam, bread and some candies”

I scoffed, “Seriously?”

“What? I need something to run in my mouth and chewing gum gives me jaw pain”

I nodded as I jot down the other things Krista listed

“And don't forget fried chicken” I reminded her and she agreed.

Once I cut the call, I headed straight to get the rest of the items and walked up to the cashier

“Oh ma'am” said the cashier “all these have been paid”

I was perplexed and resorted to asking “By who?”

The cashier looked nervous and instead brought out a coupon and handed it to me

“for being our hundredth shopper this week”

I nodded my head, trying to process what was going on as I watched her put my items in the bag

“Happy shopping” she smiled at me as she handed my grocery back to me

“Thank you”

I got out and just a corner away from the mall stood a black luxurious car that looked better than the rest parked in the lot

Not paying any attention to it, I walked past it and headed home. Krista came in a few moments later and we both settled down to eat our chicken with soda

“Krista, I have a terrible news” I paused to see the look on Krista's face

The silence was deafening that it could be felt. Krista drew closer to me and patted my back

“Pat, what's wrong?”

“I —” I looked at Krista with tears already forming in my eyes, ready to drop “I lost my job”

“Oh no” she uttered “Not now”

“Why? What's going on?”

Krista looked pale as she tucked her hand into her bag to pull out her phone. She scrolled through something before handing it over to me to have a look

“What!” I exclaimed “Daisy is coming here?”

“And it gets worse” Krista chipped in “Your stepfather is also coming”

I sprang up from my seat “You could have told me that”

“That's what I was trying to tell you but you looked so exhausted from work I couldn't get the chance to break it to you”

“Then why did they communicate with you and not me?”

Krista paused for a while “Probably because of the strife between you and Alex. Daisy mentioned that she couldn't reach you hence contacting me”

That was a lie. Daisy never saw me as someone she would communicate with. She only goes to Krista because of what she could get from her. After all, she gave her the employment she needed

Her other twin sister, Davina, studied business and would do anything to make sure she succeeded in it.

And then there's me, working in a fashion company that pays little, but good enough for bills and groceries. Not a lawyer, doesn't own a business and isn't so successful.

“We need to find a way to let them change their mind.”

I did not want to see them and definitely did not want to communicate. I have to figure out a way to either stop them from coming or avoid them totally, but how?

Alex would have been a good excuse but we aren't in talking terms and I want to maintain that.

Just then, my phone buzzed and it was Leon calling

“This may sound like a shameless idea” Krista noted “But right now, he could be the only one who could help you”

“I'm not going to pick up and neither will you this time”

Leon was the last thing I needed. He took my only source of income by sacking me harshly without a say and now, he wants to communicate with me

Just when I looked away did I hear Krista saying “Hello”

I turned to look at her, begging her to cut the call but she went on to talk to him, complaining about how he treated me and why she won't let him meet her

He must have said something because she paused to listen. She listened intently which made me nervous.

Once they were done, she turned to me “Let's go”

“Without me?” a feminine voice echoed behind me and Krista that the both of us froze. I turned slowly, hoping and praying it wasn't who I thought it was

“Nice meeting you, big sister” Daisy said “It's been a long time”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, surprised by her sudden presence “You weren't supposed to be here until next week”.

“I'll be packed by next week” she said as she let go of her box and watched it fall to the ground while going to settle on a seat “Why? You don't want to see me?”

“Nothing”

I excused myself to pack up the chicken and snacks we brought for ourselves when Daisy asked

“And whose the guy you were talking to?”

“None of your business” I responded

Daisy leaned forward, her expression switching to a more serious look “Hope you tell that to daddy”

“Tell me what?” he walked in together with Davina who looked lovestruck as she stepped in

I froze in complete fear when I saw my step father walking in. Something must have gone terribly wrong for them to come here and I'm going to be their scapegoat again.