Joseph have been staying in Dubai for over three years and refused to stay home after his graduation. He would always argue about how he was still small to work at the company.

“I want to enjoy my twenties a little bit because once I start working I won’t have the time for that anymore” he argued whenever their father brought up the topic of him coming back home.

He finally came home that afternoon and he didn’t even let Tom know so as to surprise him.

“You came this afternoon? How come I was not informed?” Tom questioned

“Because I wanted to surprise you. Look at how shocked you are right now” he replied with a chuckle and Tom sighed

“Do you like making a fool out of people?” Tom slammed him and he raised his eyebrows

“What do you mean by making a fool out of people?” he asked

“You said you will not be coming home anytime soon so why are you here?” Tom questioned

“Oh that? I realized that there was no fun for me anymore in Dubai because I had visited every places for the three years I was there and now that I am getting older, I should start taking my life serious you know” he responded with a wink and Tom eyed him

“Moreover, I miss this house’s food” he added as he leaned on the wall

“I can’t help but wonder whatever this art is, you have the same at your office and at home too, this things are freaking expensive and it has no meaning to me. I don’t understand why people spend tons of money just to hang them on the wall” Joseph remarked looking at the art work hung on the wall.

“Are you going to stay here forever? Won’t you go out anymore?” Tom said to make him leave

“What? Are you uncomfortable with me here? We will be spending so much time together as from now though so I think it’s better you start getting comfortable with me because I will be sticking to you like a leech” he told him and walked out of the room while leaving the door opened

“That pest” he muttered as he saw what he did

He was about to close the door when Joseph yell from the back making him jump in fear

“I got you again this time” Joseph cackled and Tom chased after him in anger

He had forgotten all about the text he received earlier so he didn’t reply her and just went to join the family for dinner. He apologized to his father for the ruckus at the company earlier when he couldn’t tender the report at the appropriate time.

“You always ruin your efforts with small mistakes and these small mistakes, if continuous can ruin one’s hard work” his father, Steve scolded

“I will make sure it doesn’t repeat itself anymore” he apologized once again

“How about the contract with Dave Lin? Have you still not been able to secure that too?” Steve asked

“I got it signed last weekend but you were not around so I couldn’t show you” he responded immediately

“You could have texted me if you got it signed, we are now a step ahead of our competitors with that now” Steve remarked and resumed his food

“You got Dave Lin to sign the contract? Wow you are really incredible Tom!” Joseph clapped

“You should complement him in times like this. Dave Lin is not an easy fish, he’s so difficult to meet and he only sign contracts physically. This is worth celebrating” Joseph added and chuckled

“You should just shut your mouth and eat before I throw you out” Steve growled at him

“This is exactly the reason why I didn’t want to come in the first place. You are making me lose my appetite already but I cannot leave this delicious food that was thoroughly, carefully and beautifully cooked by mother” he said and laughed for a bit before reaching for his cup of water.

***

Amber went back to work the next day and resumed her work like nothing had happened. Everything was still the same, just like before except the fact that she was always anxious about when he would call her in relation to their contracts.

She submitted the report to his table the first thing in the morning and was working away on her system when he called her through the intercom. She marched quickly to his office in her high waist white skirt and wine bow blouse to answer his call.

“The CEO of MG Pharmaceutical’s daughter is getting married and they requested for a special tour by one of the employees of the company to shop for the dress. Since you are a lady, you might be able to pick out something good so help them out” he instructed and she input it in her tablet

“What time is that sir?” she asked

“They will be coming over by three in the afternoon so get ready by two forty-five” he responded with his eyes glued to the book

“Noted sir” she said and turned to leave

“You should get me some coffee” he added and she left to get his coffee ready just as his phone rang

“What do you want?” he asked as he picked the call

“You always make it obvious that you don’t want to talk to me. Anyways guess where I am right now” Joseph said over the phone

“Do I look like I have time for that right now?” he slammed trying not to get angry

“I am at that restaurant, the one where we went to on your twenty-fifth birthday. They still have the killer food and guess what? They have new menus that are to die for, you should come over with me when you are free” Joseph said with a small laugh and Tom loosened his tie a bit

“You should seriously stop disturbing me, I am so busy here” he said

“Don’t worry about being too busy, I am back now so I will be helping you out in the future or will you be helping me out? Anyways time will tell. I wanted to tell you more about the restaurant but since you are busy, I will just leave you alone” Joseph and disconnected the call before he could even reply.

She brought the coffee to him and he took a sip immediately to cool his burning anger but the sugar was way too much so he spat it out with immediate effect.

“What is this nonsense? Are you planning to kill me with sugar?” he yelled at her and that made her afraid for some minute because that would be the first time he would ever yell that loud at work

“I am sorry sir, I will prepare another one” she said and picked up the cup

“Don’t bother, I will get one myself” he remarked and left the room to cool down at the café down the mall.

He was sitting at the café looking at the people passing by while calming his anger when he overheard some women talking behind him.

“Why is she staying this long in the restroom? We are not here to spend all day” One of them lamented

“She’s absolutely slow in all things and that is why she doesn’t even take the hint that we don’t like to hang out with her” the other woman remarked

“I know right! We tried so hard to make her know that we don’t want her in our circle but she kept forcing herself on us” the first one supported

“Well it’s her loss. At least when we get here, we get discounts because of her status” the second one said and they both chuckled before they saw the person they were talking about coming from the restroom

“I’m sorry, I made you wait for this long” the person said with an apologetic tone

“Well it’s not like we have anything doing so it’s fine” one of the friends replied

“Let’s go for the shopping since I am done now” the person stated and he turned to look at the familiar voice to see that it was his mom.

He quickly looked forward and stood up before they realize that he was the one and walked back to his office.

“She’s always moving out with people who have no manners” he mutter to himself in anger and walked back to the payment counter

“You see those three women there? Make sure there is no discount on whatever they buy and when asked, you should tell it’s an order from the management” he instructed and the employee bowed a bit in understanding

“You are nothing but money sucking demons” he said angrily and shut down his phone to prevent any calls from his mother.

The women finished buying and were expecting a discount as usual but the employee did exactly as he was told.

“Why is there no discount today? We are regulars here you know” one of them asked with a raised eyebrow

“I am sorry ma’am but the management that there should not be any discount as from now on” she answered politely

“Who is the management? Is it not your son? Why not give him a call?” the second woman suggested and Anita brought out her phone to call Tom but his number was switched off

“His phone is off, maybe he is in a meeting” she said to them and they rolled their eyes

“You might be able to get through to his secretary, why not call her?” the first friend suggested

“I don’t have his secretary’s number, was I supposed to have it?” she answered and they couldn’t hide their shock

“Why wouldn’t you have his secretary’s number? That is the most important thing because how will you get updates about him?” the second woman stated

“I never felt the need to get update about him though” she muttered and they shook their head

“Can we get the CEO Secretary’s number?” one of them asked turning to the lady at the counter

“I am sorry ma’am but I don’t have it. You might be able to get it at the reception though” she replied politely once again

“You all are so complicated! Let’s just pay for it and go” the second woman snapped and finally they paid for their goods without any discount which made them edgy towards her for the rest of the hangout.

*****

Amber checked the time and got ready for the arrival of the said guests coming from MG Pharmaceutical. Just as she finished touching her makeup in the restroom, a call came through from the mall that they were around and she went immediately to attend to them.

“Welcome ma’am, I am Amber and I am here to help you out as per CEO Tom’s order” she said with a small smile

“I am so sorry for requesting this and taking your time when you should be doing other things” the bride to be apologized

“You don’t have to apologize, this is part of my job too” Amber remarked

“This is my fiancé, Charles. He decided to come along with me and you can just call me Joy” she introduced

“You are both welcome” Amber said to them and stretched her hand forward

“Shall we go now?” she said and led the way.

They walked for a bit deeper into the left wing of the clothing section till they got to the bridal section. Amber pushed the door opened and waited for them to enter before she went in too and closed the door behind her.

“What exactly do you have in mind?” she asked with her hands placed neatly around her lower abdomen area

“I want something simple yet elegant and classy” Joy replied instantly

“I will get them for you right now” she said and went to handpick the gowns that was in the category she mentioned.

After ten minutes, she pushed the cloth hanger out and showed her the dresses on the hanger

“Will you try them on now?” she asked and Joy nodded

Joy started trying out the clothes in the small changing room around the corner of the room while the employees helped her out. Amber stood beside the door waiting for her to finish up when Charles dropped his cup of water on the floor.

She ran to his side to quickly help him out with cleaning of the shattered glass and spilled water since the employees were working for Joy at the moment. She bent down a bit to gather the pieces of cups after guarding her hand with wipes wrapped around it, she was halfway done when she felt a hand on her behind but it was very brief.

She thought it was a mistake and continued her work until she felt the hand groping her again and this time it was longer. She could not take it anymore and stood up to confront Charles who quickly played dumb.

“What do you think you are doing?” she asked raising her eyebrows

“What do you mean by that?” Charles remarked feigning innocence

“Apologize right now!” she demanded and Charles scoffed

“What did you just say?” he asked with an evil grin

“I said you should apologize right now!” She demanded once again and a voice stepped in

“What do you think you are doing right now?” Tom asked as he walked into the room.

Tom was passing by the bridal section as he was returning to his office when he saw Amber in arguments with Charles. He walked into the room to ask what was happening when he heard her demanding for an apology.

“I am demanding for an apology from you right now” she yelled at his face

“What is going on right now? What do you think you are doing?” he asked looking at her

“He was touching me appropriately, he was groping me” she explained

“Why would I do that? I only dropped the cup of water by mistake and she was cleaning it up before she suddenly started yelling at my face to apologize” Charles said innocently and she scoffed

“It was true that his cup shattered but while I was cleaning it up, he suddenly groped me from behind and it was twice at that” she insisted

“Is there any proof that he did that? You shouldn’t make false accusations” Tom said and her shoulder dropped in shock.

She has been working with him for close to three years and he could still think she made things like this up? She was so disappointed in him and angry at him at the same time. She closed her eyes to beat back the tears that were welling up in her eyes for a while.

“I don’t have any CCTV to prove it here” she said with her head down

“I sincerely want you to prove it now, I feel wronged for being accused of something I didn’t do” Charles remarked and she could not believe her ears

“I am sorry for the misunderstanding caused, I hope you will let it go quietly” Tom apologized to him but he slammed his hand on the sofa’s arm

“Why should I let it go quietly when she’s accusing me of sexually harassing her! Do you know me? Do you know how great I am? Were you trying to squeeze money out of me by making up some foolish stories like this? I can file a petition against this company and that will be over for you all and even your boss standing here” Charles threatened and she couldn’t even speak because she was rendered speechless by his sudden boldness

“Once again we are sorry, CEO Charles” Tom apologized

“I don’t want your own apology, I want her to apologize since she was the one that accused me” Charles remarked and that was the end of the drama for Amber

“I will never apologize since you are the one that was in the wrong. You groped me and still want me to apologize to you?” she stated with pain mixed with anger

“As from tomorrow, don’t come to work anymore Miss Amber” Tom commanded and bowed in apology to Charles when a text dropped on Amber’s phone

“You should balance up for this week or we will stop the treatment” the nurse from the hospital texted her and she sighed

Everything in her wanted her to slap him and walk out of the company too but her piling debts would not just allow her to do anything. She bent her head forward towards Charles and apologized

“I am sorry for accusing you wrongly” she said and they wondered why she changed her mind

“I guess you losing your job brought you back to your senses” Charles chuckled and rested his back on the sofa

“I don’t want an half-ass apology like this, you should apologize properly by going on your knees” Charles declared and Tom turned to face him, surprised at his request

“I know something happened between you two but going on her knees will be too extreme” Tom said and Charles picked up his phone

“With one phone call I can make all your stocks become dust in an instant. Do you still think you can risk it because of one employee?” Charles said with a smirk and Tom didn’t know what to do

He was still thinking of ways to handle it when Amber went on her knees and apologized to Charles. She knelt down in front of him while trying to hold back her tears.

“I am sorry for accusing you wrongly once again” she apologized with her head bowed

“You will make me the bad person at this rate” Charles said and motioned for her to stand up but she could not find the strength to do that.

Tom walked to her side and helped her up but she flung his hand away and glared at him for a bit before managing to stand up on her own and stomped out of the room. Joy came out after trying out the clothes and picked the one she liked.

“You can send that to my house” she said to the employee that followed her in and they bowed to her before leaving the room with the clothes she picked

“How was it? Did you find the one you like?” Charles asked with a smile

“They were all so beautiful that I wanted to pick all but I had to restrain myself” she answered with a smile

“Where is Secretary Amber?” she asked looking around

“She went to take care of an urgent matter” Tom quickly covered up for her

“That’s sad, I wanted to thank her for her help” she pouted

“You can do that next time. Let’s go now because I have a meeting in the next thirty minutes” Charles said standing up and they left the room.

Tom escorted them to the car and bid them goodbye before returning to his office where he saw that she was absent from her seat.

She had gone to the restroom to bawl her eyes out because she couldn’t bottle up the pain and embarrassment inside anymore. She felt so wronged that she was the victim and she was the one that also apologized. The more she thought about, the more her anger rose and she felt like kicking them both in the face.

She finally finished crying and fixed her makeup before going back to the office. She entered the office and locked eyes with Tom through the window blinds and glared at him for some seconds before marching to her seat.

Not more than two minutes, he called her to his office and requested for a file. She brought it to him and handed it over to him when he addressed her.

“If you don’t know when to draw the line between being professional and stubborn, you might end up losing all you have” he said flipping through the pages

She wanted to argue but stopped since it was a futile effort and the damage was done already so she just turned to take her leave while he continued his work.

She finished up for the day and went to the hospital to settle the bill and also see her mother who was admitted there. She pulled the door opened to see her staring into the bright lights coming from the city’s buildings.

“Isn’t this night so beautiful? There is moonlight also” her mother said to her as she turned to look at her

“I know right. They are shining so bright with nothing being able to restrict them, I hope I can shine like them someday because I am so jealous of them right now” she poured out

“Did something happen at work? You look so down and your voice is sad too” her mother asked as she came nearer to her

“Well there is never a smooth day at work. I am just tired that is why my voice is like this” she told her mother

“If you are holding on because of me and being disrespected then you should quit. You shouldn’t go through hard times because of me” her mother advised and she chuckled

“Who is being disrespected? Your daughter is the secretary of the CEO! I am one of the high ranking employee in the company so you should be proud because it is a bragging right” she stated and they both laughed

“I just feel bad seeing you put all your money into my hospital bills, you should be doing other things with your money” her mother muttered with a sad voice

“That is why you should get better soon so we can many things together. I have a long list of what to do with you” she said, helping her to adjust her scarf around her neck

“I promise to then” her mother said firmly and they both hugged each other.

Her mother have been suffering from kidney disease for the past six months and the dialysis treatment have been consuming a lot on her paycheck but she was not complaining as long as her mother is able to hold on till they find a donor.

She sat by her mother’s side as they played their favorite song, Winter Bear by V while enjoying the scenery of the night.

“Imagine your face say hello to me, then all the bad days are nothing to me. That line is really comforting” she muttered and quickly clean the tears dropping from her eyes before her mother sees it and get worried.

She finally bid goodbye and left the hospital when a car pulled up and it turned out to be Eddy

“Hello beautiful lady? Are you going somewhere? Do you want to go on a ride with me?” Eddy shouted with a wave and she burst into a broad smile

“I guess I will not be sleeping angry this night” she said to herself as she ran to enter the car

“I have been dialing your number all day but you didn’t pick up so I went to check you out at the office and I was told you left already. I figured out that this will be the place you are then” he said as soon as she got into the car

“You really know everything about me” she remarked fixing her seatbelt

“Of course, it’s been more than two years” he said proudly

“Since I am here, should I just greet her? It’s been a while I came here” he suggested

“It’s way past visitation time and she’s resting too so we can come back another time” she responded and he nodded in agreement before igniting the car and zoomed off.

He parked the car at a distance so they could walk a little bit to her house and discuss things

“How is work going? You seems to be busy these days” she asked holding his hand

“There have been so many requests coming in these days so it’s natural to be busy” he responded holding unto her hand in return

“How about you? How is work?” he asked looking at her and she lost all expression on her face because she was not sure whether to tell him what was going on at work or not.

Knowing his temper, he might make the incident bigger than usual if she reveals what Charles did to her and also if she tells him about the contract, he might misunderstand so she shook her head and kicked against it.

“Everything is going on well at work” she lied and he nodded

“You are a professional at what you do after all” he remarked

“I stopped working at the club. I won’t do that anymore” she told him and he stood still for a while

“Although I really didn’t like the idea of you being a stripper at a club, I was able to understand since it was because of your financial status and since I didn’t have much to offer from my end, I couldn’t stop you. Will it be too selfish of me to say that I am happy you quitted?” he carefully stated and she smiled

“No, you are not selfish at all. Thank you for your support all these while, thank you for the understanding too. I think life pitied me a little and made my love life a good one at least” she remarked and he drew her closer to himself

“Life doesn’t have a choice but to be fair to us in one aspect or the other. Let’s enjoy this fairness till the end” he commented and leaned in for a kiss.

It was slightly getting deeper when they heard someone cough from behind and they turned to see Emily standing there

“Should I just leave the house for both of you tonight? You seems to want to burn in the moment” Emily remarked and they laughed

“You should have a good night sweetheart” Eddy said to her and waved her bye before leaving for his car while she entered with Emily

“You are one fearless lady” Emily teased her as they went inside the room.

She thought about everything that happened that day while showering but after letting water flow through her hair into her head and wash away everything, she was refreshed.

She scrolled through her favorite artist’s posts and wondered why he haven’t updated any painting for quite some time

“I wish Umbra can upload something nice soon” she sighed before throwing her bed to her side

“At least, there is peace at this side of my life” she muttered as she stepped out of the shower and went to bed.

Emily left the house very early the next morning after telling Amber that she has an early morning test. Amber dressed up and went to work also with a better mood than that of the previous day since Eddy made her feel better the last night.

She got to the office and saw the text from Tom saying he would be coming in late to the office so she attend the meeting with the head of teams in his stead.

“Whatever” she mouthed as she read the text and removed her long coat to start the day’s work.

When it was time for the meeting, she picked up her coat and left for the conference room in the far end of the left side at the top floor of the building. She was shown respect to as the secretary to the CEO as she entered and sighed

“At least, I still have some respect left to my name” she thought and had her seat

“The CEO will not be joining us today because he has something urgent to attend to so we will start the meeting without him. What do we have on ground?” she asked and one of the team leaders tendered her report.

“The sales for this month shot up because of the many conglomerates wedding that will be taking place soon and luckily for us, all of them are buying their wedding items from us” the team leader reported

“With this sudden increase in orders, make sure that the employees doesn’t mix up orders like the last time because we don’t have any money to settle queries and also make sure that all their goods are sent to them in the best condition. Of course, make sure to package them well too and include a congratulatory gift for them” she directed and the team leader replied that she would do exactly what she said.

They discussed other things with the rest of the team leaders and after three hours, the meeting ended and she returned to the office to finish up what she was previously doing before Tom finally came to the office.

***

Emily finished her test and was walking around the corridor while chatting seriously with someone when her friends sneaked in on her.

“Who are you texting this ferociously? You don’t have a boyfriend if I can remember” Jessica said staring at her

“You have been texting a lot these days, who is the lucky guy? Are you going to hide him from us forever?” Mark added and she hid her phone

“I was discussing about my tuition fees with my dad, nothing more” she lied and Jessica tilted her head

“From what I know, your tuition for this session is settled because I was there when you paid so why are you discussing another one already when the first semester is not even over?” Jessica questioned

“That’s how I and my father do our thing. Stop bothering me, it’s a father and daughter talk so why are you poking your nose in?” she raised her voice and Jessica was startled

“There is no need to shout, I was only joking but I guess it went wrong” Jessica stuttered

“Are you sure nothing is wrong? You are so defensive today” Mark stated and she shook her head

“I was just pissed that she didn’t believe me” she said and patted Jessica’s shoulder to apologize

“I’m sorry”

“It’s okay” Jessica said with a shrug

“How about we hang out today? We are off the hook of test for a while” she suggested

“That would be nice!” Mark growled and they giggled before deciding where exactly to hang out.

****

Amber tendered the reports of the meeting to Tom and also explained some other things that were discussed in the meeting.

“Thank you for doing a wonderful job” he complimented her and she went back to her seat.

She was planning to clock out when Tom’s call came through

“We have somewhere to be today” he said and she almost cursed at him because she had already planned to go out of work as soon as possible.

They went to the same place where they went to the last time and she helped her carried some boxes he put in the car’s trunk inside the house.

“You can arrange them in the fridge” he said and disappeared through a door in the room leaving her to do what he ordered.

She opened the cartons one by one to find different snacks, fruits, drinks and lots of bottled water

“Is he planning to live here now? How come he’s buying this much?” she muttered as she filled the enter fridge with it.

She finished arranging them and waited for him to come out but seeing how he didn’t come out after a while, she decided to go to him instead. She walked in through the door she saw him walk through and found herself in a corner with two rooms there. She slowly walked to the right one and tried opening it when it opened by itself to reveal Tom coming out of the room and that made her startled a bit.

“I am done with the arrangement” she quickly said

“That’s good but let me make one thing clear, your work is only in the large room. On no account should you wander around or go into the room aimlessly” he warned and she nodded

They went back to the large room and he told her to have her seat while he also sat opposite to her.

“I know you must have been wondering why we signed a contract, what exactly I want from you and how long this will last. I will iron out all everything right now and you listening to me talk means that there is no turning back no matter what because you have become my own” he stated clearly

“From now henceforth, you will be revealed as the artist UMBRA” he revealed and she was confused about what he was saying

“Artist Umbra? What is that?” she asked raising her brows

“Umbra means shadow in Latin and that is my name in the painting world. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Painter Umbra, which is me sitting in front of you” he explained and she covered her mouth in shock before she started laughing

“I know that you are very boring but there is no need to try hard to make me laugh, I am already used to your cold atmosphere” she chuckled loudly but when she saw that he was not smiling and dead serious, the chuckle began to fade away slowly.

“Wait! Are you serious right now? You are the artist Umbra? The same Umbra? The anonymous artist? You are the one?” she asked with a serious face and tone this time around

“I know you do not believe me but that is not a problem because I wouldn’t too if I were in your shoes but I will prove it to you” he said and grabbed a large piece of white paper from the desk with a mini purse containing several pencils.

Before she could even grasp what was going on, he already sketched her face and showed it to her

“What the hell? You are really the one” she blurt out and he marched to the desk to bring out a big carton at the down slot of the shelf sitting there.

He brought out some watercolor palettes and started painting on the sketch while she waited patiently even though she was so curious about what the outcome would be. He was done after forty five minutes and he turned the paper to her so she could check it out.

She gasped in awe and stood up to find her way to the desk where she collected it to see it more closely.

“This is so beautiful, how can this be so perfect?” she marveled as she raised the paper to her face

“Do you believe now?” he asked with a hint of pride

“Of course! I have been a fan of Umbra for two years and I can recognize any of his work. This is really Umbra’s stroke” she gushed

“Should we resume our contract negotiations then?” he said standing up.

****

Amber finished the negotiation with Tom around eight in the evening and quickly flagged down the taxi to take her to Eddy’s house since that day was his birthday. She initially planned to leave the office and go straight to his house but since she had to fulfil her contract with Tom, she texted him that she will be late that night.

She wanted to use the elevator in the building but the wait was so long so she decided to just use the stairs instead since Eddy’s room was on the first floor. Just as she opened the door to the stairs, a lady in all black passed by her with a black cap on her head. She was scared for a bit but since the lady passed by in a flash, she just ignored it and went on her way.