By the time Brandon was getting off from work, Natasha was already asleep. It happened for the next following days and the two people living in the same house had not met for a while. By the time Brandon came back from work, Natasha was always asleep in her bed and he could not wake her up. And by the time she woke up, he had already gone to work. What surprised her is that she slept in her bed but always woke up in his. Ever since she had gone to hospital, she had no idea where her phone was and she hardly needed it since the drugs she got from the hospital made her so sleepy. Simon always went to check up on her every two days, each time with better news. She was improving. Mrs. Gilbert always ensured she ate healthy and her iron levels were doing well.
On a fresh new week, after having not seen Brandon for over two weeks, she woke up early in the morning and prepared herself for work. It was a few minutes past seven but Brandon had already left for work. She woke up in her bed this time and immediately knew that he had not come home the previous night. Putting on a figure clenching navy blue off-shoulder knee-length dress, black six inch heels, a blue purse, light make up, a navy blue head-wrap and a black coat to complement it, she got in to her jeep and drove off to work.
At BESMA Group of companies.
The elevator made way on the thirty-second floor to allow for Natasha to get off. Her presence immediately put everyone on high alert and soon the whole company was buzzing. She got in to her office and immediately noticed that nothing had changed. The room was still sparkling clean as if no one had occupied it in her almost one month of absence. Her secretary immediately knocked in after her.
"Come in Pauline. What are the updates? I am sure I have a lot of work pending." Natasha said as she sat down, ushering her secretary to sit down too.
"None, Ms. Claire." Pauline said, reluctant to seat.
"What do you mean none? I have been unwell for almost a month. That is too much work to accumulate for you to tell me none."
"Well, Ms. Claire, it is the truth. The CEO, Mr. Joseph had all your work handled."
"Handled? What do you mean handled? By who?" Natasha asked seating up.
"I don't know Ms. Claire. He had it handled."
"Okay. I shall follow up. Leo? Mr. Theo? Where is he?"
"Fired, Ms. Claire. Almost as soon as you went for your leave." Pauline answered and noticed the shock of Natasha's face. "If that will be all Ms. Claire, please welcome back. Excuse me."
Natasha was too held up in her thoughts to hear what her secretary had said. She wondered what had happened and was confused. She reached out for her office telephone and called for Watson.
"Ms. Claire." His voice rang sweetly on the other end of the line.
"Watson, how did you know?"
"Word travels first. I hope you are doing well. Feeling better."
"Yes. Yes. I am. Listen, my phone. Do you by any chance know where my cell phone might be. I cannot seem to find it therefore I cannot contact anybody and I need to contact people. My parents might have tried to reach me over the past two weeks and failed and are now worried!"
"I may not have an idea of where your cell phone might be but as for all the other stuff, I am sure Boss Bran has it sorted."
"Sorted? What do you mean sorted? Did… did he get in touch with my family by any chance?"
"This is where my conversation with you ends and you upgrade." Watson teased.
"Wait…is he the one who did all my work?"
"Come on Ms. Claire, is that not the purpose of partners?" Watson said then hang up.
Natasha was confused. What did Watson mean by Brandon having it sorted out? She opened her computer for any pending work. There was none. Suddenly a private message popped up on her notification panel. "Welcome back, Ms. Claire." She looked at the messenger ID. It was initialed as "Bran. Joe." She immediately knew who it was. She decided to go to his office. Since her office was at the end of the corridor, she had to walk past her nosey co-workers again, as if earlier on was not enough torture.
"Is it true that she is Boss Brandon's girlfriend now?" One colleague asked the other.
"Yes. I saw it on TV when they attended the big party two weeks ago or so."
"But did she not only join us two months ago? Was she his girlfriend then?"
"Two months?" Another third party joined.
"Yes." The first one answered. "Maybe that is why she got the job in the first place. Not due to her qualifications but her sexual appeal."
"My what?" A voice came from the door. It was stern, calm and firm. Natasha was standing at the door way listening to her subordinates speak about her behind her back. "Come on, don't be shy. Fill me in." She added as she stepped closer to where the three had frozen.
"Nothing Ma'am!" The three chorused in embarrassment.
"Well, that is a shame. I was looking forward to hearing it too." A masculine voice emphasized from behind Natasha. Everyone turned to look at the person behind Natasha who was comfortably leaning on the door on his right, with his right hand in his pocket and the left perusing through his phone. Only Natasha did not turn around. Her heart was racing, she was running short of breath and she struggled to pull herself together. The three women before her stood up immediately and lowered their head in shame. Their big boss was in their office. He hardly went to their office. In fact, he actually never did.
"Well, Sir," Natasha explained without looking at the man behind her. She could smell his strong cool perfume. "The three here were just agreeing to working overtime for the next two weeks with no extra pay." The three women nodded at her quickly in agreement. They were grateful she had lied for them or otherwise they would have been fired on the spot. Natasha gave a slight nod and bellowed, "Well then, don't you have things to do!" And the three women scattered in different directions.
"Are you not going to look at me, Ms. Claire?" Brandon wondered. Natasha slowly checked her breathing pattern then turned around and walked past him in an instant without looking at him. She got in to her office and shut it. She knew he would not get in since one could not access the office without permission. She rushed to her restroom and stood at the mirror. She looked at herself in the mirror for a while and bent over to splash some water on her face. 'What is wrong with you Tasha! Why are you running away from him?' She asked herself out loud.
"I am also wondering the same thing." Came the same voice from before behind her. Startled, she almost lost her balance and hit her head on the sink but she was caught mid-air. "Ms. Claire." Brandon called out seductively. He looked in to her eyes as deeply as he could. The room was silent and only love could be felt all round.
"How did you get in?" Natasha inquired. She was still embraced in his arms and could smell his perfume even better now. She had put her hands round his neck and immediately let go as soon as she realized, but he held on to her waist tighter.
"Ms. Claire, do you forget I am the CEO of this company and I therefore have access to all rooms, corners and crevices in this great organization?" He gloated. Natasha looked at him and rolled her eyes. He loved when she did that. He smiled at her and embraced her. "How have you been? I have missed you." He went on passionately.
"You did not come home last night." Natasha pointed out trying not to get lost in the warm embrace.
"Some project was due tomorrow and so I spent my whole night working on it."
"Project? Projects are under me. You…" She stopped mid-way and looked at him lovingly. "How many projects have you done for me?"
"Not many…"
"How many?"
"Three or so." He lied. She knew it. She wiggled herself out of his arms and rushed to her telephone. She dialed Watson and Brandon walked out and sat on the couch.
"Watson, how many projects have been done on my behalf?" She then hung up after she had gotten her response. She looked at the man seated on the couch with his legs crossed comfortably. She knew Watson had lied for him.
"How many did he say?"
"Four. And I know you are lying!" She opened her machine and went straight to her emails. Brandon did not know what she was doing until she shouted. "Twelve!" Then he realized that she had just realized. "But…but…"
"It was no big deal." He comforted her. "I am used to it." She stood up from her desk and walked towards him.
"Did you do them all?"
"I only did those that were too demanding or important." He explained looking at her, smiling.
"So you did them all, on your own." She affirmed. He looked at her and smiled. Then he noticed a tear from her left eye, then her right. She was crying. "Damn you!" She snapped.
"What is wrong?" He asked standing up, pulling her down to the couch.
"You always make me cry!" Natasha was whining. Brandon always made her happy to the point that she mostly cried. It was a fact. Troubling, but true.
"Hush now. And by the way, I shall be having your family flown in in the afternoon. They had asked about you a lot and I told them you had been busy on a business trip but you are back now. Where you went, there was no network service. Watson will help you fabricate the rest." Natasha raised her head from his shoulder in shock. "I know I lied, but them worried is even worse! Here is your phone." He reached in to his pocket and handed to her her cell phone. She looked at it then at him and she was emotional again.
"Damn you Brandon Joseph!" She repeated. "You are always making me cry!"