The meeting came to an end and Ryan went to see his dad in his office. He knocked on the door and a voice told him to come in. He met both his parents, sitting on the couch away from his office seat.
"You sent it to me." Ryan recalled as he stood behind the couch.
"Have a seat." He told Ryan as he sat down.
"Secretary!" The director called out.
"Yes sir!" He replied, entering the office. The secretary's office of Mr. Tahir was located at the door, a smaller room before the office of the director.
"Where are the others?" He asked his secretary.
"I…they are here sir." He said as he and his remaining children walked in and sat down.
"You can excuse us." The director said, dismissing him to go back to his seat.
"Yes sir." He said as he left, closing the door behind him.
"Okay, without wasting much of your time, I called you all here for an important meeting." He started, clearing his throat severally.
"The president as you all know is retiring soon and has decided to hand over the company to me, making me the next president." Mr. Tahir broke the news.
"Wow…. congratulations dad." His children congratulated also with his wife.
"Thank you…my promotion will also have to affect one of yours too." He said happily as they listened with keen interest.
"Does that mean I'll be leaving my post? Dad, I've always complained about how small my office was and needed a bigger one. I believe the post of the next director will suit me well." Shanya told everyone, with pride in her.
"Well, that's not going to be easy to say as you three have to work for that position. Whosoever is competent enough will have that position." The director announced.
"What do you mean competent?" His wife asked.
"The three of you will do your best presentation and bring it to me by the end of two weeks and also anyone that makes the highest sales will pass the first stage of the interview. The interview is of three stages, it will be done just and fair. Cheating won't be allowed and if I get to know any of you cheated, you'll not only be disqualified but also will lose your present position. I'm following protocols…" He told them and waited for questions which came up but only a few did after which they were dismissed.
Ryan knew this was a big task and he must embark on it if he wants to either get the promotion or remain in his position. He started working on his presentation and saw less of Heara. He had explained to her already that work had become hectic but still created time to talk to her and her son on calls.
He decided to visit her during the weekend. Her two weeks were almost about to expire and he needed to take her somewhere. He had been on the search for a house he could buy but none suit his taste.
He also didn't want to ask anyone to get it for him as he did it all by himself. He finally got a three bedroom flat and paid for it to be cleaned up. He bought pieces of furniture, a bed for each room and all a house would need.
After getting everything ready, he went to visit Haera on a weekend. He told her to take all of her stuff as she would be moving out of the hotel to another place. He took her shopping where he bought her clothes that she loved. He had lied to her that it was for his sister as he wanted to replace her wardrobe as a birthday gift to her.
He had deceived her that she and his sister had the same body size. He knew she'd refuse to go shopping with him and pick what fitted her and what she loved the most. Beautiful but also expensive clothes and shoes were bought. He also bought bags and other ladies' stuff; everything contained a box. He finally took her to the apartment he had rented and told her that was where she would be staying.
She had no option but to accept it if she didn't want to end up on the streets. Ryan told her that was the least he could do so she shouldn't thank him but live comfortably. She asked after her husband again from Ryan. He had lied to her the previous time she asked him, he told her that he had traveled and was out of town. He had also lied to her that he asked him to do all of that for her before he came back.
Ryan had to tell so many lies to Haera and wished a day would come when he could apologize and tell her the entire truth about everything, but that day was never forthcoming. He wondered how many lies he would tell her before then as he felt bad about it. Sometimes, she cried to him, asking why her husband never called her. Ryan had to keep two phones and pretend to be her "husband". Anytime she called him, Ryan would pick the call.
She began to talk less to Ryan as she spent most of her time talking to her "husband". Ryan got stressed out as he had to put up with this. Sometimes, she chatted with him late at night, called him more frequently and "he" also sent her money into her bank account that Ryan opened for her. Ryan began to fall sick due to much stress. He wished he could just tell her the truth but she wouldn't believe it.
He came up with an idea to lie to her that her husband passed away on his way traveling to come back. He knew it wouldn't be easy on her but he would be there to comfort her. He couldn't deny that she wasn't married because she had a child, who then was the father?
Ryan couldn't lie to her to be her husband because that was going to be far worse and complicated. He had already told her that he took her to the hospital and helped her get to her feet. He had so many things to think about aside from work.
She enjoyed her stay in the house as she had nothing much to do other than cook and clean. Everything was perfectly set and she thanked Ryan once again. Back at home, Ryan had no peace of mind to work on his presentation and also marketing of some products. He visited her once in a while and she had seen him several times working on some documents.
"What are you doing? Can I help out?" She asked him as she sat beside him and watched him.
"It's work…don't worry…it's fine. I can handle it." He told her with a smile as he continued with what he was doing. She went into the kitchen and made him a hot coffee.
"Here…" She handed it to him. He thanked her and sipped it until he had emptied the contents of the cup.
"Why don't you just sleep over? There's more than enough room here." She asked him with a smile.
"No…I don't want to make you uncomfortable." He gave an excuse.
"No way… why will you say such? It's your house after all…remember you got it for me? Please feel comfortable…if you want to sleep over you can, I'll just arrange your sleeping things and that's all." She tried to convince him to sleep over but he didn't want to as he was scared she might want to call her "husband" again and his phone would ring.
"Your husband wouldn't like it if I shared the same roof with you." He tried to come up with an excuse.
"Okay then, can I call and ask him if you could sleep over?" She asked him. She'd been faithful to her "husband" and told him everything going on between her and Aryan and how nice he had been to her. Ryan also had to be careful of how close he got with her so that he could play the role of a "good" husband to her.