Raymond walked out of the office, his facemask fastened around his face. He turned to one of the secretaries to ask which floor the HR department was and after they told him, he proceeded to the elevator.
On the seventh floor, two floors to his destination, the elevator door opened and Raymond hand moved to adjust his facemask. However, as his eyes fell on the person entering the elevator, his hand dropped in shock.
Without realizing himself, he removed the facemask on his face.
"Rian... " He called, attracting the person's attention.
Cyprian looked at the face of the man standing before her and she felt dizzy suddenly. She hurried out of the elevator, her chin tipping up to stop the tears from falling. She has vowed 4 years ago that she wouldn't shed any tear for this man again but why?... Why did her tears keep coming?
"Rian!" She heard Shikera calling from the distance so she hurriedly wiped her tears with the tip of her sleeves.
In the elevator, Raymond fell to his knees as his legs suddenly weakened. When he got to the 5th floor, he stood up to press the top floor button before falling back to his knees.
The elevator finally opened and he trudged back to Ethan's office.
"Ray? You're back so soon." Ruthlyn said. She was sitting on a couch in the office working on the files Raymond had been working on earlier, but the manner in which her brother walked in distracted her.
Ethan also looked up from Shikera's medical history which he was studying. Raymond might be a slow and almost dumb assistant compared to his sister but he was also Ethan's friend who had sacrificed a lot for him so when he saw his dejected and sullen expression, Ethan stood up to meet him halfway.
"What's wrong, Ray?" He asked.
Ruthlyn also walked to her brother, worry etched on her face.
Raymond looked at both of their faces, his eyes teary as he leaned into Ethan's shoulder. Ethan turned to Ruthlyn and she nodded, walking out of the room.
"I saw her." Raymond whispered, his voice raspy with sobs.
Ethan patted his back. He knew there was only one person who could make Raymond tear up like this. And this was all he, Ethan's, fault.
"She didn't say anything but her eyes held only hatred for me."
Ethan continued patting his shoulder until Raymond suddenly raised his head.
"Ethan, you have to help me just this once. She's a reporter so I'm very sure she's one of the reporters that we employed as receptionists. Just let her stay, the other one can leave. I will do anything..."
"It's alright, Ray." Ethan interrupted him, "I just have to avoid her."
*****
Shikera glanced down at her phone, before looking up at the teary eyes Cyprian.
"Mr Lane just messaged me. He asked if we found anything yet and if we will be able to have dinner with him tonight." She informed Cyprian.
"Why are you telling me that?" Cyprian sniffed, a wry smile on her lips. "If he wanted to invite me, he would have messaged me too."
Shikera chuckled at her words, "I think our Team Leader only gave him mine. But he clearly mentioned the both of us in his message. If he has an ulterior motive, it will be useless as I won't be able to... "
"Miss Anderson and Miss Leigh!"
"Yes!" They chorused, standing up to meet the person who had interviewed them, Andrew Lane's spy.
"Miss Anderson can move to the ground floor to start work there but Miss Leigh is moving up. One of the CEO's assistants needs a clerk so you'll be moving to his office."
Shikera's and Cyprian looked at each other in surprise. They were sure Andrew Lane hadn't planned this. He couldn't have that much influence in Anderson's corporation.
"I hope you both won't cause any trouble and would work quietly in your posts." The man said and they nodded.
As the man walked away, Cyprian pulled Shikera away to the restroom. She checked all the toilet cubicles before pulling Shikera into an empty one.
"Do you think they found out about us? Is that why they're separating us?" She whispered.
Shikera seemed to think about it for a while before she shook her head.
"I don't think so. If they really discovered us, we would have been fired and not separated."
" That's true, but what if they found out about your identity?"
"Then I will be the assistant's clerk and not you. Let's just go to our post, Rian. See you later!"
With that, they separated with Shikera going to the ground floor while Cyprian went to the 15th floor, a deserted floor which she was told was soon going to be occupied by the CEO's assistants.
*******
Shikera alighted from her car, her eyes moving up to bask in the beauty and effulgence of the Villa. This seemed to be the only good thing attached to marrying Ethan, apart from the fact that he was handsome and that her father's mind was also at ease with him. Thinking of that, she wondered why her father had decided to get her married to someone who seemed to despise her so much...
She was not allowed to think too much before a typhoon with a head of fluffy blonde hair ran into her arms. She looked down at the boy... or was it a girl, who was looking up at her with a grouchy look on her face.
She was sure there was no one else living within a distance of 400 metres to Ethan's villa because his words last night had confirmed he lived very far from humans so where did this baby come from?
She looked around, searching for the child's mother or any other adult when someone sauntered out of Ethan's villa. Shikera did not need to wonder about this one's identity because his face had pronounced him Ethan's brother.
"Hey!" She greeted, a bright smile on her face.
"Where's my brother?" The man asked, ignoring her greetings.
His tone made Shikera realize that he was just like his brother, they hated her for a reason which was unknown to her. But she was also not ready to suck up to anyone. Since she was in a contract marriage, she was not required to keep a good relationship with them, right?
"How old are you?" Shikera asked, tipping her chin up.
The man smirked as if the whole situation was funny to him.
"24. Why?" He replied.
"I'm 24 too but I know that it's normal courtesy to return a greeting when someone greets you but you...did you skip kindergarten or something?" She asked.
Her heart triumphed as she saw the smirk on the man's face, turn to a frown. As he opened his mouth to retort, the screeching of car tires in the driveway attracted their attention.
Ethan alighted the car, together with Raymond and Ruthlyn, whom Shikera didn't recognize. They bowed slightly to Shikera and Ethan's brother before disappearing around the villa. Shikera was shocked as she didn't know Raymond lived around Ethan too.
"What's happening here?" Ethan asked, noticing the position of the three.
His brother, Enoch was glaring at his wife while his daughter, Esther was gripping his wife's pants like she owed her candy or something.
"Daddy, who's this woman?" His daughter asked and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see Shikera's eyes widen.