His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Three

"Who was that?" Jasmine said as she pulled the curtain back to take another peek out of the window, but the car had pulled away. Sophia slipped out of her wet coat and hung it onto the back of a chair.

"Just my boss," she told her with a shrug as she navigated through the apartment to the kitchen which, as always, was a mess. Sophia began to load the dirty plates into the sink and pulled on a pair of pink rubber gloves. "Grab a towel will you?"

Jasmine leaned against the sink, stopping Sophia from doing the washing up. "Not until you tell me why you never mentioned you work for Noah McKenzie."

"Because it isn't important. It's a job, Jas."

"I'd be screaming from the top of this building if my boss was as sexy as yours."

"Joey's sexy in his own right," Sophia joked, and Jasmine's expression changed into one of disgust.

"He's 50."

"You always said you liked older men. Besides, you knew I worked at MKT, I thought you'd put two and two together."

"I didn't realise you were working directly under him. It's such a big company, I thought you'd work away from him."

"I'm his PA, Jas and you'd know that if you actually listened to me once in a while instead of drooling over the postman."

Sophia nudged her best friend out of the way and began to wash the dishes. An hour of teamwork later, the dishes were washed, dried and put away. The sink had been cleaned and so had the counters, the kitchen was spotless by the time they relaxed into the couch. Jasmine suggested ordering a pizza, which they allowed themselves once a month as they still had to budget. Sophia was hesitant to agree but finally caved, as her friend said that it was her evening to make dinner, but she was shattered and could barely lift her finger to change the channel on the tv.

When the pizza arrived Jasmine paid the delivery girl and carried it into the living room, where they ate and watched the nature channel. It was a typical Friday night in the Jenkins-Hughes household; they would eat their dinner lounging on the couch watching rubbish on tv, and as it was almost Christmas they hadn't a care in the world about anything else. Jasmine still had to work up until Christmas Eve, but Sophia had been given two weeks off, as had the other employees of MKT, and it gave her a chance to go out and buy her friend a present. Over the year that they had been sharing an apartment, they hadn't given each other Christmas gifts, as Jasmine always said having a roof over her head is the best gift she could ever receive, but Sophia decided it would be different that Christmas.

***

Christmas day passed by quickly and January rolled in without any drastic temperature change. Snow had failed to fall that year even though the weather forecast had predicted a couple of inches, and strangely, for Sophia it had felt more like Christmas than it had in a long time. She spent the holiday with just her roommate, a roast and classic films, the same way they'd spent it every year. A small 2ft tree sat in the corner of the living room, decorated with shiny balls and thin strands of tinsel they had purchased from the dollar store. It was the first year they were able to afford decorations, and it quickly became a memory for their mental scrapbook.

Her old flip phone sat on the table while she was wrapped in a blanket on the small couch, watching one of the classic Disney movies and it vibrated across the wooden surface. She'd received a text message from an unknown number, it was a simple Merry Christmas message. She ignored it knowing it was a wrong number and erased it from her mind.

The new year closed in, marking the end of her struggles with a low paid job. The new year promised exciting opportunities at MKT. They dressed and decided to go to the bar for new year drinks, as they'd earned them. Once again, it was a rarity.