Weeks flew by after Natalia gave me my job back and my life took on an entirely different turn after that. I kind of became Natalia's errand boy.
I was never able to sit still at the office and do a proper job cause Natalia was always on my neck.
She sometimes call me over to carry out unnecessary duties that wasn't even work related. Like one time, she asked me to take her car to a repair shop, and again once when she asked me to clean up her office. That wasn't even my job!
Ria does close to nothing in the office as Natalia demanded that I take care of all the paper works and Ria can deal with scheduling her meetings and other outdoor shit.
Sometimes, I had to leave the office late in the evening just so I could finish up the extreme amount of paper work that she demanded to be submitted under a very short period of time.
Not only that. She always complains about everything I do. She complains about the coffee I serve her every morning, she complains of my incompetence (which is ridiculous cause I'm doing all the damn work in this company), she complains about my punctuality and its not like I was always coming late to work but I think she was just looking for ways to make me miserable.
The job was hell for me, stressful and unbearable but I endured it. I was determined to prove myself to Natalia, to show her that I wasn't the same asshole I was in the past asshole and that I've changed.
Things weren't going well for Raphael as well. He always complains to me about Natalia and how she made him read books after books and boring files everyday. She rarely even talks to him and whenever he gets something wrong, she always ask him to repeat the process all over again.
I have never seen Raphael so worked up and angry before. He had never been mad at a girl, to him, ladies were precious but it seems like Natalia was proving him wrong.
My life was hard as it could be and despite Natalia's cruelty towards me, I found myself contended with it. It pleased me to know that I was somehow paying for the sins I committed in the past, and even though Natalia refused to forgive me, I was happy that she was kind of getting revenge on me through this. As long as it makes her feel better, even a little.
Not that I'm a masochist or anything, I just feel happy that I'm able to relieve the anger she felt for me somehow, even though she doesn't look pleased by half the things I do for her.
A Thursday morning was like every other day. I get exhausted by Natalia's errands and then take care of a large pile of paper works after that.
My eyes were heavy as I stared at the computer screen in front of me. I haven't had a good sleep in weeks and there seem to be permanent bags under my eyes. I was just worried that I won't get sick at this rate.
I was scrolling and revising through some project when Ria walked in, her phone in hand. She was rarely in the office now as she had to attend to Natalia's outdoor business since Oliver wasn't back from his honeymoon yet and I on the other hand was left to deal with the office work which turned out to be harder than I thought. Although I have a strong feeling that Natalia has something to do with that.
"Justin" she greeted, a hint of pity in her blue eyes.
Natalie's cruelty to me was no secret in OT-com. Everyone who attended Oliver's wedding knew the reasons behind it and they never fail to expressed their disgust for me. A lot of them didn't like me and the hush insults and unpleasant comments going round the company about me has totally soiled my reputation. Some people even said I didn't deserve to get my job back and Natalia was being too generous with me. Some who finally recognize me as a former billionaire son after the incident at Oliver's wedding didn't hesitate to rub it in my face.
I can say that the only person who didn't see me differently after that is Ria. She still believes that I didn't deserve this much, but I totally disagree with her. I deserve this and far worst for all what I did to Nelly.
"Hi Ria" I rubbed my sleepy eyes and shifted my attention to her.
"You okay?" She asked concerned but remain by the door.
"Yeah" I answered straightening out my stiff arms "I'm just finishing this up. I still have a lot more to take care of"
"Well that will have to wait" she look down at her iPad and began scrolling "the president wants us to accompany her to an orphanage. They'll be hosting a charity event there and she wants to check out the preparations before the events starts"
I frown in confusion. Why would she want me to come along? She herself asked me to clear up these paper works before the day ends.
I looked down at my desk and saw that I was far from clearing them up and then back at Ria "I'm not done yet and she ask me to be through with them before the day ends"
Ria waved a dismissive hand "just let it be for now. You can take care of it when we get back"
I sighed tiredly and decided not to over think this and just do as Ria says.
Natalia wanted me to come along, which means she won't expect me to finish up the work before the end of the day. Unless she wants to torture me and still ask me to finish up after taking care of whatever business she had in the orphanage.
I push away the thought and followed Ria out of the office and out the building. Natalia was already waiting for us in her car and I was surprise to see a complaining Raphael with her.
"Why do I have to go to this shit? I have no business in an orphanage"
"Its part of your tutoring Mr. Romero. So stop complaining, your obnoxious voice is giving me a headache" Natalia place a hand on her head to prove her point.
"What does an orphanage have to do with my tutoring and, I have a beautiful voice" he tried to make his voice sound deep and cool with his last sentence but it just ended up sounding like a throaty frog.
"Once we get there you'll see" Natalia said finally and Raphael angrily decided to let it go.
Ria threw the car keys in my direction and I caught it quickly "You're driving" she said and joined Natalia in the back sit who now had her head leaned back on her seat and her eyes closed.
I settled on the driver's sit beside Raphael who was still grumbling about having to go to an orphanage.
"Hey man"
"Hey" he replied in a not so cheerful tone and I guess Natalia must be really giving the guy a hard time. The Raphael I know is all about smiles and flirts. Its a surprise that he wasn't even trying to flirt with Ria as he usually does.
It didn't take long before we finally hit the road. The silence was heavy with only the sound of Natalia's soft breathing in the air.
"Is she sleeping?" Raphael asked stunned as he glance at her over his shoulder.
"Yeah" Ria answered but her eyes were on her phone. Why is she always looking at that "she has been working too hard these past few days and barely had enough time for sleep"
Raphael snorted and turned away from her "I bet she doesn't sleep because she's busy coming up with new ways to torture me"
"You guys shouldn't take it personally. The president can be very difficult at times but I'm sure she'll calm down on you guys when the time come"
"Calm down on us?" Raphael chuckled "yeah right, that's just like saying I'm ugly, its never gonna happen Ria, your boss is a witch"
"You can't deny that its our fault. We're getting what we deserve" I said in her defence.
Raphael rolled his eyes "that was many years ago Justin. Who holds a grudge for that long?"
"Maybe you guys should keep it down a bit. You don't want to wake her up" Ria whispered as she glance at Natalia who was now totally immersed in her sleep, oblivious to the conversation going on around her.
I smiled at her unconscious form through the rearview mirror and for some reason, seeing her peaceful face brought a wave of warmth through my nerves. For once she looks stress free.
Raphael on the other hand rolled his eyes and decided to stare out the window. My best friend was undoubtedly pissed off by his tutor and I have to say that its kind of amusing to see him suffer because of a girl, a girl he couldn't seduce into getting what he wants.
At least, here was someone who could resist him.
We arrived at our destination a few minutes later. Natalia was already up and ready to move on with business.
Ria once told me that since Natalia barely have enough sleep at night, she makes up for it with every little chance she gets which is mostly in the car.
We followed her through an opened field towards a three story building, watching little children laughing and running around while playing with a kite or a balloon.
I couldn't help but watch Natalia from behind as she stroll confidently towards her destination. She was dressed casually today. A light blue shirt and lose jeans with a base ball cap. Even in these outfit, she still manage to look sexy.
"Miss Orsini" a young lady greeted us with a wide smile when we approach the wide entry door. She looks no older than nineteen "its a pleasure to have you here Miss"
"Hi Kaila" Natalia patted the young girl's shoulder and her smile widen as if the gesture was a blessing to her.
"The event isn't starting until tonight so I assume you came to help with the preparations?"
"Yes, and I even brought extra hands. I knew you guys can't afford more workers as of now so I came to offer my help"
"Extra hands? What the fuck!" Raphael exclaimed glaring at the back of Natalia's head "I didn't come here to help with any preparations"
Natalia simply ignored him much to his displeasure "is there anything we can help with?"
Kaila's delightful expression changed to one of uncertainty as she glance at Raphael who didn't bother hiding the glare he was throwing at Natalia.
"Um... We're still setting up the stage and arranging the chairs outside and we would need some extra help to be honest. Also, the washing machine broke down yesterday and haven't been fixed yet so the children's clothes has to be hand washed and no one has attended to that yet"
"Okay then, Mr Newton, Mr Romero and I will take care of the washing. Ria can help you set up the stage"
"Hell to the fucking no!" Raphael snap making Kaila jump in fright "I won't hand wash some orphans kids clothes. I've never even done that to my own clothes, why should I do it for someone else"
Kaila studied him with an apologetic smile "actually you don't have to if you don't..."
"Ignore him Kaila. He's just bluffing" Natalia looked at him with a smirk and I could see the rage building up in his expression "you guys go ahead, we'll take it from here"
"Thank you Miss Orsini. We really appreciate your help" Kaila gave a nod of acknowledgement before walking away with Ria behind her.
Raphael blew up immediately "you've got to be kidding me Natalia. I didn't sign up for this. I'm not gonna wash some stupid clothes with my hands" he brought his hands to his eye level and stared at them lovingly "these beauties are only good at spanking and exploring the woman body"
I rolled my eyes at him choosing to stay out of the conversation in other not to upset Natalia.
"Its no big deal Mr Romero. Its just hand washing" she started walking again and her strides were confident which made me guess she must know her way around here.
"No big deal! My dad didn't hire you to make me a laundry man. He's gonna fire you if... No, when he hears about this"
"And why would he fire me for this?" She sounded genuinely interested in his answer.
"Because this isn't related to what you should be teaching me. The deal was to tutor me on how to run my father's company and not to open up my own laundry company"
"I already told you Mr. Romero. If I quit or get fired its all a benefit to me. You loose either way so I have nothing to worry about. You can go tell on me to daddy if you want to"
Raphael fell silent but continue to glare at her.
He told me about how she manipulated his dad into agreeing to a deal that would leave him broke and penniless for life if he doesn't focus on his tutoring.
I patted his shoulder to ease away the anger and frustration in his expression "calm down man its no big deal"
He snap his head in my direction with a look of disbelieve "no big deal? Justin hand washing is for old nannies not grown men like us. That's downright humiliating"
"We'll get over it"
"Seriously Justin this is physical abuse. I can't keep tolerating her shit, its driving me to the brick of insanity" his face twisted into a sad scowl "I haven't even had sex in weeks. Poor Raphael junior is lonely"
I laughed at his silliness. Even I am fed up with Natalia's bullying but I know I deserve it and I'm more than determined to prove myself to her. Well, at first it was all about proving myself, but I can't help but think that maybe this has become more than that.
I shook the thought out of my head and focus on my surrounding once again. We were now at the back yard of the building facing the woods.
There were piles of clothes in different baskets and different bowls and buckets filled with water.
"Fuck! I can't believe I'm about to do this" Raphael muttered under his breath but it was loud enough for us to hear.
There was a chair and a table by the side and Natalia walk towards it, sat down, folded her legs and pulled out her phone.
She glance at our stunned faces and wave a careless hand towards the bowls of water and baskets of dirty clothes "what are you waiting for? Go on"
Raphael laughed "you've got to be kidding me. Are you insinuating that we do this ourselves?"
She looked around with a bored expression "I mean, who else do you expect to do it for you?"
Raphael looked up at the sunny sky like he was praying for some kind of self control, which he probably is "listen Natalia, you volunteer to help wash this damn clothes. You forced us into this and if you're not gonna do this as well then I'm not doing it either"
"Why should I waste my time joining hands with the two of you when you are both perfectly capable of doing it yourselves"
"Then why did you tell Kaila that the three of us would take care of it. You should have just made it clear that you wanted Justin and I to do it"
She smirk and shrugged nonchalantly "I just wanted to make myself look good"
Raphael shut his eyes and clench his fist tightly by his side. I decided to step in cause I've never seen Raphael so angry before. He could get violent at this rate.
"Calm down Ralph. Let's just do this"
"Fuck No! I'm not putting up with this Justin. I understand that you feel sorry for what happen in the past but that doesn't give her the right to treat us like her slaves. We've already apologize to her and we shouldn't let her treat us like this" he faced Natalia again "sorry Miss Orsini but I'm not listening to you this time. I'm going to do something productive with my life. You should too Justin"
By productive I'm guessing he means something that involves a girl and a bedroom.
Raphael proceeded to walk away but Natalia's voice stopped him "if you leave now you're going to regret it"
He glance at her over his shoulder with a mocking expression "yeah go ahead and quit your job, I don't care anymore"
"I know you don't which is why I came up with something else" her usual cold smirk graze her lips and we all know by now that it was a bad sign "if you leave without doing what I asked, your friend Justin here is going to lose his job"
My heart exploded in my chest.
L- lose my job?
"What?" Raphael was also shocked by the unexpected blackmail. She's literally blackmailing him to wash clothes "you don't mean that do you? He doesn't have anything to do with this"
"He's your friend Raphael so its up to you"
"President this..."
"I wasn't talking to you Justin" I shut my mouth and waited for Raphael to make a choice. I felt guilty for putting him in this situation but there was nothing I could do about it, I really need my job.
Knowing Raphael, he wouldn't just walk away knowing that I would lose something important to me at the process. The guy cares too much for our friendship which is why ten minutes later, we were sitting in low stools in front of the foamy water, hand washing the little children's clothes. Or more like bringing them out and putting them back in cause we have absolutely no idea what we were doing.
"This is so embarrassing" Raphael groan as a group of teenagers pass by and they were pointing and snickering in our direction. I totally agree with him on that. Two grown men sitting round a bowl with their sleeves rolled up and doing the laundry would seem really weird.
Ria joined us shortly after cause apparently, she was done with helping Kaila set the stage. She offered to help us with the laundry but of course Natalia ordered her not to.
"I swear I'm not sure how much I can endure Ria. I might end up in jail soon for murdering your boss" Raphael whispered to Ria.
"I felt that way many times" Ria whispered back "but you'll get use to it"
I didn't join in their conversation cause my eyes were focused on the brown haired beauty relaxing on the chair while staring down at her phone. She looked bored as usual but beautiful nevertheless.
All of a sudden, Raphael splash some water in her direction. My eyes widen in shock just as Natalia glance at her now drenched clothes and then back at Raphael in disbelieve.
Ria looked shock as well but at the same time it seems like she was trying not to laugh.
"WHAT THE HELL!" Natalia yelled in anger. This was the first time I've ever seen her so mad. She's always so calm even when she was angry.
"Sorry, it was an accident" Raphael answered with a smirk and he wasn't sounding sorry at all. He smiled victoriously at Ria and it made me wonder what all this is about. What are they hiding?
"You bastard!" Natalia got up from her sit and march over to us. She picked up a full bucket of water effortlessly and storm towards Raphael with a deadly look of vengeance.
Raphael's cocky smile vanish when he saw the look on Natalia's face and the bucket of water in her hands "Natalia hold on it was really an accident" he pleaded backing away from her but she was in no mood to listen to his excuses. She looks like an angry kitten on a revenge mission. A cute drenched angry kitten.
Raphael broke into a full sprint when he saw that Natalia was not giving in "Natalia please I'm sorry. Don't get me wet please"
That kind of came out weird.
"You're delusional if you think I'm gonna let you get away with that shit" she ran after him determined to drench him at all cost.
Raphael kept dodging her attacks while apologizing and pleading with her but he was also laughing. Natalia didn't have a stain of a smile on her face. She look determined to get revenge on him and she didn't seem to care that they were been watched by a few people around who also seem to find the situation funny.
Ria giggled beside me "they kind of look cute" she commented gushing like some school girl fan-girling about her crush "I've never seen the president like this before"
I felt a sudden ache in my heart as I watch them. I realize that I didn't like the scene at all and I don't think they look cute. In fact Raphael's laughing as Natalia chased after him was kind of annoying.
I began punching the clothes in anger realizing that for the first time ever, I was jealous of my best friend.
*****
Hey guys, Its time to start making your choice. Team Justin or Team Raphael? Which Team are you on?