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I take a sip of my coffee, my eyes still glued to the screen of my laptop.
Julien was now outside my office since his desk is located there. His job now was to handle my appointments, answer all the calls for me so he could tell me who it is before I could talk to them, fix my schedule, and, the most important job of all, to stay by my side at all times.
It was his first day of the job and he didn't even complain, and to top it all off, he's doing a pretty good job with it. Now I understand why President King transferred him here.
I sipped on my coffee again. While I was reading some of the company reports, someone suddenly knocks on my door three times.
I thought it was Julien, but when the door opens, I quickly frowned when I saw who the person was.
"Romeo", Johnson says as he closes the door and walk towards me.
"What is it?" I asked as I went back to looking at the screen of my laptop.
"You fired Edrick?" he suddenly asked me.
"I didn't fire him, I made him the new head of the production department", I answered Johnson while still not looking at him.
"And why would you do that?" he asked further, finally making me look at him.
"Look, we both know Edrick hated me, so I gave him a favor and promoted him. He should be happy that I felt generous earlier", I answered Johnson, but I was pretty sure he wasn't going to buy it.
"Who was that man Romeo? The one outside your office", he finally asked, sitting down on the sofa comfortably like he was at home, not inside my office.
"He's not significant", I tell him, and I was honestly getting tired of saying that myself because it was clear to me that he was more than significant.
"He wouldn't be your new secretary if he was insignificant. I know you Romeo, order and labels are important to you, but that man outside is clearly making things unorganized for you and you don't even mind. It's strange and fascinating at the same time", he says with a playful grin.
"Seriously, this old man still treats me like a kid", I thought to myself as I stared at him.
"You're still not going to tell me who he is?" he asked, but when I didn't answer, he added, "If you don't I'll have to ask him myself."
I quickly shut my laptop and said, "Fine."
Johnson smiles victoriously.
"Bryson brought me to one of his stupid hangouts again, but this time he brought me to a gay club, and apparently I found that man there", I explained to Johnson, surprising him on what he just heard.
"Gay club..." he says, but I ignored that short statement.
"I couldn't quite focus after that night, so I decided to make him my secretary so I'd stop wondering about what he's doing, or what he's up to, or shit like that", I explained further, but this time, Johnson started smirking.
"So you have no idea why you're suddenly feeling that way?" Johnson asked me, but I only shook my head as an answer.
"Oh Romeo...you innocent little thing", he suddenly tells me, making me look at him angrily.
"I've been with you since you were a baby and I've been teaching you everything you know now. But looking at what you've become, I'm starting to regret not teaching you about these kinds of things too", he suddenly tells me.
"What do you mean by...these kinds of things?" I asked him, but Johnson just shrugged his shoulder and said, "You're older now. You figure it out."
I massaged my temple from frustration and didn't force him to answer me anymore. Knowing Johnson, he'll keep his mouth shut for years when he decides on keeping something a secret from me.
"What the hell are you doing here in the first place anyways?" I finally asked him.
Johnson shifts himself on the seat and answered, "Your sister Diana...she called me earlier, said she wanted to eat lunch with you."
I was honestly surprised since I haven't seen that child for a very long time. I think the last time I saw her was on her birthday last year, but that time I was just at the car and she had to go out just so I could give her my gift. She celebrated her birthday at her family's residence, she asked me to go inside but someone had to kill me first before I could even step foot inside that mansion.
"Why didn't she call me instead?" I asked.
"She said she was sure you'd decline her if she did. And she had to lie to her parents just so she could spend the afternoon with you, so be a gentleman and don't decline it", Johnson tells me, making me chuckle, "Spend the time with me? I know Diana, the only reason why she wants to talk to me is because she needs something."
Johnson doesn't say anything but chuckles instead.
"So, where does she plan to dine?" I asked.
"She already texted me the location, she also told me to meet up at 12. I'll just drive you there", Johnson tells me. I quickly looked at my watch and saw the time: 11:24 AM.
I took a deep breath and stood up, "Well then...let's go."
Johnson nodded his head and went to the door to open it up for me.
I went out first and saw Julien typing something down on his computer. When he hears the door open, he quickly lifted his head and sees me.
He quickly stands up from his seat and said, "Sir, what can I-"
I quickly lifted my hand to stop him, "We're eating lunch, let's go", I say as I started walking away without even waiting for his reply.
Johnson follows behind me, seconds later Julien joins in too.
After that we eventually got inside the car. I was staring out the window like how I usually do when suddenly, Johnson – whose eyes were still glued to the road – asked, "So, what's your name Mr. Secretary?"
Julien quickly looks at Johnson and answered, "Uhm...Julien Choi sir."
Johnson laughs, "Romeo & Julien...oh what are the odds."
I rolled my eyes while Julien pretends to laugh at what Johnson just said.
"And don't add the sir, we're both just working under chairman Val anyways", Johnson suddenly tells him, making me quickly clear my throat and say, "Excuse me but-"
Johnson cuts me off and says, "Oh sir, were you listening to our conversation?"
Julien glances at me, and I quickly clenched my fist from frustration, "No, of course not. Why would I listen to other people's conversation?" I forcefully said, and I could see Johnson smirking through the rearview mirror.
"So Julien, how long have you been living here? Or were you actually born here?" Johnson continued to ask.
"No, but I've been living here for almost 10 years now", Julien answered, making Johnson nod his head as an understanding.
"That's quite long. Then you must be enjoying your stay here", Johnson stated, and Julien nods his head as an agreement, "People here are...not as complicated as the people I used to be with before."
"Then is your family not here with you?" Johnson asked further.
I thought Julien was going to answer quickly again, but suddenly, the atmosphere became quiet, like the word "family" made him feel uncomfortable all of a sudden.
"Great job Johnson", I thought to myself as I cleared my throat again to break the awkward silence.
"I'm sorry...that was very rude of me to ask you that", Johnson quickly says. Julien shakes his head and answers, "No, It's okay. I was just a little taken aback."
"That's good. Anyways, we're here now", Johnson says as he parks in front of a fancy-looking restaurant.
"Let's go", I say as Julien quickly goes out of the car to open the door for me.
"I'll just be wai-"
I quickly cut Johnson off, "No, you go inside so Julien can eat with someone. And so that you'll have a better opportunity to talk to him about his personal life", I sarcastically say, making Johnson look at me apologetically, but he nods his head anyways.
I went out and went inside the restaurant, Julien just right behind me.
"Good afternoon sir, table for two?" the receptionist asked as he walked in front of us with a wide smile.
Johnson enters the restaurant too, so I pointed at him and Julien and said, "Table for them. I'll be with a woman named Diana Roselli, did she make any reservations?"
"Oh, then you must be Mr. Romeo Valentino. Please, follow me", the receptionist says as he guides us to a table.
"This table is for the two gentlemen, and Mr. Valentino, your table is just right there", he says as he points at the table that was just two tables away from Johnson and Julien's table.
"Thank you", I say as the receptionist smiles and leaves.
I turned around and looked at Johnson and Julien, "You two order anything you want, I'll handle the payment. If you need anything just approach me."
Johnson nods his head while Julien looked confused about what was actually going on.
Well, I wouldn't blame him. I didn't really tell him the details since he wasn't required to know about it anyways.
"Then enjoy your lunch", Johnson says as I nod my head and walked towards the table that I was supposed to sit at.
While walking towards it, I could already see a woman who was facing her back towards me. I stared at her wavy brown hair, and noticed that the people surrounding her were stealing glances at her too.
When I arrived, everyone stopped staring.
"Good afternoon Diana", I say, now facing her.
Diana, who was looking at the screen of her cellphone, quickly lifts her head and smiles when she sees me.
"Romeo", she happily says. She then looks at her watch and says, "Right on time...as always."
I sat down on the chair in front of her and stared at her again.
She had brown hair, honey-colored skin, and hazel-brown eyes that matched her long eyelashes.
She was no doubt beautiful. But her beauty was something that I hated very much...because it reminded me so much of HER.
"Thank you for coming Romeo, it really means a lot to me", she says with a smile that showed her dimples.
By the way, this is Diana Rose Roselli, my 16-year-old half sister. We're not that close, but we're not in bad terms with each other either because I don't really get to be with her often. We talk with each other because of our family-relationship, nothing more. If we didn't share any blood I wouldn't even be here right now.
"I already ordered for us, if that's okay with you", she tells me, but before I could answer, waiters arrived with our food.
"Thank you" she happily says as the waiters placed the dishes on the table and leaves.
"Shall we eat?" she asked as she looks back at me. I nod my head and answered, "Alright, let's eat."
Both of us started eating.
I could feel the awkwardness between us so I quickly asked, "So, how's your school?"
Diana smiles; glad I finally asked her something.
"It's actually great. I was elected as the school's president just last week and I might be the next elected cheerleading captain too. I also got straight A's and-"
Diana continued to tell me whatever she was trying to tell me.
I wasn't really interested in what she was saying, I only asked her about it just so we wouldn't look awkward.
While Diana was still enthusiastically telling me about how popular and successful she is at school, I took my glass of wine and took a sip. I don't know why but I looked up and glanced at Johnson's table. My eyes quickly widened when I saw Julien's jet-black eyes directly looking back at me too.
"Romeo?" Diana suddenly asked, making me flinch.
I quickly put the glass down and said, "That sounds wonderful."
Diana frowns.
She clearly knew my words weren't even sincere.
I took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just...a little tired. What did you want from me anyways?"
Diana suddenly puts her spoon down and looks at me seriously, "It's about our mother."
I quickly paused.
I gripped on my spoon and tried not to get mad on the mention of that woman.
"Diana, I gave you rules remember? If you want me to continue on meeting up with you, you are not to mention that woman...ever", I tired to remind her.
Diana raises her right eyebrow, "That woman. You mean our mother?" she bravely tells me again.
I gripped on the spoon even harder and said, "Enough. I am seriously going to leave you if you mention her again."
Diana was now looking angry too as she says again, "I'm here to talk to you because OUR mother is fucking sick and she won't tell it to my abusive father. You're the only hope I have right now Romeo, I don't know anyone else who could help us."
"She's still being abused?" I asked instead.
Diana's expression quickly changed into a sadder one as she explained, "She is, and all I could do is painfully watch. She's vomiting blood and I really know something bad is wrong with her, but she just wouldn't tell anyone. I already texted you about this but you didn't reply to me, that's why I called for you now so we could personally talk about this matter."
"I didn't reply to you because I wasn't interested in helping in any way, I thought that was already clear to you", I answered her.
"Romeo...father is still beating her while not knowing what she's going through. She's already in so much pain and this is what you say?"
I was about to say something back when suddenly a memory flashes in front of me again...
"Why did you do this?! How cruel can you be?! You're a monster! A fucking monster!"
I quickly dropped the spoon that I was holding.
My expression was now dark as I coldly said, "She deserved to be abused. It's payment for everything she has done..."
"Romeo! How dare you!" Diana now angrily shouts, making everyone look at our direction.
"She's sick? Then tell her to go fuck a doctor next so she could have free treatment", I told Diana, making her eyes teary.
I thought she was going to say something to me again, but instead, she grabs her glass and directly throws the water at me.
Everyone gasps.
I took a deep breath. Now my blood was boiling from anger, but I still tried to control it, because if I didn't, I wouldn't know what I'd be able to do to this child.
I took my napkin and dried myself with it.
I angrily looked back at Diana and said, "So, you learned that dirty trick from her too?"
Diana finally had enough as she stood up and was about to slap me with her bare hands, but before she could even make contact with my face, someone suddenly grabbed her hand to stop her.
I looked up and was surprised to see that it was actually Julien.
"I hope you are sensitive enough to know that he is not allowed to be touched", Julien says, making Diana shocked.
"Romeo", Johnson calls out as he arrived at the scene as well. He then looks back at Diana and says, "Ms. Diana, I already warned you to not mention her...why didn't you listen?"
Diana doesn't say anything, but she angrily pulls her hand away from Julien and quickly wipes the tear that was actually already streaming down from her eyes.
My hands were already trembling as I stood up from my seat.
"You weren't there Diana, you don't know how cruel that woman was. It makes me sick to see a sweet girl like you to try and help a woman like her", I say as I put my wallet out, then I took out a few bills and gave it to her, "Thank you for this wonderful lunch", I say as I quickly went out of the restaurant, Julien quickly following behind me while Johnson stayed inside to help Diana with the mess that we both created.
That old man, he treats Diana like his daughter too that it pisses me off.
"Chairman Val..." I heard Julien say. But I ignored him and stood at the pavement, waiting for the valet to arrive with the car.
"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand, six one thousand..." I continuously say to try to calm myself down.
"N-No...what have you done? What did you do to him!?" another memory comes to mind.
"Seven one thousand, eight one thousand, nine one thousand..." I said louder, my hands trembling even more and my heart beating even faster. Terrible memories were suddenly flashing right before my eyes, and I was soaking wet, and I felt so dirty...everything around me felt dirty, and everyone who looked at me made me feel like vomiting.
Julien looks at me confusingly and tried to say, "C-Chairman Val...sir are you okay?"
I was clenching on my fist as I slowly turned my head to look at him.
Julien's eyes widened when he saw tears coming out of my eyes.
"S-stained...s-so stained", I whispered, but it was loud enough for Julien to hear.
His always-serious face quickly changed into pity, and his eyes were even teary by just looking at how pathetic I was.
I thought he was going to say something that he thinks would help me feel better, but instead, he lifts his hand and slowly touches my cheek, his thumb wiping my tears away.
I flinched as I felt the warm glove touch my bare skin. But surprisingly, I didn't move away.
"It's painful right?" he says, like he understood exactly how I was feeling right now.
He continued to touch my cheeks as he continued, "I'm already used to the pain, so if you want...you can pour it all out on me. I'll take it...with no questions asked."
- END -