The atmosphere was thick and heavy, and the hallway fell dead silent, despite the music blasting from the floor above.
David closed his eyes for a brief while, and breathed out a quiet sigh before opening them back up to look at Michelle and Monique as they gaped at each other, before looking back up at him. This was more awkward than he could ever imagine, and each time that he found himself opening his mouth up to say something, he would instantly close it, due to the heavy tension that clouded around the three of them.
Seconds later after recollecting himself, David cleared his throat before finally opening his mouth to speak up.
"Michelle, this is Monique, my new Secretary" he introduced as Michelle slowly nodded at her, trying not to make things more awkward than it already was. "Monique, this is Michelle... she's my son's girlfriend" he muttered the last bit quietly, causing Monique to slightly scrunch up her face in confusion. As she looked back up at David and noticed how he avoided looking at Michelle, it began to dawn on her that Michelle had chosen Jay, hence why David was so bitter and harsh on the idea of ever falling in love again.
There were still a lot of things she didn't understand, but it all seemed to make sense by the second.
"Its nice to meet you" Michelle uttered, quickly plastering a smile on her face, before holding out her hand for Monique to shake. The look on her face was filled with jealousy, and not even her smile could cover it up.
Monique stared down at her hand for a few seconds, before taking a step closer to her to shake it. "You too" she said as David watched on closely.
As they slowly let go of each other's hands several seconds later, Michelle quickly flicked her eyes back up at David who stared back at her. Not only was it awkward for Monique standing there, but it felt like she didn't exist with the way David looked at Michelle. It was almost as if he had forgotten that she was stood beside him for a brief while, and it made her feel a lot of emotions that definitely were not positive.
"Well, I should probably head back upstairs" she said, running her fingers through her hair, whilst taking a step back. She waved a small awkward wave, before turning around to walk away.
Silence remained between them till she was out of sight. Monique gaped up at David who ran his hand down his face, before opening her mouth to speak up. "Why do you look so nervous?" she questioned, causing him to look down at her. "You said she was your son's girlfriend so why do you look as if you had just got caught cheating on her with me? you owe her no loyalties, right?".
David ran his fingers through his hair frustratingly. He went to grab Michelle's hand, but before he could, she quickly took a step back from him, before crossing her arms across her chest. "Monique..." he sighed, taking a step closer to her.
"This always fucking happens" she muttered quietly under her breath, whilst shifting her eyes away from him. "Clearly I've wasted my time opening up to you and getting closer to you, because you love somebody else, who is in a fucking relationship with your son may I add" she hissed, raising her voice at him a little.
Annoyed and frustrated, she threw her hands up in the air, before going to walk away from him. As she was about to walk round the corner, David quickly pulled her back and backed her up against the wall, whilst breathing in and out. He cupped both her cheeks and lowered his head slightly as she stared up at him overwhelmingly.
"Why would you lead me on like this, David?" she whispered, before slowly removing his hands away from her face.
"Look, I'll explain everything to you and tell you everything you need to know alright" he uttered, going to speak up again, but was quickly cut off by someone calling his name, causing him to take a step back from Monique.
"David, there you are, I've been looking for you everywhere" Steve walked from round the corner of the hallway with his arms wide open. He looked at David and Monique, instantly sensing that someone had went on between them, but due to how much David hated whenever he constantly got in on his business, he decided to ignore it. "Everyone's waiting for you upstairs" he informed briefly.
David nodded his head at him, before fixing his bow tie and turning his head back to face Monique. "Could you wait till after the party?" he asked with a pleading look in his eye, before walking of as Steve followed from behind.
As Monique watched him walk off, she wondered how she had gotten herself in such an emotional mess like this. This is why she avoided opening up to people and letting them in, because her luck, something was always bound to go wrong somewhere.
She stood in her own thoughts alone in the hallway for a couple more minutes, before working up the courage to head over to the flight of stairs leading to the hall. As she stepped inside the hall, her ears were instantly filled with cheers and claps for David who stood at the front alongside Steve. She noticed how the majority of women drooled over him and how the majority of men looked in awe of him, some even giving him looks of jealousy. Whether anyone in the room were fond of him or not, he sure had a strong aura and presence about him that initially drew people to him.
Monique glanced across the hall at Michelle who stood alongside Jay. As she caught her gaze, she quickly looked away, before picking up another glass of champagne from a tray. This was going to be a very long night.
David stood with his hands placed in his pockets as he stared over at Monique who downed her glass of champagne, not paying attention to what Steve was saying through the microphone.
"I first met David thirteen years ago in July of 2005. He was only 25 years old, but he knew exactly what he was doing and when he asked me to be his Chief Operating Officer, I was quick to say yes" Steve spoke, causing everyone in the room to laugh. "David has a life that many people dream of having. He's rich, he's handsome as you all know, and he's the most hard-working person I've ever met. I've never met a man who worked as hard as he did to make a name for himself in business and give his two children a comfortable childhood that he never had". David rotated his head to glance over at Jay, who quickly met his gaze before shifting his eyes away seconds later. "I know you'll like to say a few words, David" Steve grinned, stepping back away from the microphone stand as everyone began to clap.
David took a deep breath as he stood behind the microphone stand. Public speaking was what he normally avoided the most, but he couldn't avoid it then.
"I'd like to thank everyone for coming tonight" he began, flashing his handsome and charming smile. "Unfortunately I didn't do all the work alone as some of you are giving me credit for, I had Steve and the rest of my board of directors all the way through, and without them, I wouldn't be where I am now, so thank you" he uttered, whilst patting Steve on the shoulder. "Of course I don't plan to be CEO forever, but I hope the person who takes after me next, loves the company more than I do... I'm looking at you princess, I know how you always say you want to take over after me" he chuckled, pointing over at Stephanie who stood near the front as everybody laughed.
Monique smiled as Stephanie pulled David down to place a big kiss on his cheek and give hi a tight hug, before glancing over at Jay who was speaking with one of the businessmen as Michelle watched on. The two locked eye-contact again for a brief while. Although Michelle had shot her a smile to try and clear the air a little bit, it was still very much awkward.
David gave Stephanie one last kiss and stood up to walk back over to the microphone. "Also, to my son Jay..." he spoke, causing Jay to stop what he was doing to look at him. "I know you have no interest in the company, and I know you probably wouldn't want to hear me say this right now, but I love you son... I always will" he muttered the last bit quietly as Jay stared over at him from afar, before lowering his head slightly. David narrowed his eyes to Michelle who stood beside him before clearing his throat and turning to look back at the crowd. "I hope you all enjoy the rest of the party, thanks for coming".
Monique watched as David was instantly bombarded with people eager to talk to him. She was so lost in her own thoughts about what had previously happened, that she didn't notice Stephanie walking up to her.
"Hey Monique, are you having a good time?" she asked politely, placing her arms behind her back as she stared up at her. Sometimes it felt as if she was talking to someone her age.
"I guess so" she replied, placing the empty glass of champagne to the side.
"Do you wanna go see the pool downstairs?" Stephanie questioned, grabbing hold of her hand and pulling her out the hall before she could answer.
A short while later, the two arrived out in the back garden. The outside was even more beautiful than the outside, Monique thought to herself as she gazed over at the large pool, and over at the large field behind it. The atmosphere felt so peaceful and quiet, and it was just where she needed to be at that moment to clear her head a little. It was almost as if Stephanie had noticed herself and purposely brought her down there for the same reason. She certainly was a very special little girl.
They sat down at the edge of the pool beside each other and took of their shoes to dip their feet in the water.
"So you really wanna be CEO of your dad's company someday?" Monique asked, speaking up, as she slowly twirled her foot in the glistening, blue water.
"My Daddy's my hero and I wanna be just like him one day. I wanna be as hard-working as him one day" she replied, whilst shifting closer to her. "At first he was gonna give the job to my brother; Jay, but he's not interested in it, he's never been... can I ask you a question?".
"What is it?" asked Monique, pushing her hair to the side to look down at her.
Stephanie shot her a cunning smile, before leaning further into the pool. "You like my dad don't you?" she asked, instantly leaving Monique speechless and lost for words. "Its okay, I won't tell him, but just so you know, its gonna take a lot for him to open up again" she said.
Monique thought back to her meeting with Michelle earlier on and how obvious the tension was between her and David. She was about to open her mouth to ask her something, but was quickly cut off by the sound of piano playing. She slowly turned her head back to look into the living room as a girl who looked to be about Stephanie's age played the piano, while her two friends stood around her watching. Monique watched her for a little while, before glancing down at Stephanie as her eyes fixated solemnly on the girl.
"You know her?" Monique asked, noticing how she hadn't blinked.
"Yeah, her name's Jasmine, she's the daughter of one of my dad's business partners" Stephanie replied, as a grin started to appear on her face. "She goes to my school and is a piano prodigy... she's great, and super smart too".
"It sounds like you have a crush on her, you should go talk to her" Monique smirked, wrapping her arms around her shoulder.
Stephanie quickly shot her head back up at her as she tried her best to deny it. "No I don't... okay maybe I do" she breathed out, lowering her head slightly. "But isn't liking another girl if you're a girl yourself weird and not normal?" she asked quietly.
"What? who the hell told you that?" scoffed Monique.
"My mom... she said that its wrong and that girls should only like boys".
Monique rolled her eyes away and pushed her head back before speaking up. "No offence but your mama sounds like the worse parent I ever heard. You can like whoever you want, the only thing wrong about it is listening to your mom... now go talk to her, ask her about piano, I have a feeling she'll talk all day about that.
"Okay, I will" she grinned, getting up to give Monique a hug, before picking up her shoes and strolling back into the living room.
Monique watched as she made her way over to Jasmine and her friends to talk to her, smiling to herself afterwards. She turned her head back to look ahead into the field as her thoughts began to fill up her mind once again. Deciding to have a walk around, she slowly removed her feet from the pool and got up from the edge, picking up her shoes along the way. She pulled her dress down and stretched, before walking over to the back to take a closer look at the huge fountain.
As she went to dip her hand into the fountain, she heard voices coming from out front and quickly went to hide somewhere, recognising that it was David and Michelle's.
"Congratulations again, that was a really nice speech you gave earlier" Michelle smiled, placing her arms behind her back as Monique listened on.
David slipped his hands in his pockets and looked ahead at the field, before turning back to face Michelle. "Look, I'll just get to the point why I asked you to come down here to talk" he sighed quietly, taking a step closer to her. "About Monique, we-
"You don't have to say anything, David" Michelle muttered, quickly cutting him off. "You don't owe me an explanation about her or anything like that, I shouldn't stop you from being with someone else if you want to. Its really not my business, David".
"We're not together" David uttered, running his fingers through his hair. "Look I don't know why I felt like I had to tell you that... fuck, I don't know what's wrong with me anymore" he whispered the last bit, as Michelle stared up at him. "You should head back upstairs to Jay, he's probably looking for you" David muttered, turning his back to her.
Michelle joined her hands together as she gaped at his back. She wanted to say a lot more things to him but it was better not to as that would lead to more complications, so instead she turned back around and walked away from him without saying what she intended to say, just like she did a year ago.
~A couple hours later:
It was 11:30 pm. The party had ended, and everybody had left and gone home.
After tucking Stephanie to sleep in her room, David headed down the flight of stairs and down into the living room, where Monique was sitting on one of the sofas waiting for him. He stared down at her for a brief while as she crossed her legs and gazed over at a couple pictures on the wall, before going over to sit beside her.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Steph had a little trouble fallen asleep" he spoke up, taking of his suit blazer and placing it to the side, before leaning back on the sofa.
"Its okay" she breathed out as silence quickly brewed upon them once again. "Can you explain everything to me now?" she muttered, pushing her hair behind her ears and pulling her dress down slightly above her knees.
David picked up the glass of wine on the table and quickly took a sip of it. He had been dreading the hours going past where he would have to tell her everything that happened between him and Michelle, but he had no other choice, and he owed it to her to give her a reasonable explanation.
"Last year I hired Michelle as Stephanie's nanny..." he began, sitting up on the sofa and joining his hands together. "Back then I was still with my ex wife, but everyday that I saw her and the more time she was around I found myself drawn to her in a way that confused me at first. Within the first couple months I had found that I had fallen in love with her, and I desperately tried to put an end to it, but it just couldn't go away. She made me feel a lot of things that I've never experienced and she had an effect on me like no other. Unfortunately my son had fallen in love with her too and we ended up fighting over her, we fought for her affection and-
"And in the end she chose your son?" Monique spoke, whilst crossing her arms above her chest.
"I don't know who she was gonna choose" he explained, leaving her confused and bewildered. "Last year in August I asked her to come to my office, and I told her to choose Jay. Her expression was so blank, I didn't know what was going through her head when I said that, but she must have originally chose him. They've been together for a year and I don't want to do anything to ruin that.
Monique looked up at him in disbelief, not believing all what she had heard. "If she was the love of your life then why did you give her up for your son?-"
"Because he needed her more than I did, I could live without her, he couldn't. I saw how much she changed up and how much he fell in love with her... I had to do the right thing".
"And you still love her, right? Are you just going to keep loving her from afar whilst she's with your son?" she questioned, whilst looking ahead. "I guess there's no room for me in your heart then..." she whispered the last bit, whilst thinking back to the feeling she felt inside when they held hands. She had never felt something like that before and might never do again.
"You are a wonderful person, Monique... but I'm just not ready to fully open myself up again" he uttered briefly.
She felt nothing but pain and heartbreak in her chest right then, but luckily she was good at not showing it. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to see her vulnerable side and show any sign of weakness. "You don't need to apologise" she scoffed quietly. "Its not like we kissed or even slept together, all we did was hold hands for less than 10-seconds. Its not like I was starting to have feelings for you too. It was great talking to you, David, but I don't think we'd be doing that again. I'd just stick to the job you gave me" she said a little harshly, before getting up from beside him.
As David watched her put her shoes back on, he began to feel a weird aching feeling in his chest. Tonight had been such a long night, that he refused to think too deeply into it.
"Monique, I-
"I'm leaving now, I'll see you at work tomorrow" she spoke, picking up her purse from the side, before walking towards the front door.
"Then let me drive you, its late and I don't want you going home alone" he said, pulling her back by the arm. She stared up into his eyes, still in disbelief at how he could never stop caring for her even after the talk they had.
Seconds later, she slowly removed his hand from her arm, taking a step back. "Good night, David" she muttered quietly, before turning back around to open the front door and step out of it.
As she stepped out into the compound, it was almost as if the aching feeling in her chest had gotten worse. She hadn't felt this type of heartbreak ever, as she never allowed herself to be put in a situation where she was going to be hurt by a man or broken up with, but she had did just that with David and look where it had gotten her. Before she knew it, tears had began to form in her eyes, and seconds later she began to sob quietly to herself. She was never the type of person to cry at anything, but her tears at that very moment made her realise that she had fallen in love with this man, and there was nothing that she could do about it.
Over at the living room, David sat back down on his sofa with his head lowered and hand placed against his head. He thought that he would feel somehow at ease after the conversation, but he only felt worse, it wasn't what he expected to feel at all. Without hesitation, he quickly picked up his car keys from the centre table to go after her. As he ran out into his compound, he quickly looked around, noticing that she wasn't around.
"Monique!" he called, rushing out the compound to see if he could spot her anywhere. He looked down into the dark street, and when he couldn't find her, he quickly ran his hands through his hair before crouching down on the floor and letting out a deep sigh.
Things were most definitely going to change from now on, and he wasn't sure if he was prepared for it.
End of Chapter 10.