I know it's not Monday, but it's still this week 😣🙏🏾
Honestly guys, I really do hope to complete this story before the year ends.
Let's keep riding!!! 🤗
He smiled...
She looks even prettier than the last time I saw her... he thought to himself. He scanned her all around, and wondered what the reason could be for her sudden elevated beauty.
Oh, right, there we go...he smiled even more, when he realized that she had been wearing her natural hair, and not the regular wigs she often wore back at Regal Corp.
Back when she still worked there, he had once asked her why she often wore wigs instead of her natural hair which he loved and adored. She had explained to him how his aunt Regina had prohibited her from doing so because it apparently 'didn't suit her working environment'.
Of course, he had tried convincing her to let him question her words, but Maldives being Maldives made him promise not to say a word about it.
" It'll give me the chance to flaunt my wigs anyways..." she had told him in her bid to persuade him to forget about the issue.
"You look beautiful" he said to her, as his fingers caressed the fallen locks of curls on either side of her face.
She smiled back. "Thanks...but what are you doing here?" she asked, furrowing at the situation at hand.
He squinted, confused by her words, until reality hit him. "Me? Oh—right, well I'm here for a meeting...but the real question should be what are you doing here?"
"I work here"
"You w-what???" he echoed, finding it hard to come to terms with her words.
"I work here Fai, been working here for over two weeks now" she shrugged.
"Oh...I didn't expect that you'd find a new job so quickly..."
"Why? Because I'm a criminal???" she folded her arms defensively.
"No, because the world thinks you're a criminal—or thought, depending how you look at it" he reiterated.
"H-huh? What do you mean?" she questioned, and he smiled. "It means you can now return to Regal Corp."
"What? I-I dont understand—the money..."
"All sorted out" he informed proudly. She looked at him quizzically, clearly confused by the sudden change in situation. "What do you mean by 'all sorted out' Fai?"
Sighs "It means Schatz, that the situation has been resolved, I have finally proven your innocence, so you're free to return and resume your official duties"
"I-I am??? B-but how—"
"Amy. She's the one who framed you" he stated plainly.
"Amy??? As in your assistant??! B-but how—why??" she stammered along, finding it incredibly hard to process the newly acquired information.
"Yeah, I know, its pretty hard to believe, but I guess it is what it is" he shrugged with a sigh. I'll fill you in with the details later, but first, we need to—"
"Regan!" Fai heard a voice call from behind, halting him in his words.
Well, there goes...Fai found himself muttering as he watched the one guy whose face he was never enthusiastic to see, stride towards where they were stood.
"You know for a while, we didn't think you'd actually come..." Malcolm announced, his face beaming with his signature malicious grin.
Fai returned his look with less interest as his face now donned on his stoic doctor/business man expression. "Richards..."he greeted, offering him a curt nod, but apparently, the excessively cheerful man wasn't going to settle for just a formal gesture as he proceeded to offer Fai a brotherly pat across the back—one that didn't sit too well with him.
"I suppose the meeting is still a go?" Fai enquired.
"Ahh-yes, hopefully the numbers we worked out please you" he smiled.
"Hopefully they do" he responded, and it was only then that Malcolm noticed the presence of Maldives standing beside him. "I see you've met my PA, hope you're not so mad at us for stealing your employee and—"
"Wait—your what???" Fai queried, his brows knitting into a confused tightness.
"My PA, personal assistant..."
"I know what 'PA' means Richards, what I don't seem to understand is...never mind" he waved him off, doing his best to control his building annoyance as he resorted to consoling himself with the fact that she was after all going to turn in her resignation by the end of the day, so there was just no need to grace him with his frustrations.
"You and I, we're going to have a long talk after this" he seethed in Maldives ears before turning back to walk away.
He paused in his steps, and shot Malcolm a raised brow. "I don't happen to know the way to your office Richards" he stated sternly, and Malcolm raised a knowing finger at him.
"Right..." he nodded as he joined him in his strides while the two strolled off, with Fai towering slightly above him. Mid-way through their steps, he turned back to offer her—or himself—one quick glance, but it was only then Maldives really noticed the full intensity of his unimpressed glare.
"That's weird..."she heard herself say out loud, as she wondered what the source of his grumpiness could be.
But then again, he is always grumpy...
But I don't know...certainly I can't be the only one who smells the bad blood between them...
"Oh my God!!!" She heard a voice chirper from behind her. Oh Lord, not again...
"I can't believe it! Like I actually can't believe it!" Another one chipped in.
"Yeah, me too..."Maldives smiled, before squeezing her way out of the now-growing crowd and rolling her eyes at them. Thirsty bitches! She cussed as she made her way to her office.
~~~~~
"I must say Regan, it's definitely been quite a long—"
"What-have-you-done-Richards???" Fai cut him off as he questioned him through gritted teeth.
The two were currently situated in Malcolm's office, with Fai doing his best not to lash out his anger and worries on his host, even though he was failing miserably at it.
"What? What are you talking about?" Malcolm asked, and Fai swallowed. Heaven, I do not wanna be a murderer...not today...
"Don't act coy with me Malcolm, you know what I'm talking about"
"What—I don't—oh...I see now..." he smirked when it dawned on him what—or rather, who he had been referring to.
"Chill out man, I did not steal your plaything, she's the one who—"
"She's not my plaything!" he growled.
"Yeah right. C'mon man, let's not act like we don't know how things go in our line of work, we both know—"
"We both know nothing!
And don't you dare ever compare yourself with me, I am nothing like you!" he thundered, his voice echoing his annoyance.
How dare he?!
How fucking dare he?!
Insinuate that they were both alike?!
Unbelievable!
Despicable even!
For all he knew, he was nothing like him!
Yes he did have his faults—indifferently stoic and uncontrollably irrational and aggressive sometimes, but that was it!
He was not Malcolm.
He was not a notorious sexual harasser and crazy pervert.
For as long as Fai could remember, the media had often been frizzled on so many occasions by speculations of the notorious billionaire's nephew, who was rumored to sexually harass and prey on women.
The family and board often did their best to cover up his schemes, feigning 'tabloids and thirst for dirty gossip', but everyone knew.
Personal assistants quitting their jobs after barely a week, women cringing and quavering at the mention of his name—it was enough proof that there were indeed some truth to the 'alleged rumors'.
Fai knew it himself, as he had one day walked in on him physically hitting a girl who had tried resisting his malicious attempts whilst in a restroom at a prestigious charity event.
He had ended up being the lady's messiah that evening, pulling her aside and smacking the bloody hell out of his face till he begged for mercy, and although the poor lady had been utterly grateful to him, he felt bad, immensely bad for her as he knew that it was probably not going to be the last time he tried something like that on her, and she, being the weaker party (an employee of his who needed the employment to pay for her sick sister's hospital bills), she was not going to report the incident.
Not only that, but there had been allegations of Malcolm resorting to death threats whenever one of his victims dared reporting him to the police, and if there was one thing he knew everyone feared, it was people with both money and power.
The memory taunted him, each day, not just for the fact that other than defending the girl, he had done nothing else about it, but also the main reason why he had kept his silence.
If there was one thing he had grown to know about the business world, it was the fact that the men at the top—the moguls who rode in the most expensive cars and graced the covers of Forbes on a yearly basis, they each had their own skeletons in their cupboards.
Surely he was not exempted, they had each done certain things at some point in their careers that they had not been exactly proud of, (of which the lot of them knew about their crazy deeds), and it was for this delicate reason that he kept mute on the subject.
Often times, when people say they're 'business partners', it didn't necessarily mean they were partners bound together by legal papers
Sometimes, it was the mutual secret deeds, and debt of secrecy, that bound them together.
Not that Regal Corp had in their means done anything that could be considered 'illegal', but yeah—he and his father Ronald had been involved in some hostile takeovers, most of which they had secretly teamed up with other corporations to achieve, those were secrets that were meant to be kept buried.
In the business world, nine out of ten times, you despise the people you have to shake hands with.
Nonetheless, it wasn't enough excuse. His silence on such sensitive matter wasn't at all justifiable, and there was not a day that went by without him questioning his decision that evening.
But now, here they were...
And if karma wasn't bitch enough, his very own girlfriend had walked right into the lion's den...
And this time, he sure as hell wasn't going to let him slide away so easily again.
"I let you get away with it the other time, not happening again" he refuted, but all he got from the despicable man was an annoying chuckle that only seemed to add more character to his evil charade and spike Fai even further.
"Okay yo! Seriously man, chill! You really need to—"
"DONT. Don't you dare repeat that word!" he shot back, his insides flaring up each time he asked him to 'chill', like I'm some fucking refrigerator! Pig!
"You know what? To start with, why am I even having this meeting with you? I had been scheduled earlier to meet up with your cousin, only to be informed yesterday that I'd be meeting up with you instead" Fai furrowed.
"Yeah—about that, he was faced with a health emergency, it's why he couldn't make it" Malcolm shrugged.
"Hmm"
"What? You know the agenda for today is one of utmost importance, and the board—well, we knew you're not one for last minute reschedules so—"
"So they sent you instead?" he queried with raised brows, earning a snort from an unimpressed Malcolm. "What??? You don't think I can handle a meeting? I am family!"
"Just because you share the same last name as the rest of them doesn't mean you automatically inherited their wisdom Malcolm"
"How dare you!"
"No, how dare you?! Torture the lives of various women and think you can just—walk away with it?!"
"Right! You know what—fuck you man! I don't need your White ass telling me what I can or can't do!"
"My White ass huh??? Scoffs And many wonder why you've been stuck in the same job position for the past seven years" he shook his head in disbelief"
"You don't know shit!"
"Oh no I don't, after all, only shit people know shit"Fai shot back at him. At this point, he had managed to raise every single hair on Malcolm's skin on all fours, and the two were now head to head with each other, like they were in some power tussle.
"You know, you got no right to criticize me, cause right now, you're in my jurisdiction and I could easily just ask my guards to escort you out" he stated, and Fai nodded with a smirk.
"Of course...but you won't...cause I own some of your largest stocks, and you're wise enough to know that doing that, would mean terminating my investment here" he argued back, making Malcolm gulp in defeat.
"But you know what—I'll save you the trouble. Tell your boss that the next time he thinks to reschedule our meeting, he should try hard to find a suitable representative"
"Dafuq???!" he cursed, clearly irritated by the impression Fai had of him.
"Yeah, cause you know at this point, I'd rather discuss business with a cucumber, than with you" Fai announced, retreating backwards as he straightened his suit.
Malcolm seethed, his fists had become so tight you could count every single vein and artery on them.
"Go to hell Regan!" he fired at Fai, who had clearly had enough of him as he began taking his leave out of his office.
"Oh you don't worry, I am leaving...but not without my woman" he announced, raising his index in the air.
" 'Your woman' is my assistant!"
" 'WAS' your assistant, she turns in her resignation today" he informed.
"She never mentioned anything of sorts to me—"
"Well, I'm mentioning it now to you! I'd be dammed if I let my girlfriend spend even another second working for you!" he grunted at him. When he turned back to look at him, he was confused and perplexed to find that he was now smirking, which only made him even more suspicious. "What?" he asked, as he watched the infuriating male-being spin himself about in his turn-chair.
"You know Regan, I find it quite funny how you think Maldives is better off back in Regal Corp, than here with me... "he said suggestively, retracing Fai's steps.
"What do you mean? If you know something, spill it out, now!" he probed, but he was getting nothing from him.
"Tsk tsk tsk, not from me, I ain't got nothing to tell you Fai"he shrugged plainly, and Fai only gritted harder.
"You son of a—"
"No no, but what I will tell you; Clean your house bro...cause sometimes—sometimes, the evil isn't me" he finished, intertwining his fingers as he delighted himself with the view of Fais disdain.
Fai cursed, and bolted out of the office, his angered face chasing everyone along his path.
He was mad—furious! What was he implying??? That he couldn't give his woman the protection she needed?!
Fuck it!
Fuck him!
Fuck everyone and this stupid job! He cursed inwardly as he approached the exit door.
"Where is she?!"he demanded from no one in particular, but was spared the stress of bickering for her as he saw her confused face peering through a far-end gathering.
"You—you're coming with me!" he stated, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her along with him.
"W-what—Fai—"
"Don't argue with me!" he ordered as they made their way to the elevators.
"Fai you're making a scene, let me go—"
"Dammit woman, would you just keep calm!"
"No, you keep calm!" she insisted, finally freeing her arm from his grasp as the elevator doors closed.
She stared at him with disbelief as she couldn't believe the guts of him.
"Do you realize that everyone was staring?! You literally scared the shit out of everyone acting like a mad dog!"
"I'm a mad dog?!"
"No, you 'act' like a mad dog!" she emphasized.
"Well then, maybe I am a mad dog!" he threw back, but this time, Maldives found herself feeling bad over her choice of words. "Fai, I—"
"No, you are right, I am mad! But that's only because I'm madly in love with you!" he professed, and like a huge weight had just been lifted off his chest, he heaved deeply. Damn, it feel so good to finally say that!
"Y-you do???" she gasped as she struggled to take it all in.
Woah... She breathed, he loves me...he really does love me!
All the while I was busy second guessing what we had—or have...
But he loves me...
she went numb.
Her newly acquired information sent her heart waves fluttering on cloud nine. She wanted so much to jump on him to let him know just how much she loved him too, but for some reason, she stayed quiet.
Perhaps as a result of the enormosity of the news???
Or maybe she just doesn't feel same way too???
"Look, I'm not asking you to say it back now if you don't feel it yet—"
"But I—"
"No no, that doesn't matter" he cut her off mid-sentence. The last thing he needed to complete his half-ruined day was a confession from her of how she didn't love him. There's only so much a German heart can take...
"It doesn't???" She asked, not sure he was getting the point.
"No it doesn't. All I want right now, is for you to hand in your resignation, and come with me to Regal Corp." he stated categorically, in a voice that said that he wasn't willing to argue that.
"Um—actually...I think I'd rather remain here..."she muttered from behind him, making him snap his head back in her direction. "What now???"he queried, with eyes that squinted so low, she wondered if he could still see her.
"I said...I ain't coming back to Regal Corp." she mouthed.
"I never said it was up for argument!"
"It's my life Fai, and I can do whatever I want with it!"
"Including putting yourself in harm's way by insisting on remaining his assistant?! Oh come on Mal, you can do better than that!"
"And I'm not in 'harm's way' every second I'm in Regal Corp.???" she argued back.
He scoffed. "That—that is different, I can protect you!"
"Oh yeah??? Just like you protected me the day the whole world turned on me and accused me of being a fraud?"
"Fuck it, you're just—unbelievable! I can't believe I'm right here trying to do what's best for you, and all you can think about is acting all stubborn, and doing the exact opposite of that!"
"You don't own my life Fai, so stop trying to control it!" she fisted as they peered directly into each other's eyes.
"You know what, I can't...I can't do this right now..." he waved off, and just then, the elevator doors dinged and opened.
Fai stepped out, paused, and stared back expectantly at her. When she avoided his gaze, he nodded in defeat as it was clear she had really made up her mind.
"Right...I'll let you be now...
but I hope you someday realize, that I was only looking out for you..."
She sighed. "Fai I—"
"And when that time comes, I only hope it's not too late..."he finished, releasing his hands from the door as they they watched them close back to each other.
~~~~~
And when that time comes...
I hope it's not too late...
For some reason, those words echoed through her mind all day. Like a perpetual warning from an angel, they had pierced through her soul, and sparked her senses ever since that moment.
What exactly had he meant when he said those??? Could it be that he had been referring to Malcolm's schemes and antics???
Sure enough, she had heard a thing or two from the side talks of employees about how mischievous her new boss could be, but it wasn't like he was going to take her forcefully if she resisted right???
"Oh God..."she sighed as she cleared her table and rounded up for the day.
Well one thing's for certain...I aint getting the chance to say my 'I love you' anytime soon...she mumbled and made her way out of the office.
~~~~~
"Oh man...Thank you 'Big Guy' for another day in the tussle..." Maldives yawned, as she checked the time on her wristwatch and saw that it had only been a minute after seven pm. Thank you indeed...she smiled as she realized she had enough time to shower and settle in just in time for her telenovelas.
"Dafuq??? Is momma here again???" She furrowed, when she noticed the light bulb in her living room had been turned on again.
Slowly and carefully, she pulled off her heels, and readied them in her hands as weapons to use in her defense, if need be.
She realized she did look an idiot—a bare feet disheveled tired woman with her makeup now wearing off and her shoes squeezed in her palms like a frightened lunatic—but yeah, better crazy than defenseless, she consoled as she took sordid steps into her apartment but was shocked at the sight that beheld her when she finally got in.
"Fai???" she gasped, when she saw the perfectly laid out spaghetti Bolognese he had probably cooked and set out for what looked to be two people for dinner.
He approached where she stood, and slowly, offered to her a sad smile.
"I know I acted like a jerk earlier today...and I know that words probably won't cut it out for you so—"
She melted.
"Fai—"
"I'm really sorry—"
"No, Fai I—"
"I really just want you to be safe and—"
"Fai!!!
I LOVE YOU!" she blurted, halting him in his words.
He stared...
He spoke, but words wouldn't come out his mouth, swallowed, but the huge air in his throat wouldn't close up. He was too shock for words! So shocked, he was sure Michael Jackson's 'Speechless' couldn't do justice to his emotions.
Gently, he cupped her face, and peered at her like an angel who had just been reborn right in front of his eyes.
"Y-you do???' he asked for clarity, and she nodded with a soft smile as she eased herself into his soft touch. "I do...I mean—I have for a while, I just havent found the right time to say it and—" he pulled her into him, and kissed her...
Slowly, with a never-ending rhythm, their lips waltzed...
till dinner got cold...
I'm not blushing, you are! ☺
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