Lucy had a wide smile on her face as she sat behind her desk looking at the selfies Tom had sent her.
His hair was still wet and water glistened on his brows and lashes as he smiled into the camera.
He still looked as handsome as ever even though his eyes looked tired. She contemplated setting one of the pictures as her screensaver or background photo but she decided against it. She didn't want anyone else to see Tom that way.
She was just going to wait for him to send her one where he was fully dressed and she would use that. She giggled at the thought of actually making him her screensaver.
She hoped that he would be back by Friday as planned. This trip had made her realize more than anything that being away from Tom wasn't something she liked one bit.
After looking through his selfies, she decided to send some of her own and she spent the next couple of minutes snapping and sending him lots of pictures.
She looked up when Adolf knocked on the door and walked in with a food pack, "Good morning Lucy," Adolf greeted polite and Lucy rose with a warm smile as she picked up the food pack from the previous day.
"Good morning, Adolf. I'm sorry for putting you through this stress...."
"I don't consider it stressful," Adolf rushed to assure her as he placed the food pack on the table.
"You're far too kind. Thank you. I washed this. I hope you don't mind taking it back with you?" She asked as she handed it to him.
"Not at all. Please enjoy your breakfast," he said with a polite bow as he took it from her and then walked away.
Alone, Lucy quickly opened the food pack and just as she had hoped there was a note from Tom inside.
[Good morning, my priceless Jewel. Today I want you to know that you are the light of my life. My invaluable treasure. I hope you have a beautiful day today.]
"Aww," Lucy whispered with a wide smile.
The wide smile disappeared from her face when a knock sounded on her door and she looked up to see Cora standing there.
She raised a brow as she watched Cora walk into her office, and instead of giving her attention to her, Lucy slipped Tom's note into her handbag and packed up the breakfast.
"Did you miss your way?" Lucy asked, making it clear she wasn't welcome.
Cora smiled, "Good morning, director Perry. I realized I've never checked out your office. I figured I should," Cora said pleasantly.
"I didn't realize we were that close or that you had so much spare time in your hands," Lucy said flatly, not bothering to offer her a seat.
"That is no way to talk to a colleague. We are not enemies, are we? Besides, shouldn't you offer me a seat?" Cora asked still smiling pleasantly.
Lucy had no doubt that Cora was there for a purpose. She knew better than to let her guard down or act friendly. Cora wanted something, and she wondered what it was.
"I would if I invited you. What do you want?" Lucy asked, and Cora shrugged.
"Well, you know everyone has been talking about that video trending online. You must be happy about being vindicated, right?" Cora asked, and Lucy raised a brow.
"What video?"
"The apology video released by Anita Miller of course. Don't tell me you don't know that's the only thing everyone has been talking about since yesterday?" Cora asked as she sat down, deciding she had waited enough for Lucy to be courteous enough to offer her a seat.
Lucy realized that she had not thought of the video or even paid attention to anyone because she had been too distracted by her own worries.
"I see. Thanks for the information," Lucy said, and Cora smiled again.
"So, I found out the CEO is not in the country," she said, and Lucy pressed her lips together.
"Is that why you are in my office when you should be in yours doing what we are paid to do?" Lucy asked, and Cora looked at her for a moment before laughing out loud.
"You really need to loosen up, Lucy. It's no wonder you don't have any friends around here," Cora said even though the more time she spent talking to Lucy the more annoyed she was.
Lucy eyed her for a moment and then smiled, "By the way, I've been meaning to ask you a question for some time now. Can you honestly say you had no idea Tom was the CEO when you were hitting on him while he was pretending to be my driver?" Lucy asked, and Cora frowned.
"I beg your pardon?"
Lucy smiled sweetly, "You've been a director long before I came here. You've seen the CEO's face before. I find it very hard to believe that you didn't know my driver was the CEO," Lucy said simply.
"Am I supposed to worry about what you believe or not?" Cora asked tightly and Lucy smiled.
"No, you're not supposed to. Now that you are being real, can you drop the friendly facade and say whatever you came here to say. I don't have all day for meaningless chitchats," Lucy stated.
"I guess things are not going well between you and the CEO?" Cora asked, and Lucy's heart skipped a beat but she managed to keep her face blank.
How did she know that? Did she hear something?
"I'm quite observant, so I noticed," Cora said, thinking about their attitude during the last general meeting that was held in the presence of Tom's grandfather.
Lucy smiled, "You wish so, don't you? You know something I learned? When you spend so much time thinking about something you might dream of it. In the same way, when you think about something long and hard enough, you begin to see it even if it isn't there. Congrats. You have a very active imagination," Lucy said as she glanced at the wall clock.
She was expecting Tom's call in any moment and she wanted Cora out.
Lucy raised a brow when Cora dropped her phone on the desk, "If you're fine as you claim, can you explain that?" Cora asked, pointing at the picture displayed on her screen.
Even if a part of Lucy didn't want to give Cora any satisfaction by looking, she was too curious not to, so she picked up the phone.
Displayed on the screen was a picture of Tom seated with a beautiful lady in a room, and around them were different couples making out.
"If things are as peachy as you want me to believe why is he in an erotic club with a lady who isn't you? In case you don't know what happens there, people go in there to have sex or to be voyeurs so they can be turned on enough for sex," Cora said, her eyes gleaming with malice.
Even though Lucy's heart had started racing and her stomach was beginning to churn because of how nervous she was, she plastered a smile on her face.
"Who are you to demand an explanation? And what makes you think I care what you think about our relationship?" She asked as she pushed the phone back to Cora.
"I'm sure the CEO will be delighted to know that his employee cares so much about him to the point of having people spy on him," Lucy said with a malicious smile of her own as Cora's smile slid of her face.
"I wasn't spying on him. A friend shared the picture with me," she snapped at Lucy.
"I'm sure he will love to hear the explanation from you directly," Lucy said, and almost sang for joy when her phone started ringing with a call from Tom.
She turned the phone for Cora to see her caller's ID before receiving the call, "Hey, babe!" She greeted cheerfully, and just as Cora rose to leave, Lucy pointed the seat for her to remain seated.
"Hello, love! Have you had breakfast yet?" Tom asked trying to sound as normal as possible, and Lucy smiled.
"I was about to before I was interrupted by Director Anderson," Lucy said, making Cora's heart to skip a beat.
"She interrupted you? How? Why?" Tom asked and Lucy smiled as she watched Cora squirm in her seat.
"She had something interesting to share with me," Lucy said, and then muted the phone as she looked at Cora, "Would you like to say hello?" She asked and giggled when Cora paled.
Lucy rolled her eyes and tsked before unmuting the call, "How was your night? How did the meeting go?" Lucy asked, hoping Tom would tell her who it was he met with and where.
Tom's heart skipped a beat at the question. That was the last he wanted to think about. His head was banging seriously and he had been unable to focus on anything else he was doing.
Lucy noticed the silence but kept a smile on her face for Cora's benefit, even if her insides were quivering as she wondered why Tom wasn't answering her question.
"It was unusual but fine," Tom said finally.
"Unusual? What was unusual about it?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Well, the person I had a meeting with asked me to meet him at a certain club. I had no idea it was a Den of pleasure. It was awkward having people around us who were having sex," Tom said, choosing to settle for half-truth, and Lucy smiled glad that he had been honest with her.
"You mean they were having sex all around you?" She asked for Cora's benefit.
"Yeah. I need to go now, Lu. I still have a lot to do if I want to be able to make it back in time for the dinner party," Tom said, and Lucy sighed.
"Alright. I miss you. And I love you. Don't forget to eat, and rest. Make sure you don't overwork yourself," Lucy reminded him.
"I will keep that in mind. I love you," Tom said before hanging up.
"I'm going to let this foolishness slide this once. Get out of my office!" Lucy ordered harshly, and immediately Cora rose and walked away without another word.
Once Cora shut the door behind her, Lucy clasped her trembling hands together.
Tom said the person he was meeting was a man, but why was he seated there alone with a lady? And why did it take so long for his to answer her simple question? Lucy mused.
Away from there, Tom paced around his bedroom after the phone call. He had been unable to think straight since he walked out of the club. All he could see was the picture of the little girl.
Despite his insistence that they had used a condom that night, Kimberly had also insisted that the condom might have been faulty since he was the only person she had sex with at the time.
Kimberly had suggested he carry out a DNA paternity test if he was in doubt as to the paternity of the little girl.
She had even offered they do it there or fly down to Ludus with him and do it in a lab of his choice of he didn't trust her.
Of course he couldn't let that happen. Even though he had ways wanted a child of his own, this wasn't how he had planned it and the last thing he wanted was a scandal of this magnitude.
He had looked into Kimberly Moore after leaving the club that night and from all he had found out about her, she really didn't seem like someone who would want to pin a pregnancy on a random man.
She claimed that all she wanted from him was to be present in their daughter's life. She didn't need his money or anything. She only wanted him to be a father to his daughter.
Dawn. Dawn Hank. He could imagine her running around his mansion, he thought with a small smile that quickly disappeared from his face when he caught his reflection in the mirror. He shouldn't be feeling this way already. He reminded himself as he pinched his nose.
How was he going to explain the fact that he has a three years old kid? How would Lucy feel about it?
He knew he shouldn't even be worrying about Lucy's feelings right now as that wasn't priority. If it was true that the little girl was his, there was absolutely no way he would abandon her just to make Lucy happy.
A part of him prayed she wasn't his kid since the only woman he wanted to have a baby with was Lucy.
But another part of him hoped she was his. Perhaps if she was his, Lucy would be understanding enough to see that the deed had been done and would be accepting of his child.
That way he could live with her decision even if she never wanted to have a child with him, since he had a biological child of his own already.
Okay. Maybe he was thinking too far ahead. First things first, he was going to carry out a DNA test. Once he got the result he would figure out what next to do. Tom decided with a shake of his head, and glanced at his phone when it started ringing.
He picked it up when he saw that it was Kimberly. She was calling to let him know she was on her way with the little girl for them to go for the DNA test.
Did he want to be seen with them publicly? He didn't want that. At least not yet. He was just going to take a hair strand or whatever he could from her and have the test done by his own people and at his own time.
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