I was tired, forced to smile when I was not even remotely happy and the gaze on me was really not helping things. This had to be one of those bullshit scenes out of the cheesy romcoms.

To be very honest, I didn't much care for the man who was watching me. Yes. He was hot and all. But I had Chris and he made me happy. I was not going to throw that away for anything.

I knew he was watching me. I could feel it. It was making me uncomfortable and I truly hope I didn't drop anything because of him. Because I would lose my job immediately, no excuses.

That's what kept me going. The meeting lasted an hour, then they had dinner and I didn't mess up. But then it looked like fate hated me and wanted to fuck me up.

As I was pouring Mr. Reeves's drink, I accidentally looked up at him. And guess what, he was already staring at me. I shook, startled, forgetting that I still had the wine bottle in my hand

The wine spilled on his sparkling white shirt. I watched as if in slow motion. It was like watching a cake you had just made splatter to the floor.

I quickly put the wine bottle on the table and took a napkin to Mr. Reeves's shirt. I was muttering apologies in between the blotting. Then he held my hand.

I looked at him and stopped with my motions. "It's okay," he said.

Why wasn't he pissed? The shirt looked like it cost more than what I earned in a year so why wasn't he mad.

"I'm so sorry sir. I will take it for dry cleaning. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry." I didn't even know how much dry cleaning this shirt would cost and with my meager bank account balance, I didn't even want to know.

I knew apologizing to the man was useless. Everything depended on my boss. And I already knew he was going to fire me. After all the warnings he had given me this morning, he was surely going to be wounded and out for blood.

"It's okay Kayla. Don't worry about it. You can take the bottle away," he said and I took in a deep breath. I picked the bottle up and looked at it as if it was going to give me courage.

I walked to the kitchen with slow strides and like I expected, my boss was standing there waiting for me. The look on his face was furious and I already knew what he was going to say.

But to my greatest surprise, instead of talking and screaming at me, he backhanded me with all his might and I fell to the floor. This was after I kept the wine bottle of course, God forbid anything happen to it.

"What you're going to do is get your shit, get out of here and pray this man comes back. Else you'll have to deal with me."

I watched him as he turned, still on the floor, my cheek smarting from the slap. He came back towards me and said, "One more thing. Don't even think of taking this to court or police cause no one would believe you over me."

I sat there for a while and watched my coworkers all skipped over me like I was shit. I woke up with all the dignity I could muster. Then I packed my stuff and walked out of the restaurant through the backdoor. If was enough that I was being humiliated I didn't want anyone else to be a witness to my embarrassment.

As I was walking towards the bus stop, a car stopped next to me and the window rolled down. I wasn't about that cheesy shit of getting into cars of people I didn't know. First of all, it was 9 pm. Then I was a woman. And lastly I was a black African woman. I wasn't about to tempt fate. Nope. Abeg. No be me go die today.

I kept walking like I didn't see anything. Whoever was in that car was going to get tired of walking behind me, sooner or later. But they didn't get tired. Instead they called my name. I stopped.

"Kayla, get in."

It was Mr. Reeves. I frowned. I didn't know this man from Adam. And to be honest, he was kind of the one who had put me in all this mess. If his gaze wasn't so hypnotic, I wouldn't have poured the wine on his shirt. And I'd still have a job.

"I'm fine sir. I will just go to the–" I started but he interrupted me.

"It's not up for debate. Get in Kayla," he said. I swallowed and walked to his car slowly. I just hoped Chris never found out about this. If not he was probably never going to forgive me.

As soon as I got in, he started the car again. It was silent for about two minutes then I broke the silence. It was too creepy—and it didn't help that this man with his perfect face was giving me serial killer vibes.

"Why did you decide to help me?" I asked.

"I'm not helping you," he said and I raised a brow. Okay. This was not how it was supposed to go.

"What are you doing then sir?" I asked. This whole shit was getting too creepy. I wish I had listened to instincts and just continued walking. This was bullshit.

"Call it taking what I want."

I swear that my mouth dropped open at that instant. Who the fuck was this man?

"What do you want sir?" I hoped that the sir was going to jog some part of his brain and make him realize that he was scaring this poor girl.

"You."

***

*Abeg. No be me go die today: please. Today is not the day I die

This girl is African (cameroonian) so expect the pidgin English sometimes because I'm trash and can't speak my language 😭

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I'm about ready to drop and die I swear 🙃
If you're reading Imperfect or any of my other books then I'm sorry for not updating 😭

Enjoy this short ass chapter.

Love,
Essie 🌺