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'Obviously, You're Occupied'

I PERMITTED MY PEN to run along the paper held in my hand while my aching back was placed against the back rest of the chair hoisting me above the grey rug beneath.

I looked around my mother's office which held a lot of things. The collection of books that were stacked in the shelves at a corner, the large television that was plastered on the wall beside me, the plush grey rug beneath my feet, the list was endless.

Pulling out my feet from my shoes, I allowed them get busy with the plush rug beneath me.

A knock on the door dragged my attention to the door made out of sturdy wood. I had no idea why my mom chose mahogany for her door instead of the normal metallic doors

"Come in!" I sang.

Immediately I ended my speech, Beatrice, my Personal Assistant opened the door and walked towards my table. I observed her graceful movement even though she had on a pair of the heels I detested. I internally wished I could have the poise she had wearing stilettos.

"Good morning Florence."

I  acknowledged her greeting with a curt nod. She transferred some documents from a folder held in her hand to my table.

"What are these?"  I gestured at the documents and glanced upwards at her sea blue eyes, carefully hidden behind glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. Her hair was packed up in a single bun and a hair clip was used in securing the gold coloured strands.

"Those are from Mr. Adam, he says they need urgent attention."

I abandoned the paper and pen I was holding earlier and placed my hand on the documents. My eyes wandered casually among the sentences and planted themselves on a phrase: URGENT.

I sighed and shifted my eyes back to Beatrice.

"Thank you."

She gave me a smile full of cheer and I gave her a smile in response. This was one of the reasons why I chose her as my Personal Assistant, she always wore a smile on her face. The other reason being that,she was obstinate, just like Tamara, but never failed to carry out the numerous tasks I set her on. She was the complete opposite of Alice, her predecessor who was never acted on instructions, I wondered how mom coped with her.

"There's someone asking to see you."

"Who?"

"Mr. Ross"

Reflexively, I adjusted on my seat. Ashamed of my reaction, I tried to regain my composure, but my action didn't escape Beatrice's eyes. She smirked at me and I rolled my eyes in response.

"Please, let him in."

She nodded and with brisk strides, she was at the door. She held it open for Philip to walk through. They exchanged glances before she stepped out and closed the door behind her. Philip who was dressed smartly, gave me one of his hypnotizing smiles and I clutched the hand of my swivel chair in response.

"Good morning Mr. Ross."

He lifted a brow and moved to take the seat I offered him.

"Ah... yes...Florence." He pronounced my name like it gave him some form of satisfaction.

He reclined in the sofa opposite my desk and took in the contents of the office. While he engaged his eyes, I seized the opportunity to scan the document Mr. Adam sent in. It offered me information about 'Tamara'; It needed immediate attention, just like Florence, her finances were rapidly declining, and the workers were protesting.

"Obviously, you're occupied..." Philip's deep voice startled me and my fingers twitched slightly. His eyes lingered on the papers in my hand.

"When am I not?" I permitted a little smile distort the shape of my lips. Pulling out a drawer from underneath the table, I dumped the papers inside.

"A business man is always busy. Anyways, this is the agenda for our next meeting, the date and venue are enclosed here, I felt I should personally give it to you."

He stretched his hand in which there was a paper, trapped lightly in between his fingers, towards me and I accepted the paper in between my fingers.

"I'll go through it, thank you."

I opened another drawer and tucked the paper away. Sighing, I reclined in the swivel chair and spun it gently to the right and left using my legs to propel its movement.

"The lines crisscrossing your forehead tells me that you're under stress," He observed me for a few seconds before shifting his eyes to other objects on my table.

"Work, I have a lot of things in my head, on my hands, on my shoulders, it's...it's maddening." I said exasperatedly and Philip observed me again with his eyes.

"Ah, yes, balancing work hours and your normal life isn't easy, you need a little enlightenment to prevent your brain from being tangled up."

"I doubt that's possible, balancing work and my normal life, it's near impossible."

He arched his body forward and placed an elbow on my table.

"No, Florence, It isn't."

"Care to disprove me?" I taunted and he raised a brow, with a smile playing on his lips and his eyes gleaming.

"Oh yeah."

For the next thirty minutes, he let out carefully selected words that described how I could effectively deal with stress and I listened keenly.

He ended the conversation saying he had a couple of things to attend to.

Immediately he left my office, the thoughts previously attacking my mind launched another attack. I sighed as I delved deeper into the thoughts. The thought that prevailed over the others was that of the strange words that were scribbled on my mirror last week.

I pushed away the thoughts and proceeded to secure a seat on a plane headed to California with my laptop.

I drove mom's car along the busy roads of Manhattan the Airport where I boarded the plane that took me to California. The journey to California consumed over 2,441 miles and at least 4.3hours.

When I arrived at the Airport at California, I boarded a taxi which conveyed me to Tamara, where I tied up the loose ends unravelled by mom's temporary incapacity.

Exhausted, I flew back to New York, not wanting to spend the night in any hotel. I drove back to Florence to pick a couple of things left behind in my office.

As I unlocked the door to my office, my phone rang.

Peter.

Rolling my eyes, I contemplated between answering his call or rejecting it. I settled on answering his call, because yeah, it's kinda fun listening to someone lying to you when you already know the truth.

As I grabbed the needed items from my table, Peter assured me off his unending love for me and I gritted my teeth listening to his smooth lies which kept coming, pouring down on me till I was drenched in them.

After he hung up, guess what I did... I cried and cried. No way! here's what I did; I drove straight home, drew myself a warm bath, slipped into the water,tucked my ear buds into my ears and allowed the music take over.

After that what else? I cried some more... are you seriously kidding me? I jumped into my bed and drove straight to sleep land.

I really should stop letting things bother me.

☜☜☜

Hey there lovelies, how are you all doing?

It's 4:15p.m in my country, how about yours?

I appreciate your comments, keep them jumping in.

One last thing, tell me one thing you like about this book... 😆😆

Tris❤

Dedicated to pecanpie492017 and Nkem68