Chapter 2 Another red rose

"Did you say, a man with a maroon overcoat? Where is he?" I asked my eyes darting around to see.

"He just left a few seconds before you walked in, didn't you bump into each other at the door way?"Stacy asked me making me more confused than I was already.

Taking the rose from her, I ran to the door once again. I checked around once again and didn't see him. I became frustrated as I began shouting.

"If you're done playing the silly games, can you show yourself now?" I said but no one came out even after waiting for a few minutes. With a sigh a walked back into my house but not after glancing one last time.

"Stacy, don't bother clearing the mess, I'll call the cleaning agent for that now. Just go rest, you must be tired." I said to the frail looking girl infront of me.

"Ma'am, the catering company people you hired are waiting at the lounge." Stacy said.

I sighed again. I had forgotten about them too. I went to the lounge and talked to the manager. " Mr Paul, thank you for your service, come to my office tomorrow, I'll write your cheque. You can ask your team to park the food if they want." After saying that I left with a smile. The workers whom accompanied Mr Paul beamed with excitement.

I went to my room, removed my spoiled dress and threw it inside my clothes bucket. I took a quick shower and slept off immediately. I woke up the next day feeling relaxed. I checked my clock at the side table, it was ten am. I got off the bed and put on my robe then went downstairs. The living hall was sparkly clean, there isn't even a trace that there was a party just last night. I smiled in satisfaction.

I smelled the egg pancakes from the kitchen and headed there. Stacy smiled at me when she saw me leaning at the door. "ma'am, since you stayed late today, I decided to make you breakfast!" She said with a smile.

I always don't have breakfast at my home because I leave too early and I don't want my maid to rise as early as 5:30am to make me breakfast. Stacy scooped a cooked pancake in a plate for me and poured me tea from the flask she had kept it in.

"I didn't want it to get cold that's why I kept it in the flask." She explained.

" It's okay Stacy, thank you!" I said as I moved to the kitchen counter with the plate and cup Stacy gave me. It's my first time eating in the kitchen and I know Stacy was looking at me with amusement." Don't just stare at me, come and join me here!" I told her and she happily scooped a pancake and poured herself tea before joining me at the counter.

We started eating together. Even though Stacy worked here even before my mother died, I hardly know her. So I engaged her into a friendly conversation. "Stacy, how old are you?" I asked her.

She swallowed her food before answering me, "I'm 26 years old, ma'am!" She said respectfully.

"You look younger than your age! I'm 25, you're even older than I!" I said and started laughing, she joined in.

"Since you're older than I, shouldn't you call me Belle? it's out of character for you to adress me as ma'am when in reality I should be the one calling you that?" I said earning a blush from her. I chuckled at her reaction. "Anyway, it's your choice what you want to call me, I won't mind!" I said.

"Then, can I call you something like, Chocolate, ice-cream, Yoghurt...?" She said cheekily and we laughed again. " Anything but not, fish, frog and mongoose!" I said and we continued laughing.

" So, are you married or engaged?" I asked her.

" I do have a boyfriend, we're going to get engaged soon when he comes from his business trip. He works at Angas Interprise as a sales manager. She said proudly. I smiled at her. That was beautiful. She is such a sweet girl. at least she has a boyfriend, unlike me, my relationships were all hell and none lasted. Now, I'm just focusing on my father's company. I want to establish it in every part of the world.

I own 50% of the company shares now. My brother managed to pull it from 28 to 36 and now we're at fifty. That's a big progress. I needed to safeguard it. My father is the founder of the company, it would be such a shame if someone else takes over.

My father has a sister, Marietta, the mother of Hannah and Julius. Julius was the right hand man of my brother before he died. People expected him to take over but I had other plans. I won't let him take away my father's pride so I had to work hard to prove to the board members that I'm worth the position of a CEO after my brother. My father and brother taught me about the business even when I was still a high school student. At that time I didn't know why they had to engage me into their boring business plans and projects, now I know what the were doing. Julius is now the assistant CEO and owns 28%of the company shares.

"I'll get the door!" Stacy said getting up from her seat. I was in deep thought that I didn't even hear the doorbell. After a while, Stacy came back with a red rose and a smile on her face. "Who was it?" I asked curiously.

"It's the man from yesterday, he just brought another rose for you. He passed a message to you and said good morning!" Stacy said enchanted.

I looked at the rose in a daze, My heart skipped, 'The man from yesterday is here again?'