Chapter 5 First Day As His Secretary

Chapter five: First Day As His Secretary

Scarlett

"You shouldn't!" I screamed internally but I couldn't help my hands caressing me down there. I bit my lips, trying to hold back what little noise would escape my mouth.

"Scarlet!" I jumped as I heard Steven scream my name.

When I finally opened my eyes and realized what I was doing, once again my heart was ridden with guilt. I tried convincing myself that it was all just out of frustration after all it has been a long time since Steven and I have been intimate with each other. But deep down, I could hear my heart screaming at me for making excuse.

"I am coming!" I yelled back.

I was sure the reason why would suddenly call me at the top of his lungs but knowing how intoxicated he can be, I can't leave him alone for long in his state. I quickly got out of the bathroom and wrapped a towel around my body. Being tall, the towel could barely cover all of my body but as it managed to hide what needed to be hidden, it was good enough.

"What happ......" I stopped as I noticed he was still asleep. I guess he was talking in his sleep, he used to do that a lot when we slept together but ever since he lost his job, he just wouldn't come to the bedroom to sleep for some reason known to him alone. Sometimes I wondered if it was because he felt bad about what he was doing or if he didn't have the courage to face me.

I leaned over on the doorway looking at him longingly, the guilt I felt a moment ago had long fled my heart. All I saw in front of me was the man l loved and the pleasant memories of us being together. Our hopes and dreams were shattered simply because we were a little too optimistic.

After taking out a loan from the bank, Steven was about to invest it in a property to establish his own company but as soon the scammers got the money and the property's ownership was transferred to us, we found out that the property was going to be a pathway for the government development and the ownership was to be given back to the state just for a minimal compensation.

We tried to fight a case over it but it was over even before it started. We lost everything and now we had to pay the loan from the bank and compensate the state with money by the order of the court. I had dreams of becoming an accountant but I had to drop out from the University because of the loan and its increasing interest. Steven was devastated and started to drink excessively.

It was his fault and that hasn't affected my feelings towards him. I loved him as much as the day we got married but I wasn't sure if we were the same people who married each other. He changed and I did too. There were obvious secrets between us and I couldn't tell him mine, so I didn't expect him to reveal his too.

Feeling a bit down, I walked back to my room and changed into pajamas before laying on the bed. I had expected my tiredness to wash away after a bath but I was feeling even more sleepy. So, I decided to worry about everything later when I woke up. It was around three o'clock in the afternoon but I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

When I woke up, I picked up my phone to check the time, it was seven o'clock in the evening. The set had already set and my body ached from tiredness. Sleeping in the afternoon was never a good idea because you will end up waking up feeling worse.

I got up and made my way to the kitchen. Surprisingly Steven was still asleep on the couch, for a moment I worried if he was okay but after seeing his chest rise and fall with each breath, I felt much at ease. I walked up behind him and leaned over wrapping my arms around his neck.

I still felt the guilt holding me back and I wanted to pull away because of the disgust I felt towards myself but instead I held him tightly and gently brushed my face against him. I wanted to cry but I couldn't, even my tear ducts have all dried up.

I am sorry." I whispered.

He was still asleep but I wanted to get it all out, I wanted to tell him everything even if he couldn't hear it at the moment. Having to live with this suffocating feeling while trying to live a normal life wasn't something that I could do.

"I am not asking you to forgive me, I know what I did doesn't deserve forgiveness." I said, burying my face on his shoulder while he was still asleep.

"I can't even forgive myself either and I can't tell you about what I did." I whispered also.

The problem wasn't that I cheated on my husband but it was that I enjoyed it. I would never have imagined myself doing something like that in a million days but when it comes, I did it. And now, I wasn't sure what to do about it, confessing to someone was already not an option and what else can I do, I wasn't sure of it.

I leaned back and pulled away my arms around him but as my wrist lifted his collar slightly, I noticed something under it. I lifted it up with my thumb to take a proper look at it and a bright red mark of lipstick was printed on it. I couldn't believe my eyes for a moment, I tried to brush it off with my fingers as I was unsure if it was a joke but I only ended up smearing the mark under his collar.

I don't know what to feel or what to think of it, my heart felt as if it had stopped breathing altogether. My breath grew shallow as I took a step backwards, random thoughts ran through my head for him being with another woman to a joke done by a group of friends, I didn't even know what to believe.

I rushed to my room and picked up my phone and I called Olivia immediately because she was the one that brought him home last night. She should have an idea of why there was a mark on lipstick under his collar. After a few rings, I heard a click from the other end.

"Hello, what's up Scarlet?" She picked up the call.

"Fine, Olivia. Where did you pick Steven up from last night?" I asked hastily and there was a brief silence at the other end before she replied.

"It was the usual bar near his old working place." She replied and I knew where the bar was after all I had often picked him up from there.

"Did he, hmmm. Did you see anyone with him?" I asked and I waited anxiously for her to reply.

"No, there wasn't anyone with him. Scarlet, what happened?" She replied and I don't know what to tell her.

I blankly stared at him from my room, my life was falling apart and I was watching it all happen before me.

The next morning, the sound of my rushing steps were resonating throughout my workplace. I was trying to get to George's office, it was my first day as his secretary and all the instructions for today had been presented to me through an email. I took a quick glance at my watch before entering the elevator and hitting the appropriate buttons.

I was already late on the first day as his secretary but I couldn't care any less. I had decided to resign from the position and go back to being a receptionist who wouldn't have followed him around every step of the way. After what had happened between us that night, I don't think I can work around him.

Inside the elevator, I couldn't help but feel my anxiety plummet. I stared blankly at the floor and then heaved a sigh before lifting my face to the elevator door. Once again, the mess I was in played back inside my mind while I had no idea on how to solve my problems, I wanted to face them one at a time.

Resigning from being George's secretary was the first time I needed to do it but still I couldn't help thinking about the lipstick mark on Steven's shirt which I don't know what to make out of it. If I were to blame him for cheating on me, that would be the worst form of hypocrisy.

"No, he did cheat on me. I know he loves me." I told myself clenching my fist over my heart.

I didn't believe he cheated on me, maybe something else happened. Something that made more sense than my husband's infidelity.

"It could be a random girl coming at him or maybe a whore forcing herself or better still a friend playing a prank." I said to myself as I am aware of area we lived in was filled with all sorts of people.

I had more than enough reason to believe that there was an alternative explanation for those lipstick on his shirt. The doors to the elevator started to open, breaking my train of thoughts and I took a deep breath once again and stepped outside convincing myself to handle one thing at a time. For now, it was time to have a conversation with George.

I had to walk through an office filled with people jumbling documents and working on computers. The workplace was filled with people calling each other form their booths and some were walking from one desk to the other trying to communicate their worries while the other wore headset talking to customers on the line.

I could see George behind the glass window looking at files laying on the table.

"Hey, Scarlet." I heard someone called my name but as I was already late, I didn't want to waste any more time.

I opened the door and entered George's office and he gave me a quick look before burying his face back into the files. I was a bit taken back by his actions but I decided not to pay it my mind.

"I was waiting for you, Scarlet. You are already on your first day huh." He sighed and clamped his hands and looked up to face me again.

"I actually wanted...."

"We can talk later, Scarlet." He stopped me before I could finish whatever I wanted to say.

Standing up from his chair, he moved to the cabinet behind him and from one of its drawers, he took out a blue file and rested it on the table. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I blankly stared at him for his odd behaviour.

Was he pretending nothing happened? I wanted to voice out my thoughts but he interrupted before I could finish.

"I want you to look at this file and check the records of Daniel Craig." He opened the file and flipped some pages before pointing at a document and then looking at me.

"The company gave him a hefty sponsorship for his project but haven't heard from him since then."

He leaned back and looked at me a second before his eyes wandered downwards as if he just remembered something.

"Oh yeah," he moved towards the cabinet again, jerking his index finger.

I turned around to look at the file he had just given me. There was a picture of a man holding a cheque from Crystal Finance Company. I have always known that our company financed and sponsored innovative ideas and discoveries but this was my first time looking at a transaction file. I wondered what amount of money was credited to this man.