Chapter 3 ⭐️FAMILY DINNER ⭐️

He placed the cup of coffee on the middle of her head! _____ "What do you think you're doing!" Jemima shouted, standing up fast, but immediately she did, the cup fell from her head to her dress, and the coffee poured on her dress in the front. "Oh! Oh jeez! F**k!!!" She screamed. "Sorry about that, but you told me to place it on your head, was just following orders" Maxwell said simply, and she slowly looked up till their eyes met. Her eyes were raining fire. "You don't know sarcasm? You ruined everything idiot!" She shouted at the top of her voice.

She was expecting him to say sorry, but he kept standing, looking at her as the coffee spread to the far end of her blouse. "Seriously?" She smirked angrily. "Any problem?" He asked freely, and she walked angrily to him. She raised her hand on him, but he caught it before it could reach his face, and she gasped. "If it were you, would you have said sorry? I doubt it" he whispered, their faces so close as he kept holding the hand up. "What!" Jemima's lids shook. "You can decide not to hire me anymore, that won't make me die, and... "And who told you I'm not gonna hire you" she interrupted with an interesting smile, taking her hand from him. "Cool" Maxwell replied, and she continued smiling as she called Lina in. "Huh! Your blouse!" She gasped when she saw the stain and the coffee on the floor. "Call the cleaners to clean this ness, and arrange a new dress for me" Jemima ordered. "Oh...sure ma'am!" Lina replied hurriedly, rushing into Jemima's inner office. Jemima and Maxwell kept standing, glaring at each other till the cleaners came in. They were still glaring when the cleaners finished up and left, then Lina came out of the inner room. "The change of clothes is ready, ma'am" she said, and Jemima smiled again before walking in. "What happened here?" Lina asked Maxwell. "Nothing much" he smiled. "Can you stop smiling?" Lina pouted. "Why?" "You look more handsome when you do that, I might fall for you" she replied, and he blinked. "By the way aren't you Limited Mell on IG? I'm following you back to back" she said, and his eyes widened. "Seriously?" "Of course!" She came closer and showed him her IG. "Whoa" he smiled. "To me, you're better than CleoSpeedy or Lincoln, they're seen as the best only cos they're rich @sses, I hope you win the tournament cos no better swimmer" she said, and they stuck hands. "First time I'm meeting a fan for real" he said. "Fan for life" she winked, and they smiled at each other. The appearance of Jemima made them stop it. She changed into another dress already, body con gown this time. "Lina, pack your things and leave your office" she ordered, and her eyes widened. "What! I'm...I'm.. fired?" "Go to the manager's office, You're promoted" Jemima replied. "What!" "And you... you're my secretary" she faced Maxwell, and he frowned. "Are you kidding?" "Do I look like someone who has time to joke with kids?" Jemima replied with a frown too, and he went closer to lean on her desk. "Kid?" He muttered, and her eyes went to his CV soft copy on her laptop. "I'm four years older! You're just 24, probably graduated college in the beginning of this year, so what are we talking about? Now that I think about it, you're f**king rude, you talk to me like we're age mates or something, if you wanna remain here as my secretary, do away with that" she glared. "I'm outta here" Maxwell replied and stood straight. "Cops will be waiting for you when you get outside, you'll have a good time journeying with them to their station where you'll have to explain why you dumped ice cream on my car last night, and of course... you'll pay for the car" Jemima replied arrogantly, resting back on her chair. Maxwell didn't budge as he began walking out of the office, but he suddenly stopped when he remembered the bet again. If he goes home without getting any job at all, Cypress and Warren will have a good time jesting him, and he'd lose thousands of dollars from the bet.... also... He needs more money for himself too, and the designated driver job won't cut it ... He needs this no matter how small, so he turned back. "Sure" he said, and Jemima smiled. "Cool, show him to his office Lina, his work starts now, and make sure his ID is ready before noon. You know how much your salary is, right? It's in the contract" she said. Maxwell didn't reply before following Lina out of the office. "You sure don't know what's coming for you" Jemima smiled, returning to her laptop. ••• The office is just in front of Jemima's, small and portable but clean. Maxwell sat immediately he got there with Lina, and she placed three bundle of files on the table in front of him. "You have to study all of these before this week runs out, they're her schedules from the beginning of this month till next month, then the list of people you need to know and their pictures" she said. "Anything else?" He asked, and she gasped. "Anything else? Aren't you scared of these? Are you sure you can finish studying these before the end of this week?" " I assimilate things fast" he replied, and she smiled. "Little wonder your results are so good, you're fit to be a CEO seriously. You have the face, the stature, the aura...." "But I don't have the money" he smiled too. "Yes, you don't have the money" Lina replied, and they both laughed, then she dropped another file in front of him. "They're her schedules for today, you can start studying from there, I'll introduce you to the staffs and take you round the company later, fighting!" She said. "Sure, Manager Lina" he replied. "Bye! secretary Maxwell" she winked and left. Maxwell stopped smiling immediately, dropping his head on the table. "Gawd! This is crazy!" •••

It's one of the best jewelry stores in Paris, at least it'd make the list of top ten. It employed ten attendants, and that includes Cypress, the only tomboy there, and the best of all. Customers love her more than the others, and they give her more tips cos of her crazy cheerfulness, that made the others hate her so much, but she doesn't care anyways. She came back in after escorting a customer out, and one of them blocked her. "What's up Linda?" She smirked. "Did you use black magic or something? Why always you in this place? We're attendants too, why don't we get the attention you always get from customers" Linda retorted. "I think you should be asking the customers that, they chose me, I don't chose them dear" Cypress smiled. "Or... maybe you pay with something else" Linda smiled. "What do you mean?" Cypress asked as her smile disappeared. "The customers who like you are majorly men, who knows maybe you bribe them with what's between your thighs" Linda replied, and everyone else laughed, but it didn't last cos Cypress dazed Linda's face with a slap immediately. "Ahh!" Linda bled. Everyone gasped, and this time, Cypress raised her punch on her... "Cypress!" The Senior attendant came out, a male. Her fist stopped midair, and she was breathing hard as she brought it down. "What do you think you're doing!" The Senior attendant shouted when he finally reached them. "She started it! She called me a whore indirectly!" Cypress ranted. "I never said that, I was only talking to her about her poor mode of dressing, and the next thing she did was slap me" Linda replied, shedding tears as she held her burning cheek. "What!" Cypress gasped shockingly. "Linda is saying the truth" another attendant said. "Cypress started it" another one added. Everyone went against her to support Linda, and she scoffed. "Seriously? Y'all should stop lying on me!" She shouted. "Cypress, you should have controlled your anger" Senior Oliver said, and she faced him. "You too? You trust them over me? Yunno what? F**k y'all!" She pushed Linda out of the way and stormed out of the store. Oliver ran after her, catching up not far from it. He grabbed her hand, but she broke free. "Let me go! Go back to the others!" "I did what I had to, I believe you" he replied, and she lowered her brows. "What?" "I know they all hate you cos you make better sales, but I had to do that since there's no evidence that you didn't do it" he replied, and she dipped her hands in her pockets, standing like a boy as she started looking at the ground. "Stay here" he said and left for the nearby vending machine. He got a canned beer and came back to give her. "What's this for?" She asked. "To bribe you to come back in" he replied, and she smiled before taking it from him. "How did you know I love beer?" "I just know, let's go" he smiled, leading the way back. •••

Jemima came out of her office, and Maxwell stood with the files she'd be needing at the presentation. "Shall we?" He smiled. "Are you sure you didn't mix up the files? You're not that smart" she smirked. "And I'm not daft either" he replied. "I doubt that" she scoffed. "Whatever" he said, joining her. "Whatever?" She faced him. "What?" He replied, and she nodded. "I'll make you regret every minute you spend in this building, starting from tommorow" "Bring it on" he replied, and they began walking side by side till they got to the hall. "Ladies first" he said, and she flattened her lips before going in before him. All the staffs in the hall stood immediately, and no one dared to sit till she did. Maxwell took his seat on the rightful place not far from her after opening the needed files in front of her. The presenter got the projector remote and went to the stage to start, and that was when Tatiana came in. Despite her lateness, she knowingly hit her heels hard on the floor at every step till she got to her seat, and Maxwell smirked. Blood is thicker than water, but maybe Tatiana is even worse than Jemima herself. He hates her immediately. The presentation started, and Jemima darted her eyes to the opened files in front of her. Her eyes widened for a bit, and then she began opening into the pages. It's all so well arranged, and the ink is in bolder letters than Lina's work. The edge of the papers were trimmed and stapled neatly, and the accuracy... She raised her head to look at Maxwell who was staring at the stage. Who the hell is he? He only resumed an hour ago, and he's this good? She quickly looked away when Maxwell suddenly turned his neck. •••

<1PM ~ A PRIVATE LUNCH RESTURANT>

Jemima entered the reserved room and met Sloane on seat already, the table has been set. "Took you too long" Sloane smiled as she sat "I can guess you only waited for three minutes" Jemima laughed. "Two" Sloane replied, and they laughed. Sloane Roosevelt is her best friend since they were kids, same age, and she's also a single mom like her, though it's a son in her case. She had her son when she was eighteen too just like Jemima, so he's same age as Francesca, they attend same school. "Hmm!" Jemima moaned in relish when she began eating. "Delicious, right?" Sloane asked as she ate too. "Of course, thanks for choosing this place for the lunch, I'm gonna fill myself till the brim" Jemima replied, and she smiled. "So...why didn't you come to the party last night?" Jemima asked. "What party? You cancelled it anyways" Sloane rolled eyes. "But still, you had no plans to come, I know that" Jemima said. "Yeah, was spending time with Miguel (her son)" Sloane replied, and Jemima went mute. "Hey I know you hate talking about our kids, but there's no way you can escape it, stop hating Francesca" Sloane said. "Can we not talk about your son or her?" Jemima replied. "But... "Sloane!" Jemima snapped. "Finnne" Sloane gave up, but she immediately gasped. "But CleoSpeedy and your stepsister did things to your secretary last night, I hope you'd deal with them" she said. "CleoSpeedy and Tatiana? Did what?" Jemima asked with a scowl. "Wait...you didn't know?" Sloane blinked. •••

<8PM~ CHAIRMAN ANDRADE-KINGS MANSION>

Jemima's car was driven into the house by Maxwell, and they both came out at once. He was grimacing when their eyes met. "So now, I'm gonna be your driver too? And do I have to attend this dinner with you?" He smirked. "Yes, you're my driver and secretary, and i'm adding to your salary for that, I hate freebies" she replied. "Cool" he nodded. "And about this dinner, yeah. Lina attends with me when it was her time, and now that you're here, just play along" she rolled eyes, leading the way in. Maxwell scoffed before following, and immediately they entered, his eyes widened. It's paradise! Sparkling and full of vainglory... This has gotta be the biggest mansion in Paris. Chairman made it compulsory for all his family members to gather at his mansion and eat dinner together at least once a week. That includes chairman, Tatiana, Jemima, then Clara... Tatiana's mum. "Welcome ma'am" the maids by the door bowed their heads, and she was led to the dinning with Maxwell. They met everyone present already, it's like they've been waiting for them. Clara is sitting beside chairman, while Tatiana sat not far from them. Jemima didn't bother to greet before sitting face-to-face Tatiana, then Maxwell did the same, sitting beside her. "Who's he?" Clara asked. "Do I have to explain everything to you? Slut!" Jemima shot like she has been preparing for it. "What!" Clara stood. "You don't talk to my mum that way!" Tatiana spranged up too. "Order!" Chairman slammed his palms on the table, and Clara sat. Tatiana gave Jemima a look full of venom before sitting too. "He's my new secretary, dad" Jemima said softly, not looking at anyone. "Good evening sir" Maxwell greeted with a slight bow. "You're handsome" chairman replied, and he smiled. "I get that a lot" "Let's eat in peace, please" chairman said, picking his cutleries. The others followed suit, and Maxwell remained still. "You're not eating?" Chairman asked. "I'm allowed? Thought it's for family" he replied. "Lina was like family when she was the secretary, and now you've become a part of us too" chairman replied. "Thanks" he smiled, picking his cutleries too. They began eating, but obviously everyone has what they wanna say, so it was awkward, especially Tatiana. "I think you should stop bringing secretaries everywhere, it's a family dinner for crying out loud" she finally spoke. "Was that why you had the guts to touch Lina last night?" Jemima replied. "You finally heard, she got exactly what she deserved for trying to defend you sick psycho!" Tatiana fired back. "Sick psycho? Well I'm not someone whose dad and mum had a one nightstand in a damn hotel room to give birth to" Jemima laughed. Maxwell chuckled secretly, dropping his fork to cover his mouth with his palm. "Stop talking!" Tatiana spranged up and walked furiously to Jemima. She attempted to slap her, but Jemima grabbed her hand and brought it to her mouth, biting it hard "Argghhhhh!!!!" Tatiana screamed painfully. "What the..." Maxwell's eyes widened. "Jemima!" Clara and chairman shouted at once, but that wasn't enough to make her stop. Immediately Jemima stopped biting Tatiana, she dipped her face into the hot pot of pasta. She shoved it hard, and when she removed it, she pushed her, and Tatiana fell. "Jemima stop!" Chairman started rushing to her. At the same time, Clara grabbed a cup of water and threw it at Maxwell's face. "Get out of this mansion! Now!" She shouted authoritatively, and Maxwell blinked as the cold water streamed down his shirt and suit. It was even reaching his trousers, rushing down his d**k. He looked at the mess and scoffed before standing. "Madam, I know I'm not rich, but damn you for doing this! I'm a f**king limited edition!" He shot angrily and grabbed a cup of water too. He threw it all at Clara's face.