Daniel was sipping coffee when Bella finally came downstairs, their gaze met and held for a fleeting moment before she quickly averted her gaze. She silently poured herself a cup of coffee and his brooding gaze followed her around. The air between them was so tense that Bella felt like running away from that brooding gaze of his.
She sipped the coffee and shuddered at the taste and dropped the cup. She couldn't take this much bitterness, not even a drop of sugar was added to the coffee.
She couldn't take the silence anymore and she turned to face him,
"I'm sorry" they both spoke at the same time and they both stared at each other and he smiled while she giggled softly.
"I was a jerk yesterday, I shouldn't have kissed you"
"Let's just forget about it, it didn't mean anything to me by the way"
"Hmm" he replied to her last statement as he narrowed his eyes at her and she stared at him in a kind of way, "I mean it didn't mean anything to me also, in fact, I forgot about it the moment you left and didn't even give it a second thought"
Now it was her turn to frown at his words, he forgot about the kiss when she had stayed all night thinking about it. What a jerk
"We may not be living like the ideal husband and wife but can we at least be friends, at least let's call a truce"
"Sure, that's cool with me. Truce" she replied and brought her hand for a handshake
He took her hand in his and gently placed a kiss on the back of her hand, she shivered from the feel of it and snatched her hand away from his and stared at anything but him.
He went back quietly to resume taking his coffee
"You're all dressed up, going somewhere?" He finally spoke, breaking the sudden tension
"Yeah...I finally have a job"
He paused in the middle of sipping his coffee and stared at her, "a job, where?"
"Right now I have to go, I'll tell you all about it when I return" she replied and hurried off
"Just don't get lost" he yelled to her retreating back
"I won't" She was glad the moment of awkwardness between them was finally resolved.
Daniel wished he could tail her but he has some important things to do in the office and a lot of important documents to sign. He watched her leave with a mixed feeling which he quickly rein in check. She is his wife but he shouldn't be seeing her in that light, feelings, love, and romance have no place in his life, all he cares about is his revenge and nothing else matters.
*
*
"You're five minutes late, is this how you want to work in this company?" Keisha blasted as soon as Bella got to the office
"I...I... I'm sorry, I got held up in traffic" Bella explained, panting for breath
"That's not an excuse, you should have left home earlier to beat the traffic"
"Good morning ladies" Ollie greeted entering the office, he was just coming and late too but Bella kept the observation to herself
Keisha smiled sweetly at him and dusted a speck of imaginary dirt from his suit but Ollie was staring at Bella in an appreciating manner, "you look good Bella" he complimented and Keisha glared at her
"Shouldn't you start working already? You don't want the boss to be angry right?" Keisha told Ollie with a warning note in her voice and Ollie quickly walked past to get down to business.
Keisha turned to Bella, "...and you, sit at your desk and wait until I send for you"
Bella sat for hours while everyone went about their duty, some materials were brought into the company and Bella would have loved to start knowing different textile textures but Keisha would not even allow her to where the textiles were delivered
"I instructed you to sit" she clenched out with a glare at Bella
"B...but how am I supposed to learn anything while seated?" Bella questioned, it's no secret that Keisha detests her but she shouldn't take away her chance of learning how the company works, her employment depends on how fast she was able to catch up
"Are you questioning my orders? Should I remind you who the boss is?"
Bella didn't want more problems with Keisha so she quietly went back to her desk. She yawned in boredom as she watched others busy doing one thing or the other in the company but she had nothing to do, she even offered to help some of them but her offer was declined as none of them wanted to be on the bad side of Keisha.
Keisha was out of the office for a long time and when she finally came back, it was mid-day already, "do you have any duty for me, ma'am? I'll gladly help" Bella said as she quickly followed Keisha into the office as soon as she got back
"Go and serve lunch to everyone in the building. It's lunchtime already"
Bella's eyes widened in surprise, the building was quite huge and massive with thousands of employees and...." what!" She croaked and Keisha stared at her in a demeaning manner
"What, you wanted to work right? There you are, go and do as I have told you"
"But serving lunch to everyone is not part of my duty"
"Your duty is determined by me and you are in no position to question it. If you cannot do it then resign"
Bella saw where Keisha was going with this, she wanted her to resign, well, she won't give her that luxury. "I'll go it" she muttered and Keisha smirked
"Lunch is thirty minutes. You have thirty minutes to serve everyone excluding yourself"
Bella swallowed and nodded. She went about taking the orders of what most of the staff needed, some of them thankfully went to the cafeteria to eat but some were still so busy during lunch hours and Bella had to take their lunch to them.
She was fagged out by the time she finished serving them, some of them had been surprised but gladly accepted her offer and she was sweating by the time she finished, running up and down the stairs because she was scared of using the elevator, she's claustrophobic and can't stay in an enclosed space even for a short while so had opted for stairs.
She sat at her table and brought out her meal to eat but before she could start eating, the plate was snatched away from her, "lunchtime is over, you had thirty minutes and wasted so much time just to serve lunch? Such a lazy bump"
"But Keisha..." She started but Keisha landed her a hard slap that she saw stars
"Don't you dare address me by my name, in this department, I am the head and you must accord me with such respect"
Bella gritted her teeth but nodded, she could feel a few staff members glancing her way with pitiful looks but none said anything
"You have one more errand, you haven't served the boss. He likes drinking coffee in the afternoon. Take coffee to him without cream or sugar"
"Yes ma'am"
Keisha turned to leave and a file she was holding fell down, "pick this up" she instructed Bella who quickly bent to pick it up.
While she was bent, Keisha quickly snagged the rope holding her cloth firmly together at the back. Bella, unaware of what Keisha had done, innocently walked away to get coffee for the boss.
Keisha watched her leave with malicious intent in her eyes, let her go, and slut shame herself in the presence of the boss and she will get kicked out of the company for attempting to seduce the boss. A married woman for that matter if that is even through or probably a made-up story so that she could snatch Ollie from unsuspecting Keisha. "Keisha is smarter and knows your tricks" she whispered to herself.
The boss hates women, especially the slutty ones and it gives her some satisfaction that Bella would get kicked out very soon without her even doing much. Next time, the bitch will learn to mind her business and not glance at someone Keisha likes. She can't let that slut close to her Ollie, Ollie is hers and hers alone.