The drama that had happened at The Ribbon Palace had spread throughout the city like wildfire, once again, Cheryl had made the front pages of the city’s newspapers, but unlike the other times, this one affected her negatively, as the media had made it seem like she had gone up against Ortho Speare, meanwhile, she had only faced its seemingly favorite, and as it had seemed, the most protected secretary, Donna Brooks.
But Cheryl had gotten used to being in the lame light, she had gotten used to being gossiped about and talked about, so when she cat-walked into Ortho Speare, she walked with an unshakable air of pride around her; chin high up, and hips swaying. She was Cheryl Declan Xiu, and she would never allow her head to be bowed in shame.
She wondered how it had come to be, and what were the odds that Donna Brooks and Keith Preston would end up working together. It almost seemed like Donna was sewn into her life, and destined to be at some corner and at some turn. She shook her head to wave the thought away but she could not shake off the feeling that it just might be so.
She walked up to the reception table, ignoring all the stares the staff shot her way, and without so much as a smile, she threw her question at the lady behind the high reception desk.
“Is Donna in?” she asked with her eyes rolling. “You know, the seemingly important secretary of Mr. Keith Preston.”
Paige’s eyebrows twitched. “Donna Brooks?” she eyed Cheryl cautiously, wondering what it was this time that she needed for her to come personally to find Donna.
Cheryl touched her finger to the rim of the dark shades he had on her face and lowered it so that she stared at the receptionist directly in the eye. “Yes, Brooks. Donna Brooks, or is there any other Donna working high up?” she asked rhetorically.
The lady pouted her lips and then made to respond to the proud lady of The Aviary that had gathered up the audacity to walk into Ortho Speare. “Miss Brooks is not…”
“Let me stop you right there real quick,” Cheryl spoke and raised a hand in front of the lady’s face. She took her time to remove the shades she had on and then brought her attention back to the receptionist. “Before you lie and tell me Donna isn’t around or available, you should know that she is expecting me.” she rolled her eyes again and looked around the place as she went on.
“A person like me would never come out for something that would be a waste of my time, so you either bother her, and yourself by making that phone call to her office or you just point me in the direction of her office, so we wouldn’t have to continue this conversation, as we both know we do not like each other.”
Paige eyed her once, she had heard many things about the wife of Jeremy Xiu of The Aviary, and about her arrogance, pride, and ego, but watching her display right in front of her annoyed her, and she let her gaze linger on Cheryl a while longer. She reasoned to place a call to Donna’s office to inform her of Mrs. Xiu’s presence, but then she thought it a waste, the lady should have no reason to lie just to see Donna.
“Take the elevator to the last floor, hers is the first office,” Paige said to her.
Cheryl let out a sigh. “Now was that not easy?”
She turned away from the lady and walked towards the elevator, her proud steps drawing all the attention in her direction. She smirked and returned the dark shades where it was before, on her face, resting on the bridge of her nose, before she stepped into the elevator and pushed the button indicating the floor she needed to get to.
She stepped out of the elevator when it dinged and the doors slid open, the space here was vast, and as she had gathered, there were only about two people that used this floor, Donna Brooks and Keith Preston. She thought it preposterous that Keith would allocate the whole floor for just himself, and his secretary, but the more she thought about it, the more she saw that Keith indeed valued Donna. She began to wonder if it was strictly for business purposes, or if they had something else going on beneath the corporate titles.
Sure enough, Donna’s office was the first one she found, and without bothering herself to knock, she placed her hand on the door’s handle, twisted, and pushed, letting herself in with a forced smile. Donna was quick to look up from her laptop, expecting to see Keith or Paige, never would she have imagined seeing her in her office.
“You look like you have just seen a ghost Donna, be nice,” Cheryl said as she made her way to the chair in front of Donna’s desk, making herself comfortable as she fixed her attention on Donna who stared at her in surprise and slight anger.
“A person with manners would knock first.” Donna pointed out with a frown.
Cheryl sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, I’m sure, but as we all know, I have no manners.” she chuckled. “None, whatsoever.”
“Fancy you coming here to find me,” Donna spoke and pushed her chair away from the desk so that she was at arm's length away from it, then she leaned back into the chair and crossed her arms underneath her boobs.
“Hmm… fancy that.” she took off the dark shades and smiled sarcastically at Donna. “I’ll get straight to the point as neither of us wants me to be here at all.”
“Much appreciated.”
“What do you feel for Jeremy Xiu?”
Donna was taken aback by her question. “What do I feel for him?” she scoffed and eyed Cheryl in disbelief. “You came all the way here, from where ever, all the way to Ortho Speare, to my office, just to ask me what feeling I have for Jeremy Xiu?”
“If you could just answer the question Donna and not be a drama queen again, do you feel anything for him or not?”
“Why would I feel anything for him? I mean, he is your husband, is he not?” she smirked, but maintained her frown. “I do not do married men.”
“Well, he was once your man, was he not?”
“And he is not anymore, I do not like to dwell on the past, Cheryl Xiu.”
Cheryl sighed with a smile and rolled her eyes. “It is good that you remember he is a married man, but I am afraid my husband seems to forget that fact whenever your name is mentioned, Donna.”
She shrugged her shoulders, still not understanding why Cheryl was telling her this. “Okay? And that is supposed to affect me how?”
“It affects me!” she suddenly burst out but was quick to collect herself. She let out a breath through her mouth and leaned back against the chair. “You just had to show up after all these years, didn’t you?"
Donna sighed and her shoulders dropped. “Cheryl, remember how we used to be friends before all of this happened.” she gestured with one finger rolling in the air.
“It was obvious why I chose to be your friend in the first place,” Cheryl replied nonchalantly. “You were close to Jeremy, and I wanted him for myself.”
Donna scoffed in disbelief. “So that was all the friendship was to you.”
She turned her attention to her fingers and played with them, rubbing her index and middle finger against her thumb. “You guys might have been in love, and planned your lives out well, but people of influence get married according to their social status. You simply were never meant to end up with Jeremy…”