Chapter 8

• "You can leave now, Miss Mark." Hames said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
• I glanced at my wristwatch and it was three hours past my closing hour, if I even had one. "Thank you so much, Mr Hendrix, for releasing me at such an early hour of the day." I said sarcastically with a fake smile.
• He raised his head from his laptop, leaned back in his chair and intertwined his fingers. "Oh, really?" He scoffed. "Why don't you wait till it's not so early and do some more work."
• My eyes widened at that. I wore a grin at him, shaking my head. "No, thank you. I'll be leaving now." I nodded then turned around and took my leave. A frown returned on my face as I shut the door. "Stupid man." I hissed.
• A young man beside me, who I hadn't noticed until now, chuckled at me. I flinched at the notice of his presence. "Hi," I waved awkwardly, walking away.
• "We all know he's terrible." He said behind me but I ignored him and continued walking away.
• I got into the elevator and to the ground floor.
• "Is Mr. Hendrix leaving anytime soon?" Sarah asked, lifting her eyebrows sadly.
• "Why'd I know?" I replied grouchily with a snort and signed out. "Goodnight and good luck waiting for him till he's done." I smirked.
• "You're silly." She rolled her eyes. Her deep voice was kinda scary-sounding.
• I left the company and strolled to the nearest bus stop to get into a bus.
• I took a quick nap till the bus was a few bus stops away from my destination. It stopped at my destination then I got out of it.
• After walking for ten minutes, I finally arrived home. As quick as I could, I got into the bathroom for a nice shower. I brushed my teeth, did my night routine then changed into a short dress that ended a few inches below my butt. Finally… comfort in my clothes.
• I rushed to the kitchen and ate from the remnants of cookies obviously baked and eaten by Nikita. I saw a note on the fridge.
• 'Hi, babe. I won't be coming home tonight because I wanna have fun and chill. You can eat some of my leftover cookies. *Giggles* Whatever, bye love.'
• Her note read.
• With a small smile playing on my lips, I kept it in the box with old notes.
• I arranged my outfit for tomorrow into a small bag, took my office bag as well as important files and things I needed.
• I took a cab and headed to Lila's house. Gosh… I missed her already.
• ***
• "Wow… you're suffering." Lila shook her head at me in pity, still roaming her eyes around the novel she was reading.
• "Are you even listening to me?" I snapped.
• She raised her head from the novel. "Of course, why not?"
• "As far as I remember, you've been reading that damn novel since I've been talking to you. What do people enjoy reading?"
• "Because it's awesome."
• "How? You can rather watch a movie than read books." I slapped the book out of her hand.
• "This book… 'The Badboy's Pre-planned Future Bride' by 'Gift Odulesi', it's awesome. You really should read her books. Some people prefer reading books than watching movies." She rolled her eyes and picked the book from the floor.
• "Oh, really? People like who?" I took a handful of chips and threw it into my mouth, munching it.
• "People like 'Gift Odulesi'." She scoffed.
• I swallowed the chips. "Oh, you mean the Author of this novel we're lucky to be featured in? She's very beautiful and awesome. I'll definitely try her books out someday. And I'll follow her on social media."
• "Yeah, I love her. I'd marry her if I were a Man and if I weren't so fictional." She hugged the book to her chest.
• "You're making things seem weird now." I stated.
• "Yeah. So you were talking about your new boss and how terrible he is, then you mentioned how he acted stupid by being a mean-ass to the hot dude who was flirting with you today." She summarized.
• "You were listening?" I smiled.
• "Duh, yeah… kinda. If he was so mad at him, he was probably jealous because he likes you." She raised an eyebrow.
• I chortled then burst into laughter, throwing my head back and holding my stomach to emphasize on my laughter. Tears started dropping from my eyes due to over-laughing.
• "Are you okay?" Lila drew her eyes in askance at me.
• I was finally able to stop laughing, still chuckling at short intervals, "likes me? That's not even possible. You need to see how much he acts cold and glares at me like a fucking moron." I wiped the laughing tears from my eyes. "Gosh, you almost had me killed."
• "Yeah, duh. If I heard you right, it sounded as though he was jealous." She defended her point.
• "No, silly." I batted her shoulder. "You didn't hear me right."
• "How can you be certain? Some people don't like to express their real emotions." She was still remaining adamant on her point.
• "That Man has a big problem. He fired two of my co-employees that were obviously in a serious relationship, because they were being romantic at work." I tried to explain. "He's just one of those romance haters, he has a problem, that's all." I shrugged, taking another handful of chips.
• "Fired them? That's crazy!" She exclaimed and I nodded.
• "He definitely is crazy." I patted her shoulder again. "By the way, how's everything going with your life?" I changed the topic.
• "My life?" She propped her chin on her palm. "My life is getting crazy and crazier by the day." She heaved a sigh.
• "Why? How?" I expressed my interest, reaching for a can of soda on the table and opened it.
• "You remember Briggs Axel?" She questioned.
• "Briggs? Briggs, Briggs, Briggs…" I repeated, staring at the ceiling to recall the owner of that familiar name.
• "Silly, he works with Kade." She chuckled.
• "Oh, yeah. Briggs Axel. The dude who claims to love you." I instantly remembered him. "What's up with him?"
• "Yes, that one. I'm starting to get scared. He never stops letting me know how much he loves me and is always overly protective and very possessive of me."
• "Isn't that a nice thing?" I took a sip of the soda.
• "It's not! We're not even in a relationship. I think he's obsessed with me and it scares me as hell!" She looked seriously worried.
• I paid closer attention to her words. "That's tough."
• "It really is, because there's a Man I love and he loves me back." She had her eyebrows furrowed in worry.
• "Did you let him know about this?"
• "Yes, multiple times, yet he doesn't listen but seems like he's desperate to have me."
• "That's bad. What do you plan to do about it?" I drew my eyes in skepticism.
• "I don't know, I'm asking your dumb self for a piece of advice." She dropped the book on the table above us and rose to her feet from the floor.
• "I don't have anything in mind at the moment but I'll advise you to stay as far away from him as possible. An obsession is very terrible." I shook my head.
• "I know that!" She screamed then left for the bathroom.
• After she returned, we spent the rest of the night travelling from one topic to another. I received great advice from her about work and my personal life.
• I loved spending time with Lila because she was very motivating and gave the best advice ever. I could freely discuss things with her. To be truthful, she was more of my best friend than Nikita. She had been my childhood best friend while Nikita was my roommate in College, then we became best friends. She still remained my roommate after college.
• "I need to use the bathroom." I jumped to my feet and limped to the bathroom. After doing my business and washing my hands, Lila's words kept ringing in my head.
• How in the world was it possible for Hames to like me in such a way? I laughed to myself at the thought of it. Silly Lila.
• ***