“I know. Just travel. It’s already too late to book another flight and you are already set to travel today. Just go.”
Nelly ended the call and hurried to the bathroom.
“That damn secretary. I’ll deal with her if anything goes wrong,” she swore. She was set in no time and so was Emma. She narrowly escaped missing her flight but it felt good to be seated inside a plane that was headed homeward.
Nelly sat in the plane and a soft sigh escaped her lips.
“Thank you,” she said as she received the snacks from the air hostess. Travelling in the morning wasn’t a bad idea after all. Emma was sleeping on the seat. She didn’t have enough sleep in the morning as they were rushing to meet up with the flight.
Nelly stepped out of the plane and into the arrival hall. She checked out her luggage and was soon out. She breathed the air, it smelt fresh, good and most importantly, it smelt of home. She was back to her fatherland. As an accomplished youth and a proud mother. Nelly and Emma looked adorable as the walked hand in hand with smiles plastered on their faces.
Click! Click!
‘Popular actress, Nelly, surfaces again, looking very beautiful with a cute baby girl.’
The paparazzi and bloggers didn’t waste any time to publish the news online and in no time, the news had over two million views. Nelly had no idea what was going on. She was about boarding a taxi when a car pulled up in front of her, blocking her way.
“All these annoying drivers,” she thought and shook her head. She held Emma and made to walk past the car. The driver honked his horn to attract her attention but she didn’t turn. The driver who was a young man wound down his glass and called,
“Nelly Stratford!”
Nelly stopped in her tracks and turned to see who addressed her by her full name. Lo and behold, it was a face she longed to see. Ash Kent!
“Oh my God! Ash!” she screamed in excitement and ran to the driver’s door. Ash opened the car and they held each other in a tight embrace. Tears of joy fell freely down Nelly’s face. They pulled away from each other’s embrace after a few minutes.
“I’ve missed you, Ash. Why weren’t you picking your calls or replying your messages and even your mail? How could you? I was worried sick about you!”
“Somebody has been worried for my sake,” Ash joked regardless of Nelly’s seriousness.
“I’m not joking here dude. It wasn’t .. I was disturbed and I prayed nothing had happened to you for me. I even…” Nelly trailed off and threw herself into Ash’s arms once again.
“I’ve missed you. It’s been ages!” she declared.
“I’ve missed you too my dear. Is that our baby?”
Nelly recalled that she had her daughter with her.
“Emma, this is the famous uncle Ash whom we speak to every other day. Say hello to him.”
“Good day Uncle Ash!” Emma greeted. Ash responded to her greeting by carrying her high up and spinning her around. That erupted a sweet and musical laughter from the little girl. Nelly smiled, it was good that Emma loved Ash before and after seeing him, now, her heart could be at rest. She couldn’t imagine her daughter not liking her best friend.
“But wait, Ash. How did you know I was back in the country?”
“Well, that’s because we have the paparazzi. Look!” Ash showed Nelly her picture and the news that was released by the press. Nelly frowned and sighed.
“What nonsense. Have they no respect for privacy? Have they gone mad?”
“Easy, baby girl. Another baby girl is here with us,” Ash teased. He continued,
“I’ve taken care of it. The news has been taken down.”
“Thank you very much, Ash. I really appreciate.” Nelly answered with bright eyes clearly indicating her gratitude. Nelly and her daughter walked hand in hand and entered Ash’s car and drove off.
“That’s right. Your office is luxurious!” Daisy exclaimed. Ivan turned and gave her a look that asked so many questions at the same time.
“What do you mean by luxurious? Haven’t you been to my office before? Are you saying you don’t know what my office looks like?” the look on Ivan’s face asked without him opening his mouth.
“Haha. Don’t give me that look. I mean, I know I’ve been here before but it looks nicer than it was the last time. I never knew you have such fanciful taste. Look how nice the office looks!” Daisy rambled on and whirled around before landing on the soft cushion. Ivan chuckled.
“Thanks for the compliment, but, it’s Katty who arranged this place.”
Daisy sat up immediately. “Katty? She arranged this place, by herself or she hired professionals?”
“Emm, herself. She’s really good at what she does you know.”
“I don’t know. Case closed. The office isn’t that fine, just so you know. Let’s talk about more important things. Where’s my coffee, you promised me that.”
Ivan smiled but didn’t push further on the topic. He knew that Katty and Daisy never got along and there was no way she would accept that Katty did a great job in his office.
“Ivan between Katty and Daisy…” he began but quickly changed the topic when he got a fierce glare from Daisy.
“… Your coffee, yes. I’ll get that.”
Ivan sat down on his seat and opened the only file on his table. Daisy busied herself with taking a discreet glance around the room. With admiration clearly shown on her face, she caught Ivan’s stare and frowned.
“What?”
“You’re clearly…nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Better.”
There was a knock and Stacy, the secretary came in with a tray and two mugs of coffee.
“I hope it’s how I like it?”
“Sure. I told her. I promised to give you something nice,” Ivan answered.
Stacy placed the mugs before Daisy and Ivan respectively and left the office. The moment she was out of the office, Daisy tapped Ivan and asked,
“Ivan, are you having an affair with your secretary?”