Vernice stopped on her track after hearing what Joyce said. She slowly turned around and walked back to their table.
Looking at her so-called friend, she slowly sat in front of her. “What do you have in mind?” she asked.
“Do you happen to know where that little devil lives?”
Vernice narrowed her eyes on the woman. She propped a hand under her chin and furrowed her brows, “Not sure, but I can ask around. Do you want her address?”
“Yep! Give it to me by tonight at the latest, we’ll have a little surprise for her.” After saying that, Joyce took her bag and stood up. “Let’s go, I’m bored!”
Passing by De Clarion Empire, she asked Vernice to drop her off. Waving goodbye to each other, they went their separate ways.
Joyce walked towards the entrance of the building hurriedly, excited about seeing Tristan again. However, the guard immediately stopped her when she was about to go in.
“What are you doing?” she sneered.
“Good morning Miss Blake! I’m sorry but you’re not allowed to get in,” the guard politely told her.
She slapped his hand that was holding onto her elbow. She then eyed him from head to toe, snickering.
“You’re new here?” she asked, when the guard nodded, her laughter grew louder. “You’re new and yet you have the guts to stop me from entering my fiancé’s building? Do you happen to have a death wish?”
The guard’s brows furrowed. He felt scared after hearing what the woman said but he was sure that he was stopping her for the right reason.
“Can you please wait for a moment, Miss Blake?” The guard on duty didn’t even wait for her answer. He immediately turned around to go back to his desk where he pulled an A4 with a printed image on it. “Who is your fiancé Miss?” he asked to confirm.
Joyce smugly cleared her throat, “My fiancé is none other than the heir of the De Clarion Empire, Tristan De Clarion,” she stated in full air.
Although still confused, the guard nodded at her before handing over the A4 he had in hand. He’s a little wary of her, but he has to do his job.
“Sorry Miss Blake, but Mr. De Clarion instructed that the person on this paper shouldn’t be allowed inside his building.”
Grabbing the paper from the guard, she gave him a death glare before looking at the image he was referring to. Her face instantly paled upon recognizing the woman in the picture.
It was her, a sketch of her on an A4 paper. Below the sketch of her face was a note that said, ‘Banned from DCE Building’ and it was signed by none other than Tristan himself.
Furious, Joyce slowly crumpled the paper and threw it in the guard’s face. She then turned on her heel after stomping her feet and screamed at the top of her lungs while walking.
When she screamed, she caught the attention of the people passing by. Some of them were employees of the Empire. “What are you looking at?” she sneered at one of the women looking at her, but she was ignored by her.
Joyce sat down on the bench in the small park right in front of the De Clarion Empire. She then took out her phone and dialed Jacob’s number, but the call kept getting rejected.
She then dialed the number at the front desk and asked to be redirected to the CEO’s office, but the staff refused her request. Finally, she opted for Tristan’s number.
“Shit I misclicked,” she heard him say on the other line. Not knowing Tristan was referring to his accidental pressing of the green button, she greeted him sweetly. “What are you calling me for?” he asked, uninterested.
“Can we go out for lunch?” she asked but she was answered with a quick ‘no’. “Dinner maybe?” she tried again, but it was just another ‘no’.
Feeling frustrated, Joyce started sobbing and Tristan could clearly hear it. He pressed his temples and leaned back on his chair, obviously close to losing his patience. “Why are you crying?”
Joyce sobbed, wiping the tears from her face. She answered, “I feel like you’re avoiding me. Did I do something wrong?” She tried her best to sound innocent, not knowing that Tristan already knew about some of her schemes against Belle.
“Yes, you did a lot of wrong things that I find disgusting to even look at you, let alone talk to you. So, if you don’t mind, I have got work to do. I’m hanging up now.”
Tristan quickly ended the call and returned his attention to the documents on his table. He would lift his eyes and look at Jacob, discussing with him the details of the contract they were about to sign.
Joyce, on the other hand, almost threw her phone, furious. She’s maddened by the fact that Tristan simply brushed her off like that.
Remembering something, she quickly dialed Lucas’ number. “Come to Bree, I’ll book your flight right away. Bring at least five to six of your men with you,” she instructed, then she opened the booking app right after ending the call.
‘I’ll make you pay for everything you’re doing to me,’ she mumbled to herself, not clear who she was referring to.
In Sweet Sue, meanwhile, “Miss Roberts, lunch is here!” Nathalie giggled as she teased her friend.
Belle rolled her eyes at her, shaking her head as she chuckled. “Let’s just eat here,” she told her friend, who quickly placed the brown paper bags on a table near the window.
“Where are they, by the way?” Nathalie asked, pouting.
It was very obvious that she was already running out of patience. It’d been a while since she last saw Jacob and the news of them coming to their office excited her.
However, it’s already half an hour since Tristan informed Belle that they are already on their way. Yet, they haven’t come.
Belle couldn’t help but let out a hearty laugh seeing her frowning friend. “They needed to finish some important documents, that’s why they’re running late. Tristan just texted and they are now really on their way.”
Nathalie was about to complain when the door to Belle’s office opened. Tristan came in, followed by Jacob.
The man went straight to Belle, hugged and kissed her on the cheek. Jacob, on the other hand, just placed two hands over his girlfriend’s shoulders, massaging them lightly.
“Are you–” Belle was about to tease her friend, but Nathalie was quick to place a finger on her lips, stopping her from saying anything.
“What is it?” Tristan asked out of curiosity as he saw what Nathalie did.
Belle leaned closer and whispered into his ear, making the man chuckle while looking at Nathalie. “I can lend you Jacob as your driver for a week,” he told Belle.
Although he was saying that to Belle, his eyes were glued on Nathalie, whose eyes widened in shock after hearing what he said. Even Jacob was shocked by Tristan’s suggestion.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Jacob couldn’t help but ask. ‘Am I being fired?’ he thought to himself, but he quickly dismissed the thought as he recalled Tristan saying ‘lend’.
“Don’t worry, your boss is just teasing your girlfriend,” Belle informed him.
Nathalie frowned and rolled her eyes at Tristan. Jacob creased his forehead, on the other hand, still not getting the issue.
“It’s because Nathalie’s about to run out of patience as you guys take a while to get here,” he informed the man, who immediately hugged the woman sitting right in front of her.
“I can’t believe you could get that lovesick of that lousy guy,” Tristan teased.
Jacob narrowed his eyes at his boss, “Yeah right! You, on the other hand, don’t get lovesick. You’d only yell at the slow cars in front of us because according to you, ‘it’s past lunchtime, Belle hasn’t eaten yet, I miss her, etcetera, etcetera.”
Both women who were listening couldn’t help but laugh, but Tristan frowned at them. To ease the creases on his forehead, Belle pulled him for a hug. “Let’s just eat!”