CHAPTER 16: FRIEND REQUEST.
Evelyn arrived home earlier than predicted and quickly made dinner for both of them before taking a rest. Actually, her body was at rest but not her mind. She kept having serious deliberations, arguments, and doubts in her heart about what she saw earlier in the office. Could her doubt be true? Why was she even stressing herself out?
She believed that the stranger she slept with might recognize her because she hadn’t changed that much. So if what she was thinking was true then Raphael could have walked up to her and asked her about it. Again, why would he?
“Why am I even stressing myself out about it? It might just be a coincidence. I at least have someone who might look like me in appearance out there so this should not be different.” She consoled herself…at least, she tried doing so.
Then she picked up her phone and logged in to her Facebook. It’s been a while since she was online, she went through the list of friend requests that she had. She needed more online friends apart from Kira and her colleagues but she was very careful too so she wouldn’t fall into the hands of a scammer.
She got to this particular request that piqued her interest. It had the name “RALPH’S GHOST”. Who the hell had such a name or perhaps it was a nickname? She clicked on the picture only to see motivational quotes and the person happened not to have any friends…at least not any that she could see on the profile. She accepted the friend request and immediately a message dropped in.
“Hi.”
“Hello. You have a weird name.” Evelyn texted back.
“Lol, I concur with that, it’s pretty weird. How are you doing? If I must say, you look stunning in your profile picture alongside the cute boy. Is he your son?” Ralph’s ghost asked [Please note that all these are just texts. Thank you]
“Yeah, he is my son.”
“Oh, so you are married?”
Evelyn rolled her eyes and sighed. Mrs. Conner had asked her the same thing earlier today. Was it really compulsory to get married before giving birth? There are circumstances, people! Wait, who was she even talking to?
“Hey, are you still there? Is the question kinda private?”
“No, it isn’t and no, I am not married.”
“Ha, I see. So, what do you do?”
“Don’t you think it’s pretty quick to ask a stranger all these?” Evelyn texted. She wanted to make sure that he wasn’t a scammer.
“Nope. Moreover, the reason why we are online friends now is for us to know each other so if you can’t trust a ghost, who can you trust?”
“Probably nobody.”
“Exactly. So what do you do?”
“I work for one of the biggest firms in the Country, Theo group of INDUSTRIES. I don’t know if you have heard about it?”
“Yeah, I have. I wanted to try applying there but I wasn’t given the chance all thanks to Mr. Raphael [eyeroll].”
“What were you trying to apply for?”
“An engineer. I heard he is one and was looking for those to help with construction and stuff so I volunteered with the requirements but I still got rejected because he said that I wasn’t good enough. Can you believe that?! Just because he is rich doesn’t make people like us less.”
Evelyn could actually feel the anger and frustration emanating from the text because sincerely, it was true. Working with Raphael was very strict! Everyone knew that.
“He isn’t a bad guy though. I believe it just runs in their veins. I heard a few rumors about his father and brother being this strict. Well, you need to be strict to be able to handle such a huge responsibility.”
“What work are you taking over there?”
“I am his second assistant.”
“Damn! That must be pretty tiring for you.”
“A little. I am trying to keep up with his energy [smiley emoji].”
“You’re hardworking [thumbs up] I like that.”
“So have you been able to find any other job?”
“Yeah, I decided to settle for the less but also a comfortable one. I ain’t forgiving Raphael for denying me that job.”
“[Laughing emoji] You have to. He is after all your namesake. Ralph and Raphael, they go alike.”
Evelyn looked to her side, “Tom, get me a bottle of milk from the fridge.”
“Yes, mum.” He went to get it. Evelyn took a glass cup and poured some milk into it before giving it to Tom.
“Thank you.” He replied and went back to reading.
“Hey.” Ralph’s ghost texted again
“Yeah, sorry about that. I was talking with my son.”
“How old is he?”
“Three.”
“Cute.”
“Three is cute?”
“I saw his picture alongside yours.”
“Oh.”
“Anyways, nice meeting you, Evelyn. I hope that we will get to know more about each other but right now, I need to do a few things. So, I will chat with you later.”
“Sure, thanks. Goodnight.”
“Have a lovely rest.”
That was how the conversation ended. Evelyn sighed, she was happy that she finally got to talk with someone that she did not feel weird about. That was a good start in talking with a stranger.
On the other side, Raphael chuckled as he switched between his profiles. She was fun to chat with but that didn’t mean that he had gotten access to her that easily. She wouldn’t trust a stranger that much so he still had a lot to work on.
_______
In Vegas’s room in the Theophilus mansion, he was going through the designs on his table with someone else beside him…a female. They seemed to be talking about something but then Vegas turned to look at her.
“Can we just skip this sweetheart, huh?” He kissed her chin and tried touching her thighs but the girl hit his hand.
“Vegas, I don’t have much time left. This is a serious business, if you keep disturbing me, I won’t be able to do your work for you.”
“Lycia, do you now prefer work over me?” Vegas frowned.
Lycia sighed and looked at him.
“We are at your family’s house. What do you want your parents to think of? I am your assistant in front of them…”
“But my b*tch behind them.” He tickled her but Lycia was feeling none of it.
The door was knocked upon and Vegas sat tight.
“Who is that?” He asked.
“It’s me.” The person replied.
“Come in,” Vegas ordered.
“Babe, I will be back soon.” He stood up and went to meet with the person.
“Hello, boss.”
“Poison, do you have it?” Vegas asked as he led him to a section of the room.
“Yes, I do. Her name is Evelyn Rosé. She is the first daughter of Hezekiah’s family.”
“And she goes by the name Rosé?”
Poison nodded.
“I don’t know why. I guess it’s personal as I couldn’t get my hand on anything related to her existence with the family. She seemed to disappear suddenly three years ago and reappear with a child. That is all.”
“A child? That’s surprising.” Vegas said.
“Also, she is working as your brother’s assistant aside from Jeremy. She just started working a few weeks ago…not quite long though.”
“Assistant? A female assistant? I thought he turned himself into a monk. Who knew he still had some dignity left?”
“Anyways, thank you. You can leave. I will let you know when I need your help.”
“No problem, Mr. Vegas.” Poison bowed and left the room but not without casting a hateful and disgusting glance at Lycia who only looked away. She wasn’t going to let him disrupt her work.
Vegas, unknown of the eye exchange, came back to sit beside Lycia with a smile and gently pats her hair.
“Are you arranging for one of your b*tches to take over for tonight?” Lycia asked.
“Are you jealous?” Vegas teased but she snorted and slapped his hand away.
“Come on.”
“Give me a reason why I will be jealous of you. I was just asking because I care about your health. I do not want to contract STDs from you.”
Vegas bursts into laughter, “Thanks for caring but that isn’t going to happen so you are safe. I just had him do a little research on someone not to give a girl to me.”
“None of my business.” Lycia shrugged.
Lycia was Vegas’s assistant for a few months now. He kept changing them and they just weren’t ordinary assistants, he made sure that they were at least very good in some aspects of the business so they could help him out. They couldn’t just be taking his gifts without any return or exchange.
They had to work for him.
Vegas flashbacks to seeing Evelyn. Would it be right for him to approach her? Moreover, who wouldn’t fall for such a handsome man like him? At least, that was why he had these desperate ladies racing after him so why would Evelyn’s be different? But before then, he needed to tread his path carefully so he wouldn’t create a bad impression.
.
.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE.
Our second lead will be up very soon, I hope you are ready.
TBC…