38

SHOCK was an understatement as to what Carrie felt at the moment, she was more than shocked, scared to the teeth, fear engulfed the better part of her.
She stood shivering like a leaf would do under a strong wind as she watched the lady she least expected to see, Amelia Redford majestically walked up to her, glancing around as she did.
Amelia was looking glamorous as always, in a short cream coloured gown that morning, the pearls and diamonds on her gown was glittering under the morning sun.
She finally got to where the stupid assistant was standing, surrounded by her men, and took a halt in front of her. She was smiling, and Carrie could tell that that smile, was a wicked one.
“Go… good day ma’am”, Carrie found herself greeting, against her wish, “to what do I owe this visit?”, she asked, trying very hard to conceal her fears.
Amelia bursted into laughter.
“The guts!”, she blurted out, “you shameless whore!”.
Carrie was stunned, taken aback by Amelia’s outburst, but she kept mute.
Amelia sighed and continued, looking away, “you know I always wonder why the hell do low life girls like yourself cheaply throw yourselves at men who wouldn’t even give you as much as a glance, men who are hooked up, really really hooked up, I always wonder”, she said pulling up a disgusting face and shrugging her shoulders.
Carrie swallowed hard. So it was this? All these blocking her passage way and men on suit with very dark googles surrounding her was just because of this? Jeremy.
She sighed deeply.
“I do not know what you are talking about ma’am”, she said.
“Stay away from Jeremy, he is already taken”, Amelia blurted out without mincing words.
Carrie said nothing, but just looked on chewing on her lips.
Amelia then brought her mouth closer to her ears and whispered in a cold voice, “stay away from my man or I would have your throat slitted in two, you have been warned”, she concluded, withdrew her head and abruptly turned, then majestically walked back to her car.
The guard who had opened the door was already standing close by, holding the car door open.
Amelia got to the car and entered and the guard closed the door, then briskly walked up to the driver’s side and entered.
As soon as he entered, the four men surrounding her quickly ran back to their own car and the driver spurred on the engine.
The car on the lead, the one carrying Amelia also revved the car into motion and zoomed off, and the other car followed.
It all happened in a twinkle of an eye, within seconds and Carrie still stood in shock, watching as the cars disappeared into thin air.
She was still drenched in shock staring into space when suddenly she heard a little holla of her name and she subconsciously turned, it was Denmark, the little boy in their neighbourhood, he was on his bicycle as usual, riding to school.
“Hey Mark”, she called out to him smiling and waving, and that was when she quickly entered her car, and zoomed off as well.
As she drove, she hoped not to run into an accident, for her mind was so filled up with so many thoughts, flashing in and out.
“For goodness sake who could have told that Amelia pest of a fiancee that I was planning on having something to do with Jeremy? Who?”, she screamed and banged on the steering, fuming as she did.
Few minutes later she arrived, parked at the parking lot and went straight into her office, without even bothering to respond to the greetings of colleagues.
As soon as she got into her office, she sank into the swivel chair and closed her eyes, then exhaled.
“Carrieee! Carrieeeeee!!”, she exclaimed and instantly opened her eyes, “someone has just threatened you over a man, a fellow lady like you, threatened you, warned you,… to stay off Jeremy”, she wondered aloud.
“What the hell!”, she exclaimed out and got up, then began walking to and fro the office, fuming.
She was still restlessly moving about, to and fro when suddenly, the intercom on her desk buzzed. She abruptly turned to it, then ran her eyes to the large wall clock on the wall.
“Damn it!”, she cussed and briskly walked into the convenience.
Jeremy was already sitted in his office and working on his laptop when a tap came on the glass door and it opened immediately.
He sighed, he knew who it was, for only she knocked, and still open without waiting for a response.
“Good morning Mr Petersons”, she greeted, genuflecting lightly and dropping some files on the large desk.
Jeremy was looking her over.
“So you don’t get to report anymore until you are being buzzed right?”, he questioned rhetorically.
“I…”, she tried replying but only ended up mumbling some words, and her lips wobbled.
Jeremy was taken aback, he immediately suspected something must have happened.
“Is Old Maria okay?”, he asked, his eyes glistening all over her impatiently waiting for a response.
Amelia slightly frowned, she thought he was gonna ask after her.
“She… she is, she is fine”, she managed to reply.
“Okay”, he slowly replied and looked away, turning his gaze to the files she has just dropped on the desk, as he did, he noticed her hands which were also on the desk shaking, he noticed her fingers wobbling, his curiousity grew.
He looked up at her.
“Carrie, are you alright?”, he asked and surprisingly, she nodded, saying she was well.
“I’m fine, I’m okay, it’s just um… it’s just nothing”, she replied against her wish, forcing a smile, and taking her hands behind her.
Jeremy said nothing, but just slowly nodded. Then he proceeded to open the files and begin going through it.
“Um… I will just go through this later, you gonna send an email regarding the new designs we are about launching to this email address, get me that pen over there”, he said pointing at the other end of the desk.
She did and as she was about handing the pen over to him, it slipped her hands and fell on the desk, rolled then fell on the floor.
“Jeez! I’m so sorry Sir”, she pleaded and bent down to pick up the pen, it slipped her fingers again until she finally got hold of it, Jeremy was keenly watching her all this while.
“Here Sir, I’m sorry”, she said handing the pen over to him.
He slowly took it, dropped it in front of him and turned to her.
“Carrie what the hell is wrong with you?”, he demanded.
She opened her mouth to speak and he raised up his right hand, hushing her.
“… and do not tell me the shit that you are fine, because obviously, you are not, I am not blind neither am I a child, I can sense it. Tell me, what is the problem?”, he asked.
Carrie sighed deeply.
“It’s Amelia, your fiancee”, she replied.
“My… my what?”, he asked, blinking his eyes.
“Amelia Redford, she threatened me on my way to work this morning, with some guards of hers”, she said, making a face.
Jeremy shifted on his seat, the whole thing was still looking confusing to him, he needed to know what she was really talking about.
“Hold on, she threatened you?”, she nodded, “threatened you on what?”, he asked.
“Threatened me to stay away from you, that you are her man, and that if I don’t, she is gonna slit my throat in two”, she relayed everything.
“Jeez!”, Jeremy exclaimed and swivelled a little. This was getting out of hand, Amelia is really biting more than she can chew, his staff too? Nah!
He turned to Carrie.
“Is that why you have been moody, and shivering like a scared cat?”, he asked, “because of mere threatenings huh?”.
“Yeah”, she nodded.
“Oh come off it, she is just blabbing, she isn’t gonna do anything, okay?”, he assured.
“Okay Sir”, she nodded, smiling.
He snorted and picked up the pen, then began scribbling on a paper. He finished and dropped the pen, then shoved the paper towards her.
“As regards to our new designs, email this address and inform them, then send me a softcopy of yesterday’s reports”, he ordered.
“Okay Sir”, she slightly genuflected, collected the paper and then walked out of the office.
***
It was the incessant knocks on her door that awoken Jasira up the next day, she had slept so deeply, even the alarm clock on the bedside table couldn’t, although it was ringing and ringing non stop, yet, it did nothing.
Jasira lazily opened her left eye, the light rays filtering in through the window rushed in with full force and she closed it.
“J? You there?”, the voice of the intruder at the door came, followed by loud incessant knocks.
She growled, then slowly opened her two eyes this time, yawned loudly, and then lazily scrambled out of the bed.
“Hey, do not break down my door you intruder”, she said as she walked up to the door.
Still yawning and chewing on her mouth, she opened the door and peeped out, jeez, it was Lord Lucario.
She quickly made way for him to enter.
“Hey dad, good morning”, she greeted.
He said nothing to her in reply and entered, looking at her suspiciously, and looking around the room suspiciously as well.
She noticed his suspicious looks and sighed, then turned to close the door properly.
“Is anything the matter father? Your suspicious glances are beginning to give me concern”, she said, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
He turned to her, a serious look on his face.
“Just as your behavior these days is beginning to give me concern as well”, his cold voice echoed in the room.
“Ahh!”, she lowly gasped, then shrugged it off and dragged her feet to the bed.
Lord Lucario sat on the sofa, next to her phone lieing there.
“What is it father? You came all the way to my room today”, she said.
He looked at her.
“What is it by your time?”, he asked.
Her eyes widened in astonishment.
“Time? I don’t know”, she said.
He scoffed.
“Jasira it is almost 10am, and you were actually still snoring heavily on bed? Jeez! This is unlike you, very much unlike you”, he said.
She made a face and waved her left hand, still trying to force her eyes fully open.
“If it’s about that, please forget it, it is nothing to be worried about. I’m fine, just stressed out, that is all”, she insisted.
“I disagree”.
“Huh?”, her eyes finally opened, fully.
“Yeah, you heard me right, I disagree”, he said, nodding.
“Why? I am telling you something about myself, you are saying you disagree?”, she asked.
“You wake up late these days, you now frequent the public places and when you want to, you sneak out most of the times, when you do not sneak, you leave without your guards, for goodness sake what has come over you?”, he asked and she sighed, pulling over her pyjamas.
“Dad, you worry too much, I had even thought you wanted to say…”, the loud beeping of her phone lieing next to Lord Lucario interrupted her, beeping so loudly into the stillness of the room.
Subconsciously, Lord Lucario turned to the phone and what he saw was like a shocker to him, his eyebrows furrowed in anger.
It was a text, a good morning text from Jeremy, although he didn’t know whom the sender was.
He decided to pick up the phone and that was when Jasira quickly plunged forward and grabbed the phone away from his hands.
“That is my privacy father”, she said.
He looked at her, under those dangerous perky eyes of his, and he asked;
“Who was that?”.
“Jeez!”, she muttered under her breath.