Carter had known that his daughter was going to ask for a contract, and he had it prepared. Ophelia left his office after signing the contract.
“You are not starting here?” Diana exclaimed as they went down the elevator. Ophelia was glad that her outburst was spontaneously done in the presence of the people because she was sure that she would have felt belittled if the staff heard that her dad was basically demoting her in the name of a promotion. The agency he was sending her to was deadbeat, and what? She was supposed to grow it in a year?
“That is what he said.”
“And you just agreed?” Ophelia looked at Diana; she was looking awfully comfortable with her; this was not what the relationship between an assistant and boss was supposed to look like.
“What was I supposed to do? Throw a major tantrum and lose out on the opportunity to be the chairman.” Ophelia asked. The goal was to become the chairman, so maybe that worked out for her.
“This is not okay.” Diana’s voice was low, as if she were thrown into a pagan attack. “So what happens to me? This was not our agreement; you were convinced to assume the role of vice chairman in months and not a year.”
“In a year I will be the chairman, and you are coming with me.”
“I’m coming with you? What does this mean?” Diana asked. Even though she knew very well what it meant, she wanted to hear from her.
“I thought you were smart,” Ophelia glanced at her with a scrunched-up expression on her face. “Huh, maybe I was wrong.”
“I thought I was going to be the assistant to the vice chairman in months; I mean, now I have to work for a CEO?”
“Why are you talking like this is a bad thing?” Ophelia asked.
“Because it is a bad thing!” Diana’s tone rose in annoyance.
“On the bright side, I am starting my own fashion brand, and you get to help me out there.”
“So I am expected to work two jobs?” Diana asked. “I was expecting to do less and get paid more.”
“You would do more and get paid for more.”
“I would hope so.”
“But secretary Diana,” Ophelia said, staring at the door of the elevator as it chimed and then opened up. “Don’t you think you are being too rude?”
“I don’t”
By the time Ophelia got home, she wanted to call Cade and tell him what had happened, but after what went down in the morning, there was no way she was doing that. He would just think that she was easy because of how easy she had come back after he had disrespected her in the morning. She knew she was overreacting because he had said that he did not believe in love and did not want to love, but she swore that he had been extra affectionate to her. Maybe she hoped things were different.
She felt like she needed to share this bittersweet news with someone, and since Cade, who was the first person on her mind, was not accessible, she decided to reach out to Green. They were friends, and they could share those kinds of things with one another. He picked up immediately her call came through, and they decided to meet out for some drinks so they could catch up.
They met at the party then but did not have the chance to speak to each other, so Green was excited for this time. He had stylishly asked why she was asking him out when she was spending all her time with Cade these days, and she avoided the question. Green was excited because her doing that meant there was trouble in paradise; maybe he could make his move.
Ophelia left the house before Cade could get back because from now on she was going to avoid him as much as she could; there was nothing between them again. They were just two strangers living in the same house for a short time; they would go their ways soon.
She got to the bar and wondered why Green had chosen a place like this; this was not her style, and he knew, but he brought her here anyway. She was not going to judge but try to have a good tie here. She walked in, and luckily enough, he had reserved the far back seat for them.
“You made it,” Green said, standing up as soon as he saw her.
“Of course I did; I asked for this meeting,” she said, her sad side hugging him. She let go faster than he would want, but he could not do anything about it. At least for now.
“So how was your day?” she asked, taking off her jacket and sliding into the seat opposite him.
“Here and there,” he said, dismissing the question.
“I was at the office today,” Ophelia announced, and he nodded in excitement.
“And you did not pop in to say hi,” he asked with a frown on his face.
“And that is why I requested we see this evening,” she lied. It had skipped her mind that Green worked there; she would have gone to say hi if she had remembered that.
“So what’s up? You sounded distressed on the phone.”
“Ugh, its dad.” Ophelia spend the next few minutes explaining the situation to Green. Green was not bothered about the situation with her dad; what he wanted to know for real was what was going on between herself and Cade. Why was she out here telling him this? If they were truly involved, as they showed in the publication, she should be telling her husband this instead.
“But why are you here? You should be talking about this with Cade.”
“Please don’t mention his name,” she exclaimed as she downed the drink.
“Are you having troubles?”
“What is in this?” she asked, looking at her cup. She had ordered a beer so she did not get drunk and could still find her way home at the end of the night, but the taste felt stronger than what she thought it to be.
“Beer?” Green responded, looking away.
“I must be real angry because this tastes different,” she said, filling up her cup again.
Cade entered the bar and looked around until his eyes landed on Green and Ophelia sitting at the end of the bar. He charged angrily at them and took Gren up by his collar.
“Cade,” Ophelia said, getting up and feeling her head get heavy. She held on to it and fell back into her seat. “What are you doing here?” she asked slowly, trying to steady herself.
“How dare you!”