THE NEXT EVENING (5 PM)
Green called Ophelia up almost as soon as she was able to put off the crisis. It was creepy because it felt like he had some kind of tracker on her, but she dismissed the thought because the new things she had learnt about him yesterday did not make matters better for her to think he could do something like that.
“Hi Green,” she said, putting the phone to her ears and sitting down. With her free hand, she unclamped the heels she had been wearing since she came into work at three am that morning. This was the first time she was getting rest since she came in. The man had somehow extinguished all ideas the PR had out in place in case someone created a scandal. They had to brainstorm ideas and even meet with reporters and the victim for settlement. It was a long day, and now she was glad that it was over.
“You sound stressed; something big happened today?”
She did not know if he just wanted to create some small talk or if he did not pay attention to the news. She remembered telling him about her supposed promotion, which to her was definitely a reduction to the lowest point in the company for the heiress. It was all over the news that someone from the agency was involved in a love and dating scandal, with accusations brought by a victim as proof, so there was no easy way out.
“You should check the news,” because she knew that there was no way she could go on to recount what had happened when the world had literally watched her struggle to clean the mess and push it all under the carpet.
“Oh, I did not know you were handling all of that yourself,” he said, and she shook her head. She wants the one who was in all of the articles refuting the statement brought forth by the victim until they settled.
“I guess you do not follow entertainment news then,” she said, wondering why he was acting like he did not know what was going on. Was he trying to be the bad guy that every girl fell for? She could not tell what he was thinking until she met him; she had known him for years, and he was as easy as it could get, and she was going to make sure she got to the bottom of this knowing the ten days when Cade was away so her part from it was clear and all he had to do was do his part.
“I rarely do,” he said and cleared his throat. “Listen, are we still on for dinner tonight?” he asked, and she smiled to herself. He could not make it past five minutes without going straight for what he wanted.
“Of course we are,” she said with an excited tone. “Everything has been hectic since I got married, but I am glad that for the next few days we will be spending time together, at least to be the friends we once were,” she said, trying to raise his hopes. He had to slip up when he was excited.
“Really? Can we do that?” he asked. She could hear the excitement in his voice.
“Of course, we are friends.”
“Okay, then I will pick you up at home,” he suggested.
“That would be lovely,” she said, and the line dropped dead. Ophelia had found a way forward, and all she wanted to do was call Cade and tell him about it. Her hand hovered over this name in the contact list as she wanted to just call him. She switched off her phone screen and slid it into her pocket. She got out to see her assistant typing up thoughts. She stood as she saw him come out.
“I am heading back him,” she said in a tired voice. “Do not call me unless someone is dying,” she added.
“Are you going to bed?” Diana asked, following her to the elevator.
“I am not; I am going on a dinner with a friend of mine.”
“A male friend?” Dian asked, unable to believe that Ophelia would even think to do something like that.
“How did you know?”
“Are you crazy?” Diana screamed at her and then rubbed her hand over her right eye.
“That is no way to talk to your boss,” Ophelia said, glancing at her. She wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He might have been talking that way because of the stress.
“Well, if my boss is acting stupid, then maybe I do need to talk to her like that,” Diana said, rubbing her eyes again.
“There is absolutely nothing that justifies you talking to me like that,” Ophelia said.
“I just spent thirteen hours trying to clear up someone’s mess, and I’m supposed to allow you to willingly walk into another one? Am I supposed to clean? that too?” Diana’s voice was tired and it was obvious.
“No, you are not supposed to clean that up; everyone knows that Green and I are best of friends, so it definitely would be weird seeing the two of us in public together.”
“I know that; it is just that things are supposed to change now that you are married, and no matter what, this can raise complaints and rumours, and who knows how bad this can go?”
“It is nothing, just mere dinner,” Ophelia said, and the elevator dinged open. Some people came off and greeted her before walking away.
“It is just dinner, and yet I feel so uncomfortable about it; it feels like something terrible is about to happen.”
“Why don’t you go see a shaman? Maybe they can prevent it.” Ophelia said in a mocking tone as the elevator door closed in Diana’s face.
She stood there staring as the elevator began changing the number on the top. “Something is definitely not right,” she murmured before she walked away.
Ophelia got back and got ready for the dinner together; she was just going to throw on something casual. If people saw that they were not fully dressed like this was a date, they would just see two friends having dinner together for a night. She ignored the calls from Cade that kept coming in. She did not have any need to talk with him.
Ophelia opened the door of her room after she heard a faint knock on it to reveal one of the staff standing there with a smile on her face. “Someone is here to see you”,” she said to Ophelia.
“Give him something to drink; I will be downstairs soon,” Opelai dismissed and closed the door.
She did a double take in the mirror before packing all of the things she needed into her bag and walking out of the room.