Tom has been furious all day because of what happened at the office. He spent all day trying to fix the error that was made by the carelessness of his secretary but no matter how he tried to cut it short, the loss was still more than he could imagine.
Upon entering the house to see what his mother was doing in the kitchen so late at night just because a spoilt brat was not satisfied with what was originally prepared for dinner fueled his anger more.
“Why would you stress her to make another round of food? You can easily order in what you want to eat or just eat what was prepared” he growled at Joseph who didn’t even feel any remorse
“Why is she in the house if she cannot cook for me? She should do this to fill in for the nothing she does. Don’t you think?” said Joseph with a shrug and that was the height of it for him
He gave him a hot slap across his right cheeks which made him stagger in shock.
“What did you just do?” Joseph asked in horror
“I slapped the sense that was initially missing into you” groaned Tom as his eyes went red due to anger
“Do you think you can handle the outcome of what you just did?” Joseph spat out holding his cheeks
“Whatever it is to come, let it come. I can tolerate anything you throw at me but not at my mother” Tom declared and Anita rushed to hold him back
“You should calm down, this is not that big of deal” Anita muttered but he shouted back at her
“You keep having to do this because you take it from them. Why should you have to still walk on thin ices in this house after sixteen years? This is just not acceptable” he protested
“Make sure you brace yourself for what it to come because I will not suffer this humiliation for nothing” Joseph threatened and Anita moved to his side to calm him down
“If you touch me, I will make sure you regret it” Joseph remarked ferociously before fuming back to his room
“You should have held it in like you always do, this is just a little thing that doesn’t warrant this reaction. Joseph is like my child too” Anita said slowly but Tom glared at her
“Does he even treat you like his mother? You are just a cook who feeds him” he argued and went to his room leaving his mother to take care of the situation herself.
He sat on the chair in front of his desk and was busy about what had happened that day. He knew sooner or later, Chairman Holland will be informed about the incidence and it would be another round of hell loose.
He was honestly tired of having to be the perfect son who shouldn’t make any mistake whatsoever. He could not get the humiliation of the conference room out of his head and the thought of having another round of yelling on his head was discouraging him once again.
After finishing the works he couldn’t finish at the office, he finally rested for the day at around two in the midnight but he was woken up by a loud yell the following morning.
“Where is that good-for-nothing and incompetent idiot?” Chairman Holland roared as he marched towards his room
“You should resign from the company if you will keep bringing me loss! How dare you mix up orders? What were you doing that you didn’t notice the approval of the orders before it was placed? Just know that the loss will be removed from your paycheck” the chairman added as he burst into his room
“You keep recording losses because you are still sleeping by this time! Why would a CEO be sleeping by five in the morning” he roared banging on the already opened door and Tom draped down the bed with his puffy eyes
“I already told you that he cannot take care of the company anymore, he is already relaxed just because he got lucky and things worked for him a few times. The company is too big for him to handle” Joseph pitched in from the back and Tom scoffed
“I will make sure to fix every error and also pay the loss with my pay check” Tom said as he rubbed his aching forehead
“This will be the last time I will give you another chance, if you make any mistake then you should get ready to be kicked out with nothing!” Chairman Holland declared and walked out angrily
“You should enjoy the seat while it lasts. There is no much time for you anymore” said Joseph shifting his mouth into a smirk before leaving the room too.
Tom only sighed!
****
As usual, Amber had gone to work at the supermarket since she was in the morning shift when Eddy came around to pick Emily for a planned date because they knew Amber would surely never be around.
She came out in her red plaid skirt and white shirt, a small black cross bag and a black sneakers to match. She had to walk a few meters down the street to prevent suspicious eyes from sighting them and got in his car before they zoomed off to the café they agreed upon earlier.
“Here are your orders” informed the waiter as he set the tray of Caramel pies in front of them
“Thank you” Emily said clapping with a broad smile
“Why do you love them? You always eat them too back in school” he questioned as he stared at her
“They are really cute, don’t you think?” she responded as she gazed at the pies on the tray in adoration
“Pies are cute?” he said not getting what she meant
“I mean see the silky skin, it is also very creamy. Do you know the funniest part? They are very sweet when you bite into them but as time goes on, you start feeling the faint taste of bitterness due to the caramel. The amazing thing is, it is this bitterness that makes you want to eat more so you can take taste the sweetness to eradicate the bitterness, then you feel the bitterness and you take another round of bite for sweetness, the cycle is interesting and it is just like our relationship right now” she express with a serious tone as she said the last line.
“What do you mean by our relationship right now?” he asked leaning closer and placed his elbows on the table
“We are currently doing something that is not allowed right now. You are dating my friend and I am still dating you which shouldn’t be but this exactly is the thrill. We try not to get caught but we know that there might be a day when we will really get caught” she said and he slowly took her hand
“You shouldn’t think that way and even if we do get caught then so be it. I love you and that is all that matters” he muttered as he slowly rubbed the back of her palm
“So are you just toying with Amber or do you love us both?” she raised her brows asking to be clear
“Amber was someone I had to date to make you realize that I love you. I was always trying to show that I care for you and love you when I was in school then but you only took me as a friend. I figured if I date your friend, you will get jealous and see that I was always by your side” he answered
“It worked indeed”
She pouted.
They started digging into their pies as they washed it down with a cup of ice Americano while also chatting about random things.
“Amber finally let me sleep with her” he suddenly revealed and she removed her teeth from the pie she already dug into
“She did?” she asked in horror
“Yea, she came by herself and requested for it so I had no choice. I cannot turn her down because it will feel weird” he revealed
“I understand what you are trying to say but I still feel so angry” she snapped and he quickly kept her in check
“I already told you I will end things with her soon. It’s not like she gives me any attention and she’s not even a virgin so I don’t understand why she didn’t want me to touch her all these while. I don’t even miss her when she’s not around because I am used to her absence, she’s always busy with work and only talks about how she’s tired. Let’s not even talk about how she makes it clear that her mom would always come first no matter what” he blabbered on
“but it is different when you are with me?” she suddenly asked
“You are always there for me, you know what I need and you are the perfect atmosphere anyone can ask for” he responded and she smiled
“Then that’s enough” she declared and they finished their snacks.
He paid for the food and they walked out of the café linking hands and giggling as they head to the car while a van pulled off by the side of the café with the name of the supermarket where Amber was working boldly written on it.
Amber got down and marched to the back of the truck, she was waiting for the driver to open the trunk when she lifted her head to see two familiar people getting into a familiar car from afar.
“Who are they?” she muttered and walked closer into the street to check well.