Love’n’Lust

“I’m very sorry I’m late, Mrs Johnson.” Belle apologized because she knew her boss was just lying when she told Nathan that she was pre-informed by Belle about her lateness.

“It’s fine.” She heard Mrs Johnson.

“I know I said not to repeat my lateness the last time and now…..”

“It’s okay, I’m not mad at you.” Mrs Johnson assured her, seeing how genuinely sorry Belle was.

Whether Belle was genuinely sorry or not, Laura Johnson knew she couldn’t be mad at her, not after receiving a call from her superior, she wasn’t ready to loose her job.

Besides, she knew Belle was a nice person but she had also come to know that she(Belle) was not just a simple girl working as her assistant, she was somehow in relation with a big shot.

After getting a call from her superior, Laura Johnson needed not to be told that Belle wasn’t to be messed with. If she could have a superior call on her behalf, she surely had someone powerful behind her, that Laura Johnson was very sure of and she planned to keep up the good relationship she had already developed with Belle.

“Well, why are you standing there like that? Take your seat at your desk.” Mrs Johnson told her.

“Is there nothing I need to do for you?” Belle asked and watched her boss shake her head with a light smile.

“No, there isn’t.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I already had Eric from Nathan’s office take care of some things for me since Nathan was not back yet.”

“Oh okay.” Belle knew Eric was Nathan’s assistant. She took her seat at her desk, biting her lips because it was so obvious that Mrs Johnson was trying not to displease her and it felt weird. So weird. She was used to Mrs Johnson been very free with her but now it seemed like her boss was refraining from even talking to her like she was avoiding getting into trouble.

Her phone rang loudly, getting Mrs Johnson to look up from her laptop, Belle quickly picked the call so not to disturb her boss.

“Hello?” She held the phone up to her right ear.

“Belle,” It was Ben, he was calling to check up on her.”Did anyone say anything to you when you got there?”

“No.” She said in a low voice, still not wanting to disturb get boss with the call.

“Your boss; Mrs Johnson, did she scold you?”

“No, she wasn’t even mad.”

“Good. Hope you can ease your worry now?”

“What did you do? She seems scared to even ask me to do anything.”

“It’s not me, her boss might have been too strict with his warning about you.”

“Now it seems like she works for me or something, she’s really not been herself right now.”

“What do you want?” Ben asked, he wanted to make her happy.

“I don’t know, fix this if possible, I would rather she’s mad about my late coming than this.”

“Okay.” She heard him.

‘He better fix this.’ She said in her mind after she got off the call with him.

LATER THAT EVENING.

It was almost time for Belle to leave the office and she couldn’t wait, she has never been so eager to leave the media house. She loved her job but not today, nothing seemed right today, Mrs Johnson avoided sending her to do some tasks, she was still trying not to displease her.

A knock came through the door and Belle hurried to get it before her boss asked her not to bother about it. When she opened the door, she was surprised at who she saw outside the door. It was Randy, Ben’s driver.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“You?” She couldn’t help but whisper, wondering what he was doing knocking at the door of Mrs Johnson’s office.

“Good day ma’am.” He greeted her.

“Sshh.” She asked him to lower his voice.”What are you doing here?”

“Mr Larkson is waiting downstairs, he asked me to come get you.”

“What?” She didn’t want to believe what the man just said.

“Mr Larkson is downstairs waiting, he asked me to come…..” Randy was ready to repeat his words when Belle stopped him.

“I heard you the first time.” She did but was just surprised with what he just told her. Was Ben really downstairs.”Where is he?”

“In the car ma’am.” Randy replied.

“Belle?” It was Mrs Johnson calling her to know who was knocking on the door just now.

“Yes Mrs Johnson.”

“Is that Eric with the prints I requested for?’

“Uhmm, no ma’am.”

“Who is it then?” Belle closed the door in Randy’s face to tell a lie to her boss because she had to.

“It’s a friend of mine, she knows where I work and came to return something I borrowed to her before now. Can I maybe go talk with her for some minutes?”

“Yeah, you can. Take as long as you want.” She heard Mrs Johnson. She honestly wasn’t expecting a no from her with that request, at least not today.

“Thank you so much, ma’am.”

“Yeah, take your time.”

Belle went outside, careful to pass through the door in a way that Mrs Johnson couldn’t tell who it actually was standing outside the door.

“Let’s go.” Belle said, leading the way to the elevator. She was going to talk some sense into Ben because he couldn’t just come asking to meet her downstairs in her place of work. He surely couldn’t, she was going to let him know that.

Randy hurried behind Belle as they went to the elevator. Waiting for it to open, Nathan stepped out. He smiled when he saw Belle.

“Do you work here?” He asked the person behind Belle. Randy didn’t reply, he didn’t have to, he was just here to get Belle like he was ordered by his boss.