Chapter 3 ***

Avery Rose

The taxi stopped right in front of Zizi’s. She stood at her porch in her usual extra-long nightdress and a pair of reading glasses.

As soon as I got out, she pouted and waved me into her house. Her curly hair was covered with a hair bonnet showing that she was already prepped to sleep before I called her.

“I’m sorry for calling on such short notice,” I mumbled an apology and she shook her head.

“It’s fine.” She said. After closing the door behind me, she sighed. “Welcome to my humble abode.” She cringed, “No one says that anymore. Either way, make yourself comfortable.

There’s ice cream in the fridge and a change of clothes in the guest room. I have tests to mark tonight.” Zizi chose her path early enough. She wanted to be a grade school teacher and she did just that without overthinking it.

“Thank you so much Zizi,” I said genuinely and I meant it. Zizi and I met a few times in college and only started talking properly when we shared an apartment after school. It was during our job-hunting days.

After we both found our paths, she moved and I met Caleb. The thought of him alone made my heart sink. “Can I use your charger? My phone is dead.”

“My spare is in the guest room.” She said, She shuffled on her feet awkwardly. I kind of gave her a brief of what happened over the phone as I came here.

Zizi was not one to concern herself with other people's business and she liked the same. I was sure the only reason she was lingering around was that she knew me personally.

“I’ll be fine. I just need to sleep and process the whole thing.” I told her even though I was unsure of it as well.

Relief flooded her face and she immediately waved at me and headed upstairs. I followed suit and headed to the guest room. I beelined to the charger and powered my phone. The next step was to take a long shower and maybe get the ice cream Zizi recommended.

Just as I was about to leave a notification entered my phone, followed by another then another. I checked my phone and saw missed calls and messages.

What is going on?

They all looked like they were from work. Did anything happen in just a few hours? I checked the first message which looked like a news report.

‘BlueRegal Company CEO caught in a cheating scandal’

My jaw dropped open as I read the heading. My boss? Cheating scandal? It was almost impossible.

First, he was almost fifty, and secondly, he spent his time behind the desk on company matters rather than himself.

I have been his secretary for almost six years so I knew that much. The rest of his time was spent on his wife and kids so I wondered where the cheating scandal sprang up from.

‘Private messages between the CEO of BlueRegal and his secretary revealed!’

And his secretary. It took a whole minute before the message clicked into my head. The cheating scandal involved me?!

If I wasn’t sober after seeing Caleb and Melody an hour ago then my eyes were clear now. I immediately went through my messages and saw that it was the reason my phone was blowing up.

I went through the articles and saw pictures of myself and Mr Rashford coming out of a jewelry store, which was where he picked his wife’s anniversary present.

Another had a picture of us at the reception desk of King’s Hotel, which was where he had a meeting with a client whose identity we were protecting.

Other pictures looked incriminating but they all had simple explanations. From the trending articles and searches, I don’t think anyone was interested in the explanations.

I opened the secretarial group chat and saw almost a million messages piled up. I skimmed through them and saw everyone agreeing with the article.

‘I knew those late nights were sus.’

‘He looked too nice to be legit.’

‘To think she even volunteered to take late-night shifts for others.’

‘I don’t even want to imagine what has happened behind those doors.’

I could barely hold my phone. My hands shook as I read more and more messages. Each was worse than the previous one. I recalled Mr Rashford talking about how the board wanted him out but he was bringing in money for the company so nobody really spoke up.

I saw an email sent to me almost two hours ago. I didn’t need to open it as I read the first line from the notification bar.

I have been fired.

This couldn’t be happening. The job I had miraculously gotten close to six years ago. The endless nights I spent working. The extra shifts I took were just so I could stay on good terms with my colleagues. Everything had vanished in one night including my relationship.

This time around I couldn’t act strong anymore. Tears poured down my face heavily. I began to sob loudly, not caring who heard me anymore. I wondered if I had offended anyone high up who cursed me. The room door swung open and I saw Zizi standing there.

“You shouldn’t be crying over that douchebag. Someone who could cheat on you with your best friend can do it with anyone else. I don’t think…”

“Zizi, I just got fired.”

“W..what?”

“I don’t know, I don't know. A cheating scandal was revealed this evening. They said my boss and me. It’s not true. I..I”

Tears made me choke on my words. Zizi looked dumbfounded for a second before she rushed to hug me.

“I knew the name BlueRegal was familiar when I saw it on the news.” She mumbled but it only made me cry harder.

“The news?”

“Shh shh,” Zizi said, patting my hair.

“What do I do Zizi?” I cried, “I have lost everything. How do I defend myself?”

“One thing at a time, let’s get the tears out of your system first and we will think of a way forward tomorrow.” She said, her voice was soothing and I nodded quickly like my problem would go away immediately it's morning.

I said a prayer hoping that whoever controlled the universe heard me. I prayed that all this was a big nightmare and I was probably asleep in my apartment. That this entire night was a warning that I shouldn’t go to the club with Melody.