The Wedding Night

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”

Buddha

*********Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Melody POV

The next day which was Friday, I woke up early to prepare myself for work. I stared at my daughter’s hope who was sleeping peacefully on the bed. We haven’t talked for a while and I’ve missed her tiny voice.

As I turned on the doorknob, hope’s tiny voice stopped me.

“Mummy!” She called and stood up from the bed.” where are you going?” she asked.

I walked to her and bent down to her level. I touched her face and smiled gently at her.” mummy is going to work baby”

“Can I come with you?”

“No baby. The place is for grownups but don’t worry, I will take you there one day” I told her, and it seems to cheer her up. She smiled and hugged me.

“Bye baby,” I waved at her and walked out of the room.

When I got to the office that morning, I was met with a surprise. A meeting had been fixed and I was unaware.

“You mean the boss didn’t tell you anything?”Anita questioned as she looked surprised that I wasn’t aware of the meeting.

” isn’t it obvious that she is not of importance to the meeting?”Lindsey mocked as she came over to my desk.

I had no idea why she hated me. I thought people like her didn’t exist but the way she looked down on me makes me realized that there were still some mean people who existed in the real world.

“What is your issue with me? You do not even know me.”

“I know you enough to conclude that you do not belong here,” Lindsey retorted.

“What is going on here?” Our boss’s voice sounded as he walked towards us.

“Uh, uh,” Anita scratched her head, bows, and then left my office.

“Welcome, sir. I was discussing the meeting with her. I’ll take my leave now,” Lindsey bows and also left my desk.

“Such a drama queen”

“Come to my office now!” My boss commanded and walked inside his office.

“What just happened?” I asked no one in particular.

Straightening my blue pattern skirts, I knocked and entered my boss’s office. As usual, he was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed. His black hair which was now dyed to blonde covered his left eye. He looked ravishing with his eyes closed. How could someone be this beautiful?

“Are you going to keep staring or what?” My boss’s eye blinked and I could feel his brown eyes glaring at me.”did you grow deaf in two seconds? I just asked you a question.” he frowned as he continued looking at me.

I quickly averted my eyes and looked down.

“I’m sorry sir,” I apologized. “You called for me sir,” I informed him.

“Yes I did,” he said and stood up from the couch. He walked two steps closer to me and then finally stopped walking. He placed his hands inside his pocket and exhaled deeply.

“Miss melody,” he began and I closed my eyes, dreading what he had to say next. “Do you know what DReam company is all about?”

“Huh?”

I opened my eyes to looked at him because that’s wasn’t what I was expecting him to say.

“What do you mean by that sir?” I asked as we both stared at each other.

“Are you dumb or maybe daft to get what I just said to you? I just asked you a question miss melody and I hope you won’t be too foolish to answer it”

Seriously? What was his problem this morning? Why was he asking me this kind of question this early morning?

“Sir, DReam promotes all kinds of brands, they produce new gadgets every year and also DReam is known for the best company awards in mecianda every year,” I explained and waited anxiously for his reply to see if I was right.

“Good definition miss melody, I’m glad you know that, especially the last part. DReam company was built in the early 1900s by my great grandfather. Back then, DReam was known as the Aderemi’s Empire. It was very popular back then because my great grandfather put all his effort towards it.”

I listened with rapt attention but I wondered why he was telling me the stories.

“This company was passed down to my grandfather then over to my father,” he continued, “but my father didn’t follow in their footsteps. Instead of helping the company grow, he leads the company to bankruptcy. Poof, the legacy of the Aderemi’s was over. “He paused and breathe out before he continued.

” it was all over the news. The great Aderemi had fallen. Then, I wasn’t interested in the best reasons known to me and when I finally decided to join the company, I changed the name to DReam because it was a name that befits the company. I started from scratch and worked my ass off for five years and now here we are. I’m not only the CEO of this company but also the chairman as I took the position from my father five years ago.” He boasted with confidence and I found myself smiling at his attitude.

“Dream isn’t only known in mecianda but all over the world. Why I’m I telling you this? Simple. It’s because I wanted you to know how stupid you were for opening your mouth and promising the Chinese investors something big.”

Stupid enough? This guy was something else. When he started talking, I was inspired by his legacy. I’ve heard the story before and It sounded the same as the story Franklin told me years ago. The only difference between their stories was the fact that Franklin inspired me while my boss made me lose interest in whatever he was saying.

I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off with his hand.

“I’m not finished miss melody,” he informed and removed his hands from his pockets. “I might have other establishments all over the world but this company is the one I treasured the most because I worked my ass off to get where I am today.”

“Story! Story!!” I wanted to scream but I did not instead I smiled and nodded.

“So concerning the new brand, this is what’s going to happen miss melody. My COO Cassandra would be in charge of it. She has always been in charge of the project for the past years now. All I need you to do is drop your ideas in the meeting and if it is a nice one, we would take it but you won’t be in charge because you ain’t qualified enough for the project.”

“Really?”

I chuckled and shook my head in disapproval. I’m never going to let another person take my spot even if it affects me.

“In case you’ve forgotten miss melody, I own this company and I hired you without a background check on you. I made you my assistant even when I knew you weren’t qualified for this job.”

“Really? So this is why you called a meeting without informing me about it before I left the office yesterday?”

“I told the manager to inform everyone via their emails and I guess the reason why you didn’t get it was because you had no email and this position you are in right now is temporary,” he informed.

I laughed hysterically and moved closer to him. His Cologne filled my nose as I moved closer to him but I didn’t seem to be bothered by it because I was angry by what he had just said.

“You know for someone with such inspiration, I didn’t know you would sound so stupid,” I told him and watched his expression. His hands were balled into a fist as if he wanted to hit something or someone.

“Look, the reason why I let this go is that it was a mistake,” I pointed to the cut on my face.” I know hard you’ve worked to build your company and I’m happy for you but I will never let anyone take my position.”

“Are you forgetting who the boss is here? I could fire you!” He threatened.

I stood at akimbo and watched as his mouth moved. As beautiful as his lips were, I wanted to zip them up.

“You have issues Mr. Aderemi. The only reason I’m keeping up with your attitude is that you looked like my husband but now I have realized it. My Franklin would never have such silly and crazy personalities. Your personality sucks and you need to change it” As soon as I finished, he grabbed me by my arms and pinned me to the wall.

“I’ve had enough of your rantings!” He roared and punched the wall. “This is my company, my rules, and my—-”

“Let’s go of me, boss.” I pushed him off but he didn’t budge. “Let’s go off me, Franklin!” I shouted his name or maybe my late husband’s name.

He blinked at me and moved away from me. A knock sounded on the door and I heard Mr. Samuel, the manager’s voice from outside the door.

“Sir, we are all set for the meeting and we are waiting on you and miss melody,” Mr. Samuel informed.

“I’ll be there in five,” my boss answered back.

“It seems the meeting is about to start sir so I’ll just take my leave.” I bowed and turned to leave but he grabbed me by the hand and whispered.

“Don’t you ever call me that name again?” He said and let go of my hand.” now leave!” he commanded.

I bowed and left the office with my heart beating against my chest.