"Good morning, Lucy. I'm so sorry I came in unannounced and barged in on you like this. You didn't respond to my text, so I decided to stop by and see how you're doing," Anita said with her usual smile while she watched Lucy's face closely.
"You could have saved yourself the stress of coming all the way here by just calling," Lucy pointed out with a smile of her own as she sat down on her seat while watching Anita closely and trying to discern what she was up to now.
"Well, I'm here already so I guess it doesn't matter," Anita said with a short laugh as she took the seat opposite Lucy, "So what was that about?" She asked with an innocent smile on her face as she jerked her head in the direction of Tom's office.
"What was what about?" Lucy asked looking at her with an innocent expression. Lucy was glad now that she had been playing dumb with Tom a while ago, else Anita would have heard everything and found out who Tom was before she had enough time to equip herself to fight her.
The smile remained on Anita's face as she watched Lucy play dumb. She needed to find out what the CEO had been apologizing to Lucy for as soon as possible. She had guessed that something was going on between the CEO and Lucy considering all the attention the CEO had bestowed on Lucy in front of them at Ocean Airlines the other day, but today she had heard enough to know that something was definitely going on between Lucy and the CEO. The only challenge was that she didn't know exactly what was going on between them. Although one thing she knew for sure was that Lucy wasn't interested in the CEO, and she intended to keep it that way, at least until she was able to convince the CEO that he was giving his attention to the wrong person.
"Were you just having an argument with the boss?" Anita asked, even though she knew that such a direct question was beneath her. It was uncouth of her to show interest in a conversation that wasn't her business. Especially one that she had eavesdropped on.
"No, we weren't having an argument. You probably misunderstood us," Lucy said, and picked up her phone when it vibrated with a text message notification, "Give me a moment," Lucy told Anita politely as she clicked on the text from Tom.
The text read, 'What is she doing here?'
"It's a text from my boyfriend," she informed Anita with a small smile before returning her attention to the phone, 'What do you think? She wants to hang out of course, and probably find out more about the CEO,' Lucy texted back with a rolling eyes emoticon before dropping her phone.
"You have a boyfriend now? I thought you said you weren't interested in men because your job was important to you?" Anita asked, not feeling too comfortable about the changes she was sensing in Lucy. She no longer seemed as naive and gullible as had been the last time they were together at her house.
"Well, you know what they say; Change is the only thing that is constant in life," Lucy said with a slight shrug and then her eyes moved to the wall clock, "You're not going to work today?" Lucy asked in time as Tom's office door opened and Tom stepped out to join them.
Anita quickly stood up the moment Tom stopped by Lucy's desk, and she turned around to face him, "Good morning sir. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to greet you earlier," she said with a pleasant smile.
"Miss... Miller, right?" Tom asked, ignoring her greeting.
"Yes, sir," Anita said with a nod as she kept her smile in place.
"What's it by your time?" Tom asked, glancing at the wristwatch she was wearing.
Anita's smile wavered slightly as she glanced at her wristwatch, while Lucy subtly rolled her eyes at Anita's stupidity since it seemed like she didn't understand what Tom was trying to say. Or perhaps she was just being stupid because it was the CEO?
"It's 9:32," Anita said, looking at Tom curiously.
"Great! It works. For a moment there I thought your watch was broken. Shouldn't you be at your office? Why are you hanging around mine?" Tom asked, watching her with a stern expression on his face.
"Uhm, I came around to have a word with Mr. Harry and decided to stop by and say hello to her," Anita said with a shaky smile and she nervously licked her lips.
"Mr. Harry? And have you seen him now?" Tom asked, and Anita gave him a nod.
"Yes, sir. I was just about to leave now," Anita lied, and Lucy's lips twitched in amusement at the unnecessary lie. She almost felt embarrassed on Anita's behalf.
"Then you should leave now. And it would be best if you don't randomly show up here during work hours next time unless you are invited. This environment isn't a place for such visits, and you are not being paid to laze around. Don't forget that Ocean Airlines isn't a family-owned company anymore," Tom said, jerking his head to the door for her to leave.
Anita's cheeks burned bright red and Lucy couldn't tell if it was because she was embarrassed or angry, "Yes, sir. See you around, Lucy," Anita said with a shaky smile as she turned to leave.
"Uhm, I will give you a call later," Lucy called out after her as she left and shut the door behind her.
"Do you treat her that way because she is your ex, or is that just the way you are?" Lucy asked with a slight frown, and Tom raised a brow.
So she was willing to talk to him now? He thought with a scoff and walked into his office without responding to her question.
The corners of Lucy's lips curved in an amused smile when he shut the door. She could tell that he was very annoyed by how she had treated him earlier. Served him right. She intended to keep their personal business outside the office.
Lucy picked up her phone, ready to give Harry a call, but before she could do that her phone started ringing with a call from Sonia, "Hey, love!" She greeted cheerfully, and Sonia pulled her phone away from her ears to confirm that she was talking to Lucy.
"Hey, baby! How are you feeling today?" Sonia asked as she turned to glance at Bryan who was still sulking over her refusal to share the shower with him earlier.
"Great! How're you?" Lucy asked making Sonia's brows pull together in a frown.
"Great?" Sonia asked in confusion, standing up to excuse herself from Bryan so she could find out what was happening with Lucy but he quickly pulled her down, "You agreed that we were going to speak with her together?" Bryan mouthed to Sonia grudgingly and she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, great! How are you?" Lucy asked with a smile as she could picture the confusion on Sonia's face.
"I'm fine I guess. What's happening, Lu? Are you sure you're okay? You can talk to me, you know?" Sonia asked with a worried frown.
"Sure. I'm fine so you have nothing to worry about. As a matter of fact, I'm at the office and everything is perfect," Lucy said, surprising Sonia even more.
"You are at the office? Does that mean you have forgiven Tom?" She asked, making Bryan move closer to her so that he could hear what they were saying.
"Not exactly. But almost."
"Almost? What is happening Lu?" Sonia asked curiously, wanting to know what was going on in Lucy's head.
"Were you able to talk to Bryan? What did he say?" Lucy asked, changing the subject as she wanted to know just how many people knew about her and Tom.
"Uhm... well, he knew about it," Sonia said and then paused when she and Bryan heard the sound of the doorbell.
"I will get the door," Bryan mouthed to her as he got off the bed and on to his wheelchair.
"I thought as much," Lucy said thoughtfully. If Harry was aware, and Bryan knew about it too, then it was possible that his sister was aware too, right? Who else knew?
"Will you like to talk to Bryan? He swears that Tom didn't mean to make a fool of you. Tom really likes you," Sonia assured Lucy once Bryan had left the room.
"It's his brother we are talking about. Were you really expecting that he would tell you otherwise?" Lucy asked with a scoff even though she knew deep down that Tom genuinely cared about her.
"Trust me, Lu. I'm on your side," Sonia said, hoping that Lucy wasn't thinking that she was taking Bryan's side.
"Sure. Your loyalty isn't one I can doubt," Lucy assured her, and then glanced at the office door when it opened and a man who looked like he was in his mid-forties walked in with a lady in her early thirties, "Duty calls. I will call you back," Lucy told Sonia as she quickly hung up, "Good morning," Lucy greeted with a polite smile.
"Good morning, we are here to meet with the CEO," the man explained, and Lucy gave him a nod.
"He's expecting you," she said gesturing with a hand for them to go into the office.
Once they shut the door behind them she picked up her phone and dialed Harry's line this time.