Chapter Three- My View

My phone had started ringing after I got out of my nightly shower. I picked it up with hesitation, because Darin was just on the other side of the wall and it's not like I can walk out of the house.Especially with me just getting out of the shower. Just having a towel around me. That wouldn't be a good sight to see." Hello?" I answered.

 " Hey, it's Kaderis. So can you make it out tonight?"

 I couldn't talk to him at this moment, " Hey, I'll talk to you later. Darin is right on the other side of the wall and last time I checked our relationship was supposed to be secret. If I need to talk to you and he's around I'll text you.Understand?"

 "Yeah." 

 " Bye." At that I hung up on him. I placed my phone back down on the bathroom vanity and walked out into the room and found Darin laying out on the bed. He had the remote laying on the bed, beside him and he was watching the sports channel. I looked at the T.V. and let out a long sigh." What's wrong?" Darin asked. 

" You're always watching this channel," I complained. I held the towel in place and looked at him with sad eyes. I really was tired of hearing the same thing on our T.V. " Can you not watch something different for once in your life?" I asked. 

" It's interesting," he sat up and walked to me. 

 " How is watching the same thing interesting? I mean it's literally the same thing over and over again. They all talk about the same thing."

 " Yeah. It's my interest. Plus, you where in there taking a shower, so it was my time with the T.V." 

 " Well, I'm out, so me or you can turn it on something that we can agree on. Gosh, I feel like I'm back in my teenage years trying to fight my sister for putting the T.V. on something we both like." I walked away from him and dried myself off and put on my pajamas.As I was doing that, he went downstairs in to the kitchen and fixed some hot chocolate for the both of us. When I got finished with putting my pajamas on, I wrapped a towel around my hair and went down to the kitchen as well and helped him. 

    It was quiet in there, because of the friction that we just had between us two in the room. I stood behind him and watched him mix the chocolate powder with the hot milk." I'm sorry, Darin," I replied with a tired voice.

 " For what?"

 " For picking something so stupid to grouch at," I went up behind him and wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his back, " It's just been a long day and I'm exhausted. And you read my mind," he turned around," You fixed my favorite Christmas drink. I was really craving that. I don't regret saying yes to you," I said. He handed me a cup of hot chocolate and we went and sat on the couch. I looked around the overly sized living room, " This living room is going to be filled on Christmas. Can you imagine what it's going to look like?" I took a sip of my hot chocolate. 

" It's going to look great. It's going to look like a real party. I remember when I was about sixteen me and my brother decided to have a lot of friends over. Well, when everyone came over, I was just chilling and I overheard someone complain about how small my house was to have a house party." he said. 

 " Did you say anything to them?" 

" Yeah. I walked over to them and told them that if the house was too small for them to just have one little simple party then they can leave." 

" Wow. Why are people so ungrateful for what they get and have?" I asked. 

 " I don't know, but when I was little I remember my mother taking away a toy I got for Christmas for not being grateful for it. I was unwrapping it and it wasn't exactly what I wanted, so I started complaining and the next thing I knew was that I had nothing to complain about anymore." 

" So, you got taught a good lesson?"

 " Yep. From then on I didn't complain about anything else. I always think about how there are kids and other people out there that wouldn't be able to have just one simple, cheap toy. And to be honestly would love to give back."

 " Why don't you?"

 " I don't have time. But for Christmas I wanna buy some toys and take them to the children's hospital and give them a great Christmas."

 " I would love for you to do that. Is the company having a party or a get together?" 

" Yeah. This week after work hours and you're coming with me. I wanna show you off to everyone. I talk about you all the time and they're begging me to bring you up there." 

 " I can't wait to see everyone. It's gonna be great," I took a sip of my hot chocolate and got up from the couch and put my mug in the sink," By the way is there any shopping I need to do for this party?" I asked. 

" Well, if you want to go out and buy a dress or whatever that would be fine. But if you're talking about gifts for the party, then yeah.Everyone is supposed to bring something secret," he explained. 

" So, ya'll are doing Dirty Santa or Secret Santa?" I asked. 

" Yeah. Only the employees though, but if you want to pick out the present, that would be better for the both of us." He walked over to the sink and did the same with his mug. I trailed off up the flight of stairs and he followed.

      We tucked ourselves into bed and went right to sleep. While, I was waiting on Darin to go to sleep, I was thinking of when it would be the right time to sneak out of bed and go and see Kaderis. I turned my neck and looked out of the corner of my eye and he was fast asleep. Like a baby. So, I got out of bed, as quietly as I could and put a jacket over my pajamas and slipped on my sneakers and slowly walked down the stairs. I grabbed my keys off the counter and my phone that was still on the charger and while being sneaky and quiet,I left the house. I drove down the street and called Kaderis to tell him that I was on my way to his house. I pulled up to his house and got out of the car. I walked up to his door and I didn't even have to ring the doorbell, because he opened the door when I got there.

 " Hey beautiful," he said. He pulled me in for a hug and he shut the door behind me, when I walked in." Hey. You better be happy I'm here at this time, because this was the only time I could get out of the house, without him questioning." I said. I went and sat myself on the couch.

 " I'm gonna go and get your present for you." he said.

 " Okay," he came back in the living room with a Gucci purse. It was perfect!I couldn't believe this! I've always wanted one of these. Darin never really could buy one for me, until he got a raise and that was about a week ago when he finally got one. There's no idea what I'm going to get for Christmas! I got up from the couch right when I saw it and held it in my hands. " Oh' my gosh, Kaderis, I love it!" I exclaimed.

 " I would do anything for you, baby," he said into my neck, " Want me to get you a drink?"

 " Sure."

 " What you want?"

 " Something hard." 

 " Got it," he went into the kitchen, behind the nice bar that he kept his hard drinks and alcohol behind. I went and sat on a bar stool that he had in front of the bar. I watched him pour the drinks and do his thing. That was making the best drinks in the world. That's how I met him. A group of my friends decided to take me out one night for my birthday when I turned twenty one and I hooked up with him after his shift and from then on, I would say he's my sugar daddy. He gives me anything and everything I want or wish to have. It's a pleasure!He slid a glass that was filled with Chardenae and I got drunk after awhile. There he had me in his bed, naked.

      My phone started going off and there I woke up to see Darin's face as a caller ID. That meant this wasn't going to be good. I bet he was freaking out about where I was and what and who I was with."Hello?" I answered with fear in my voice. Not fear because I was scared of him. Fear because I didn't want to lose the one I loved the most. The one I was about to make partner in my life. 

" Where are you?" he sounded so scared and worried about me. 

" I'm at the gas station," I lied.

" For what?"

 " I had an emergency." 

 " Are you okay?" 

 " Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be home in a second. I'm leaving just now, so I'll see you soon." I said.

 " Okay. Bye. Love you," I hung up the phone and jumped out of the bed. 

"What's wrong?" Kaderis jumped from the bed. 

" Dude, Darin just called asking where I was and I told him I was at the gas station, so I gotta go. Thanks for the purse. I love it. I'll see you later. And plus, I had a great time last night," I leaned over and kissed him. 

       I could feel I was having a hangover. The worst headache and the worst feeling of being nauseated. I wish I could lay in bed for the rest of the day, but I couldn't. I had to go into the city today, like every work day. I got home as soon as I could and sneaked into the house.Trying not to get Darin all stirred up about where I've been. I heard him coming down the stairs all ready for work. I stood in front of him, " Are you feeling bad or something?" he asked. He put his hand on my shoulder." No, I'm feeling fine. I just had to run and get some pain medicine,because I was having a bad headache about a couple of hours ago to where I couldn't sleep and it kept waking me up. So I went and got some. But I'm good," I lied to him. I hated that I had to do this.Before my wedding or a little bit after it, I'm going to have to tell Kaderis that we can't talk or see each other anymore. It's going to break him and stuff, but I can't live a double life. I wanna be with one man. Not two. I wanna be with the one I love the most. The one that means the most to me in my life. The one that I know that cares about me more. And that's Darin. Not Kaderis. All Kaderis wants is sex from me and not love, nor like Darin. "Well, I gotta leave a little earlier than usual," he stated. 

" Why?" 

 " They wanted me to come in a little earlier to watch me go over my presentation for the new building that we're going to build," he said.

 " Are you scared?" I asked, while walking over to the coffee pot where Darin made fresh brewed coffee. I poured some in a mug and sat on a bar stool. He came and sat beside me, " No, not really. Well,how many times have I done this, now?" he asked.

 "Quite a bit. But I love checking and seeing. Some people get nervous even though they do it all the time. Like my dad. When it's his turn to speak in court and you know, he's been doing it for quite awhile now, and he still get's nervous. It's just part of being human, I guess." 

"Okay, fine. You caught me trying to be a real man," he joked.

 " What?" 

" I was trying to hide that I wasn't scared, but I really am. I mean, I wouldn't say scared, but I'm nervous."

 " It's okay, baby," I got up from the stool and went behind him and wrapped my arms around him and kissed him on his soft neck, "You'll do perfectly fine. You always do." 

      As he was leaving for work, I went upstairs and got myself ready for work. I did my hair and got out of my pajamas. I ran downstairs, because I was starting to realize that I was running a bit behind on my time. As I was leaving out the door and getting into my car my phone had gone off and it was my boss calling me. "Hello?" I answered.

 " Hey, yeah. Where are you? You're running a little late, don't you think?" he asked. 

" Yeah. It's been a long morning, but I'm actually just now leaving the house. I'm heading up there right now. Sorry for the delay. I should've called, huh?" 

" Yeah it would've been nice if you did, but I'll let you off this time. Listen I have to go, because I have some clients that are needing to meet with me at the moment. Talk to you later. I have some things that I need you to do for me when you get here, if you don't mind,"he explained. 

" Of course I don't. As your editor and secretary, why would I?" I asked, playing. 

 " It doesn't hurt to ask," he said and hung up the phone. I hung up the phone and I made my way to start the first day of the work week. I am the secretary of my boss, Justin and I'm also the head editor of the magazine that we work for. So Perfect, it's called. I love working for this company more than anything and to be honest I don't think I would switch it or trade it out for anything in the long run. It's what I've always wanted to do. Well, I guess it has it's pros and cons to it like everything else does. But that's life, though.Sometimes if I'm lucky and walk in at the right moment of a photo shoot and it's my favorite actor, actress, or singer, I'll get the chance to meet them. That's the pros. The cons are having two jobs at the same time. Neither one of them is hard, except for when this time of the year rolls around. All the request and wanting to book things here and there can come quite exhausting if you ask me. But I get it done. That's why I still have this job and I'm actually surprised to see that I still have it for the mornings I've had like the one I had this morning.

      As I walked into the building, I already saw Justin trying to pull of what hair he still had in his head out. I walked over to my desk and placed my things such as my purse and coffee down and rushed to Justin for rescue. I walked into his office and shut the door. He was setting at his desk with his hands on his face. I sat down in a chair that was in front of his desk, that's usually meant for his clients that he could careless about. " What's wrong, Justin?" I asked.

 " Those clients were asses. So disrespectful," he replied.

 "How?" I asked.

 " You know the usual a*****e one's that usually marches in here like they own life and more?"

 " Oh' they were those? Okay, I understand now. You can't let them run all over you, Justin. They're clients," I tried explaining. 

" I know, but there's a line I have to draw between the clients and the attitudes. Let me tell you this much," he took a sip of his hot sugary tea that was sitting on the desk next to him and proceeded on, 

" If it was you or anyone else in this department throwing that kind of force my way, let me tell you, they would be out and gone a second later. But they're clients. They're the ones with the money. They're the ones that's going to pay me. See, with ya'll it's either I fire you and you don't have a job anymore or you get rid of the attitude. But with the clients it's either take the sucky attitude and stick it up my a*s and get over it or I loose money. We all know that's what we don't want or need. Am I right?" he took another sip of his tea.

 "Yes you are, but at the same time why let people run all over you?"I question. 

" I don't. Just take what I just said. It's business,honey," I got up from the chair and walked out the office and went to my office.

      " Jessica, we have the meeting in about five minutes with the top boss, so please wrap up what you're doing at the moment and meet me in the board room," Justin said, peeping into my office and distracted me from the front cover story I was working on at the moment. I rushed to the board room where we always held the most important meetings. Once, I got in the board room, I was getting to see people come in that worked with our top boss, Gregory. We were missing the top boss and it's not really surprising, because he seems to be the one that we always wait on. But it's not like we complain, because if we do,I'll bet you this. We would get fired. As I was taking my seat about three seats down from Gregory's, with Justin's right beside mine,Gregory walked in, " Well, nice to see everyone," he greeted us.Now, what I know about Gregory is that he's not like the bosses you may think of that would work for a big company like this. He's nice and generous. He cares about peoples thoughts and feelings. He enjoys hearing our thoughts on most things that he's usually stuck on. He picked up a magazine that we label as our competitor, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a week to bring our magazine to look like this, but better," he replied with such chest power, " Now,you need to know that Glitter is one of our head competitor's and everyone in the society can see it. People are starting to purchase Glitter more than So Perfect. The charts tell me so. Now, this time of the year is supposed to be our time. People always glow about our holiday additions. So, anyone wanna tell me why people are paying more attention to Glitter than So Prefect? There's a reason why we'recalled So Perfect, people. So tell me why?" he asked us.See this is the part where he enjoys our thoughts. This is also where I put in my thoughts as the head editor.

" Well, I think that the pace of people around here may have something to do with it. When I walk out of my office I see more people congregating, than working. When we have a deadline I think we need to focus on that more than the gossip and drama," as I'm talking, I see people jotting down notes on their ipads, "When I look at the drafts I have so much work to do. Is anyone in here put themselves as focused?" I asked the group. I took a glance at everyone I saw that was either sitting across from me or beside me or on down the long table. When I asked the question they detached themselves from their ipads. Like they've been caught or something.A guy named John pitched in with his thoughts, "Well, I totally agree with Jessica. I mean I don't have an office, but what I witness around me, I can barely focus on my work. It's defiantly a problem.Now, Mr.Gregory, I can easily tell you why the society is paying more attention to Glitter Magazine than So Perfect. It's crazy and stupid, because we have always been the top. As just a writer and interviewer, I see more than I think I should. We need to step our game up and show Glitter Magazine that we're back and better than ever. I think that the writing should be more spicier and just the cover should be able to catch the viewers eyes. The cover should pop!" he explained.I agreed with everything he just said. He was absolutely right! I was glad that I wasn't the only one that was seeing this. How hectic and crazy it is and it's obviously not just our department. It's others as well. 

" Thank you for your thoughts, Jessica and John. I appreciate it. Anyone else?" he asked. No one seemed to want to open their mouths and express, " Okay, since no one has anything else to say,than I guess we're done. Now, before you leave work today, I would like the bosses of each department to let your staff members know what we talked about and you need to let them know that we need to get really serious about it and not just for the future, but for the upcoming month of events that we will have going on. Understand?"We all made ourselves clear that we understood him and after he left the room, we did too.