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CHAPTER 3
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Philip didn't ask too many questions as he drove but Clara was not used to the quietness.
"What can I call you? I confess that it's a little uncomfortable to call you by your name." She said.
"It's okay to call me by my name, I'm not your uncle." He replied with a smile.
"Oh...but it's strange for me to call my boss by his name."
"Just take it, that we are friends. No formality...well, except at work."
"That's fine by me...so we are friends?"
"Yes, we are."
"I can't wait to see your paintings." She said.
Within some minutes, he arrived at the studio.
"Here we are." He said as they got out of the car.
They went inside and entered a room where Clara saw Philip's paintings. She moved closer to one and touched it gently.
"I'll see you within some minutes, I need to talk to my manager." He said and left the room.
Clara looked at his works, they were all special and exclusive, but he hadn't shown them to the world yet. She looked behind and saw an unfinished sketch, which she guessed that he was still working on. It was an unfinished sketch of a female, it wasn't clear who the person was. She sat down on a chair and viewed it carefully, it was impressive but full of confusion. He must have been confused while working on it.
She figured out that Philip's paintings and designs showed his mood at that time. She was still fifteen when she started seeing and studying his paintings. She would examine, describe and think of the painting before telling people about the mood of the painting. Now, she was twenty-one years old and she hadn't stopped studying his paintings. She loved his works because of how they made her feel each time she looked at them.
"It's not my best," Philip said, looking at the sketch with his hands tucked into his pocket.
"You wouldn't know that unless you finish." She replied looking at him.
"I have tried finishing it, but it's difficult for me."
"Because you've never fallen in love?"
Philip turned his gray eyes to her, surprised by her words. Though, it wasn't obvious on his face.
"I have never fallen in love, yes."
"Why? At least you should try dating a girl."
"That's easy for you to say."
Clara stood up and approached him, looking up at him with her lively brown eyes. "I wouldn't have said it if it was hard."
"I don't always have time to date...not always."
"I see. Don't worry, I will help you with that problem. I will be your personal life helper."
"It's not going to be so easy. I will rarely have time for all that."
"Master Philip Cruz, I am an expert in date matching...even though it has succeeded only once...that was with my male dog and my aunty's female dog...but I am still good at what I do."
"Dog match-making?" Philip said with a soft laugh. It had been a long time since he laughed sincerely because of someone funny.
"That's not a joke... little things matter."
"I am not going to be used as your second experiment."
"I am charming enough to persuade you to be my second experiment, so don't worry." Clara said as she looked at the other paintings. "Why haven't you sold these ones?"
"I haven't accepted them yet. So I don't think that others will."
"I love them."
Philip looked at her with a smile. For some reason that he didn't know, he was very glad to have Clara here with him.
"I know you do, but I won't present them until I have accepted them."
Clara walked to one of the paintings and felt it with her hands, the texture was sweet and smooth but the color was dim and the tone, was light. It was a painting about an eagle soaring. It was simple but meaningful.
"Can you give me this one? I really love it."
"You can have it...my gift to you."
"Thank you so much!"
Philip asked a guard to take it and package it properly so that it would be delivered to Clara at her house. His phone rang and when he picked it up, it was Dr. Mathew.
"Maestro felipe, are you with Clara?" Mathew asked.
"Yes, I am with her. She will be on her way back soon."
"Okay, please make sure that she is safe."
"I will." Philip said and hung up.
"Is it Dr. Mathew?" Clara asked.
"Yes, he asked of you. I will call my driver to pick you up now, I have to get home."
"I want you to take me back to the party." Clara said with a cute face.
Philip smiled and nodded, he couldn't resist her beauty. That was one thing, she was right about. "Okay, let's go." He said and gave way for her to walk away first then he followed behind.
Philip drove her back to the party venue and they waved goodbye to each other before Philip drove off. Dr. Mathew approached her with a smile, he had seen the smile on her beautiful face which was always there, but he considered this one to be more sincere.
"Tell me the truth." He said winking at her.
"Stop it, uncle Mathew. He's five years older than me." She replied.
"That doesn't stop true love."
"Philip won't be interested in me...in fact, he isn't."
"How would you know that? You are not in his head."
"I don't need to be in his head before I know the type of girl he would want to date."
"Philip has a soft heart, he won't chase you away from him if he knows that you are trying to get closer to him. I've known him for as long as I have known you."
"Forget it. We are fine as friends."
"My advice is this, if you want Philip then pursue him. It might be hard because he has a lot going on around him, but he will eventually realize how much you love him..."
"I am not in love with him."
"Love at first sight is what you experienced, I am not stupid to have noticed that you were restless until he came in. You didn't take your eyes off him when you were dancing with his brother. So what will it be?"
"I can't believe you noticed all of that."
"I have very good eyes. Even with my glasses, I can see into your heart."
Clara sighed and nodded with a smile.
"Fine. I indeed have feelings at first for him."
"That's a good start. Then you have to make Philip realize it. I brought you here because I needed someone who could love Philip. His mother is very serious about making him work for the company for the rest of his life. She doesn't want to see any lady near her precious son."
"She's overprotective of him."
"She is domineering... let's get going now. It's already getting late."
They entered their car and the driver, drove the car out of the venue. On their way home, Clara could not take her mind off Philip. Dr. Mathew was right about her feelings for him. She only wished that there was a way to get closer to Philip without clashing with his mother.
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When Phillip arrived at his house, he sat on the couch and sighed. Although he did not spend much time at the party, the day seemed long to him. It was already evening and he had to prepare his completed work for the exhibition tomorrow or he would be dismissed. He was familiar with statistics and corporate principles. They had no interest in knowing if he was the next CEO of the CRUZ enterprise. They would simply reject him if he did not respect their laws or principles, and Philip had learned to recognize this.Clara overheard a knock on her door after showering. She immediately put on her clothes and went to the door to unlock it."This package is for you, Miss, it's from Master Philip Cruz." A man said."Oh...yes. Thank you so much.""He also told me to give you this as an extra." He said and gave her a card."What is this...?""I have no idea, my job is to deliver.""Okay, thanks."The man walked away and Clara locked the door. She turned the card to its other side and screamed w
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Henry sat down in his new office with a satisfying smile. He knew he deserved to be the CEO of the CRUZ company. He had sounding qualifications and awards won because of his achieved excellence so he was undoubtedly qualified to take up this important position.He looked around the office and saw Philip's achievements in the real world of art and design. He loathed the thought of seeing Philip back in the office again because from now on, he was going to run the CRUZ enterprise how it was meant to be ruled. In the car, Clara turned to Dr. Mathew with sad eyes and asked him why Maria was so unfair. It was the legal right of Philip to take control of the company and she had given that legal right to Henry. "Philip is equally stubborn, he refused to take up the position again. He is as proud as his mother." Dr. Mathew said in a frustrated tone."I just wish there was a way to help Philip get his position back as the CEO.""That's going to be war, you do not want to disagree with Maria.
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Everyone turned to look at Clara as she stood at the other side of the table. "You look like someone who lost her way." Henry said."You can't threaten to fire anyone, you can be sued and it leaves a bad image for you and the Cruz company." She said keeping some files on the table."You should leave now, or you would be the first person to sue me."Clara glared at Henry and apologized, "I'm sorry." She said and walked out of the office."Now, my decision is made. All of you can get lost." He said."You might regret this." Another man said before leaving. The others followed suit and left the office in disappointment.Henry sat down on his chair and thought of how Clara interrupted him during the meeting, "You will not like the results, the next time you try that again." He said to himself. "He wants to partner with Safari company." Dr. Mathew said to Philip as they ate together in a restaurant."Why are you telling me this?" Philip asked, without looking at Mathew."It's going way
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Clara didn't know when her hands began to shake after hearing Maria say her name with such clarity and coldness. "Yes ma'am." She replied without looking at Maria."You were the one that danced with my son at my husband's birthday party, am I right?" Maria said as she sat down and crossed her legs while looking straight at Clara. For some reason, she didn't seem to like Clara and she made it clear by the tone of her words."Yes ma'am""I see...Dr. Mathew said you were from where again?""Uh...I don't know what you mean ma'am""Are you related to Dr. Mathew?""No...he is my father's friend.""And who is your father...your parents who are they?""They don't leave in this city ma'am.""Don't be a fool, I asked the question 'who' not 'where'. Tell me.""Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton.""Well...tell me about your parents.""I am sorry to say this, but my personal life doesn't have anything to do with my work here." Everyone held their breath when Clara uttered those words constructing them into a s
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"You never told me that he was an obsessed psychopath!" Ella exclaimed covering her mouth with her hand. After this time, it was hard to believe that Philip was planning Clara's downfall when they thought that he was a good guy."He is not a psychopath," Clara said. From the look of it, Ella considered Clara to be either crazy or blind."He's a dangerous person, Clara. You shouldn't even be working in that company.""He won't do anything to hurt me.""Why are you so blind?""He won't hurt me because he cared enough not to let me rot in jail.""Maybe that's part of another plan of his.""I don't care about that, Ella. I don't want him to think of me as someone foolish enough to give up and not endure," Clara said. "I want to continue working there until he decides to throw me out."Ella did not doubt Clara's pig-headedness. All she wanted was for Clara to be safe along with her parents."Have...have you tried apologizing for what you did to him that day?" Ella asked, looking into Clara
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"My childhood," Philip said with his eyes, fixed on Clara. "Why would you want to know that?" He made sure not to use any tone that may make the others think he was annoyed with the question."Is it wrong if I know your childhood history?" She asked and Philip kept quiet before speaking up again.He lowered his face and picked up the fork, "My childhood...it isn't an experience to talk about." He could feel his mother's eyes on him."I want to know," Clara said."I...and my mother were chased out of a house because of a false accusation and wrong intention." He said. "Is that enough?""Who accused you?" She asked, not satisfied and a little sober. She feared that it might have been her mother or father who chased them out of the house. Her thoughts were running around her head. Thoughts that weren't supposed to come to her."Someone...it was a long time ago." He said with a painful sigh. "I don't want to talk about it." Clara looked at him for some time and resumed eating. She guess
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"Who is it?" Philip asked."It's not a single person, it's the Safari company. I traced the bad report that they released to the public. The information agencies didn't know who sent them that information about us. They called it an unknown source." Gabriel said, "So I got in contact with one of the information agents and made a deal with him, then he sent me the real report. When I tracked it, I found that the Safari company was behind everything.""Alright," Philip said. "Thanks, I appreciate your help.""My pleasure, make sure you deal with them like old times," Gabriel said. They both knew what Philip could do."I will," Philip said and hung up. Now he was very sure of his suspicion about Safari company. At least now, it was proven. He approached his mother and whispered something into her ears."Is everything alright?" Dana asked, noticing the awkward silence between Philip and Maria."Oh, yes. He just has some work to do at the office," Maria said."It's nice to meet you again,
