SEVEN.

“Hey, it's been a while since I last heard from you,” Ida answered.

“I've been busy with work; how are you, by the way?” he inquired.

“I've been better; just a few meetings here and there. So tell me, Mr-secret-admirer, what have you been up to besides admiring me?” She asked as there was a knock on her door.

Her secretary entered the office and dropped off a bouquet of money—yeah, you read right—a bouquet of money instead of the normal flowers. That wasn't all; there was red velvet cake, a box of M&M's, and the latest iPhone 13 Pro Max. There was a small note pinned to the package, which read:

“Hope you enjoy your surprise."

From: Your Secret Admirer.

He waited at the end of the line as she asked him to do while she unboxed her present.

She was lost for words. No one had ever surprised her that way, and it wasn't even her birthday or an occasion worth celebrating.

“Cat got your tongue?” Mr. A asked, sipping from his coffee mug.

“I'm just overwhelmed; thank you so much for this. I am short of words,” she finally found her voice.

“You deserve all this and more, Ida. This is just the beginning, so enjoy it." 

“Thanks, but it really feels weird accepting gifts from someone I barely know. You've refused to tell me your name or send your pictures, but you know everything about me,” she pouted. 

“You can call me Mr. A, and I'm a business tycoon. As for my pictures or seeing me, you would. Pretty soon,” he said to her.

“Okay, Mr. A, thank you once again for these; I appreciate them. Don't get me wrong, I can afford them if I want to get them myself, but what's making me happy is someone remembering I exist and surprising me with gifts,” she said, wiping a few stray tears from her eyes.

She was happy and sad at the same time. Happy for being surprised and sad that no one had ever thought of surprising her; all she got were packages from perverts, and anytime she opened them, they were lingerie and contraceptives accompanied by weird notes.

On her birthdays, all she had were birthday messages and cakes from her workers, not that she didn't appreciate them, but she wanted to know how it felt being surprised or sent gifts genuinely, not because they needed to.

“The pleasure is all mine, and I'm happy that I made you feel that way, as I said earlier there's more to come, Mamacita.” he came up with a pet name for her.

“Oh, now I'm Mamacita aie?" she smiled.

“For now, it could change,” he flirted as a woman entered his office.

“I'd call you back, Mamacita; I need to take care of something,” he glared at the woman chewing gum loudly in his office.

“Okay, talk later.” Ida dropped the call.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He rubbed his temples.

“You haven't been taking my calls, so I decided to come to see you.” she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

“Bev,”

“Bevelyn, I already told you whatever we had going on was over; besides, you said you cannot be in a committed relationship with me, so we are done. I can't keep sleeping around with you.” he held up his hand in front of her, preventing her from coming closer.

“But,”

“You want money; I know that,” he said, writing a blank cheque for her.

“You can write the amount you want there." 

“Gladly,” she said, taking the cheque and writing $1,000,000.00 on it.

“Good, I hope I never have to see you again. A piece of advice: invest the money in something lucrative and stop sleeping around for money; it's pathetic!' he spat as she happily walked out of his office with a smirk on her face.

“You're done taking care of business?” Ida said immediately after answering his call.

“Yes, I am, so where were we?” he asked.

“You calling me Mamacita; as much as I am enjoying this conversation, I have to go. I got a client waiting for me.” 

“Oh, talk to you later. Have a nice day at work, Mama,” he added, dropping the call and going back to work.

“I came in right on time,” Ida's younger cousin, Khloe, announced while sitting on the chair. Ida had been taking care of her since her parents failed to do so. As stubborn as she was, she was an intelligent and smart kid.

“Hello to you too, Khloe. May I know what brings you here?” She glared at her cousin, who had taken some of her M&M's and was cutting herself a piece of cake.

“I need some cash, Ida," she grinned.

“You could have called Khloe,” she sighed.

“And miss out on this? Oh, Nah, besides, I missed you,” she confessed.

“How much do you need? How's school and Paul?" she teased.

“I need about $5000; school is tiring and boring as hell, and Paul is meh,” she answered the three-in-one question while licking frosting off her fingers.

“What do you mean Paul is, ‘Meh’” she quoted.

“It means Paul is history, done, done, and dusted. Enough about me; who brought all these? Who's the lucky dude?” She changed the topic.

“My secret admirer,” she smiled.

“Excuse me, say what now?” her eyes bulging out of her sockets in shock.

“You heard me. My secret admirer just surprised me this morning with these,” she replied.

“Lucky you, but be careful as well. People may not be people," she advised, taking the money from her cousin.

“I -I know Khloe; as much as I am enjoying this, I am extra careful as well. We are getting to know each other as well, so we'll see where this goes.”

“What about Elon? What happened? I thought you loved him.” She crossed her legs, relaxing on the chair.

“Elon is fine.”

"So, about the money..." Khloe grinned, reminding Ida of their earlier conversation.

 " Oh yeah, how much was it again?"