[ Claire ]“Miss Jones, good morning and congratulations on your wedding with none other than Mr. Tristan Pierce.” The staff at my company greeted me, with wide smiles on their faces but I knew it was only for show off. They were giving me respect because I married the richest man of the city and now, I am their CEO.“Thank you, everyone, I hope you all work as passionately as your happiness is for my marriage. I want the quarter growth of our company 2% higher than this year’s first two quarters which isn’t very promising. I want the reports of our selling and profit of last five years and your ideas to increase sales in next six months by three. I am calling a meeting. Make sure you work hard or I won’t hesitate to open vacancies. Believe me, your desks will have new faces tomorrow morning.” I addressed them like a boss, with coldness on my face and confidence dripping from my words.Their smiles dropped and their faces lost colours. I learnt from Miss Kim, my secretory about the in
[ Claire ]“Ma’am, what is it?” Miss Kim gasped when she saw imprint on my cheek.“Forget it and call board meeting. I have to take an urgent decision. Oh God! There is only disaster everywhere. This company will shut down in no time if things would go like this.” I sighed in frustration.She brought a chilled bottle and handed it to me so I could use it to lessen the swelling. I felt embarrassed that my employee has to see this.“Mr. Jones will not approve the changes because present rules are passed by him.” She said.“I don’t need his approval. In fact, I am going to explain the board members about this mismanagement and how the company is suffering from it. I am sure, they’ll support me. I have better plans for the improvement in selling.” I said to her.My headache grew with the passing hours. This job came with a bucket of only challenges and feels like a crown of thorns. The rest of the day I read and analysed the quarterly expenditure reports and compared it with the profit we
[ Claire ]“You seem very disturbed. If you don’t mind, may I ask what’s bothering you? Is it related to the business or something else?” Tristan questioned me and it forced me to look at his awaiting figure.How could I tell him about something that I am not sure whether it’s a fragment of my past or just my illusions. I shook my head negatively.“It’s nothing, don’t worry.” I assured him with a smile but he didn’t look convinced.“Anyways, I heard Miss Kim praising and your kickass attitude at the office. Keep it up and do not hesitate when you think something isn’t fair. Compassion is seen as weakness if you keep giving others chances. If you think firing less productive employees then go on.” He advised me and to some extent, his words lessened the burden on my chest.“I’ll send the notice to the marked employees tomorrow. I can’t believe my father pushed the company on the brink of downfall by his stupid decisions.” I shared my frustration with him.“You’re using your common sens
[ Tristan ]I was stunned, how could she blurt out a very special memory, exactly how it happened five years ago? I stared at her pale face and a sliver of hope sprouted inside me. She was having flashes of her past means I can help her to remember the beautiful time we spent together and how we promised each other to never be apart.“We have reached.” I said to divert the subject. I knew if I asked her about it, it’d make her panic and there’s probabilities that she’d close herself and I won’t risk it.“Come, Travis. I’ll order my favourite for us, do you want to try my special treat?” She asked Travis while avoiding me.“Yes, Mom.” My son clapped his hands and they stepped out of the car, our guards followed us. I walked by their side, my eyes scanning the area for any suspicious activities and when I was convinced that we were safe, I signalled them to enter inside. The place was quiet and vacated as I had reserved the place for two hours. I paid them double.“Why this usually crow
[ Claire ]We sat quietly on the chairs inside Thomas’ room. He was resting on his bed with closed eyes. He looked really sick and it made us worried. He had only shown me affection and if he dies, I’ll definitely lose a father figure in my life.“Claire, Tristan.” He slowly opened his eyes and looked at us.“Dad, please, rest. We can talk tomorrow.’ Tristan held his hand gently and massaged it.“I am fine, son. Don’t be panicked. I am just sleepy because doctors gave me heavy meds.” He smiled weakly.“Still, Dad. We want you to be fine so we can have a great weekend together.” I said while trying my best to smile warmly at him.“Come here.” He signalled me to hold his other hand and I wasted no time in grabbing his other hand and patted it gently.“I am so happy to see my complete family. I want nothing more from this life.” He said.“Dad, I want to throw a party but if your health allows. I want every rumour about our family to be cleared since our society always gets excited for be
[ Claire ]“Tristan?” I softly whispered his name because he had been hugging me for more than ten minutes.“Just stay like this for two minutes.” He said, burying his face in the crook of my neck but how could I tell him that our closeness is creating a summersault inside me.“I think it’ll rain again. we should go back inside as I felt droplets falling on my hands.He slowly broke the hug but still stood hugging my waist. His intense eyes fell on me and I felt strange emotions surging inside me.“Let’s go.” He said and sensually grabbed my hand. An electric sensation ran through my cells.He began to walk briskly inside but it started raining heavily so we ran. By the time we reached in the porch, I was drenched and my satin nightgown stuck on my skin. My gaze travelled on Tristan whose shirt became flimsy and gave a sexy view of his perfect abs.I gulped my saliva. In my memory, I hadn’t dated any guy since high school, having sex or any intimacy with a man was totally alien for me
[ Claire ]“Claire, I am sorry if I have crossed my lines but your question is irrelevant here. We met three days ago. How can you make assumptions?” His eyes twitched, he looked hurt.“I..I..am sorry. It came out wrong but I don’t know how to explain this but I feel like our pasts are connected. I feel it with Travis and Ryan as well, why? I haven’t felt it with anyone else.” I threw my hands in air as my frustration grew because I am feeling lost.“I understand your confusion with your past, Claire and I am here to help you with everything but we don’t know each other. Do not stress yourself and ruin the chances of a future because you want to be stuck in the past.” Tristan said, his features softened.I ran my fingers through my hairs, “It’s easy for you to say, Trisan but it’s my life and I don’t know who I used to be? Whom am I missing in my life? You haven’t gone through it so you won’t understand how it feels to be lost and there’s no one who can help you to find the answers yo
[ Claire ]“Miss Jones, we agree that you want to re-apply the old rules and want to raise the wages of our fourth class employees but you can see, we can’t afford to cut the budget of our senior employees, who are the backbone of our company. They work really hard to keep up with the present day’s competitive market.” One of the board members, who is also a very good friend of my father said during the board meeting the very next day.“I agree with you, Mr. Gabe but our workers, who work in the factory are our real backbone. They don’t complain and come to their shift on time, never takes day off because they have to look after their family’s needs. They are always scared of losing their jobs, that’s why they work with honesty but the problem persists with our upper system. They know, any MNC may hire them if they quit their jobs here and they’re taking undue advantage of our current crisis. I have shortlisted a few names. You can check their recent performance and then decide, why m