Chapter 3: Her disgusting comeback

It is hard for Ava Nicole to guess who talked outside the door and called Mr. Hallway "Babe," where she is at the full extent of willingness to give herself to that man. They stop attempting kissing when the two women arrive. Ava assumes that only one girl appears to their front, but she is mistaken.

The two women open the door, staring at her a bit without blinking their eyes like a mannequin standing in the mall. Annie, her best friend, and Stacey, the reporter girl who ended her to sign the divorce paper to her husband, are in stun, facing them and holding each other's shoulders.

The ex-lovers stand back to their post as if nothing has happened.

Ava looks at the two women whose eyes are stuck to her. Although she recognizes them, she keeps ignoring and tolerating them, for she wants them to discover who she is.

"Who is she, b—boss Gerald?" asks by her best friend.

That is surprising to hear from her. Her best friend doesn't recognize her? What a blast encounter they have!

Annie was a good friend to her. But why doesn't she recognize her? She just wears light makeup and dresses simple clothes, but why doesn't she greet or hug her for supposing she does because of missing her for how many years of not seeing each other?

She hurts inside seeing her not so interested in looking at her. All these years, she thought that Annie was a trustworthy friend who never forgot her, even though they had no communication for a very long time.

"Oh, meet Ava Nicole Hillson, my new assistant," the big bang introduction is uttered by the man facing the three people.

"What? You mean, you replaced me for her?"

"No, Annie. This is just temporary."

"She's the daughter of Mr. Hillson, you know the richest businessman in the entire Germany. She wants to learn how to run a business, so for now, you will be assigned to the marketing department. And when Ms. Hillson's company is finished in construction, your work as my assistant comes back."

"C-copy boss."

Annie's tone seems lacking in energy. Maybe she thinks that her job is being exceeded by an outsider. Totally, she's jealous of that girl for being close to her boss in that urgent news.

She has a hint about the woman as Nicole Roque, her best friend before, but she heard the news that the sick woman studied abroad; maybe she's dead out of ambition. She doesn't even know that she's alive or surviving with her disease.

Totally, Annie doesn't believe her close one recovers from a nearly-dead illness. It's impossible either.

Nicole's sighting is towards the reporter girl. She is confused about why she got there.

Stacey is only a reporter; what is she doing in her ex-husband's office? Is she really the new lover of him?

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Annie, and—" She stares at the girl beside her friend, smiling at her as if she doesn't know her name.

"Hi, I'm Stacey. Have we met before? You're familiar."

Nicole is guilty of facing her. Right now, she is imprisoned with her past experiences again since she met the person who gave her heartache turns to courage to succeed. Before releasing a word to her, she controls her tongue to tell her identity to her and thinks of another sentence that connects to it.

"Oh! Have we? I didn't remember anything. But if we were, maybe at the outside of a cheap restaurant or somewhere. Sorry, I really forgot your face either."

"Ahem. Girls, you should have to proceed with your purpose of getting here in my office first before anything," Mr. Hallway interacts, stopping them from blabbering about past encounters.

"This boss," Annie says, handing over the folders that need to be signed by the CEO.

"By the way, boss, Stacey has also an abrupt appointment with you regarding your multiple successes this year. Maybe you give time for her after signing all those documents on your hand?"

"Wait? An interview with Stacey? Why is it that they need to have it in a private room for just an employee to be in? No, no, no. I should have to smash them before anything happens." This is Ava's over mind's thinking about the conversations she got.

He nodded, skimming the papers a bit, and got back looking at the girls. It's an urgent matter that helps his popularity become constant, so he needs to adjust his time for other appointments.

And concludes saying, "Stacey, you may wait at the meeting room; I follow you after signing this."

He turns his sight to the woman on his side and says, "Ava, you can go now. Tomorrow is your first day as my assistant. You should have to prepare yourself. Take an early rest to gain more energy."

"This is it. I should have to hide to follow them to witness the flow of their conversation," is Ava's inner thinking.

His ex-wife gives a nod and trusts him. Besides, her trust in her best friend Annie is also high, so she and Stacey move out of the office.

When the place is too solemn, Annie dashes to the front door and locks it hard. She's determined to do it even though she's not permitted to.

"What are you doing, Ms. Annie?" The fear of his eyes arises again.

She walks towards her boss, appearing to have an undrawn face. She seems angry for something that needs to be cleared out through his words.

"Gerald, what's this? After five years, you left that sick woman because you told me that you're tired of loving and caring for her with no return, but now you date a new one that's likely similar to her face? It's ridiculous. I'm here giving my whole self to you, dedicated to working inside and outside your business affairs and comforting you from your failures towards success, but still you neglect me."

"What am I to you, then?" Gerald gives her a glass of water to keep her calm.

It's the same comfort Annie gave to him whenever he feels bothered by himself. 

"Annie, stay calm. Okay? Listen. Ava and I are friends. I replaced you temporarily to help her. You know who her father is and how he helps me a lot for this company. So please, bear with me," he explains.

Annie moves closer to him, touching his chin and caressing while tickling his short mustache. She begins to kiss his cheek like she did when his boss needs inner heat to ease his pressure at work.

It's been five years since Annie did the daily routine, but only one night happens with them with her boss. She kept on flirting, attracting, and showing her naked body to seduce him, but her boss didn't show his interest but rather left her blank.

At the time Gerald drowned in alcohol due to too much heartache from breaking up with his wife, Annie succeeded in making love to him.

His boss is guilty about that thing; that is why he just let her do what she likes, except mating her in bed again.

"Annie, I have to sign this now. Stacey is waiting for me in the meeting room," he interrupts, making his assistant start to feel disgusted at what she started.

"She can wait, but not me. I need you now, Gerald. I need you. Please kiss me back," she begs as she continuously kisses his whole face.

"No. Please stop forcing me to do that, Annie. You go beyond that line." The CEO keeps pushing her away, but his assistant keeps touching his skin in his face again.

"Really? How about your new friend, Ava? Why does it seem that you wanted to kiss her earlier. Am I not the same to her? A clingy woman?"

"No, she's not!"

"Really? Why? She dressed like a prostitute. She wears seductive lipstick to attract you. How am I not the same to her?"

"She's not seducing me."

"Really? You're defending her now. In fact, she's just a copycat from your ex-wife. The face, the first name, and the voice, but she's not sick. I'm sure she's just an outsider that has many men!"

"Stop it!" This time Gerald is in rage. His eyes turn red, and his forehead crumples.

 

He even pushes her again, stopping her from touching him again.

"No. You're crazy now. You should have to forget her. She's nobody. She's not your sick wife!" Annie is desperately stating her words with jealousy.

She loves her boss so much, not looking at herself as a selfish one.

"Yes, she is!"

Finally, Mr. Hallway expresses the truth about her. It's an opening message for Annie to doubt herself.

"What? Say that again!"

He signs all the documents in a quick manner, then after, he answers, "Annie, she was Nicole Roque Hallway before. She healed, recovered, and changed her name to Ava Nicole with the use of her adoptive parents' surname, Hillson, and now she is returning us in a big name, big business, and big surprise of her outlook. So, clean yourself and get back to work!"

The pity Annie stuns, staring on the floor, feeling her shaking pulses, controlling herself to collapse as her boss leaves her with a big revelation that it's hard to accept. Through hard force with rage within, she can't see herself bleed with the broken glass she crashed in her hand.

Crash!

"Ouch! Nooooooooooooo!" she shouts without hesitation as her boss leaves her alone in the room.