8. The rules

MIRABEL

"You must have forgotten that you are a married woman. Coming back home by this time of the night? Where did you go to?" He asked.

For someone who had his own life, he was sure interested in mine way too much, or maybe that was his way of making me regret getting married to him; a marriage I already regretted before I got into it.

"Where were you?" He asked again when I didn't give him a reply to his first question.

"Are you not going to give me an answer?" He chastised.

"I went out." Came my simple response.

He let out a dry laugh, taking some intimidating steps towards me.

"I don't think I gave you any rules when you entered this house, or did I?" He shook his head.

"I doubt and that's why I'm going to be giving you rules because there's no way that I'd share the same house as you and not show you your place."

I swallowed the invisible lump that formed in my throat now that he was standing in front of me. I thought all the fear that I had for Giveon ended in high school but I was wrong. He was intimidating and the fact he towered over my small frame mortified me.

"Firstly, you don't get to leave the house without permission. I need to know of your every move. At the end of the day it’s not like I care but if anything happens to you, I’m the first to be mentioned.”

What? Am I a child or what? Why should I tell him where it is I go to when he wouldn't tell me his and I thought he said he didn't give a fuck about me.

"Secondly," he showed two of his fingers. "If you end up not being at work before me then don't bother coming to work because I don't appreciate tardiness and don’t think we will be going to work in the same car."

"Thirdly while at work, you are nothing but my secretary and personal assistant and not my wife. Nobody must find out that you are my wife. Is that understood? You are single as you should be after all this marriage is nothing but a lie."

"Last but not least, never barge into my office without knowing because the next time you do that, I will make sure you regret it." He said through gritted teeth.

"Am I clear?" He asked sternly and I nodded my head nervously.

"I would appreciate it if you sued your voice dear. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir," I uttered.

"Good. Don't forget to be at work before me tomorrow or don't bother showing up and if you show up late more than three times then I'd inform our family about your incapabilities and you didn't want to try me."

Just as he was about to walk away, he halted on his track.

"Those documents over there," he pointed at some papers on the table.

"Go through them. You will know how to work with me. What to do and what not to do. I won't be sparing you if you are unable to fit in my standard, is that clear?" He stated firmly.

"Yes sir," I replied almost immediately nodding my head.

"Good. I don't joke with my morning coffee and it must be hot so make sure that the moment I step into the office, you have it read hot. No milk and no sugar." With that said, he walked away leaving me still in shock and fear.

It took me some minutes before I snapped out of it and made it into my room. My life was hell and I doubt I'd be able to escape it.

I took all the documents with me and read them. I had to quickly memorize a lot of them because I didn't have much time to sleep if I wanted to wake up early.

The next day, I woke up earlier than my alarm did and I guessed it was because I slept with fear in my heart.

I took my bath, got dressed, and left for work. I used an Uber this time around because I wasn't close to anyone to request their help and they would considering it was Miranda who had ordered for them to.

I arrived at the office, feeling nervous because I was uncertain of how the day would go. This was my first time at the job and I didn't have anyone guiding me.

I took some minutes going through the documents and getting used to his schedules. Once I saw that it was twenty minutes to eight, I rushed out to get his coffee hoping to catch up with him just before he came in.

It took ten minutes to get the coffee across the street and by the time I'd return to the office, I had two minutes left.

I arrived at the office trying to catch my breath, shortly after he stepped in looking good in his three-piece green suit. He had a stoic look on his face as he made his way to the office.

"Good morning sir," I greeted with his coffee in my hands.

He took it from me as we both entered his office together.

"You have a board meeting this morning by eight-thirty and you have a meeting with Mr Stanley by ten. You have an appointment with the design creations team by eleven thirty. By twelve to two, you won't be available in the office for your reasons." I informed him.

He looked at me with a blank look on his face making me wonder if I had said something wrong or gotten it wrong. The way he looked at me was not helping at all.

"Alright. You may leave." He said coldly but I was more at ease when I figured he didn't have anything to say to me.

I turned to leave when I heard him cough out.

"What the hell is this? What the fuck did you make for me?" He chastised making me turn to look at him.

"Your coffee sir," I replied frantically.

"You call this my coffee or more like you are trying to poison me. I said no milk and sugar and you added milk and sugar!" He shouted and it dawned on me.

Fuck! I mentally cursed. I had completely forgotten what he said and made the coffee just as I liked it.