Chapter 5

Belle’s eyes widen in shock and her jaw drops open as soon as Jacob broke the news to her. She immediately falls into a state of confusion.

“That’s weird… I was sure I applied as IT personnel,” she mutters, pouting her lips.

Amused, Jacob let out a chuckle. "Our boss, Mr. De Clarion, thinks you're more suitable for the position of executive secretary, so you'll be working with me," he tells her, pointing to himself. “This will be our office.” he starts explaining before sitting on his chair. “The white phone is your direct line to the President’s office, while the black phone is for the front desk.”

He glances at Belle, who looks like she is listening to him, but that is not the case. Without Jacob's knowledge, the girl was still going through the news in her mind.

‘How do I qualify as a secretary? I don’t even know anything about its work scope.’

Jacob cleared his throat to get her attention. Belle then smiles awkwardly, clearly caught that she isn’t paying attention and something else is on her mind.

“May I continue?” Jacob asked, waiting for Belle’s response.

Belle heaves a sigh before nodding. As it seemed like there was nothing she could do about her situation, for now, she decided to just listen to the man.

"When the receptionist calls you about a visitor, you can check the list on your wall and see if the name is written there. Now, there are three types of people that will look for the CEO. On that list, the people in the blue column can go straight to the executive lounge to wait for me or you to take them to the CEO’s office. The ones in the yellow column are the people who should be sent to the visitor's lounge. There, they'll wait for me or you to take them to which department they should go to. We don't need to do that all the time though. We can just call reception and have them assist whoever the visitor is. Now for the red column and everyone else who's not on the list, they should just be sent out. It means they're not welcome at the company… at all."

The girl in front of her nods as she runs her eyes on the list, pointing her finger at the red column and reading the names one by one. "Ha! So these are the bad guys!" she states with a chuckle.

Jacob snorts but what he finds incredulous is the fact that Vernice’s name is on the red column, but Belle acted like she doesn’t care at all. 'Could it be that she's not Vernice?’ he asks himself, perturbed.

After teaching Belle everything she needs to know about her job, he starts asking personal questions, subtly. He is very curious as to who this woman is.

“I’m actually from Dale,” Belle tells her. “But it lacks opportunity there for IT graduates, so I decided to move here.” She explains when Jacob asked her why she chose to apply at De Clarion Empire.

Jacob nods, in his mind, he thinks, 'She seems to have thought things through.'

Their discussion went on, but they were both surprised when the door of the office suddenly flew open. Jacob stands up immediately and so does Belle.

"Yes, Boss?” Jacob asked the man who had just come in. Belle, on the other hand, was stupefied, her mouth slightly open.

‘How can a man be this beautiful?’ she thought to herself. She can't believe that he is their boss, the CEO of De Clarion Empire. He looks more like a Greek God that's gracing them with his presence.

Tristan’s eyes fell on Belle as soon as he stepped in. He is eyeing her from head to toe, a little amused at the girl’s reaction to his presence.

But aside from her reaction, her beauty caught Tristan’s interest as well. ‘I didn’t know my ex-fiance was a goddess.’

He had never seen Vernice up close, they had never met personally. Whenever he needed to deal with Vernice or her family, he would send his assistant.

He was pretty sure Vernice had already seen a picture of him. If she’s bewitched by his looks, 'Why would she run away from our wedding?'

In the meantime, at Williams Villa, Lawrence was furious, “Where are you right now?”

He had been waiting for Vernice to come home for weeks but she never showed up. Esme told him that their daughter had left with Hans, but she claimed she didn’t know where they were going.

Vernice moves the phone away from her ear when she hears her father shouting. "What do you need?" she asks in a flat tone.

She doesn't want to have anything to do with him. Besides, he is all about Rose and Yssabelle. Why does she have to care about him then?

Lawrence let out a harsh sigh after hearing his daughter’s question. He can’t believe she is talking to him like that.

“I need you here, there are things we still need to settle with the De Clarions. Besides, I can’t even make use of the villa, they want it back!”

“Listen to me Father,” Vernice let out a sigh before continuing, “No matter what you do, I won’t marry Tristan De Clarion. Even if it’s a deal between our grandfathers, we’re the only ones who can decide on that. I have Hans and there’s no way you can force me to marry someone else!” she said with conviction before ending the call.

She sits down on the couch and leans on Hans’ shoulder. The man glances at her and smiles faintly, “Was that your father?” he asks. Vernice nods at him then reaches out for the slice of cake on the table and starts eating it.

"Your father has a point,” he then put down the documents he was reading before leaning on the couch. “We’ve been together for 7 years. We’re practically husband and wife. It won’t be an issue for me if you marry the man,” he states.

Vernice creases her forehead at him. “Are you saying you can just let me be someone else’s wife?” she sneers.

“You won’t be his wife forever, what’s the problem with that?” he tells her, reaching out for her hand and squeezing it lightly. “You can easily get a divorce, after one or two years. The point here is that you should have taken advantage of the opportunity. We could have benefitted more from it,” he explains.

Listening to her boyfriend, Vernice thought of the wasted opportunity. “What can I do now? I doubt he’d be willing to take me back,” she pouts, stomping her foot.

“That’s what your father was saying. You just wasted a huge chance! You could have easily become a millionaire from alimony alone. Imagine, it’s Tristan De Clarion we’re talking about, the sole heir of the De Clarion Empire. Get the picture?”

Vernice nods. It’s only now that she realizes how stupid she was for deciding rashly. She should have discussed this with Hans before running away, and now that she has thought of it, she can’t help but feel frustrated.

Back at the villa, Lawrence was exasperated after talking to his daughter. He sits down on the couch and tosses his phone to the side. “What did she say?” Esme asks.

"She said she's not going back and that we can't force her to marry Tristan," he tells his wife. Esme smiles inside. She knows Vernice is smart enough to decide for her good.

Money is less appealing than love. Money is easier to earn than love. With that in mind, she cannot compel her daughter to make the same mistake she did years ago.

Back then, she always thought that as long as she had money, she'd be happy. That was why she agreed with her friends when they dared her to sleep with a married man. Knowing that Lawrence was rich, she didn’t even give it any second thoughts.

After something happened between the two of them and she got pregnant, she told Lawrence about it. Unfortunately, the man told him it was a mistake and that he could only give her money to raise the child.

She was so angry when he said that and the only thing she could think of was to get back at him. Make him pay for what he did. When she succeeded in avenging herself, she thought she could finally be happy with Lawrence.

But even if they have been together for so many years, his heart still belongs to Rose and Yssabelle. Although both of them are now in hell, she still can’t take him from them. He only belongs to his wife and child.

Esme’s reminiscing was interrupted when Lawrence’s phone rang. He then stands up, grabs his phone, and goes to his study. Esme is left in the living room, thinking of how else she can help her daughter escape this arranged marriage.

After several minutes, Lawrence came out of his study. He asks a maid to prepare coffee for him before going back to the living room. Esme is still there, reading a magazine. She can’t be bothered when it comes to company issues.

“Who called?” she asks, though she is not interested.

Lawrence clears his throat and faces her, "It was Francis," referring to his secretary. "He told me Jacob informed him that we're having a meeting with Tristan in two days. He's finally agreed to invest in the company." He can't stop himself from smiling while telling her wife the good news.

“What does he want in return?” thinking it still had something to do with the deal between Vernice and him. Fortunately, she was told that Tristan didn't ask for anything in exchange for the deal. It was said that, according to Tristan, business should be separated from personal issues.