THEY MEET

ELOISE'S POV.

I can't believe she has the nerve to sit in front of me and smile.

What I can't believe the most is the fact that Klein brought her here.

God, I'm trembling with rage. I want to lay my hands on any part of her body right now. Her hair and her face seem like the best options. But I know better than to do that. So, I snap my eyes shut and release a low, ragged breath, willing myself to stay calm.

If I do anything outrageous, I’d be stepping right into the trap she has set for me.

“Good morning, Eloise.” She greets in the warmest tone as she rises to her feet and faces me.

She knows my name already. She’s prepared.

“Good morning.” I greet back in a dry tone, eyeing her from head to toe. “I guess I don’t need to introduce myself. And you are…?” I wear my best fake smile.

“Jasmine.” Her smile widens. “Finally, I get to meet the girl who makes so many girls jealous. It's an honour.”

I scoff in derision.

She's not wrong though. When my engagement with Klein was announced, the internet boiled and they were eager to find out who this lucky girl was.

I completely understood the reason given that Klein was such a wealthy and influential young man. Coupled with the fact that he's a total heartthrob. Six feet-something tall, excellent body build, right amount of facial hair, and striking facial features. He had so many admirers who couldn't accept the fact that he was getting married so they resorted to tarnishing my reputation, but they were quickly silenced by Klein's family and mine.

But that's not what's important right now.

I snap out of my trance and look back at her.

If she thinks I'm dumb or here to play dumb games with her, then she's wrong.

“It was you wasn't it? The girl who was photographed with my husband at the hotel.”

“Yes. Oh… I'm so sorry about that. I told him he needed to go home because I know his wife was waiting to celebrate his birthday with him, but he insisted on having a few more drinks and refused to go home. It made me wonder if his wife was so scary, but I knew that was just nonsense.” I rolled my eyes inwardly, “Anyway, you have nothing to be worried about, Klein and I are just old friends. I just came back to the country after many years and I thought it'd be absurd for us not to have a little catching up. I hope we can become good friends too.”

I have never been mocked, insulted, disrespected and humiliated at the same time.

Of course this girl is not here to play with me. She means business.

Misunderstanding my ass.

“Well… thank you very much for taking my husband to a hotel. That was very considerate of you.” I say sarcastically.

“Please don't misunderstand my intentions. Klein was very drunk that night. We said to have the driver take him home, but he refused. I'm sure you know how clingy he can get when he's drunk. That's why I had no choice but to go with him. But I swear to you that nothing happened between us. Did he not explain everything to you?”

I scoff. Let out a heavy shaky breath. Turn away from her and take a few moments to catch my breath and gather my bearings.

I can't believe she has the audacity to say all these things to me.

“Of course he did. That’s why I wanted to thank you.” I look at her again, keeping a neutral expression. “May I ask why you are here today?”

“I'm waiting for Klein.”

I absolutely hate that she addresses my husband so casually.

“Why? If I may?”

“Oh don’t worry about me, he asked me to wait here.”

My blood starts boiling.

“Also, can you please fetch me some water? I've been wanting to get some but I don't think it's right for me to just go around touching things.”

A soft chuckle tumbles from my lips before I can hold myself back.

Wow!

After all the provocation, she still has the nerve to ask me to fetch water for her to drink.

Oh Klein… you caused all this.

“Don’t worry. Klein won’t bite you just because you went to get some water.”

“I guess that's permission for me then.”

I roll my eyes and go over to Klein's table where I drop the file I came in with.

This is not the scenario I expected to encounter on my way here. I did believe in Klein’s bullshit and decided to give us a second chance. But this girl just proved me all wrong again.

Just great. Such a slap in my face.

I’d have to handle her first before dealing with Klein.

Where is Klein anyway?

“You know…” The girl's voice comes through again. She's walking towards me with a glass of water in her hand. “Klein really scared me that night.” My brows furrow. She nods and takes a step closer.

We are too close for my liking. I can feel her breath on my face and it disgusts me.

“When I held him, he told me he often thought of the old days when we were still together. He said whenever he held you in his arms, he secretly wished it was me. He…”

I don't let her complete that statement. I slapped her face with all my might and the smack sent her staggering backwards. The glass of water in her hand falls off, shattering into pieces as it hits the floor. Jasmine also falls on the floor, yelping in pain and before I can react, a strong body pushes me aside and as I lose my balance, I also fall on the ground.

A sharp, intense pain surged through my palm.

“What's going on here?” A familiar voice asked but as I raised my head, I only found my husband looking concerned at Jasmine instead of me.

“I don't know. Eloise suddenly splashed the water on my face and smacked me.”

“Liar!” I cry out in tears. How could she just blatantly lie to me in the face?

“That's enough!” He scolds me and turns to the girl in his arms. “Jasmine…” he calls, “are you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

“I don’t know, my hand hurts, ahh….” She says as she struggles to rise up, but she clumsily trips and falls back on her butt. Then, as she opened her own palm, I saw blood on it.

My head starts buzzing and I feel a warm liquid trickling all over my own palm. I turn to look at it and nearly pass out when I see blood oozing from the cut I got when my hand collided with the broken glass pieces.

“Let’s go to the hospital .” He tells her softly and gently lifts her to her feet. I watch in tears as he takes out his cell phone and phones his P.A to prepare the car so he could take Jasmine to the hospital.

Just then, Logan rushed in an alarmed state.

“Is everything alright?” he asks, panicking.

“Take care of Eloise. I'm taking Jasmine to the hospital.”

I'm already in tears. Klein has just ripped my heart into a million pieces.

“And for you, Eloise . Once they're done taking care of your wounds, go home. And for the next few days, I want you to reflect on how you're supposed to properly treat your Superior in your workplace.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask, absolutely lost.

“You heard me. Jasmine is the new Director of Production.”