Do you know that moment when you are conscious of doing something wrong but just to see if someone else picked it up you ask them what? This was that moment.
"Did you read the whole document?" Father asked me.
I gave him my sweetest smile, feeling my heart rate settling again, "Yes, sir."
He signed his neat curly signature on the empty space and placed the pen on the paper.
"Thank you." I told him as he turned back to his waiting clients.
"Sorry about that, it's just some work was stopped because it needed my signature." I heard him say as I turned to leave.
I stood by the door and watched them turn back to my dad and nod.
"You see, that's the best thing about signing with Roseburg Advertisements. We never let anything get in the way of our productivity."
I felt guilt well up inside me so I shut his door quietly. I felt really bad but good at the same time. If he had just read one word on that document, he was not going to sign it.
I walked past Trisha quickly as she threw me a disapproving look.
Nathan began calling again.
"Oh shoot." I picked up quickly. "Nathan!"
"Where the hell are you?" He asked me. He sounded upset.
"I'm in the office." I told him grimacing.
"The hell, you not. I'm in your office right now." He replied. "Genesis, what are you up to?"
"I am. I'm in the elevator." I told him. "I'll be there now."
He hung up.
Eish. I quickly dialed Steven's number. His line was busy.
"Hey Steven. It's Genesis Roseburg, here. We just spoke at the courthouse about Danlie Forbes. My dad agreed to drop all the charges and signed the document. Please call me as soon as you can." I left a voicemail.
I reached our floor and hurried to Penny's desk.
"How bad is it?" I asked her.
She shook her head slowly at me. "You are the worst."
"I'm sorry." I told her placing the document faced down on her desk. "Keep this here. Don't flip it over."
"O...kay." She said as the telephone rang. She picked up quickly. "Roseburg Advertisements, Labour Department."
I entered my office and found Nathan sitting at the edge of my desk with his arms crossed over his chest. He watched me enter.
"I'm so sorry, Nathan." I told him. "I swear, I didn't even hear most of your calls."
"So you heard some of them but didn't bother to pick up?" He asked me.
"I... It's just... It was very noisy at the coffee shop."
"Really?" He asked me. Not convinced at all. "Okay..."
I stood there unsure what to say to him.
He nodded. "So what's that you left at Penny's desk before you walked in?"
How did he...
"Uh, did I?"
"The door is basically glass, Gen."
"Oh that..." I smiled. "Nah, that's just some document that I needed her to fax to Woolworth, for their contract with us to advertise their new stock."
"Genesis are you playing games with me?" Nathan didn't sound angry. He sounded depressed.
"Games?" I laughed. "Of cause not, which games?"
My phone began ringing. I'm sure it was Steven calling me back. I really needed to take this call. But how could I take it in front of Nathan? And if I left the office or asked him to leave so that I could pick up, he would find me suspicious as hell. But I really needed to take this call. Yoké was probably almost at the prison already.
"Uh... babe this is a very important client, can I just quickly take this call?" I told Nathan.
"Who's the client?" He asked me trying to look at my phone.
"Nathan, please." I said almost begging.
"Take the call." He shrugged. "I wont disturb you, will I?"
I looked at my phone glaring unknown number back at me. I picked up.
"Genesis Roseburg." I answered.
"Yeah this is Steven, I got your message."
"I'm glad." I said.
"I'm actually close to the office. You can meet me at the corner coffee shop and hand me the documents."
"Sure. Now?"
"Yes." He responded.
"Sure."
He hung up.
I returned the phone in my purse and went to sit behind my desk. Nathan got up from the table and stood behind the chair opposite me.
"That conversation didn't sound like an important client..." He told me leaning his weight on the chair.
"Nathan what is going on?" I asked him.
"I should ask you that question. What's going on with you?"
"Nothing. I'm just trying to do my work." I told him.
"Where's the coffee you went to buy?"
"I drank it on my way here." I told him. I was feeling restless. I needed to get the documents to Steven fast.
"Really?"
"Nathan please. If you know you won't believe a word I say then why the questions?"
“Please, don’t do anything stupid..." He said. He looked so sincere. Like he knew exactly what was going on.
I got up and walked to him. "Of cause not.” I replied.
I touched his cheek and looked into his eyes, trying my best to look as convincing as possible. “But right now I really have to get busy with work. I’m really behind, babe.”
He looked at me with the corner of his eyes for a while and then nodded once. "Sure."
He turned and left my office.
I sighed heavily once he shut my door. I watched him walk over to his office slowly and enter. I grabbed my purse and went to Penny.
"Please arrange a proper non-transparent door for me." I told her taking the documents from her desk. "An office is supposed to be a private space."
She laughed. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”
“Eish.”
"Dude, where are you going now?" She asked over her specs which she only wore for style.
"I'll be back now. I'm just going to drop these documents."
"Where to?"
"I'll be back now."
"You know I'm running out of lies to tell your fiancée." She rolled her eyes at me.
***
Steven was standing in front of the coffee shop when I reached him. He looked impatient when he saw me.
"I have somewhere to be after this, you know." He told me.
"Sorry." I grimaced handing him the documents.
He ignored my apology and paged through the document very impatiently to the last page.
"So Raphael is really agreeing to let this man free?" He asked keeping his eyes on the signature.
"Duh." I shrugged. "If he didn't he wouldn't have signed it.
"Why would he allow something like this?"
"Let's just say he listens to his first daughter. Besides you shouldn't worry about that, my dad approved so schedule a hearing, please."
He looked at me for a while and then looked away.
"What?" I asked him.
"Look, scheduling an appeal is not how you think it is."
"What do you mean?"
"This guy might not be set free. Sure it can help me with the case, maybe give him less time to serve but it's not guaranteed that he will be set free."
My heart fell. I felt so disappointed in myself. What did I do? Yoké can't stay in prison. I won't be able to live with myself knowing that he is in there.
"Maybe we can propose that he be let out on bail?" I suggested. "I'd pay any amount. Please, he can't stay in there."
"Hey, that's not for me to decide. I'm just the lawyer, not the prosecutor. The states decide what happens to him now."
I clasped my hands in a plea. "Steven, I will pay you any amount you want. Please do all that you can. Fight for him."
"You don't have to pay me. The company already does. You want this guy freed, you are the company so I'll do whatever I can. Even though I don't really understand why."
"Thank you." I told him. "Thank you so much."
He nodded slowly. "I have to go now."
"Sure." I nodded.
He unlocked the silver car that I had not even noticed had been parked there on the side of the road. I watched him enter his car and drive off. For a while I just stood there looking at his car get further and further away until it turned the corner.
I got Yoké in there, it's all my fault. If only I actually came by the office on that day when Penny called me. If I saw that it was him I wouldn't have asked them to phone the police. I would have told them right then and there that Yoké is not Danlie Forbes. He has probably already reached the prison by now. What is he thinking of me? How can I sit here when he is locked up? Steven doesn't even know when the judge will set the appeal. I guess I'll just have to wait it out no matter how much it's killing me.
I spent the rest of the day sitting in front of my laptop and looking up Duran State Penitentiary. The articles I read about the prison sent chills down my spine. The prison is run by gang leaders and almost everyday an inmate gets killed or injured. Being the most overcrowded prison in our country, cells meant for only 22 men are often occupied by 50 men and some of them sleep on the floor and share 1 commodity. How is Yoké supposed to stay in such a place? One article I read said that new inmates are the most at risk of getting harmed by older inmates unless they join a gang.Yoké must be feeling really scared right now. He doesn't know about gangs, and a prison environment he'd probably never even imagined before. What is he thinking of me right now? Does he think I've forgotten about him? I need to see him. I need to go see him and just assure him that I'm trying all that I can to get him out of that hell hole. He needs to know that I'll stop at nothing to m
After taking several sips of his coffee dad leaned back on the couch."You know, it feels good to sit like this with you." He said."I've been getting that a lot lately, from Nathan." I smiled."Well, I just wish Alice could have been here too. But she's a whole nother person.""She just prefers something different. Something more... fun, I guess.""She takes after Leticia." He said sipping his coffee. "You take after me.""But a year ago I was like her too." I said holding the warm cup close to my body. "You didn't like it.""Yeah... but your choice of teaching wasn't as humiliating as hers. You are more sensible.""Well, I am older." I shrugged."Yeah..." Raphael sighed. "That's why I want you to work and get enough experience. Because you'll be the heiress of our companies. This is the headquar
The piercing sound of my alarm clock jerked me awake. Trying to fall asleep was like starting a war in my head; with thoughts of Yoké fighting off every bit of sleep, with questions I didn’t know the answers to. Is he okay? Was he able to sleep? Or is he struggling like me, maybe spending the whole night wondering when I’d show up to take him away from that awful place… But as usual, sleep always conquers.Although I set my alarm clock for two hours earlier than I usually wake up, I was full of energy and wide awake as soon as I heard it ring. I turned on the radio, wishing that I could turn the volume much higher than it already could go. I felt so excited! I would be seeing Yoké today!I jumped into the shower, spending more time than I would on a regular day. I made sure to take a lot more time doing my make up and hair too.I’ve watched hundreds of romantic movies of when the girl and the guy
I took the lift straight up to the last floor. It took me a long while to get to the 40th floor because the lift stopped at almost all the floors. The workers kept coming in and out. I didn’t care one bit that I was not returning their fake smiles. Even the long drive back to the office wasn’t long enough to calm me down. I was so disappointed that it made me upset.When I got to the 40th floor I was the only one left in the lift. The whole 40th floor was my dad’s and his alone: his huge office, waiting area, secretary’s desk closest to his office and also his two body guards. One of the body guards was standing by the lift and the other standing outside his office door. I don’t even know why he brings his body guards in here, there is a security guard on each floor. I remember having to beg my father to not have two big guys follow me around. After weeks of begging him, he finally allowed me to only have one body guard and he be my
I woke up around 7 on that Sunday morning. I made sure my phone was on so that I didn't miss any calls from Steven. After an hour of lying in bed and checking my phone a thousand times, I finally decided to do a breathing exercise just to try and relax. I felt like I was about to get a panic attack. While doing the exercises, I felt better but as soon as I finished, I found myself anticipating the result of the case again. What if? What if we lose? What will I do if we lose?Although it was still early, I decided to go and take a shower just to keep my mind distracted on something else other than Yoké. When I was about to step into the shower I heard a knock on the front door. I heard Rosalie open the door. I hope that it isn't my father. When I came to the door, she was standing there with a bouquet of roses in her hand. Pink roses."Good morning ma'am." She greeted, holding the flowers towards me.I frowned moving the flowers to one side, looking for a note. There was. The flowers we
“I took in account that this is the accused’s first felony and hereby decide that he can be let out on bail. But if the accused is to commit another felony within 5 years, his punishment will be tight.” She banged her gavel. “This case is closed.”I almost screamed with excitement. I even hugged Finn! He didn’t hug me back, obviously. I didn’t care. I jumped out of my seat and struggled out of the bench. I ran towards Steven and hugged him too.“Oh my God!” I said placing my hands on my head, my mouth in an ‘o’. I still couldn’t believe this.“We did it.” Steven was smiling at me. He didn’t look excited, just wore a professional smile.“Oh my God…” I said. It had still not completely registered. It all just felt like a dream and I was afraid I would wake up anytime and have to face the odd rea
Yoké was asking me for his child. It then occurred to me that he didn’t know anything, not what happened. I had to tell him everything. It is his right to know and here he is demanding an answer.I instinctively looked around as I realized that we were in public. The officers with nothing better to do at the gate were already watching us. Dad had warned me about the public, about protecting our company and not giving people reason to doubt our assurity. What worse reason than to be here in front of a prison with an ex-convict demanding for the child that was taken away from him? A child he now wanted to meet.“Yoké, we can’t talk here.” I told him. “Let’s go to my apartment.”“I don’t want to go anywhere with you, I want to know where my child is.” His voice firm and his face still with that frown.“I know, but right now we are in publ
Yoké frowned as if he was trying to figure me out.“Why aren’t you telling me where my Risa is?” He asked me. “Who is she with?”A tear rolled down my eye. I quickly wiped it away, took a deep breath in and held my breath. “She’s gone, Yoké.”“What do you mean she’s gone? Gone to where?”“Our Risa is dead-" I couldn’t control myself anymore, I let the river I had been holding back all these months finally flow. I began to cry. “She was born still.” His facial expression didn’t change, he just continued to look at me with that frown.“What are you saying?” He asked me shaking his head like I was saying something that he couldn’t believe. “Yoké she didn’t cry. She died in my stomach. I didn’t even get a chance to hold her in my arms.” I told him. “I didn’t even see what color were her eyes…” Yoké’s mouth fell and it stayed that way for a while before he shook his head. “No. That’s not true.”I clapped my hand over my mouth as I almost cried out loud. I felt so heart broken, the whole