“That’s the summary of this month’s revenue, and for the-” Grayson paused in his listening as his secretary entered and approached him.
“Sir, someone is looking for you outside,” she whispered to him.
“I’m in the middle of a meeting, Macey. Can’t that person wait? I have no appointment for this hour. I made it clear to you, right?” The annoyance was evident in the man’s voice because they were in the midst of an important meeting discussing new products to be released next month. “She’s been pestering me since earlier, saying she’s been trying to reach you on the phone, but you haven’t been answering. She claims it’s important, sir, and she’s crying,”
“Looks like someone was trying to drag you again, Mr. Spencer,” one of the board members said.
The room was filled with laughter. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. There had been many incidents where different women claimed to be his wives, when in fact, he accidentally got married two years ago.
He gave his secretary a sharp look, causing her to step back. “Which one of us is the secretary, Macey? Is it me? Am I the one supposed to deal with this? Then what’s the purpose of hiring you if you can’t handle these minor scenes?” The secretary stepped back at the man’s words. “Sorry, sir, but she mentioned her name, Elina. She was claiming that she is your wi-”
Before Macey could finish, Grayson stood up abruptly, looking at her. “Sir?”
“Where is she?” There was urgency in his voice, and the entire boardroom turned their attention to him as he stood.
“She’s in your office, sir,” the secretary replied, clearly confused.
“Let’s reschedule the meeting, I have an important matter to attend, meeting adjourn,” he said, quickly exiting the conference room. There, he found the familiar woman, but he didn’t expect to see her crying.
“Eli,” he softly called her, and his wife immediately heard him, quickly lifting her gaze and running towards him. “Shh, baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, both confused and worried.
“Grayson,” Eli mumbled between her sobs, “Help me, please.” Grayson’s heart doubled when he heard her say that, gently pulling away from his wife’s embrace, she was still crying.
“Why what’s wrong? What happened? Who hurt you? Tell me,” he felt his body tremble with anger slowly building up inside him, as he thought about what could have caused his wife to cry like this.
“Jane,” he was waiting for her to finish, “She was raped,”
Though she wasn’t his sister, he felt the anger, Jane was a kind soul, and he could see her potential for success in life.
“And she’s pregnant, a result of those fucking bastard’s doing!”
“Mr. President, it looks like you personally talked to that stranger,” Grayson heard one of the board members say, who was present in the meeting earlier.
“Yes, indeed, sir, let her taste her own medicine,” Grayson gritted his teeth, unsure if his wife could hear what people were saying behind her. Gently, Grayson lifted his wife’s face, wiping her tears, then smiled at her before turning to the others.
“Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this is Eli,” he introduced, “My wife.”
All eyes and jaws dropped to the floor.
“What?”
——-
“Okay, thank you, doc.” A man’s voice greeted me as I woke up, feeling heavy and dizzy. I slowly opened my eyes, my vision still blurry. I heard the door closing softly.
“You’re awake,” Grayson greeted me as he noticed my open eyes. Instead of responding, I glanced around the room. It was a combination of black and white, the interior too elegant to be my room, unfamiliar. This was the first time I’d seen this place.
I tried to sit up while holding onto my head, feeling his support behind me.
“Where am I? Please don’t tell me I’m in your house,” I joked as I brushed my hair aside. He handed me some water, and I took a sip.
“You got it right,” I spat out the water upon realizing what he said, eyes widening. He was just casually nodding while wiping his face with a towel. “I didn’t know morning face washing would look like this.”
“Sorry-” I stopped as I realized what he said. “What? Face washing in the morning?” He nodded while drying his face. “It’s morning?”
He looked confused. “Yes?”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?!” I quickly grabbed my bag from the side table, and as I suspected, there were tons of texts and missed calls. I was sure they were from my siblings and Kei. I thought Kei was mad again, but apparently not.
“Hey, you’ve met your Prince Charming?!”
“Where are you, Eli?!”
“Where the heck are you?!”
Damn, I thought they were worried. Only Dan seemed to want me to come home. Damn them.
“You have a boyfriend?” I looked at Grayson, who was currently peeling an apple, offering me some slices on a plate. “He must have been worried about you.”
“What are you saying?” When did I get a boyfriend? “I’m married, why would I-” I stopped myself as I saw his sudden grin. “I mean, I don’t have time for that, I’m busy.”
“Good, because you can’t do that, that’s cheating inside the marriage.”
I didn’t argue and continued eating, almost finishing, when I stood up feeling a bit less dizzy.
“Don’t stress yourself too much. Look what happened to you. You’re over fatigued, almost anemic. You have to take care of yourself,” he reminded me, like I was his kid being lectured. Wow.
I just nodded and followed him out of his room. “I’ll go home first, my housemates might be looking for me.”
“Hmm, should I drive you home?” he offered. I only now noticed he was in a casual shirt and cargo shorts, probably just showered since his hair was still damp.
“No, I can manage, thanks.” I said and left straight away. Good thing I wore doll shoes, easy to slip on, because if I wore sneakers, I might be stopped by that landlord.
I took a taxi home, thinking about what to say to them. I didn’t think they were angry, so I wasn’t too nervous. And what should I be afraid of anyway? I didn’t do anything wrong?
When I got home, the house was quiet. It was Saturday, so there was no schedule for the two of them. Kei, I don’t know why he’s here when he has so many houses, but he’s staying with us.
Jane and Dan greeted me. “Eli, are you okay?”
That wasn’t what I expected them to ask. I thought they would ask about me, so I nodded and smiled. Dan took my bag, and Jane handed me some water. “I’m okay now. Why do you ask?”
“Oh, Grayson called last night and said you were asleep. A doctor also came to check on you. You were over-fatigued,” Jane explained.
“Yes, we told you not to overwork yourself. Look, you had to faint just to get some sleep,” Dan added.
“Sorry, and I didn’t even know— Wait, what did you say? Who called?”
“That Grayson guy. Your husband seems nice, Eli.”
Damn that guy!