CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
**BRIANNA**
I stormed out of the meeting room in anger. Mr. Adrian always has a way to rile me up but there’s no way I’m gonna quit this job because of his silliness and teach him lessons he’ll never forget to always remind him that he can’t behave anyhow towards everybody.
I was walking to my office when somebody suddenly grabbed me and pulled me into a dark corner. I was about to scream but a hand clamped over my mouth. I bit the hand but the person refused to remove the hand from my mouth.
“Shah, don’t scream and stop biting my hand. It’s me.” A slightly familiar voice whispered and I recognized it almost immediately.
“I recognize you now. Can you take your hand off now?” I attempted to say but it came out muffled so I hit his hand and he brought his hand down.
“Phew! Why did you clamp your hand over my mouth like that Lewis?” I groaned.
“You know my name? I didn’t remember telling you.” He asked looking surprised.
“Is that the only thing you heard me say?” I asked while rolling my eyes. “Why did you bring me here?” I asked again.
“Oh sorry! I just wanted to talk to you privately. That was why I clamped my hand over your mouth and dragged you here.” He stated.
“Ohhh…. Okay. What do you want to talk about? We just met some minutes ago.” I asked then stated.
“Well, I know that this might seem too forward but I wanted to ask if we could eat lunch together? It’s not a date or anything but just a friendly lunch and if you don’t wanna come you can just reject……” He ranted while scratching nervously but I cut him off gently
“Hey slow down! I’ll go to lunch with you as long as it’s just a friendly lunch. Around what time will it be and which place?” I asked him calmly.
“It will be during lunch time and the location is the Company cafeteria downstairs.” He said and I nodded.
“Alright, I’ll be there. Expect me by lunch.” I uttered.
“That was a relief, I thought you were gonna reject me. It would have been a bruise to my ego.” He said looking relieved and I chuckled.
“You were not rejected so your ego is still intact.” I said and hit his chest slightly before realising what I did and it became awkward between us.
“I’ll be going to my office now. See you by lunch.” I stated awkwardly.
“Yeah, see you by lunch”. he responded and I walked out of the dark corner toward my office again.
I got back to my office and sat on my chair. I continued with replying the emails and finished within a matter of some minutes. After sitting for minutes, without doing anything, I got very bored. It is moments like this that makes me wish I was still working in the restaurant, I would have been chatting with Cherry whenever there was no customer to attend to. How much I’ve missed working in the restaurant despite Mrs. Willams hot temper.
Well, since I don’t have anything to do right now, I better get up and go make some friends so that I can have people to talk to and work will become less boring for me.
I stood up and exited my office to look for potential friends. I walked further away from my office and saw two ladies talking. They both looked beautiful and were also in the meeting earlier and one of them were also part of the people that welcomed me so I decided to go and meet them and try to make friends with them.
“Hey ladies!” I greeted cheerfully when I got closer to them and they stopped talking to look at me. One of them smiled at me while the other one looked me up from head to toe before rolling her eyes. What is wrong with her?
“Hi! You are Brianna right?” The one who looked nicer among them asked with a smile.
“Yeah, what’s your name?” I asked.
“My name is Cassandra but you can call me Cassie.” She said grinning at me. I like her already, she seems free-spirited unlike her friend who has been glaring at me all this while.
Unexpectedly, her friend hissed and we both turned to look at her. “What exactly are you here for? You just interrupted our conversation.”
“Well, I came to ask if you guys would like to be friends with me.” I stated.
“Ummm…..” The hostile one pretended to be thinking. “No, we won’t like to be friends with you.” She said.
“Lauren, that was harsh! You need to become less unfriendly and start making more friends.” Cassie said to Lauren.
“Really Cassie? You’re insulting me in front of a stranger? I can’t believe you’ll choose a low-life over me.” Lauren said with lividity before walking away angrily and Cassie exhaled loudly.
“Don’t think about what happened now Brianna, Lauren is usually like that to people she just meet. She’ll come around.” Cassie stated.
“No probs. So…. Will you like to be friends with me?” I asked once again.
“Yeah sure! See you later, I have to go and talk to Lauren.” She said hurriedly and hugged me.
“See you too. By the way, I love your shirt.” I complimented and she looked at her shirt before shaking her head then smiled.
“”Oh this old thing?! I also love your shirt, it looks great on you.” She also complimented me before scurrying off.
‘Yeah! And that’s how you make a new friend!’ I said to myself inwardly. It should be time for lunch break already, I thought and checked my wristwatch to see that it was indeed lunch time.
I quickly went to the elevator and pressed some buttons. The door slid open and I stepped into it and it took me to the first floor. I looked towards the receptionist’s counter to find it empty. Kristen must have either gone to the restroom or went to the cafeteria.
I strolled to the cafeteria which was in another building entirely but it is still on the premises. I entered the cafeteria and eye-searched for Lewis. I saw him sitting at a table which was located very close to the glass wall and I walked over to him. I sat down on the chair opposite him and that was when he noticed me. (He had been engrossed in pressing his phone).
“Sorry I was late, I got caught up with something.” I said immediately I sat down.
“It’s fine, you actually came on time. I just got here too.” He replied with a smile.
“Let us go get our food then we’ll talk after that.” He suggested and I nodded.
“Alright, let’s go.” I said and we stood up. We went over to where we’ll pick up our trays before going to the counter where different varieties of foods were placed on. Since we were supposed to serve ourselves, I went to the African food section and got myself a plate of Fried rice, Jollof rice ( A type of rice that is common among Africans), fried chicken and salad before I finally topped it all up with a bottle of apple juice (my favourite).
Lewis looked at my tray that was full of food and was shocked at the amount of food in my tray.
“Are you going to eat all that?!” He asked wide-eyed.
“Of course, I’m starving and I have a big appetite. Besides, we’re not paying for the food so why not take advantage of it?” I stated laughingly.
“That’s one huge appetite you got there and you’re right, you gotta take advantage of something when you have the chance.” He said as we got back to our table and we began eating.
“So… Tell me about yourself.” He said after a few minutes of eating in silence.
“Well, as you must have known, my name is Brianna, I……..” And that was how we started talking about our lives and laughed loudly at funny things.
**ADRIAN**
I was standing in my office looking outside the glass walls at the things going on around when my eyes caught a man and a lady in the cafeteria eating, talking and laughing all at the same time. Normally, I wouldn’t be concerned but when I looked closer, I found out that that the people were Brianna and Lewis. I got infuriated when I saw them together again. Why are they together? What are they talking about that’s making them laugh like that? She has never laughed like that when I’m talking to her. Why is she with Lewis of all people? Most of all, why am I feeling jealous when I see both of them together? I’m running crazy!
I didn’t realize when I stormed out of my office to the elevator and arrived at the cafeteria. It all happened within the blink of an eye. Different eyes turned to stare at me when they noticed my presence. They were probably surprised since this was the first time they will be seeing me in the cafeteria.
I went straight to where Lewis and Brianna were sitting and she was already looking at me.
“Miss Jackson, what are you doing here?” I asked as if it was not obvious.
“I am eating as you can see.” She responded rudely.
” You are busy eating here when you clearly know that the brunch meeting is in some minutes time.” I said as an excuse but it was indeed almost time for the meeting.
“What has that got to do with me? It’s not like I’m the one going to the meeting or something.” She uttered nonchalantly.
“You’re really a fool. Am I supposed to inform you that you’re going to follow me to all the meetings I go unless I say otherwise?” I spoke when I got irritated at her behaviour.
“Why?! Can’t you do anything by yourself?!” She cried out.
“Take it or leave it Brianna, you have to follow me everywhere I go unless I say otherwise.” I said with an arrogant smirk on my face.
“Now, come with me if you’re not ready to lose your job but you can stay and continue whatever you’re doing if you don’t need your job anymore.” I stated sternly and she grumbled before standing up reluctantly and muttered something like *He always loves to frustrate me. Always threatening me with my job as if he derives a form of joy from getting frustrated* before walking out of the cafeteria angrily.
I was also about to turn around and exit the cafeteria before I remembered something.
“Lewis, stay away from Brianna. She’s not like the other ladies you’ve played with. I won’t allow you to try to mess with her and go Scot free.” I said to Lewis who had been watching the scene unfold amusedly.
“What is so special about her? Is there something between you two?” He questioned.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“There’s nothing between us but don’t mess with her.” I said again.
“With the way you’re talking like this, it is making me wanna mess with her.” He uttered with a smirk and I felt like wiping that smirk off his face.
“I’m warning you now Lewis. You mess with her then you’re messing with me.” I stated dangerously.
“Ohhh, I’m scared.” He laughed. “What would you do if Valerie gets to know about her?” He said and I froze momentarily.
“You wouldn’t dare. Besides, there’s nothing between Brianna and I.” I spoke icily.
“That’s not what I think with the way the both of you are behaving towards each other. She insults you and you don’t do anything about it.” He uttered.
“Whatever, you can run to her and tell her but just keep it in mind that there’s nothing between us. Moreover, if there is indeed something between us, you don’t have a single evidence to back it up.” I said with a smile and his face fell.
“But you can still run to her and tell a about it like a jobless idiot.” I stated and with that, I inserted my hands into the pockets of my trouser and walked out of the cafeteria stylishly.
TBC