ANDRÉ

"Your meeting starts in 5 minutes, Sir." Celine says and I nod, taking my gaze off the window, then stand up from my sit.

"Thank you, Celine." I smile to her and walk out of the office to the boardroom with her following me closely.

As I open the door, everyone's attention is focused on me as they turn to look. I sit at the head of the table and speak.

The meeting is with some department heads concerning a new hotel we want to establish.

"Gentlemen and Ladies, may we begin?"

The meeting is finally over, two hours after its commencement and I must say I am impressed. The presentation was amazing and my team is a great one.

Now to the next phase; implementation which would take approximately 6 months to complete. I smile as I head back to my office, only to be greeted by Gina Mateo AKA the office slut AKA the one that has wanted me in her pants since I employed her as my CFO.

I only tolerate her because she is very good at her job and I have not found a better replacement for her yet.

"Hi, handsome." She says, in a bid to sound seductive.

"Hello, Ms. Mateo." I reply her, bored. "It's Mr. Dumont to you." I add.

"Now what do you want in my office?" I don't understand why she never gets tired of this stunt she pulls.

"Don't you want some of this?" She gestures to her body, smacking her lips and coming closer to me. She puts her hands on my shoulder and I shove it off.

"You have two options; get kicked out by security or leave my office on your own accord. Pick your poison, young lady, you have two seconds." She still acts unaffected by my words.

"Your time is up." I pick up my phone to call in security.

"Stop. I'll go. This isn't over yet." She says sashaying out of my office. Whatever, I shrug in my head, not taking her serious.

"We would need sanitizers in this place because it reeks of Gina." Nicholas says as he walks in, clearly irritated by her.

"The things I go through sometimes, bro." I say.

"Just fire her." He says, no emotions whatsoever.

"She is the best I have found so far and she does her job well." He finally takes a seat while listening to me.

"Still, she is obsessed. Do something about it before it becomes worse than this. Don't say I did not warn you." He finishes.

....

I arrive home and head straight to pick up my food. That has been the routine for quite sometime now. She does not talk to me only on Employee-Employer basis.

I eat the food, taking in the quietness of the house. This nonsense had to stop. She practically ignores me everytime, I don't know why this bothers me though.

Few minutes later, I find myself walking to her room and knocking at her door.

"We need to talk." I say. She did not say anything in response. Instead, she just looked at me and nodded. I turn to go downstairs and I know she is behind me.

I sit down and gesture for her to do the same.
"About that night." I say, bringing up the kiss.

"Oh, that. It was nothing." She dismisses, not leaving room for me to finish what I had in mind.

"Alright. However, can we just put it past us? It's been a while now and it does not seem like it's two people living in this house." I add.

"Alright. Sorry about that." She replies.

"Call me André and not Mr. Dumont." I smile, to make her comfortable once more.

"How have you been?" I ask.

"Fine." She answers absent-mindedly. I think there is more where that came from.

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"Nothing really." She shrugs in addition.

"Well, if you say so. I am always here to listen whenever you change your mind."

"Alright. Thank you, André." She forces a smile that's not reaching her eyes.

.....

"Hey, sweetheart." I say and peck her on her lips as I pick her up for today's dinner with my parents.

"You look lovely." I complement as we walk towards my car.

"Thank you." She says back. I open the car door and she gets in. She just keeps quiet, saying nothing.

"Don't worry. It won't be like the last time." I re-assure her, gently squeezing her hands in mine.

"Thanks." She whispers. The sight of the familiar gates of my parent's house comes into view. I turn to look at her one more time then turn to concentrate on the steering wheel.

"Mi hijo." My mom says excitedly as she walks up to meet us. She stretches her hands wide open and pulls me into a hug. She then turns to Halle and gives her a fake smile, side hugs her and focuses her attention back on me.

"Your dad is already at the table. The man has quite an appetite today. Let's hurry before we have nothing left to eat." She says, amidst laughter, dragging me with her. Wait, Halle! I thought.

"Mom, you left Halle all by herself." I stop us from moving any further and notice a scowl on her face.

"Mom." I say, folding my arms. "We had an agreement." I add, ensuring my displeasure is visible.

"But, I don't like her." She huffs, copying the attitude of a four year old that has been denied her favorite candy.

"Just this time, please." I plead.

"After now, no more attempts till I see where this relationship takes us."

"Alright." She finally sighs and we go back to where Halle stood, rooted to the spot.

"Let's go have dinner, Halle." Mom says, surprisingly smiling at her. She smiles back and follows us in.

Amazingly, a sort of magic happened and mom started getting along with Halle. It must have been the Alma matter thing. It really made them bond.

"Let me show you some of my pictures from Brealstons." She says excitedly and pull Halle towards her collection of pictures.

"Women." My dad chirps in, shaking his head and wiping his mouth with the napkin he held. I just laugh in response.

"I'm just glad they are getting along now."

"At first, there was something off about her, though. Maybe that explains why your mom was closed off initially."