Chapter 7 - Everything Changes

Geena woke up to dozens of messages on her phone. She swiped up and saw Sophia's messages. She didn't write anything, she only sent pictures.

Sophia rarely did that, Geena was a little surprised. She opened her the chat and held her phone in silence for minutes.

Dariel? Sophia? Being this intimate? And he allowed her take the pictures?

Geena's chest tightened, she couldn't cry but the tears seemed to gush out of her eyes. Dariel said he loved her, how could he do this to her?

Questions ran through her mind, she still couldn't believe what was right in front of her.

She looked at the pictures again, they looked like they had a good time with each other. He was resting peacefully. She felt so hurt. Last time she felt this hurt was when her father died.

She blamed herself for all this, after her ordeal with men, how could she be so stupid? Stupid to fall for another man?

She came to one conclusion: All men were certainly the same.

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Dariel couldn't understand what was going on. Geena had not responded his calls for days. He was going to meet her at the office. Maybe she could at least give him an explanation.

He headed there immediately it was lunch break. He knew that would be the only time she'd be alone.

He got to the doorway and looked in, she was alone. That was good news.

“Hello Geena, good day. How're you doing?”

She heard his voice and the hurt ran back immediately to her chest. She had tried to forget him but the more she tried, the worse it became. And now he was here…..

“Good day”.

“Just good day? Is everything alright?”

“Everything's perfect”.

“You haven't taken my calls for days or returned any back”.

“I've been busy”.

“You're always been busy Sophia, that has never been an excuse”.

“Dariel, I'm fine, everything's fine”. Geena replied.

Something was wrong, he could feel it. Geena has always been nice, why the sudden change of attitude?

He walked up to her table and he held her hand. Geena literally melted inside. She wondered how he could have such an effect on her even when she was angry at him.

“Baby, can you please tell me what I did wrong?” Dariel said, in a very low tone, only audible to Geena.

She burst out in tears. She took her phone and showed him the pictures.

“Can you explain this? Dariel, explain it please” Geena urged.

Dariel left Geena's hands and got hold of the phone. He couldn't understand what he was looking at.

“Geena, I swear to God, I have absolutely no idea about this”.

“They don't look edited, do they?” Geena asked, fighting her tears.

“I swear to you Geena, I would never find myself in such position with another woman”.

“But yet there you are Dariel. I thought you said you loved me?”

“And I never stopped loving you”.

“What then were you doing in her house? And how did you guys get there?”

“Geena, she said she wanted talking about working out a better position for me here at the company, that's what I went for”

“Dariel, I literally own this place, if you needed a job, why didn't you just ask?”

“I came to you because I loved you. Asking for things would have made you have a wrong disposition of me”.

Geena was still in tears “You should have come to me Dariel, you should have……”. Tears didn't allow her complete the sentence.

Dariel sat down in confusion, he couldn't make sense of any of this. He didn't know what to say or what to do.

“How am I supposed to believe you Dariel?”

Then it dawned on him. He remembered that his phone had been on record while Sophia was seducing him. Since the phone was in his pocket, his skin pressed the phone and the recorder was open.

He only discovered it when he went home and forgot to delete it.

“My love, please listen to this attentively”. Geena paused her tears and listened to the recording. Sophia seduced him but Dariel kept on rejecting her advances.

“After this, it seems she sedated me. Because I slept off rather too sudden and when I woke up, my shirt missed a button. I rarely miss a button on my shirt Geena. Seems like she took off my shirt and took those pictures and put it back on me” Dariel explained.

It all made sense to Geena now. But why would Sophia go as far as sedating Dariel. It wasn't making sense.

“She had been throwing advances at me and telling me how much she loved me, but I rejected her at every turn. I made it clear that I was in love with someone else”. Dariel said.

Geena was cleaning her eyes and trying to rearrange herself. She was happy Dariel didn't give in to her. At least he brought evidence.

“Of everyone in the world, why would Sophia send those to you and how did she have your number?” Dariel asked, making a turn on the chair to face Geena.

“I….I… I sent her Dariel, she was all part of a test on you that I proposed”, Geena responded, keeping her face down. She couldn't face Dariel, guilt was all over her.

“What!!!!!! You did this? I don't understand you Geena?”

“Sophia has been my best friend from way back. I told her to make advances at you to see if you'd fall for her. But trust me, it was all for a good reason”.

“And what in God's name could this good reason be?”

“I've had a rough time with men in my life. All coming with love and at the end of the day, they want a large chunk of my wealth. I just thought to test you to know your true intentions”

“Oh my God!!!! Oh my God!!!” Dariel stood up and ran his hands through his hair. He maintained a string grip on his head. He felt like it wanted to explode. Geena? Sophia? Best friends? Test?

“I'm sorry my love, but it's a good thing that you passed the test” Geena said, walking towards him.

“Please do not come any further towards me Geena. I'm not sure who you are right now” Dariel stated, still not staring at her.

She stopped. She had never seen him this way before. She was so scared. What had she done?

“I'm so disappointed that you'd go through such expensive process to test me. I don't know what to feel right now, trust me.”

They both stayed silent. Only their breathes could be heard. He was angry. She was sorry. She had no idea what to do.

“I don't know what to say to you Geena, I'm out, I can't, I just can't….”. With that Dariel, walked out the door.

She called out to him but she didn't wanna scream, not to draw attention to her office.

She sank into her chair back in tears. What had she done to herself? Did she just loose the only man who loved her for who she was? She was so lost in her thoughts.

Sophia. She had to talk to Sophia. She sure had a lot of explaining to do.

She picked up the office phone, she dialed Sophia's office. Sophia picked up on the other end

“Hello babes” Sophia saluted.

“Sophia, my office, now!!!” Geena ordered and dropped the phone.

Sophia came in to meet Geena trying to hold back tears.

“Geena, are you okay?”

“What happened between Dariel and you?”

Sophia looked at her surprised “I sent you pictures of what happened, you saw it yourself, he failed your test”.

“Did he have sex with you, Sophia” Geena asked, still keeping her face down. The tears were rushing out now.

“That doesn't matter now, does it?”

“I asked a question and I expect an answer”

Sophia hesitated. She didn't know what response to give.

“I'm still waiting for your response Sophia”

“Well, no, we didn't have sex”.

“So how did you get those pictures you sent to me. How did you make him stay so still with you being naked?”

“Geena, what's with all these questions?”

“You'll answer them, everyone of them”

Sophia sensed the truth was revealed. She had no choice but to say the truth.

“Yes, I drugged him. He wasn't giving in to my advances”.

“And at what point did I tell you to go extreme, to the point of sedating him?”

“You begged me to help you out with your test, I did it and the results are out, what exactly are you driving at?”

“Why did you want him to fail Sophia. You had to drug him, so that you could send those pictures to me, why?”

The office went silent again. Sophia was stuck. She hadn't seen Geena this cold and angry at the same time. Sophia throat went dry, words couldn't come out.

“Why?”

“Because I fell in love with him” Sophia said, letting it off her chest.

Silence gripped the room again.

“You what?” Geena stood up and finally faced her.

“Yes Geena, you heard me right, I fell in love with Dariel”.

“How's that even possible, you never seemed to like him”.

“I didn't but as I got to know him. I fell for him. I finally saw what made you love him so much. I wanted him to fail your test so he would come to me for comfort and we could be together”.

Geena couldn't believe what she was hearing. Was it Sophia? Or was someone else speaking through her?

“How could you even do this to me Sophia. You wanted to have my man?”

“You didn't trust him enough to love him, that's why you had to test him. I was ready to love him with or without any test.”

“I can't believe you right now. Do you know this extreme scheme of yours may have cost me the only man that will ever love me?”

“I'm sorry, but it's not my fault that I fell in love with Dariel”.

Geena had enough. “Get out of my office Sophia, I don't want to see your face anywhere near me again. Get out!!!!!!!” She screamed and went into tears again.

Where was she going to begin?