Chapter 8

I’m standing in the darkness and it feels dreamy, I heard Charlotte’s voice yelling for help but I couldn’t figure out where it came from as more darkness approached me. It devoured everybody but for some reason I could run away from it while everyone was devoured by it. I kept on running for a distance but I couldn’t outrun the darkness, I then got at a certain corner where I got tripped and fell into a very deep well. For some few minutes I was on the air falling into the well. I finally reached the ground and it was darkness all over but there was a little light inside that well, I dusted myself up and followed that particular light. I walked a distance but finally I got where it was and spotted someone sitting on the ground, I stopped and stared, my heart was beating heavily.

“Hello” I shouted

The person never moved or said anything back so I approached that particular person and to my surprise it was the strange lady that always appears to me. I touched her on the shoulder she still did not say anything back to me or even dared to look at who touched her shoulder. I let her shoulder go then she began to fade away like smoke then there was an echoing voice inside the well, it was like someone was standing behind me.

“Remember who you are” the voice said.

I looked behind me to see who was speaking but there was no one, when I turned trying to see if the strange lady was still fading like smoke, she was no longer there, the light was also gone and I was left in the darkness once again. Another voice called, but what it said wasn’t clear. Everything got blurry including the darkness itself, I then woke up and realized that it was just a dream.

Charlotte stared at me, there was sweat all over me my pillow was even wet like water was poured on it. I had a slight headache and couldn’t explain what just happened.

“Are you alright babe?” Charlotte asked.

I coughed “Please get me water” I instructed her.

Charlotte jumped out of the bed and rushed to the kitchen. I tried to make sense of what just happened but nothing made sense. Charlotte came back with a glass of water and helped me drink it. She then put the glass on the side of her bed. She rubbed my back with the palm of her hand as I sat up.

“What’s wrong babe?” she continued to ask.

I cleared my throat which felt like someone was choking me.

“Nothing, I just had a bad dream. What time is it?” I replied.

“It’s 2 AM, you need to go back to sleep. You’re going to work in the morning” she said.

“My pillow case is wet” I put my hand on it and realized that I wouldn’t continue sleeping on it.

Charlotte took the pillow, went to the closet and brought a new pillow.

“Now go back to sleep babe” Charlotte’s words were accompanied by a kiss on my forehead.

I put my head on the pillow and closed my eyes until I passed out.

In the morning……

I woke up to the same big cerulean eyes staring at me. Just like Cindy, Charlotte was a complete goddess. She was consistently beautiful; no amount of sleep could ruin her face. She smiled as I put my head on her breast hoping that she doesn’t ask about the dream I had.

“Your boobs are so soft” I joked.

She giggled “You just wake up and start commenting about my boobs how weird are you?” she said.

I looked up and we kissed.

For the whole of the past week since Charlotte and I started talking, I had to avoid Cindy for some time. But it would be a lie if I said my body didn’t long for her. Cindy had no drama in her sleeves, so she never texted me unless I texted first. I never texted her since the day we spent time at the guest house. When we saw each other at bookstore we just exchanged glances but no words came out of our mouths, so for the whole of last week I never said a word to Cindy and my assumptions told me that she was angry at me.

“Let me go check if Angela has arrived” Charlotte said as she jumped out of the bed.

“Wait? Angela is coming today?” I asked.

To my surprise, Angela worked the whole of the past week and it seemed that she was coming in even this week. Which had me thinking what happened to the Charlotte that loved cleaning her own house and cooking for her own boyfriend.

“Yeah” Charlotte nodded.

I laughed “okay” I said as I jumped out of the bed, Charlotte went to the kitchen as I headed to the bathroom.

After bathing, I found my clothes on top of the bed as always. It felt good to be on Charlotte’s good books again. I went downstairs and headed for the dining room where I found Charlotte and Angela laughing out loud. This time I realized that Charlotte and Angela were actually close very close, in fact what they had was more than just a boss and employee kind of a relationship. I pulled a chair and sat down as I watched them giggle.

“What are you ladies laughing about?” I asked.

“Good morning sir” Angela said as she handed me a bowl full of porridge.

“Morning Angela” I replied.

‘Charlotte allowed Angela to greet me today?’ I thought to myself.

Charlotte came and sat next to me.

“I got a surprise for you” she said as she fixed the collar of my shirt.

“What kind of surprise?” I asked.

Charlotte smiled as she took out an envelope and gave it to me.

I reach out my hand and took it “What’s this?” I asked.

“Open it” Charlotte instructed me.

I put the spoon back into the bowl, Charlotte and Angela exchanged glances as I slowly opened the envelope and there was the book store name written in bold letters on top and as I took out the whole contract I realized that this was a contract with dotted lines that waited for my signature and I was about to become the owner of the bookstore.

I gasped “babe does this mean that…” I couldn’t finish my sentence as Charlotte interrupted me.

“Yup, you are the new owner of Universal Book Store” she exclaimed.

I got off my chair and gave Angela a tight hug, out of excitement I didn’t care what Charlotte would think and to my surprise she just laughed as I squeezed Angela with a hug, I then gave Charlotte a huge kiss.

“Thank you so much babe” I said as I went back to my chair.

Charlotte nodded, I checked my wrist watch and realized that my time was up and I had to be at the book store which was soon to be mine. The fact that Charlotte bought the book store for me made me happy but at the same time I was happy as the manager, I didn’t need to own 100% of the place. But I guess Charlotte didn’t want to be to the just manager but she wanted me to own the whole thing.

“I’m getting late, I will sign the contract and give it back to you tonight” I said as I grabbed my bag.

“Okay babe” Charlotte replied.

“Bye, Angela” I waved at Angela and gave Charlotte the last kiss.

After this I went straight to the car. When I arrived at the book store I realized that there were police cars at the coffee shop. I stopped for a few minutes and watched, there was a group of people that was being escorted to the police vehicles, most of them were handcuffed. To me it wasn’t a surprise that there were so many cops at the coffee shop because the coffee was just a front. The real business that was happening in there was prostitution, maybe even human trafficking or drug dealing was going on in that coffee shop who knows?

I walked into the bookstore “Good morning everybody” I said with excitement all over my tone. 

I was walking into my own book store after all.

“Hello sir” some of the staff members nodded.

“Why does he sound so happy?” some of the staff members chatted.

“Abi, please follow me to my office” I instructed Abigail as I walked through the stairs to my office.

Without saying a word, Abigail followed me. I walked through the stairs and entered my office then Abigail entered a few seconds after me. Since I asked Abigail about the previous manager of the bookstore, she was no longer the same. She was no longer that talkative Abigail and she not coming to my office like she used to. Since the conversation we had she would wait for me to call her first and then she would come knocking on my office door. Deep down I assumed that she was hiding something but I didn’t want to pressure into answering my hard questions.

I took a seat and to my surprise Abigail remained standing.

“Since when do you wait for me to offer you a sit? Sit down Abi” I said.

She pulled a chair and sat down then remained silent which was strange to me.

“Is everything okay?” I asked

“Everything is okay sir” she nodded.

Her body language and her tone said otherwise, Abigail is a very loud confident lady but this time those aspects were gone. That had me convinced that Abigail was indeed hiding something.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Yes sir” she nodded again.

The fact that she would address me as sir was annoying to me, but I did not want her to get more anxious as I could see that from the past week, she was going through something which was only known by her.

“Anyway, that’s not what I called you here for; I want us to do some renovations so I want you to walk me through the store since I never got a chance to so since I got here” I explained.

Abigail remained quiet; it was like she was in my office only in flesh but her mind was somewhere else.

“Abi” I slammed the table.

“Huh, oh sorry sir” she jumped.

“Okay that’s it, I’m giving you a day off. Go home, try resting a little bit. We’ll talk tomorrow” I instructed.

“Okay, thank you sir” she replied as she got up from the chair.

“Please tell Cindy to come into my office” I said.

“Okay sir” she replied as she walked out the office.

There she goes again, addressing me as “Sir” I found it annoying if any of my staff members addressed me as sir. Abigail started addressing me like that after the day I confronted her about the previous manager and it had me thinking that there were more than just secrets roaming around the bookstore. I wanted to make some renovations of my own since the bookstore was about to become mine now, so I was planning to walk around the book store and check every room that I hadn’t checked before.

There was a knock on my office door and there was standing Cindy. This girl was just like Charlotte, a true goddess indeed. I smiled at her and sense of guilty started scotching through my chest. The fact that ever since the day Cindy and I spent an awesome day at the guest house we never spoke again really haunted me, because I was the one who decided to ghost her. My body at the other end, it was just weak every time I set my sight on Cindy.

“You called for me?” Cindy asked.

“Yeah come in, take a seat” I offered.

Cindy came into the office and took a sit.

“Listen, about the past week…” I couldn’t finish my sentence as she cut me with the wave of her hand.

“No, you don’t need to, I mean you got a girlfriend to focus on” she said with a very calm tone.

“So, you not upset” I asked.

“No, not at all” she replied.

Cindy wasn’t really upset about the fact that I ghosted her for a week as I thought. I thought it was women’s job to be dramatic and crazy but Cindy was just okay and didn’t cause any drama which I was afraid she would.

“Okay, but that’s not what I called you for” I said.

“Yeah?” she replied.

“Abi is not feeling well so I want you to fill her shoes today” I explained.

“Okay no problem” she nodded.

“Good, let’s take a walk around the bookstore” I said as I got off my chair.

“Take a walk?” she stared at me with confusion.

“Yeah, around the bookstore. I want to see something” I said as I stood at the door.

“Okay” she replied as she got off the chair and followed me as I walked out.

We walked through the book shelves looking around, some of the staff members had a problem with the fact that Cindy and I were actually close.

“Look at her, walking with the boss as if she knows him” a group of female staff chatted as we passed.

I realized that Cindy heard what they said and I had to come into her defense. I turned and faced the ladies that were speaking.

“If you ladies have a problem with her speak it out and let’s fix it” I commanded them.

They froze and remained silent like it was not them who were talking 2 seconds ago.

“Good, if I hear anyone of you speaking nonsense about her again” I pointed at Cindy “You’re getting fired and I am not joking” I added.

They exchanged glances and shame clouded their faces.

“Are we clear?” I asked.

“Yes sir” they nodded.

There they go addressing with the same ‘Sir nonsense.’

“And please stop calling me Sir, I’m not your sir I’m Steve” I yelled.

My voice echoed through the whole bookstore that the customers also noticed that there was commotion going on. The staff froze and I grabbed Cindy by hand, we walked through the book store and Cindy was still astonished at what just happened that she never said a word until we were done checking every room in the book store.

30 minutes later……

Cindy and I were back at my office, brainstorming where we could make changes. Cindy gave me a very admirable stare without saying a word.

“What?” I asked.

“Thanks for standing up for me” she replied with a sincere smile.

I giggled a little and nodded but she still stared at me without moving her eyes.

“What now?” I asked.

She stood up and locked the door, she then turned her attention to me.

“You turn me on when you get aggressive like that” she said as she turned my chair to face her.

Now I realized what was about to happen and my flesh just surrendered letting me know that it was on for a ride. As Cindy was about to kiss me, there was a knock at the door. A sense of disappointment clouded me. Cindy jumped away from me as the person who was at the door tried opening but it was locked. I rushed and took the key to open the door as Cindy stood beside my chair. I opened the door, then Charlotte slowly walked into the office. She gasped at the sight of Cindy putting her hands-on mouth and at this point she looked shocked. I just froze not knowing what to do, my heart was beating very fast, I glanced at Cindy and to my surprise she was not even shocked but remained calm as if nothing was going on.