in love with a villain | choni

-14-

Toni woke up with a heavy heart flashing not only through her unenergized body, but also through her doleful face. She got herself ready for office, wore her blouse and pencil skirt with heels that made her suffer walking straight plus the fact that she had sex for the first time in three years; it's not helping at all, but she retained herself in balance. She walked downstairs with an obvious frown, headed to the kitchen where she arrived to a glad noise coming from Cheryl's team.

Toni avoided all eye contacts except for Archie who followed her to the kitchen counter.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked and Toni hummed.

"No, you're not. What's wrong?" he persisted, but Toni just looked at him with a weak smile replying, "I'm good, Arch. Just having a hangover, but I'll be fine."

Archie nodded. "Okay. Come on, let's have breakfast."

Toni did join them in the table, but her eyes were always locked and lowered, staring at the plate. She doesn't want to look at Cheryl because she just made what happened between them clear that it didn't mean anything; deep inside Toni, she's hoping that maybe, she might have something for her too, but assuming that to happen was too much.

After breakfast, all of them made themselves ready for their individual tasks. Toni was about to head out to her office when Pam informed her to meet Cheryl, making her heart pound in a snap.

"Pam said, you wanted to see me?" she began flatly, looking at the floor.

"Well, yeah," Cheryl calmly replied, "I called to give you your cheque for Delany's."

Toni nodded. "Okay." She waited until Cheryl had signed the paper then walked out of the room, unbothered but was actually the opposite.

Cheryl exhaled, clenching her jaws about Toni's ignorance, but she can't blame her. In her mind, what she did last night with Toni was a mistake and that it should never happen again. Was it? Or she's just trying to cover something up?

Toni walked to the front door, looking at the big amount of money written on the paper. Surprised and a little happy knowing that she could save it for her cousins even though she doesn't want to use that resource, she has to swallow her pride.

••

"How in the hell this fucking happened?!" Cheryl madly yelled at Ace who flinched at her elevated voice.

"Cousin, that's all I can compute from the accounts. Our payables are becoming high and the delays are one main cause of it," Ace explained calmly.

"No, this couldn't happen. I've just built a partnership and I can't lose it!"

Ace exhaled, worried. "Uhm...haven't you noticed?"

"Notice what?" Cheryl replied, pissed.

"That...uhm, since the rookie became part of the team, it affected too much of the production and operation?"

His answer made Cheryl think deeply and confusedly.

"So...are you saying that...Topaz is betraying me?"

Ace shrugged, unsure. "I mean- I'm not directly saying that because I don't have any evidence, but...she's not too different from her father at all. Hell, she even had his intelligence so...I won't be surprised if she would take revenge?"

Cheryl glared at him, nostrils flaring, and fists tightly closed. "I swear, Ace. If one fucking traitor is razing my game, I fucking swear," she sternly said with gritted teeth while Ace hid a smirk through her eyes and thin lips.