obdurate

This book is dedicated to my loving father, late Peter and to my sweet sister preye, and to all my fans and all those who think am good , and finally to God almighty.

»chapter one«

26yrs old samantha was a young beautiful woman, elegant, stunning , hard working and a single mom, to a a 7year old son, her life was semi perfect until she got a job as a secretary to multi billonaire Benjamin Macpepple.

monday, finally, I had waited so long for it that my weekend was so boring , I quickly took my bath and dressed into a brown pencil trouser and a milk long sleeve shirt, I hurriedly brushed my hair into a pony tail, and applied a light make up,

I heared my phone ring as I unpacked my stuffs from the green bag I had used on friday into a red bag, I rushed out go get the phone from my working desk near the sitting room, as it continued to say , "my mom"

"good moning mom" I said cheerfully and returned to my bedroom to finish the task I was doing, I laid the Phone on the bed and turned it on loud speaker

"morning" came my mothers quivering voice, then I knew all was not welll

Is my son alright , I though and quickly picked the phone to my ear

"what is wrong "I asked panicking

"its your sister, its claire"her voice was breaking and I knew she was trying so hard not to cry, I heard her sniff in, I sighed , it was a relief to know my son was perfect, at least

"what about claire" I asked a little bit relaxed

"she is going to kill herself with all those stuff she takes, she is not willing to change, I'm trying my best as a mother but that girl is..." she burst into sobs, shit, I didn't need this ,not today

"mom, please calm down and tell me what happened" I softoly said

"she, she, "my mother stammered,God, I was running out of patience, but she was my mother

"mom please calm down and talk to me, what did claire do this time" I calmly ordered

"she came home drunk, wounded and, her voice was falling "almost naked" she whispered tearfully

_

"mom" I sighed heavily, "claire is an adult, and until you understand that , you are going to get hurt and hurt" I said calmly pain in my voice

"but she is your sister, and am her mother, she is our blood samantha, its our responsibility to care for her"

"but what if she doesn't want to be taken care off" I yelled and got up, "she is 21 mom, and if she thinks wasting her life is the best for her , then so be it, stop trying to change a person who doesn't find anything wrong with her life style"I snapped angrily,

a short silence passed before my mother spoke, I knew she was suprised at my outburst, I was the loving daughter, I was not supposed to yell at her, it was a case of transfer of angression,and I hated myself for being so thoughtless

"mom ?, I asked calmly

"I, I, she stammered frieghtenly

"mom" I said and scoffed "I am sorry I yelled but I dont need this okay" I said persuadingly ,I felt her nod her head , she always did that when she was overwhelmed or too sad to speak, I felt like shit for contributing to her pain, she called me for comfort and all I could give her was scorn

"I dont need this mom, I just resigned from my...

"you resigned?, she snapped

"yes I did"

"but why, what happened, when"she asked in one breath

"mom, I cant explain now, I was preparing for an interview before you called so ...., I couldn't finish my sentence, I was too scared to caught her off ,

I knew she was patiently waiting for me

think sam, think

"so, what can I do to save the situation"I asked fearful

"come talk some sense into her head Sa..

"no"I snapped angrily, cutting her off before she could continue

"but why sam, she is your sister"

"mom, I really want to come do this but," I scoffed sarcastically "claire wont listen to me"

"you know that" I added

"Sam please, for my sake, please,i beg you" she began to cry

"okay okay okay, I will come over,once am not engaged"

"thank you,sam, I knew I could always rely on you" she chuckled happily, wiping her nose

"okay mom, talk later"

'ahhhhh" I groaned frustatedly when I knew she was no longer on the line, there was always a story in my family and it was always claires story, I was angry at my mother for been so naive, for having too much hope, I knew too well that my sister was not going to change, not until she wanted to

my sister was my families greatest liability, but my mother couldn't let go, and no matter how hard I tried to convince myself that I didn't like her, deep down in my heart I knew I loved her passionately, she was a sweet girl, my best friend until my.....

I quickly pushed that thought away, I was not in the mood for that, I stared at the the watch on my wrist, it was 7:15,

"7:15 ?" I exclaimed ,then I realized I only had 45 mins to make it to my interview, I clearly remembered the rules on the mail I recieved, puntuallity was in capital letters,

I quickly put on a red wedged open toe shoe and grabbed my bag , I ran to the sitting room and switched off every appliances, I grabbed my car keys from the dinning table , locked my apartment and ran to my car,

my mind kept on telling me to call Jake, my ex boss, I knew too well that he was going to accept me back once I apologized, it was not too late, I thought, I could still forgo my interview and turn right to my office, but no, I convinced myself, Jake was an idiot and I was done working with him

a devilish smile played on my face as I remembered the look on his face , when I gave him my resignation letter, he went ballistic, reigning insult on me and telling me I was a failure, I gave him a taste of his medicine before I stormed out of his office, I told him things I had wanted to say all these years , he was a stinky flirt ,he opened his mouth in atonishment as I stormed out ,banging his door, "you are going to regret this" I heared him yell as I made my way to the elevator 'you cant do without this company" he said angrily

and right now I felt I made the wrong decision, working with Jake paid my bills and my familys bill, but I couldnt stomach the fact that he slept with my sister, claire, he was a married man with three beautiful kids, his life style didn't bother me, it was not my buissness but the day I worked into his office and saw my sister on his lap kissing him and he was folding her breast, it became my buissness, they were both shocked but neither of them was decent enough to stop, they continued, I was ballistic, I cried , but I couldn't tell my mother,I knew it was going to break her heart

"is claire worth your job" I asked myself, I groaned frustatedly , "I am not going back to Jake, I am not going back to my vomit" I said and speed up to THE PEPPLES CORP,