The Woman

Chapter 7

"I need you."

The moment her breathless voice came through the phone, every atom of sleep was gone from his eyes and all he could picture was her face and her gentle smile.

"Kazia." He said he name not as a question or a statement but just so he could hear it.

"I need your help!" Her voice was now matter-of-factly and her tone business like that he almost felt he had imagined the seductive way she said 'I need you."

"What's going on?" He asked, sitting up from his lying position and resting his back on his bed headboard. "Are you ok?"

"I'm sorry for waking you up but I have a situation and I believe you're the best person to help."

"What is it? I'm all ears?"

"An old employee of mine that I let go of a few weeks back just confronted me..."

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine but that's not the problem. He was fired because of a few sexual harassment claims and now from what I can see he wants to sue my company, claiming wrongful termination." He heard her sigh, followed by the sound of papers being crumpled up. "Nobody threatens my business and gets away with it, no one!"

"It's going to be fine, don't worry about it. You can come over to my office in the morning, preferably 7:30 and we can talk it over."

"Thanks, I would love that."

"No problem, you can always call me anytime. I'm here whenever you need me."

"Thank you, I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you." She was gone and all he was left with was silence and a subtle joy that he was going to be seeing her tomorrow. Not long after that he returned back to his sleep with the images of one woman filling his mind and it wasn't the one he was going to tie the knot with in less than five months.

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Kazia has always been a stickler for time so when Raymond had told her to see him in his office by 7:30 she was there right on time. Apparently he was yet to arrive and had instructed his assistant to let her wait in his office. Kazia did not miss the look of suspicion on Raymond's assistants face as she let her into the office, obviously letting someone wait in his office was not a common practice while he clearly had a functioning reception area. Kazia chose not to read much into it and made herself comfortable on the brown leather chair at the corner of his office. She gave the office a once over and was very impressed. It was a large room and his desk sat with authority at the centre, behind it was a shelf with what she guessed where law books. The left and right walls of the room also had huge shelves filled with books, neatly arranged. Taking a closer look at his table she saw a picture frame by this computer. She was curious to see who it was so she took a peep at the door to make sure no one was walking in and did a little tip toe to his table which wasn't called for and a little silly but it made her feel sneaky. Picking up the frame she was met with the beautiful image of Raymond and a pretty woman by his side. She had her arms around his waist while her head rested snuggly on his chest. Raymond on the other hand had his chin rested on her head with the happiest smile on his face. They looked perfect, like one of those couples you saw on Instagram that made you believe in love.

She couldn't tear her eyes away from the picture and she felt her heart break. Sometimes she let her mind wonder towards the possibility of Raymond liking her and they being together but then she always brushed it over, right now those possibilities seemed more impossible than possible as she stared into the face of Grace, his Grace as he called her. She was beautiful and if everything he said about her was true she was beautiful on the inside too. She placed the picture frame back on the table right at the same moment the door opened and Raymond stepped in looking handsome as ever and she felt her heart jump into her mouth. He was on the phone with someone and gave her an apologetic smile while he took long, powerful strides to his table, placing his briefcase on it.

"Yes baby that's fine by me, anything you want....ok....tell my mum I'll transfer the money soon...alright...no problem....I love you too." He collapsed exhaustively on his seat and turned to Kazia. "I'm so sorry for coming in late, there was an accident and the roads were blocked."

"That's fine, I didn't wait long."

"Please sit down." He said pointing to the seat across the table. Kazia shuffled over to where she had kept her bag earlier then returned to the seat he offered.

"Thanks for seeing me on such short notice, I know you're very busy."

"It's ok. So tell me everything, from the beginning."

"Last moth one of my employees, Helen, came to me with a complaint that she was being sexually harassed by one of her superiors, Dayo, that's the man that confronted me last night. I told her to take her complaints to HR and get it documented which she did and they looked into it. Not long after, another lady stepped forward, her name is Stella, with similar experiences and the same man. I called him into my office and confronted him about it and he denied everything. For two weeks HR looked into it and asked around but they couldn't find any proofs and no one else came forward but these two women kept on insisting so I fired him. I know what it's like to be harassed by a man just because he feels he has the power to and to work in that kind of environment is hellish so I fired him, he was angry and threw a tantrum in the office but he left and I never heard from him again until last night when he brought these." Kazia opened her bag and brought out the papers Dayo had thrown at her face last night. "Apparently he's suing for wrongful termination and he wants some kind of severance package or pay out or else he would sue my company and drag our name through the mud. Because of the grounds on which he was fired he's not entitled to any severance package and it is stated clearly in his employment contract. His arguments are baseless but taking it to trial and trying to prove him wrong is bad publicity for my business so I need your help."

"He clearly believes he has a case but so far I can see a few angles we can get him. All I need form you is a copy of your standard employment contract so I can review and find any possible loop holes he may want to exploit and I would also need to talk to Helen and Stella to get their statements as well." He took a deep breath and lightly tapped his fingers on his table. This February we have a lot of cases..." He continued tapping his fingers and looked up at the ceiling as though contemplating the reason for human existence then he looked back at her. "I'm making yours a priority, besides it shouldn't take long. We would just have to go through a mediation process and in no time I'll have it sorted out."

"You have no idea how grateful I am, thank you so much."

"Stop thanking me, it's no problem."

"I'll have my assistant send over the contract as soon as possible."

"That would be great!"

"Thank you once again."

"What did I say about all the thank you?"

They bought rose form their seats simultaneously and Raymond walked with her out of his office and when they got to the door he came in for a hug while she brought out her hand for a hand shake and instantly that moment became awkward then the reverse happened with him bringing out his hand and Kazia coming in for the hug. They both busted out in laughter and it diffused the whole situation.

"Maybe we should just bow like the Chinese and call it a day." Kazia said in the midst of the laughter.

"Come here!"

It happened so fast, Raymond took her left hand and pulled her towards him till she was wrapped securely in his arms. It felt so right that she closed her eyes and leaned into he hug. It was just like the day he hugged her when she had her little breakdown, only this time she was drenching his shirt with her tears. She could stay here forever but suddenly the picture of Grace holding him flashed in her mind and she instantly pulled away from the hug, giving him a friendly smile before walking away. The picture had said everything it needed to say, he was Grace's and she was his which meant Raymond could never be hers and if they were going to be working together for as long as it took she had to remind herself of that.

The thought of that broke her heart for the second time that morning.