Strong Attraction

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7
“Greg, check in your office if you have the file.” Femi said as he put down the land line, and continued ransacking his office. An important file had gone missing. He really needed to replace his secretary. If he so much as had the time to start dealing with a new one. He emptied his bottom drawer and extracted a brown envelope.
“What’s this?” He thought to himself as he examined it. It didn’t look like an office file. He almost discarded it for later, until he saw Stephanie’s handwriting on the bottom right of the envelope. All thoughts of the missing file fled his head as he moved over to the sofa. He opened the file, emptying the contents on the center table, as all air got knocked out of his lungs. He picked up the pictures, examining them one by one, he felt like things were playing in slow motion. He opened up the letter as his eyes quickly flew over it, searching for the date. 15th February and today was 13th March. It was almost a month! ...
“Here’s the document. Guess she was right after all.” Greg said as he entered the office, but Femi wasn’t listening. His brain was running overtime, how did this happen? His secretary never informed him about receiving any note, so how did all this happen?
“Femi.” Greg said as he slapped his arm snapping him out of his trance.
“What’s going on? You’re so lost in your thoughts.”
“Steph…”
“Is she okay?”
“She reached out to me…”
“That’s good news.”
“Almost a month ago.”
“What?”
“She reached out to me almost a month ago.”
“This is bad. Very bad.” Greg said as he paced the room. “How are you only seeing it now?”
“I saw it as I was ransacking my bottom drawer. But what I don’t understand is how it got there.”
“Let’s take care of this merger then we’d deal with Steph.”
“I highly doubt I’ll be able to focus.”
“Femi, this is important. You can’t mess it up. You won’t be able to handle Stephanie if you flop on this project. You have to do it.”
“Fine, I’ll try and focus I’ll do my best to focus.” He promised.
“Good, cause they’re here.” Greg said as his phone rang.
*****^^^*****
Femi drove through town with no destination in mind, but somehow he’d found himself at Stephanie’s doorstep. He ran a hand over his head. The lights were turned on, which meant she was awake. He parked outside her compound and walked in. ringing the doorbell continuously, he only stopped when she opened the door, an annoyed look on her face.
“Femi?” she breathed in shock which turned to anger.
“Steph.” He breathed as he enveloped her into a hug. She pushed him off as he stumbled back.
“Are you drunk?” she asked as he laughed nervously.
“No…” he started as she directed a glare at him.
“Maybe just a tinny winny bit.” He said as he tried to bring his index finger and thumb together.
“How many glasses?” she asked like she was talking to a child.
“Just a bottle.” He mumbled as she sighed.
“Femi, how many times have I told you not to drink?”
“Did you drive here?” she asked taking in a deep breath as he nodded.
“You’re unbelievable. You could have caused an accident, or worse gotten hurt. Don’t you have any sense? First, I deal with the twins, now I have to deal with you. You both just have to go and do crazy things and stress me out.” She said as she took a deep breath.
Femi looked at her. She looked extremely stressed almost like she was sick. And it was his fault, he wasn’t here to help her, to assist her. She was bearing all the load all by herself, a load they were meant to be sharing.
“Steph…”
“I’m so tired Femi. I can’t do it again… I can’t do it alone. It’s so tiring. They keep asking questions, and I’m always lying to them, I can’t bear this load alone.” She cried as she collapsed into his open arms, her soft sobs ringing in his ears as the guilt ate him away.”
“I’m here Steph. I’ll make it all okay. I promise.” He said as they held each other close on her porch, the full moon bearing their promise.
*****^^^^*****
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