Three Months

Chapter Twenty

With nowhere to escape, Lauren racked her head thinking of what to say.

When suddenly;

“Hey Lauren, there you are.” She felt relieved to hear the voice she is so familiar with calling out to her, as she turned to the direction of the voice and see Victor approaching them where they stood.

“Where have you been? I’ve been looking all over for you.” He gave her the eye signal which indicated he was coming to help before turning to Vivian with a cheeky smile. “You don’t mind if I borrow her, right?”

“We’re in the middle of a discussion.” Vivian frowned as Victor reached for Lauren’s hand leading her away from the lobby.

He led her into his office and shuts the door. Lauren plopped down on the chair heaving a sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, thanks for your help. Where did you come from? How did you know where to find me?”

“I was just coming from the cafeteria and saw you two. I just felt something wasn’t right. So, I decided to stay back and have a look.” 

“It’s a relief you were there because, I wasn’t mentally prepared to face her.”

“Why? Is something wrong…?”

She suddenly recalled the events that happened between her and Damien. From the stolen kiss after the party, the confession, and then the suicide attempt. She had completely forgotten all about Victor and was torn between telling him what was going on and keeping it a secret.

“Lauren? Lauren? Lauren?”

“Hmm!”

“What’s wrong? You look a little lost. Is something wrong?”

“No. I-I’m fine.” Victor shuffled towards the window, peering through the blinds, to see if Vivian is still there. But there was no one. “Don’t worry you’ll be safe here. She could still be lurking around. I’ll keep an eye out till the coast is clear.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything for you.” He said then and got her a glass of water to drink.

She stared at Victor thinking about how caring and sweet he’s been to her and felt a pang of pain, to not be able to tell him about what happened over the past few days for fears that he may actually attack him.

The next day… inside the secretary’s office;

Lauren is working on her computer and, when a call came through. An unknown number is displayed on her screen. She paused and slowly answered, “…Hello?”

“Let’s talk. Meet me at the company’s café. Do not keep me waiting.” The voice at the other end of the line was bitter and the call was ended abruptly. She could tell whose voice it was by the way the person sounded.

After putting the computer on sleep mode, Lauren sighed and slowly got up, leaving the office making her way to the café inside the company.

Inside the company’s café, once seated, Lauren looked onto Vivian who snarled at her, “Name your price.” 

“I… I don’t understand you.”

“Don’t act coy with me. Who do you think you are? What is a cheap slut like you doing here? How did you get to work here in the first place? You think I don’t know girls like you? People like you just love to mooch off of rich people when you get the chance.” She tilted her head to the side raising an eyebrow. “What? Am I’m lying?” She scoffed and continued, “Like it isn’t bad enough you are mooching off my fiancé, now you’re also trying to mooch off his brother too? You think you’re smart? You think you’re getting your way in your little scheme right? But let me tell you something, my Damien is a lot different than you think.”