Chelsy had received a bouquet of red and pink roses from an unknown individual. Her teammates were so excited on her behalf, but she didn't seem happy receiving such a gesture from an unknown person.
Nicole had been angry that team B's proposal had been chosen over theirs. When she saw the expensive bouquet of flowers that had been sent to Chelsy, her anger tripled.
''Why does that lowlife keep getting all the good things? Who does she think she is anyway?'' She muttered to herself, while throwing daggers with her eyes at Chelsy. She vowed to do everything possible to bring Chelsy down.
The day had come to an end, and Chelsy had gathered her stuff, and bid everyone goodbye. She picked the bouquet of flowers she had received earlier and walked out of the office building.
As she stood by the bus stop waiting for the bus' arrival, a black luxury car stopped in front of her.
When the back glass was rolled down, she saw Daniel, and he gave a warm smile. ''Hey Chelsy. I can see you are waiting for the bus. Come in, and I will give you a lift home.''
Chelsy felt uncomfortable sitting in the same car as her boss. She smiled back at him and said, ''Thank you sir. But sorry, I will have to pass. I don't want to be a burden, and moreover, my bus will be here soon.''
When Daniel heard this, he said, ''Miss Powers, it's not a burden, okay? I will not take no for an answer.''
Chelsy didn't want to be seen by her colleagues, entering the boss' car. If Nicole saw her entering Daniel's car, she would make a mountain out of a mere mill hill. ''But sir, if my colleagues saw me entering your car, there would be more gossip, and I wouldn't want that. I am already tired of the current bickering.'' Daniel raised his eyebrows and asked. ''What gossip are you talking about? Are you doing anything wrong by entering my car?'' Chelsy realized that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. She stuttered and said, ''No sir Rivers. It's nothing.'' Chelsy cussed herself for letting those words out of her mouth. She took a deep breath and quickly got into the car.
Daniel saw the bouquet of roses and asked, ''I can see you have a beautiful bouquet of roses. Are they from your boyfriend?''
Chelsy felt the air in the car becoming too heavy, and she could feel her heart pounding. She stuttered and said, ''Nnn, no sir. I don't know who sent them. It didn't have the name of the sender.''
The corner of Daniel's lips curved upwards, ''Did Hank send these flowers to her? He thought to himself. He cleared his throat and said, ''So you do have a secret admirer then.''
Chelsy felt so embarrassed discussing something so personal with her boss. She just gave an awkward smile.
Daniel saw that Chelsy was so uncomfortable with the conversation, and decided not to tease her further. ''She is so cute when shy though. Daniel muttered under his breath.
The rest of the ride was driven in silence.
They arrived at Chelsy's apartment. ''Thank you for bringing me home, Sir Rivers. I appreciate it.''
Daniel nodded and said, ''This is the least I could do. Have an amazing weekend Chelsy, and see you on Monday.''
Chelsy waved him goodbye, as she watched the tires of his car screeching and the car zooming off in the alley. Chelsy turned, and went into her apartment.
Meanwhile, Nicole had gone back home. She took her phone and placed a call to her cousin Kate. When the call got connected, she said with a sweet voice, ''Hey cuzz. How is my favorite cousin doing today? Hope you are okay.''
Kate, on the other hand, was quite excited to hear from Nicole. ''Hey Nicole, it's been a while. I am good.''
They exchanged pleasantries for some time and then Nicole asked, ''Kate, you graduated last year from Wolverton University, right?''
Kate said yes and asked why she had asked that question. Nicole gave a smile and responded. ''Do you know anybody by the name Chelsy? She studied public relations.''
Kate gave a little chuckle and said, ''Do you mean Chelsy Powers?'' Nicole said yes. ''Who doesn't know that cheap call-girl here in Wolverton? By the way, how do you know that stupid girl?'' Kate asked.
Nicole gave a mischievous smile and responded, ''She works in the same company as me. By the way, why do you call her a cheap call-girl?''
Kate's eyes opened wide, and she said, ''So that social climber found her way to London, huh? Listen, cuzz, that girl is a social climber. She likes leeching off of rich people. She had a big scandal here in Wolverton. She is not only a social climber, but a man snatcher. Do you know that girl actually crashed the engagement dinner of a rich man here in Wolverton? And the next day, she was caught being carried out from a club by a different rich man. The news was all over the internet, but for some reason, it was brought down. I am sure one of her sugar daddies paid the media to take it down. It is rather unfortunate for her because some of us still have those pictures on our phones.''
Nicole was elated when she heard all this information. She couldn't believe she had something she could use to pin Chelsy down.
''What? Did she do all that? Anyway, please can you forward those pictures to me?'' Kate agreed and forwarded the pictures to Nicole.
After they had finished talking, Nicole could not help it but smile. ''Now Chelsy, I have you in the palm of my hands. Let us see what everyone will think of you, when they find out who you truly are. Your days at Rivers Holdings are numbered. Let us see how Daniel will look at you after seeing these disgusting pictures of you.'' She gave an evil smile and went back to what she was doing.
Meanwhile, back in Hank's penthouse, Gina had come to deliver some documents for him to sign. ''Boss, I have the complete information you requested about Miss Chelsy Powers.''
When Hank heard this, he lifted his head and asked her to continue. She went ahead to explain every detail about Chelsy, from her relationship with Ken, to the scandal about her and her leaving Wolverton. ''Sir, Kenneth Roberts has been searching for her for the past one year. It seems he doesn't know where she is.''
Hank nodded and asked. ''What about her mother?''
Gina let out a sigh and said, ''Sir, there is no news about who her mother is. There is no information on that. Her father moved from France to the United Kingdom. I searched the French database for Xavier Powers, but there is no data about him. He seemed to have lived like a ghost.''
Hank clenched his hands in a fist. He asked Gina to drop the files. ''You can leave now, Gina.'' Gina nodded and left.
Hank's face was still red with anger. ''How could they do that to her? My poor mountain fairy must have gone through a lot. I will make sure no one hurts her ever again.'' He muttered to himself.
Hank couldn't explain why he felt that way about Chelsy. He felt like he needed to protect her against the world and from anyone or anything trying to hurt her.
It was a new week, and everyone at Rivers Holdings was busy, preparing for the annual robotics event planning.
Chelsy was at her desk when she received a call from the head of department, ''Miss Powers, can you please come over to my office?''
Chelsy replied, ''Okay sir. I am on my way.''
When she got to Kyle's office, she said, ''Mister Hastings, you asked to see me.'' Kyle was staring straight into her face, and he said with a smile, ''Yes Miss Powers. Since you are the one who came up with the proposal that was approved, you will accompany me to meet with some of our partners who will be part of the organization.''
When Chelsy heard this, she nodded and said, ''Okay sir. When are we leaving?'' Kyle seemed lost, looking at Chelsy. Chelsy cleared her throat and asked again, ''Erhm. Sir, I asked when are we leaving?''
Kyle quickly snapped out of his trance and said, ''We are leaving in 20 minutes. Just round off with what you were doing, okay?''
Chelsy nodded and went back to her desk. Twenty minutes later, Kyle walked in and said, ''Miss powers, we are leaving now.'' Chelsy picked up her bag and some files and followed him.
They arrived at a luxurious restaurant in Central London. When they got there, they were directed to a private dining room.
When Chelsy got in, she didn't know why she had a strange feeling. Come on Chels, you are here for work. No need to be scared or anxious. She thought to herself.
Kyle asked her to sit down. When they sat down, a waitress came in and asked with a polite smile, ''Greetings sir, and greetings ma'am.''
Kyle asked Chelsy to order whatever she wanted to eat. Chelsy looked at Kyle with a strange countenance and asked, ''But Mister Hastings, we are here for a meeting. Where are the people we are supposed to meet?''
Kyle turned and looked at the waitress and said, ''please, bring the usual.''
The waitress nodded and left the room. Kyle turned back to Chelsy and said with a smoldering smile, ''Please Chelsy, we are out of the office, okay? Can you stop with the mister stuff, and just call me Kyle?''
Chelsy seemed lost and confused. ''But Mister Hastings, I don't understand. Why are we here? There wasn't any meeting with any partners, am I correct?''
Kyle gave a smile which brought out his handsome features. ''You are correct Chelsy. You are indeed very smart. Beauty with brains. I brought you here for a different reason.''