CEO’s REDEMPTION

BEAUTIFUL COINCIDENCES

“But of course! How can I forget how ridiculous I looked that day? Gosh!” I respond to Jerol’s teases as we sip on our juices.

“You looked cute. I still remember how you looked with that chicken in your mouth unable to do a thing about it.” He says again.

He is bent on making a good mockery of me tonight. I am not whining though. How can I when I want him to continue talking so that I can relish being in his lap for some more time? I wish this could go on until tomorrow. And another thing, it really thrills me to see him this happy. It brings me so much joy to speak with him like this.

“Yeah? I really looked cute, huh? Gosh! I looked like a balloon ready to burst.” I respond, punching him slightly in the chest as he cracks his ribs.

Today the heavenly bodies can attest to the glee we are sharing, and we deserve it. We both do. I pray that this lasts forever. As soon as now, I can picture my happy life with him and our kids. That will be such a joy and fulfilment.

“I found it cute, somehow. You seemed so innocent and unbelievably cool, and for a moment I wondered whether a person like you was ever in existence.” He says, drawing circles on my thighs with his thumbs.

“I see. So, you started falling for me that soon, huh?” I tease, cupping his jaws after settling my empty glass on the floor too.

“No. I just found you exceptional, and over the time you have really proved me right. You are special. A remarkable gem of a kind. I am a such a lucky guy to have been blessed with you, wifey.” His eyes are glowing as he speaks, holding mine.

Between me, who he took from those disgusting pigpens and turned my whole life around, and him, with whatever little or much that I have done for him, who is lucky? I feel like I am the most lucky one. Where would I be, right now? I would be still suffering in my so-called mother’s hands. Or I would have probably succumbed to those sufferings and given up on life.

That beautiful tragedy that morning came at the most God-chosen time. I should probably visit that site and thank its new owner for demolishing my shop that morning.

“Did I say something wrong?” Jerol implores, snapping my mind back to him.

“No! I just thought of our encounter. I wish those fools who demolished my store back then would know what a beautiful tragedy they brought upon my life.” I whimper with a smile, and he smirks slightly too. Not the kind of smirk I was expecting, but nothing to complain about still.

“Do… you perhaps, know who them?” He queries, browsing my face.

Maybe he is thinking what I am thinking. That those fools should make sure to never cross my path because I will feed them rotten shit! IMAO! On a sane thought, maybe I will just brush past them with my head held high and pretend that I really don’t know them.

“No really. Just the grumpy fool I talked to that morning. The jerk was such an ugly rude bastard!” I spit with anger, and this time he smirks real broad.

I know. I have never used such a naughty language in front of him.

“Would you like to pay the site a visit?” Huh? I snap my face at him. “Maybe you will be lucky to bump into the owner this time around and pour all your anger on him.” He winks, a mischievous wink.

I am grinning broadly like an idiot from his propositions. Is he crazy? How can he suggest that?

“Are you joking? It’s too late, Jerol!” I state, but failing to curb the urge of the thrill of what he is suggesting.

“It won’t hurt to try our luck.” He stands with me in his arms, my legs wrapped around his waist. “What do you say, Mrs McCall?”Mmh!

I peel my legs off him, signalling him to put me down which he does, but we remain in each other’s embrace.

“Bad idea, Mr CEO! I might lose my cool when I see that jerk and trust me, you wouldn’t like to see my angry face.” I say, and he chuckles out loud.

What’s funny?

“What if that is exactly what I want to see, baby?” He queries, arcing an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to scare you away with it.” I tease.

“I won’t be.” He responds, the smirk still on.

He seems enthralled by this more than I am.

“Even if I punch that guy and break out a fight over there?” I joke.

“Even then. What’s more, you don’t have to worry because nobody would dare mess with the wife of Jerol O’Brian McCall!” He ascertains.

“I see.” I say.

“So, shall we?” He queries, pulling me with him into the bedroom and out of the door.

This feels so cheesy. Why I am still smiling ear to ear like an idiotic idiot even when this seems all crazy is more crazier. It’s almost midnight for God’s sake and we have a party tomorrow to prepare for yet here we are, acting like two sweet sixteens.

About thirty minutes drive, we get to the familiar road. At that spot I got hit by this man beside me. I remember this place so well. Unfortunately, I can’t remember how his face looked that day after hitting me. I fell unconscious immediately, and I woke up in heaven. That is what his castle felt, what it still feels.

I keep my eyes on the road, realizing that that place should be around here near, and I prepare to shout the place for him once I spot it.

I wonder how his face looked when he saw some kind of a ghost or zombie in the form of a young girl wandering on the busy road back then. Jeez! I must have scared the hell out of him. Good thing it’s only me he hit.

“Here we are!” He says, turning to the place that I recognize so well, but, wait…

I mask the smile I didn’t know I was exhibiting. He didn’t ask for directions? I don’t remember mentioning this place to him. Sure, I told him about my store but I never mentioned where it was located.

And men, did this place change? The person who bought it did enough justice in beautifying the place, but that doesn’t justify the cruelty he did to me.

“Don’t you want to get out?” My husband asks as he holds the door for me, asking for my hand to lend me some aid.

Too romantic, but I am not complaining.

I come out, still in awe of the beauty of the huge supermarket before me, but hey, if I was in awe of the supermarket, now I am about to conk out from what I am seeing before me.

A newly beautiful petro station! I start to freeze as Jerol get clears the way to give me an explicit view of the shock before me.

The name is inscribed in clear bold and huge letters that only a blind person would miss, but I, with my two eyes and strong vision power, the letters seem so blurry for my sight.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

I blink a couple of times, then drag my eyes from the name to the man beside me, and then I drag my shock back to the name again, connecting the letters one by one to what I presume is written.

R-O-Y-A-L – OIL-AND-GAS!

I would like to believe that I am hallucinating things, that I am reading the name wrong, but the logo! The signature green colour! The slogan, “best quality, right quantity, best service”, is also smiling at me. I can’t be freaking reading and seeing everything wrong, right?

I turn to him, and he is staring at me with a very serious face that I haven’t seen in days.

He was the one who bought this place?

“Now babe, you have the pleasure of slapping that person who destroyed your store, and turned your world upside down.” He says.

No! He is…

“Boss?” A guy disrupts us. This one?! How can I forget this pumpkin head who spoke to me with so much disgust that day, huh? I remember him telling me that they don’t employ women. He thought I was a laborer. “What brings you here so late?” He asks, shaking Jerols’s hand, and ignoring me as if I am as invisible as the dirt he is stepping on.

“Nothing. I’m just taking my wife for some rounds.” Jerol says, holding my hand, and the guy finally notices me.

Maybe I am a dwarf to his tall figure because his grin doesn’t suggest anything like him ignoring me a minute ago.

“Wow! Greetings, Mrs McCall!” He greets me, extending his hand that I shake without saying anything. I am still in shock.

So, this guy caused two tragedies in my life. Two accidents that same day!

“Do you need anything, boss?” He asks after realising I have no intentions of responding to his greetings.

“Nothing. Is everything in order?” Jerol speaks.

“Yes. Everything is okay.” The guy whose name I have not yet gotten nor am I interested to know says.

“Okay. It’s alright then. You can carry on with our work.” Jerol dismisses him, and he turns to me.

“Well? I am waiting for those slaps, and insults, and punches, and…”I reach for him, but not in the way he anticipated. It’s not my slap or my fist that greets his jaw, no! It’s my lips crashing on his, sealing his lips, not even minding where we are, nor the pairs of thousands of eyes watching us.

How can I slap him? Why would I even slap him? I don’t know what orders he had given that day, but I also remember that monkey saying that the person who had rented me the shop disappeared into thin air when they started looking for him. He had built on an illegal property. I remember the words clearly as we dive into this kiss.

If there are scores I need to settle with any freaking guy, it is that idiot that claimed to be the owner of the shop, and this monkey that doesn’t seem to remember me at all.

“That’s not what I expected.” Jerol remarks when we pull away, my face warming up in his arms as I clench onto his shirt.

“Nothing about us was ever expected, right? It’s just one coincidence after another.” I retort.

“Beautiful coincidences.” He grins before adding. “So, you are not mad at me.” He queries.

“Do I have a reason to?” I ask, looking into his eyes.

“I feel, yes.” He responds, sincerely.

I shake my head!

“No, Jerol. Our love has made everything right. But I still feel like flogging that jerk!” I say, and he smiles.

“You have my permission. Trust me, he won’t even have the balls to ask why you did that.” Be says.

Balls, huh? He is getting dirty for the first time.

“Nah, baby! Let’s just go home, my love. We are better off cuddling on our bed other than causing some scandal out here.” Speaking of which. I make the mistake to cruise my eyes around us. “What the…”We snap our eyes at the multitude of people watching us from all corners, some having their cameras on us. How the hell didn’t we see the flashes sooner? Omg! We can’t…

I snap to Jerol leaning to my lips again, making me jerk away a little.

“Jerol…”

“Let’s give them a captivating romantic view?” He whimpers to my lips, crashing his on mine, drawing me to yet another kissing episode.

I can hear the cameras flashing on us, the murmuring and cheers echoing in my ears from all the corners, and also howls from above attesting to this sweet moment – a moment that nothing matters more than this. No voice matters but the voice of the echoes and desires of the heart.