Chapter 9

I woke up to a refreshed and new feeling. It was like the gunk had been washed away. I got up and took a shower. Got ready for whatever the day had to give. I went to get a glass of water, but stood frozen in my tracks. Everyone was still here! By the time I woke up it had to be late in the afternoon and I even took a shower. Oh my gosh I'm in my house clothes. A long baggy pastel blue shirt with white tight fitting booty shorts. I looked at my clothes once more and regretted putting on the shorts with an oversized T-shirt with no bra. I was dressed comfy and my friends were still in my house….this was not foreseen. Luckily for me they all were still asleep. So much for being worried about your kids Janice even you stayed the night. I crept slowly to my kitchen in order not to wake anyone up. Why didn't they go home after I was put to sleep? I open my fridge door to find two opened bottles of rum and juices and sodas that I didn't have before. "Them assholes….they really kept on parting without me." I said out loud, convinced that everyone was knocked out due to intoxication. "So, you're finally up." I looked around to see who just woke up. It was Adam, I should've known. It's like the universe is telling him when the moments he needs to be up or alone with me are. "Why did everyone stay? I mean even Janice….she was most worried about her kids." I asked as I went to grab two empty glasses. "Well, Janice told me you were going to apologize today. Yet, I couldn't hear her quite clearly and asked her to speak up and when she did, everyone heard and decided to stay for the show." Adam scratched his head as he gave me an apologetic smile. I sighed at him knowing that he probably just wanted to hear Janice tell him the news again. "Adam really, then why did I find new beverages in my fridge and opened old ones." I handed Adam a glass of water as I sat down to enjoy mine. "Hehe, you saw that. We didn't want to wait and be bored." Adam took a sip from his cup. I felt increasingly calm as I wrapped my head around the situation. Almost happy that they were all here. I smiled looking at them just slumped on the floor and couch. My house has really turned into somewhat of a home. "You seem happy that they're still here. Are you a Tsundere?" Adam chuckles as he puts his cup down. I was bewildered by his words. "Adam, must you get on my bad side at the start of the day." I spoke through closed teeth. Adam took my hand and looked me in the eye. "I would love to get on all sides of you." My cheeks flushed as I tried to think of a come back for that. I was so flustered I ended up just drinking my water. "You know you're cute when you're flustered." Adam let go of my hand to rest his chin on his hand as he admired me. Again I found myself not able to think. I started choking on my water. "Adam it's not right to bully her, even if she deserves it." Sarah got up. I wanted to ask if she was pretending to sleep before and had heard everything. Sadly, I was too busy choking on my water to talk. "Eh, she's fine if you ask me.It's not like she's trying to jump off the roof." Janice got up chuckling. I was finally able to catch my breath. "ARE ALL OF YOU AWAKE?" I looked at Jake, and Grace who were either pretending to sleep or really asleep. "Jigs up huh." Jake got up. "Truth be told, we all went home but came back. We thought you'd be up by then…." Grace looked down as she realized what she was saying was wrong. "But, I gave them the okay to stay." A voice popped out from a corner closest to my door. It was a blind spot so I wouldn't have known someone was there even when walking out of my room. I got up concerned. Who the hell is here? I walked around maintaining a certain distance. When I was close enough I saw a tall brunette with a slamming body. It was Julie! She was here! But how, when, why? Oh who cares, it's Julie! I ran to her and rammed her down. "I missed you so much." I was on the brick of bursting out into tears upon seeing her. "Lizzy….I'm going to france in just 2 days. I came back to check up on you and ask you to stop having me be followed." Julie pushed me off as she stood back up. "You knew about that huh?" I got up feeling a little embarrassed. "So you guys knew she was here and didn't say anything, especially you Adam." I was trying to reprimand them but I was too happy to follow through with it. "Surprise!" they all said with a smile. For a moment there I felt like my family had grown, and the people here are the ones who made it possible. Julie walked up to me and hugged me. "Looks like you did just fine without me." She smiled and dragged me closer to the group. I couldn't remember why this house wasn't a home before. Everything seemed to fall in place. Adam whipped out the uno cards and Julie went straight for the drinks. "We're celebrating the reunion." She said as she laid out the cups one by one for us. Just like that we started having fun. In the middle of that Adam tapps on my shoulder and asks if he could speak to me alone. I get up and walk outside with Adam. "What's up?" I ask, still in a little playful mood. Adam doesn't talk instead he walks further away from my house. "Adam where are you going?" I follow him all the way to his car. "Get in." Adam was serious. The friendly atmosphere that we just left no longer lingered on me. I got in the car. Once the doors shut Adam began speaking. "Grace, isn't who she says she is." Adam looked at me without breaking eye contact. "What makes you so sure?" I was not ready to believe him. "Last night I dropped everyone off home. Grace left her phone in my car. At first I didn't know who's phone it was. So I checked it. She had gotten a text from one of your executives. Mr.Choi I think that's his name." Adam pulled out his phone and showed me a picture he took of Grace's phone. It included the message she had received. There was a picture of Mr.Choi next to the message. It read "Be sure to report to me in the morning." I didn't want to believe it, but maybe the connections that Grace was being accused of having was true. I mean clearly! She knows Mr.Choi. What was she hiding from me? "Adam, did you tell her you knew about this?" I was now in business mode. "No, I just handed her phone back without saying anything." I looked to Adam with relief. "Good, keep an eye on her. If she really isn't who she said she is, then I will handle her myself. Also don't let anyone else know about this. I don't want them acting differently towards her." Adam nodded letting me know he understood. Seems like when I decide to trust others there's always something I must worry about. Adam leaned in and kissed me while I was deep in thought. I pushed him away and questioned why he would do that. "First, I wanted to kiss you. My bad….second, Grace is staring at us. Don't make it obvious when you look." I looked down, imitating the act of dropping something. Then looked to my front door where I saw Grace looking straight at us. She was standing close to the door and was acting as though she was taking a private phone call. After seeing her I looked at Adam. "How long has she been there?" I ask with fury creeping up from within me. "Just a minute or so." He answers. Since she wants to watch why not give her a show. I grab Adam's face and kiss him. As to Grace's knowledge, Adam and I went out to makeup and makeout. Adam gets more into the kiss as he slides his hand to my face then to the back of my head. I realized too late that he was enjoying this. Yet, I was enjoying it too. I pulled away a bit scared to proceed any further. "Too much?" Adam smiled. I looked back at my front door to see the whole gang out. I put my head down when I saw them clap. Okay Adam may or may not be a genius to use that as a cover up. Or he's horny. After a while Adam and the gang left. This time the person helping me to clean up was Julie. It had been silent since the group left and the silence led me to believe something was wrong. "Hey um," I broke the silence. Julie looks up at me then continues picking up trash. Did she just ignore me? "Julie, are you mad at me?" I start to place the empty cups in the sink. "No, why should I be?" Julie picks up the trash more aggressively. She's mad at me for sure. "Haha, right it's not like I not only stalked you while not calling to check up on you, but even had the gall to not tell you about Adam and me." I joked about it even though I knew that's exactly why she was mad. "Bitch." Julie tied up the garbage bag and set it by the kitchen garbage bin. I froze in place. It was definitely the wrong move to joke about it. "Okay, I get it. I keep messing up with you. First I'll give you a verbal apology, followed by whatever it is that you would like to do to clear my name." I sighed letting her know I was defeated. "Do you even know that Janice has been keeping in contact with me. She told me about you and Adam. Which by the way you told her about." The anger in Julie's voice seeped out as she tried to keep it under control. She put her hands on her waist and started tapping her foot. There it is, Julie's Mother Mode. "I'm sorry, to be honest I was thinking about calling you before I told her." I shrugged as I started washing the dishes. "Thinking about me is not good enough. We're supposed to be sisters. What so you can know all about me by sending spies to follow me, which by the way is illegal. And I'm supposed to be okay with not knowing how you're doing? Does that make sense?" Julie paused to walk up to me to rip me away from my chore. "Why are you so selfish. I finally think for one second that, hey she gets it. She understands that I worry about her constantly and she will keep me updated. Ugh whatever, I'm not even that mad. I asked Janice to basically do the same." She slaps her head and takes a seat. "I guess we love each other in secret." I broke a smile and rested my hand on hers. "Yeah the only difference is mine didn't get caught." Julie finally broke out in laughter. "That's because you're too observant." I followed her lead and laughed. "Well what can I say, it's my job to pay attention to my surroundings." I no longer felt anger oozing out of Julie. I went back to finishing up the one chore left as Julie started telling me stories of her adventure. "Oh you wouldn't believe it. I met so many people there who just wanted to get their pictures taken. Then I stumbled into some bad people. If it weren't for your night guards away from home, I don't know if I would've been able to make it out safely. Spain is beautiful, but there's the other side of it. I'ma call it the dark side. My boss wanted me to capture the reality of all of Spain. I'm not sure if I did, but I sure as hell tried." Julie paused before she continued speaking. It looked like she had seen some things that even she couldn't explain. "Take a deep breath Juls. Remember we didn't exactly have a silver spoon either." I reminded her only to bring her back here wherever her mind was, it didn't leave a pretty face. "Yeah you're right. It's just those kids are gonna grow up not knowing any other way to live. Crime will forever be their best friend." I looked at Julie who was now looking depressed. I brought my thumb and middle finger close to her forehead and flicked her forehead. "Dummy, I have money and power to do something. Let's set up some buildings that are geared towards helping them. It's not much but it's a start." I smiled trying to get Julie to smile. "That's right, my best friend is a multi-million air. SCHOOLS. Let's set up some schools, that way it gives the adults a better way to make money and kids a place to eat and learn to grow. They can have better lives." Julie became hopeful again as she spook. Thinking about this, this is not bad. The kids there get a better chance at a new life and my company would look even better. If this blows up people from not only this country would know about All, but it would be an international thing. That means more business deals, products, and of course more money. "Doing good, is repaid with good." I said as I leaped at the thought of this. "Knowing you and that businessman head of yours, you probably see this as an opportunity to make more money." Julie joked but I got the sense she was serious too. "Julie, you know what this means right? If...no I mean when we go through this not only will it help those people, but it would help my company too. And not to mention you will get a slice of the pie." Julie laughed as she spun me around until we landed on the couch. "You may be book smart, but in terms of being a human being I give you a D-." She let out a big sigh as she regained her balance. "What's that supposed to mean?" I whined as I sat up. "Nevermind that, today I'm gonna sleep over so that way first thing in the morning we can start working." Julie and I have always been a power couple when it came to work. We have an idea, then we work on it. I missed working with her so much, I felt like crying tears of joy. Julie always gets me. The rest of the day went by with planning the building structure of the schools. The schools are going to have dorms so that any kid attending wouldn't have to worry about a place to live. This also implies to the staff. We discussed how to clean up the streets there and put in some policemen there as well. Of course the policemen would consist of both theirs and mine. That way there's a biased and unbiased man in power. "We would need to talk to the mayor before putting this plan in action. After all unless we want war, it would be best to at least get the mayor on board." I interrupted our planning session. "Hmm….that's true. The question is how?" Julie and I began to brainstorm even more. "Why don't we invite him over here and get on his good side." I winked at Julie, when it came to business I always had the upper hand. That and I remembered my father telling me, money can't buy everything….but it sure as hell tries. "That's a great idea alright then I'll come up with the places to take him to and sites for him to see." This is why we work so well together. Julie knows I'm not a people person therefore, my lack of judgement when it came to going out and having fun would be detrimental . So she steps up whenever she can. I look at the time to see that we've been up past midnight. "Wow, we did it again." I smirked as I got up to prepare my bed. "What time is it now?" Julie asked as she followed me into my room. "It's 1:45 am" I grin knowing that we covered the basics of basics for the project. "You know, I really thought it was earlier than that." Julie jumps on my bed as she picks the left side of it. "Tomorrow we need to put our plan in action." I sigh as I take the right side. "Then should I go to Spain tomorrow?" I ask as Julie's eyes open wide as she looked me in the eyes. "Why would you go to Spain? You're not very good with communications. Just send me and a few others and it'll be fine. Also, didn't someone just come out to her company that she's the boss. ~yawn~ They're gonna wanna see you tomorrow. Since I hogged you today." Julie shut her eyes and made herself more comfortable. She's right, my one weakness in business is the most important trait to have. Communications. I'll leave the big deals to her, but I should really get some practice. After all, I need to be on my A-game from now on. I close my eyes and drift off to sleep. I woke up to the sound of Julie talking on the phone. It was morning already. "What, no. Don't do that….no listen to me." I sat up to see why she sounded so distressed. "You know, Jake might as well drop the whole plan right? Oh and by the way tell people about us!" Julie was getting frustrated as she started pacing. When she walked back in my room and saw that I was up, she paused. then hung up the call. "So….you and Jake." I smiled awkwardly letting her know she doesn't need to ask if I heard anything. "Was that all you heard?" Julie looked concerned. I stood up and walked up close to her. "I also heard my morning breath." I joked around with Julie as I blew hot air in her face. "Ugh, gross!" Julie laughed and pushed me to the bathroom. "Go brush your stank breath." Julie smiled as she went to sit down. I brushed my teeth and took a shower. I came out with just a towel on to find Julie talking on the phone again. Only thing is this time she was out in the living room. I walked out my bedroom to find her and let her know the shower's open. Who knows she probably already took a shower. "Ok, I admit I was wrong. But do you honestly think I wont tell her. Jake she's my best friend, what do you think best friends talk about?" Julie was so immersed in the call that she didn't notice me there. She went straight for the fridge to make herself a morning drink. I decided to keep quiet so I wouldn't disturb her. "What! No, don't put the plan into action. You do that and everything I built gets destroyed. Talk to Grace before you do anything stupid." Julie hung up the phone again and finally decided to pay attention to her surroundings. "Jesus Liz! What are you doing here in a towel?" Julie carried the same concerned look on her face, only it was now accompanied by fright. "You knew Grace before the small party?" I asked, looking her straight in the eyes. "Yes, why does that bother you?" Julie looked away as she chugged her drink. I see, even the only person left on this earth that I can trust would want to hide something from me. "Okay, shower's open." I said and got up to leave her side. If Julie doesn't want to tell me she doesn't have to. Although, the fact she has been keeping secrets and I haven't, did bug me. She's not in the wrong. I shouldn't think anything of it. Julie took a shower and got ready for her day. She had said she needed to get the rest of her things ready so she can catch her next flight. I saw her off then decided to go to work. I walked into the building for the first time after coming out. People stopped what they were doing to greet me and even followed me a little. I ignored them and walked over to the fashion department. I wanted to see how the new employees were doing. Also I wanted to speak to Jake. "The chairwoman is here!" I heard as I approached. "Please, just continue to act like before. I'm still an employee of this company." I walk to my old desk that had been cleaned up quite nicely. "Miss, it's almost lunch time….would you like to join me?" A female employee asked me as she put down some papers. I didn't know her. She didn't know me, if not for my identity then she would've never asked. "No, you can eat by yourself. I came to see how my new employees are fitting in." I brush past her and looked around. I didn't see any of the new recruits. I walked into the office in hopes of finding at least one of them. No one was there. I also noticed Adam, and Jake was nowhere to be seen either. I looked intensely at the other employees. "Break room." A male answered me with his head stuck in his own work. "Oh thanks." I walk out of the fashion dep. The break room is located between the two departments, this allows people to mingle and be friendly with everyone. It's a slightly big room enough to hold a class of 40 kids. I used to go there when I wanted coffee or a bagel. When I reached the break room I found the 4 new employees along with Adam and Jake just laughing and chatting. As if I was paying them to do that. I stood there patiently waiting to be noticed. "Lizzy!" Jake cried out once he saw me. The rest stood frozen in their place. "Please continue. After all I wouldn't want to actually pay you all." I was peeved, I leave for 2 days and already they're slacking off. "No we were just getting to know the new guys and showing them around a bit. That's all." Jake was doing all the talking. "Jake, you only have a couple of months left before your safety period ends right? Adam, aren't you just an intern? And the four of you….do you think you got the same deal as Jake here?" I reminded them of their positions. "Also at work don't call me Lizzy or Liz anymore. It seems I've gotten too friendly with you guys. All of you get back to work. Except you, Jake I need to talk to you." I watched and waited for the rest to leave. I was careless when it came to making friends. Of course they're gonna slack off, who would dare tell them not to when they're friends with the man in charge. "Yes Elizabeth." Jake frowned. I sat down in front of him. "Don't get sassy with me, you're the one who forgot that I'm your boss. What matters now is when have you started dating Julie?" My eyes sparkled as I leaned in to hear him better. "Dating? I'm not dating Julie. What are….I mean I am dating her. Before she left we made it official. Yep, official." I carried a blank expression on my face. Is he taking me for a fool? If they weren't dating then what was that phone call about? "Okay, okay. That's all I wanted to know. I'm coming back at the end of the day to finish off any work that needs me to look over it. I'll be checking the cameras too. Bye Jake." I got up and walked away. What is it that They're hiding?