Bonded love.
1400 Words
Brendan dipped his hands into his pocket and brought out the drugs he used to treat his heart disease.
Stephanie looked at the drugs and asked, "What drug is that?"
Brendan paused for three seconds. Fear flickered across his face as tension gripped him. If he told Stephanie what he was suffering from, she might run away from him.
"Tell me, what is it? You can trust me," Stephanie said. Her gaze remained fixed on him.
He took a deep breath and broke the silence. "I have a heart disease, and my doctor told me that if I do this operation, I might not survive it."
"Heart disease? You will survive it, and I will forever be with you," she said as she slowly used her hands to cup his cheeks.
Hope flickered in Brendan's eyes.
"Thanks," he said.
"I will be with you on the day of the operation. I will not leave you," Stephanie replied as she gently rubbed his chest.
"You are a good woman, Stephanie." He felt the waves of ecstasy and cold comfort coming from Stephanie's soft hand on his chest.
"Can we go on a date this weekend?" Brendan asked as he held her hands.
She chuckled and said, "Yes, but we will be going to the restaurant."
"Alright," he said. He took a deep breath and continued, "Almost everyone in this company now says good things about you. I am so proud of you."
She smiled modestly.
"I know. I will make the company great."
"Alright, I will increase your salary to one hundred thousand dollars every month, because you have made my Company to grow in size," Brendan said.
Stephanie was speechless with shock.
"Thank you, darling. I will be going now," she said as she wrapped her hands around him.
As Stephanie was about to walk out of the office, she heard the sound of footsteps running away from the door. Someone had been listening to their conversation.
"Who is that?" Stephanie shouted.
But the person had already run away.
"Stephanie, who is that?" Brendan asked.
"I don't know. I only heard the footsteps of someone running away," she replied.
"Someone is watching us. We need to be careful," Brendan replied.
At Stephanie's former plastic manufacturing company, Melinda, Juliet, Jennifer, James, and Matthew had already begun to rule. Things had become very bad.
Workers were treated badly. Salaries were delayed, workers were sacked for little mistakes, and some company funds had begun to go missing.
That afternoon, a staff member named Fred began to complain.
"I miss Stephanie. She was the best manager," he said.
"Yes, you are right. Stephanie is a qualified leader, but these ones are thieves," Alfred replied.
"They are so inexperienced in what they do, especially James and Melinda," another staff member named Jolie said.
"Of course, it won't surprise you because they stole the company," Fred replied.
As they were discussing in the company corridor, Melinda and James opened one of the doors as they were about to leave for the day.
They had overheard the entire conversation. The words struck them like a blow to the chest.
The workers turned in shock as they saw Melinda and James standing there. The corridor fell silent.
"Good afternoon, sir," everyone greeted James.
"Good afternoon, ma," they also greeted Melinda.
Melinda and James looked at them with distrust.
"You all should get back to work, and anyone I see here gossiping again will be sacked," James said.
"Okay, sir," they all replied before returning to work.
That evening, everyone gathered at Jennifer's house to celebrate the company's twenty-fifth anniversary. Juliet, James, Sharon, Melinda, and Melinda's sisters were all present.
Food had been prepared, drinks were ready, and a beautiful cake sat at the center of the celebration. Everyone was in the mood to party.
Suddenly, Juliet's phone rang. She slipped her hand into her bag and brought out her phone.
When she saw that the caller was Layla, she assumed it was about the anniversary. Instead, the call brought something entirely different.
She answered the call.
"You need to see how Stephanie and Brendan are becoming closer in their relationship," Layla said.
Juliet's smile vanished.
"I don't think Brendan can continue with this nonsense. My daughter Sharon has a child for him," Juliet replied.
"Yes, he can't. Brendan has promised to buy Stephanie a mansion and a car," Layla said.
Juliet felt as though the words had struck her across the face.
"A...a mansion and a car?" she stammered.
"Yes. You have to do something really fast because if you don't, then Stephanie will gain power and come against us," Layla said.
"Brendan will surely be stopped. I just spoke to his mom. She said she has always wanted Brendan to marry Sharon," Juliet replied.
"That's good. That means his mom is supporting us," Layla said.
"Yes. His mom is my childhood friend, and she loves my daughters so much," Juliet replied.
"Wow, this is good news."
"Yes. His mom and his dad were the ones who insisted that Brendan should marry Sharon, but Brendan refused," Juliet replied.
"What? Does that mean Brendan has finally rejected Sharon?" Layla asked.
"No. Brendan only did that because his parents have traveled. When they come back, he will rethink and make the right choice by force," Juliet replied.
Juliet and Melinda wanted Sharon to go back to dating Brendan because they wanted his money, and they did not want Stephanie to gain power through Brendan.
Brendan's mom, Seraphina, loved Sharon from childhood, and she had been deceived by Juliet into believing that Stephanie was evil and was born out of wedlock from another man, not from Princely, who was her late billionaire father.
This would make it difficult for Brendan to decide whom he would marry.
"Alright, we must stop them because when I peeped through their office door, they were hugging each other," Layla said.
"Okay," Juliet replied as she ended the call and held her phone tightly.
"Mom, what is it?" Melinda asked.
"Brendan wants to buy her a car and a mansion," Juliet replied.
Silence spread across the room.
James now realized that Stephanie was a woman of high quality and beauty.
Melinda realized that despite her wicked plans to steal everything that belonged to Stephanie, Stephanie was still better than her. The realization cut deeply.
"I can't let this happen, Mom. I will go to his company with my son Benjamin to let him know that the child belongs to him," Sharon replied as she folded her hands.
Sharon's words pained Melinda because she had also loved Brendan in the past. She wished she were still dating him.
"I can't believe the same Stephanie who was driven out of this house is about to get a car and a mansion," Jennifer said as she rest her body on the wall.
"Please, I want to get to my room to think," James said as regret gradually consumed him. He finally realized how important Stephanie had been. He avoid looking at Melinda.
The woman whose value, worth, and quality he had failed to recognize was now being cherished by a billionaire who had once been his friend.
As James was leaving, Melinda said, "Where are you going? We are supposed to be celebrating."
"Leave me alone," he replied.
James entered the room and shut the door behind him.
Melinda took a deep breath.
Juliet looked at her. "What is it, Melinda?"
"James' attitude is gradually changing," she said after a brief pause. "Ever since he heard that Stephanie is dating Brendan, he hardly gives me any attention."
"Don't worry. He will come back to his senses when I take Brendan back from Stephanie," Sharon said.
"You are right. Stephanie can't get away with this," Clara added.
That same evening, James secretly looked at Stephanie's recent picture on social media. She was standing beside Brendan, and he had his arm around her.
Stephanie's beauty had manifested like a diamond.
The way Brendan held Stephanie by the waist and smiled at her made James bleed with regret. Their romantic posture revealed that they were about to kiss.
He opened his messaging app and typed a message to Stephanie.
"I am sorry for my past mistakes. You are my sunshine. Come back to me."
A few moments later, Stephanie replied with a devastating text message that was about to tear James apart.
- Writer
