Accidentally yours

The first encounter

“She’s such a slut,no wonder she gets to star in popular movies and shows”

“I hate you Christine, I hope you die a lonely death!”

“Serves her right, I never liked her from the start”

“Is she trying to seduce our dear Mark? What kind of outfit is that”

“She must be jealous because Mark chose Penelope over her, disgusting!”

Christine stared blankly at the hate comments, she could not understand how people could praise a person in one day and crucify the same person the next day. She has gotten used to being called a slut since that is what Penelope makes her out to be,giving her slutty and revealing clothes to wear just to make sure she never feels comfortable. But what? Seduce their dear Mark? She laughed, if only they know who their dear Mark truly is.

The elevator door chimed and she got in still lost in her own world

“Ma’am, you can't use this elevator” a soft male voice brought her back to reality

“Oh, why is that?” she asked absentmindedly, Jim pointed at the notice with a bold inscription “ FOR EXECUTIVES ONLY” pasted on the elevator wall

“I’m so sorry, I did not see that” she made to leave, but a deep voice stopped her dead in her tracks

“It's fine, you can stay” she turned abruptly in the direction of the voice, she had not noticed the second man in the elevator until now

“Tha…..thank you” she stammered, the domineering presence of this man in a mask had left her utterly speechless. She retired to the far end of the elevator, afraid to make a sound. She has not been this terrified of a person’s presence in her entire twenty four years of existence. It felt like forever before the elevator finally got to the third floor, she scurried away as soon as the elevator door opened.

Getting to the enclosed conference room, she met Penelope sitting on Mark’s laps,her head buried on his face, she could hear the loud sound of their smacking lips, she froze, her hand still on the door knob, this is something she could never get used to, it was not her first time seeing them in that position, but it tore her heart to pieces everytime, she knows Mark is just using Penelope because of her family’s wealth, he had left her for Penelope when he realized she was not what he wanted, but, she couldt not warn Penelope of the imminent danger because she would never believe her.

“Pen….Penelope,I’m here now” she stammered, trying hard to mask the sadness and disgust she felt

Penelope and Mark ignored her, making her stand and watch them make out. When they were done, Mark stood up to leave,briefly stopping beside Christine to whisper in her ears

“I know you miss me, but I’m in a better place” he smirked and left the room

Christine’s stomach churned at the sound of his voice and the feeling of his breath against her ears,she could feel the dirtiness on her finger tips, she quickly rubbed her ears with her hands in a bid to erase the feeling of his breath against it.

SMACK! The sound of penelope’s fingers against her cheeks made her stagger, the stinging pain that followed brought tears to her eyes, she did not know what to feel at that moment, she had been unprepared for that

“I gave you a minute, how dare you keep me waiting” Penelope fired “I don’t pay you to be this lousy” she added, folding her arms

“I’m sorry, the elevator was slow” Christine answered, forcing herself to remain calm

“What? Is that your excuse? What happened to the stairs?” she asked fuming

“I would have had to go down fifteen flights if I had taken the stairs” Christine responded getting irritated

SMACK!, it came again, this time heavier than the last, she could feel the rusty taste of blood in her mouth. She was sure this bruise would be harder to treat than the last one

“Did you just talk back at me?” Penelope asked, her voice indicating the disgust and irritation she felt

“You should be grateful my family gave you a second chance to repay your debts, they should have left you to spend your miserable life rotting away in prison!”

Every word that left Penelope’s lips felt like a fresh wound to her already shattered heart, she would give anything, just to undo what happened that night five years ago.

“This is your schedule for tomorrow, don’t be late” Penelope threw a sheet of paper containing a long list of activities and headed for the door

“Also, Mark and I would be having dinner at the restaurant downstairs, you should join us” she added with a smirk and shut the door.

Christine sunk into the conference chair beside her, her legs felt like jelly, she still could not process what had just happened, her cheek still stings from the slap she had received from Penelope. She could not hold it in anymore, tears rolled down her cheeks freely,intensifying the pain from the slap. She gently dabbed on her cheeks in a bid to soothe the burning pain.

DING DING, her phone buzzed. She checked it and saw it was a message from Penelope

“Are you not coming??? Mark is waiting!!!”

She ran her hands through her hair and cursed under her breath, looking through her purse, she brought out her make-up and gently covered up the red marks on her cheek. When she was satisfied she looked better than she did earlier, she stood up and headed downstairs.

At the restaurant, Penelope and Mark are already seated waiting for their meal, chatting and laughing away heartily. Christine joined them at the table, just as she was about to sit, Mark asked in disgust

“Who said you could join us?”

“Come on babe, this is a public place filled with disguised reporters,let the peasant sit at our table just for today, mm?” Penelope said casually waving her hands

“Anything for you my princess”Mark smiled playfully pinching the tip of Penelope’s nose

Christine bit her lips and sat down quietly, not wanting to cause anymore trouble,she picked up the restaurant menu on the table to look through it. She was not really about to eat at the same table with the two people she wished to discard from her life at the moment, but, she wanted something to do to take her mind off things for a bit

“I know you are slow and dumb sometimes, but you should be smart enough to know I did not call you here to eat with us” Penelope blurted

Christine raised her brows in confusion

“You are here to watch us eat, stupid” Penelope laughed while holding up her wine glass to the waiter who had just arrived to refill her cup

“Is that not Christine Washington?” “yes, that is her” “Oh my gosh!,she looks more gorgeous in person than on tv!” “I know right?, I wonder why people hate her so much, she is so beautiful and talented”

They could hear the people in the restaurant whispering excitedly about how gorgeous and talented Christine is. Irritated by the praises and admiration Christine is getting, Penelope looked around the restaurant for prying eyes, when she noticed no one is paying attention to her, she quietly put her leg out causing the waiter to stumble on it

SPLASH!!,Christine jumped from her seat, shocked and surprised at the sudden feel of the cold wine against her skin, cameras started to click around the restaurant, the people were anticipating her next move

“I’m so sorry ma’am, it…it was an accident I swear” the poor waiter begged, afraid to lose his job

Christine sensing what had happened, took the the napkin the waiter offered and tried to clean the wine off her skin

“It's okay, I'm fine,you can go now” she said softly to the waiter.

“Thank you so much ma’am” the waiter said and scurried away in fear

“You see? She's so kind” a stranger whispered in the distance. Penelope getting even more irritated at the comments got up and went to Christine,placing her left hand gently at the back of her neck and using the other hand to pretend to help her clean off the wine

“Don't you dare make a sound” she whispered between her teeth, faking a smile incase she got caught on camera

“Mmh” Christine winced silently in pain at the impact of Penelope's fingers twisting her skin

“You are just a nobody, you hear me? a bloody murderer, you wouldn’t be here if not for my family. Don’t try to bite more than you can chew, cos I will make sure you regret it, you slut” Penelope whispered into her ears while still twisting even more the skin behind Christine’s neck

Christine not being able to endure the heart wrenching pain any longer, wriggled herself out of Penelope’s hold

“Thanks for your help Penelope, i'm good now” Christine said forcing a smile

“Oh, it's nothing. I’m still your manager after all” Penelope replied sitting back down

“If you both will excuse me, I'll be in the restroom” she quickly headed for the bathroom amidst the camera clicks and the lustful and admiring eyes of people in the restaurant.