Secret Love

CHAPTER3

Julia rose with the sun,lifting herself from the empty bed, a patch of warmth where she laid quickly evaporating into the morning air.

The knot of anxiety taking up near permanent residence in her stomach had to be loosened, undone before the rest of the world awakens and can see its presence too clearly.

She got out of bed, checked the time. It was ten minutes past six. She moved to the window,taking in the morning breeze.

"What a beautiful morning it is!!!" Letting out a calm sigh,she quickly rushed into the bathroom to get ready for the day.

"Good morning everyone." With excitement ringing in her voice she greeted Aunt Miranda and Rebekah.

"Someone is excited this morning. How'd you sleep?" Aunt Miranda asked her as she set down all the dishes to be taken to the dining hall.

Greg and his mother were already seated as they served the dishes.

"Good morning ma'am, Good morning sir." Julia walked slowly as she set down the dishes.

"Good morning mum" That familiar voice ringing in her head,Julia looked up enough to catch a quick glimpse of Reid.

"You are in a hurry again. At least have breakfast, we missed you for dinner yesterday." His mum said, trying to convince him to eat.

"I have an important meeting today and I should be on my way already. Love you mum." he placed a hurried kiss on her forehead and hurried off.

His expensive fragrance still lingering in the air minutes after he had left. Unlike dinner, the breakfast was quite fast and soon afterwards lulia was clearing out the table.

"Julia,l need you to take this to Reid at the office. He seemed to have forgotten it last night in the kitchen and he needs it for his meeting." Aunt Julia said as she handed over a file to Julia.

"uhm I don't think I understand." Staring confusedly as she collected the file from Aunt Miranda.

"It will take longer to have someone come down to take it to him,James here will take you there. Now hurry."

Without much further questions or protest,Julia took off her apron and moved as James led the way to the car.

Julia looked out the car to find hundreds of cars in front of them, the kind of traffic that wasn't needed that morning due to the urgency at hand.

"Isn't there any route we can take,because this traffic is really heavy." Still looking out of the rolled down window she said.

"Once this clears a little, I will take a different route." James said as he equally was nervous about the situation of the traffic.

Tapping on her lap, she bit hard on her lips as she rolled her eyes nervously.

It took about an hour to get to the company,Julia didn't even get the time to ravel at the wholesome sight before her. She rushed out of the car running straight for the entrance.

"Is that for Mr Reid?" A man in his 50s said as he approached her.

"Oh yes it is." She handed it over to him and watched as he rushed off hurriedly without uttering a word more to her.

Only now was she able to take in the sight before her. There was a familiar fragrance in the air which she noticed.

The fragrance of hard work and dedication, there was a huge round table at a corner,she collected herself and walked to the table.

She didn't know whether to leave or wait.

"Would Reid want to see me?" she pondered, a little smile breaking from the side of her lips as she looked down at the little bag she was holding.

Aunt Matilda had packed her a box of breakfast to handover to him as he had missed breakfast. Still sitting, she contemplated how much longer she would have to wait for, when shortly the man who had collected the file from her appeared with Reid and some men.

"Are you still here?" He asked with surprise as he saw her sitting there. He quickly excused himself and rushed to meet her.

"I had to give him this lunch box, l didn't know how long to wait or if I could have dropped this off for him." Her eyes still fixed at Reid,as his company shook hands with him before leaving.

"I don't think he would want that,l have to hurry back to him now" He said and rushed off, not collecting the lunch bag from him.

Julia, not understanding why Reid would not want to eat the food he eats at home, rushed after them.

"Sir Reid Sir Reid" She shouted as she ran to catch up with him before he got into the black Mercedes Benz being held open for him to get in.

"Miss who are you?" The driver moved forward to stop her from getting any closer.

"Sir?" With a voice almost like she was begging for him to pay attention to her.

It worked as Reid turned back to look at her

"Let her through." His right hand in his pocket,he definitely had this thing about his gaze.

Julia paused for a little while as she stood right in front of him,seeing him in close proximity with natural light, she could finally notice every feature he had.

His deep blue eyes looked almost as if he was sizing her up, his sharp jawline, long lashes,broad shoulders, thick brown hair.

Julia was so lost in her assessment of his physical features.

"I do not have all day here" He curtly said, cutting into her thoughts.

"Oh I brought breakfast for you and he just wouldn't take it from me." she said to him. She was not sure what expression he had on but it didn't look pleasing.

" Do you think I really have the time to eat breakfast?" He gestured to the driver to open the door for him to get in

"But sir." Julia wasn't done talking when he cut her short.

"You know what, get in!! Hand her the tab." He commanded the other man who seemed like an assistant to him.

"But sir" he tried protesting but wasn't given the audience. He reluctantly gave the tab to her and whispered into her ears.

"Good luck to you"

All Julia wanted was for him to at least have breakfast,she knew he had skipped dinner the previous day and breakfast that morning.

She was hesitating when the driver nudged her into the front seat.

Something about how tense the air became, told her that she had messed up. She got In the front seat and just kept looking clueless.

"What is my schedule for the morning?" He said sharply, his eyes fixed on his phone.

"Sir?" Julia asked not understanding why he was asking her that.

"If you mess up my schedule for the day,you are fired." He said with his eyes still locked on his phone.

She had just gotten the job and in no way would she lose it over a petty reason as caring for her boss. She picked up the tablet and turned it on.

As she had once worked as a personal assistant and a secretary she knew right away what to do.

"Sir, you have a meeting with Mr Richard Brown of SKY CASTLE at CLASSIC HOTELS. We are running a little late sir." She said in the most calm voice, despite being really nervous about messing up.

She knew he was running late because she had probably taken up some of his time when she stopped him earlier.

The ride to the hotel was quiet but short. Thankfully there was no traffic on the way and they were just minutes late. On arriving, she got out of the car, took a deep breath and opened the door for him.

She looked down to see sweat forming on her palm,indicating that she was very nervous about the whole thing.

On the ride to the hotel,she had quickly made research on the person he would be meeting up with.

She was lucky that the tab had detailed information on the meeting, the wing it would be held. She collected herself and calmly led the way.

That day was the perfect day to say she was extremely lucky.

She had spotted Mr Richard Brown the moment they got to the wing.

"Mr Richard Brown"she said as they moved closer to the table.

The man stood up as he broke into a huge smile.

"Reid." He said completely ignoring that she was there or that she had called out to him.

"Richie." They both exchanged pleasantries as Julia stood watching. She wasn't sure what to make of the whole situation.

"I placed an order already as I was waiting." Richard made a gesture to a waitress on standby and soon after food was served.

Richard Brown was quite the opposite of Reid. While Reid had sharp features,Richard looked like he would die of starvation if he didn't eat for an hour.

"Who is the tacky looking young lady, another charity case." Richard said as he stuffed his mouth with the croissant that had been served. Julia heard him say that but waited to hear Reid's response to that.

"Just somebody you shouldn't bother yourself with. Julia, you can go wait in the car." he waved his hand dismissively.

Julia wasn't sure which hurt her feelings more, Reid dismissing her rudely or treating her like she wasn't a human with feelings.

"I guess that is how all billionaires are." she gritted her teeth as she held on tightly to the tab,smiled and walked away.

She hadn't had anything to eat either and her stomach wouldn't stop reminding her that she needed to eat. She was still standing by the car when Reid came walking out 2 hours later.

She held the door open for him and he went in,outside meeting Richard Brown,Julia had not seen him smile even a little bit before.

Who is to say the smile back then wasn't fake.

"Sir, on your schedule here you have to meet with Morell's representative at the office." aside from the loud gurgling from her stomach,she was doing fine with the anxiety.

She was expecting some sort of reply from him but got none.

She took that as her cue to keep quiet and enjoy the ride back to the company.

Thankfully the bald headed man she had met in the morning, was waiting outside the company on their arrival. She let out a huge sigh of relief as she didn't know how to carry on from there.

"I'm surprised you made it back to the company." The bald headed man said on their way to his office.

"I barely made it back. I'm Julia by the way." Julia took out a hand out for a handshake In which the man rejected as he looked at her strangely.

She looked down to see that she was holding tightly to the breakfast she had brought for Reid earlier that morning. She didn't even realize she had grabbed it as she got out of the car.

"I'm Anders." He said after a little pause.

"Mr Gregory is up in your office waiting for you." Anders said as soon as they were in the elevator.

All through the walk to his office, Reid remained silent. He only returned every greeting with a curt smile. It was almost more like a "Do not bother me" smile.

"Brother!!!!" Gregory said excitedly as soon as they walked into the office.

"We missed you this morning for breakfast.

Wait hold ....Wait hold

up, what is she doing here?" he said pointing at Julia.

"Isn't she the new help in the house, how come she is here with you." He asked as his first question went unanswered.

"Well meet my new P.A interim." He said as he took his seat.

"You must be joking right?" Greg laughed off his brother as he brought out a wine and two glasses from a cellar in the office.

"It is still too early for a drink,I'm sure you are aware of that."Reid said as he sat on his chair.

"Well that is why this isn't an alcoholic wine." He popped open the wine and poured it into the cups. Reid took a sip of it and placed it down and then looked over to Julia.

"Seeing as you are still holding on to that,l would advise you toss it out, trash it or do what you want with it but get it out of my office this instant." He took another sip of the wine and stood as he went up to the window.

"Yes sir." Julia was glad to finally be excused out of the room.

She clearly felt out of place as she didn't know what to do other than stand hopelessly.

"How did you have her to be here this early working for you, l mean what happened?" Greg definitely wanted all the tea.

Reid wasn't someone who would take interest in a poor young woman and go as far as making her his P.A interim.

"I was going to fire her for taking up my time earlier today but she held out just fine." He said, still looking all curt.

"Sir, you are done for the day. You can head home now." Julia said, checking the time. It was 9:30pm,the only thing she had eaten the whole day was the breakfast she had brought in the morning.

The walk to the car was as quiet as it had been all day,she held the door open for him and as she shut it after he had gotten in, she let out a heavy sigh of relief as she was finally going home.

"Julia!!!!" Aunt Miranda said as they walked into the house.

Almost as if she could guess what happened,she moved to Reid.

"I hope you have zero plans of skipping dinner again, your mum already had dinner and is up in her room. I will have the table set at 10,so go freshen up and come down for dinner.

"Okay Aunt." He said and walked away.

"Oh my baby!!, you look beat." she drew Julia in as she led her away.

Finally having that shower helped cool Julia's nerves. Before she could have her dinner, she had to make sure that Reid had had to wait till Reid had, had his dinner already.

An hour later,she pulled the sheets from her and walked straight to the kitchen.

"Oh I'm sorry sir,l only came to grab something to eat." Julia was surprised to find Reid sitting in the kitchen with a bottle of wine in his hand.

He still maintained his silence as she fixed herself something to eat. She paused on her way on her way out as she turned back.

He still maintained his silence as she fixed herself something to eat. She paused on her way on her way out as she turned back to face him.

"Sorry to intrude sir,but are you okay?" She asked him.

Something about him just felt really sad and empty. It was the second time she would catch him sitting alone in the dark in the kitchen.

"Sure but it's you who won't be if you are late tomorrow." He drank the rest of his wine and stood to leave.

"I don't understand sir." Julia was puzzled as to what he meant by that.

"Didn't you hear me say you were my P.A interim earlier today, you start officially tomorrow." he didn't let her digest what he had just said and walked away.

Excitement couldn't quite explain the emotion Julia was feeling at that point,how did she go from a house help one minute to a personal assistant the next. Moving to California was definitely the best decision she had ever made.