Imperfections Are Ours (Sequel To Perfection Isn't Ours)

Four

Jerome closed his door shut and locked it, then took in the cool morning air of his neighborhood and walked towards where his car was packed. Just as he unlocked his car, his eyes drifted to the occupied house by his with a contemplative look.

The front yard had a brand new looking car parked in front and two florists were attending to the flowers around the house. Then the woman from earlier walked out and stood on her porch, cladded in a bathrobe and holding a steaming tea mug.

"Jerome!" Called a familiar voice from behind him causing him to flinch.

The man furrowed his brows on instinct before spinning around and smiled when he made eye contact with Nora who was grinning from ear to ear and waving happily on the sidewalk.

"Nora?" He said then walked up to her but before he could get closer, she jumped into his arms and squealed while he struggled with her weight. "You're back?"

Nora moved away from him and punched his arm softly.

"We were suppose to stay for a week and it's been a week now, Jerome. Besides, we got in Sunday evening and I see you have a new neighbor," she said and brushed past him to look over at the woman. "She looks sophisticated."

Jerome laughed quietly then wrapped his arm around her shoulder when he stood beside her. He looked down at Nora, taking in her straight red hair, freckled face and shoulders that was exposed due to the white spaghetti strapped silk tank top she wore with a thigh length red suit shorts.

"Are you going to work in that?" He asked, looking down at her exposed thighs. "Is that even proper for your work place?"

Nora turned around in his arm and looked up at him with a smile. She wrapped her arms around his neck and chuckled.

"Just tell me I look good in this outfit, Jerome. And besides, I work at a book making place which-"

"I know what a publication company is," he interjected and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Nora stuck her tongue out and shifted one of her hand to the lock of hair that was now on his forehead and pushed it back into the rest of the blonde hair.

"Well, we have quite a fashionable dress code there. It's attractive and kept colorful," she replied and moved out of his arms when the new neighbor approached them with a wide smile on her face.

"Hi, it's me again," the woman said and stretched out her hand to Jerome who hesitantly shook it before Nora did. "And you must be his girlfriend, I came by yesterday."

They blanched. "What?!"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend."

The woman blinked. "Oh, sorry. I just thought so because you were both holding each other like one. My apologies and please, my name is Twinkle."

"Oh, hi. I am Nora, he's best friend," she said with a pointed aimed at Jerome. "And you must be new."

Twinkle nodded. "Yes, I moved in a week ago."

Jerome looked down when his phone rang in his pocket then smiled at them shortly before grabbing Nora by the upper arm and dragged her to his car.

"I'll be leaving for work now and I am not really comfortable with the way she's acting," he said and Nora giggled.

"You're just taking this rule of ours too much. It's been a whole year ever since we said we should be careful of the people we bring into our lives. She's your neighbor, it's normal, so relax," Nora stated, waved over at Twinkle and walked away.

Jerome shut his eyes for a moment then cautiously looked over his shoulder and winced when he realized that Twinkle was still there, sipping her tea.

"Uh," he turned around. "Bye, I'm heading for work. Later."

With that, he boarded his car and exhaled hard once he was sitting.

 •••       

Mason kept a blank face as he walked through the busy walk way of his work floor. His eyes occasionally glanced from each work stations and nodded mentally when he saw how occupied they were with their duty for the day.

He raised his hand and checked the time on his wristwatch then took a turn into the hallway where his office was situated. Once he got to the door, he looked over to the desk where Elizabeth was suppose to be.

"Where is she?" He asked and got answered when she stepped out of the bathroom down the hall. "Elizabeth?!"

The brunette jumped a little in response then marched up to her boss.

"Yeah?"

"Have you called in my new PA?" He asked and she shook her head. "Why?"

"Well, you said we were going to look at the top three and you'd call me when you do," Elizabeth replied while tying up her hair into a ponytail.

Mason pinched the bridge of his nose and gave out sigh. He pressed his temples and ignored the worried look on Elizabeth's face.

"I was suppose to do that last night but after I spent my time with Ciara, Lex woke up and gave us sleepless night. I was so tired because he was able to sleep until 3am and I slept off. I'm sorry, I'll check it now," he said in a low voice.

Elizabeth placed her hand on his back with a rueful smile.

"Why don't we check it out together, just head into your office and I'll prepare some coffee for you," she said and walked away.

Mason pushed the door to his office and walked into the dim room. He strode to the curtains and pulled it open and narrowed his eyes when some rays of sun hit his face.

Twenty minutes later, the duo were still going through the documents containing the top three applicants. Elizabeth had a foam cup of coffee in her grasp while her glasses stayed glued to her eyes calmly. On the other hand, Mason was the opposite, his hair that had been kempt were now ruffled alongside his tie that now hung down his neck.

"They are just too perfect," he said then looked up at Elizabeth that was too calm for his liking. "And why aren't you saying anything?"

"Well, because I just noticed something in this one, he said before that he worked with one of our sponsors. I just remembered that I have never heard or seen this particular sponsor with any male PA. And everyone of these three applicants, has a statement but he doesn't from this particular sponsor. He only did this to make us feel safe because he supposedly worked for our sponsor," Elizabeth said and dumped the file on the floor.

Mason frowned. "How come I didn't notice that?"

Elizabeth smirked for a few seconds then picked up another file. She adjusted her glasses and leaned back on her chair.

"You're not feeling okay, Mason. You're just stressed from work, that's why. Moving on, applicant number two. She says she worked for some persons who are our competitions, which is true. Her resumé is very excellent, almost flawless but look at this," Elizabeth shifted the documents towards Mason. "Two of her documents are more like a copy and paste. But bare different names. She manipulated them."

Mason immediately threw the file away and shifted his gaze to the last file. He took a hold of it and opened it slowly.

"Twinkle Rudolph," he muttered.

"She's okay. I looked her up and indeed, she worked for those four celebrities. An article even said she was married but never stated if she was divorced or not. And guess what? She lives in our estate, The Deon's housing estate," Elizabeth offered with a demonstrative wave of her hands.

"I find her perfect," Mason said. "All of her bio-data is here, she revealed a lot and these are what we need for the role of a personal assistant. Call her up," he shut the file and pulled out a drawer near his leg where he placed the file in.

"Are you sure?" Elizabeth asked. "And if you hire her, what are the miscellaneous added to her duty as your personal assistant. And, please don't tell me she's going to live in your house?"

Mason pushed his head back in laughter after she had spoken. While he laughed, Elizabeth glared at him with arms crossed under her breast.

"What's so funny?"

Mason held back his laughter and leaned forward. He ran his fingers through his hair then pointed at her like he wanted to say something instead, he laughed again and this time around, Elizabeth picked up a stress ball on his desk and tossed it at his forehead.

"Hey!" He barked and pouted.

"Are you going to tell me why you're laughing because if you don't, there are plenty of things to throw at you," Elizabeth retorted.

"Okay, Elizabeth. I had to laugh because I was wondering how many romance novels you've read that think that every personal assistant gets to live with their boss. Why would you let a stranger you just hired into your f*****g house? Does that make sense? No, Elizabeth. And since she already lives in the estate, there is no need to provide a bachelor housing unit for her but the company can only provide other necessities."

Elizabeth slowly let a smile form on her lips then nodded before rising up on her feet.

"You're right, what kind of romance garbage allows a stranger in their house so easily without having experience of whether she's to be trusted under your roof," Elizabeth added as she made her way to the door. "I'll call her up, right now."