Love At Last

SECRETS

It was a few days to the grand opening of my new shop. Everyone was pretty excited to move to a new environment and I was in fact the most excited.

My ever loving boyfriend spiked my excitement when he informed me of the party he was hosting and for a fact, I was going to be the celebrant of the day. That morning, I received his package – it was a complete outfit he handpicked for me to wear to the party later that evening. The outfit included a dress for starters, jewelries, a purse and a pair of heels. I felt really loved and cared for and wondered what I ever did to deserve a man like Cayden.

I immediately called him to express my heartfelt appreciation for his kind gesture.

“My love,” he called out over the phone.

“I got the package, Cayden. Thank you so much,” I stressed the ‘so much’ with so much warmth and feeling protruding from my voice.

“You don’t need to thank me, honey. Just try out every thing out tell me what you think.”

“Won’t it be better to see for yourself at the party?”

“I don’t like suspense, you know?”

“Well I do. Suspense adds spice to everything,” I blurted jovially.

“Fine! Be sure to be on time , okay? You can’t be late for your own party.”

“Sure. Thank you so much once again. I really appreciate,” I expressed my gratitude once more.

“Instead of telling me thank you, tell me you love me instead,” he teased.

“Fine! I love you.”

“I love you more. See you at the party.”

“Definitely! Bye,”

“Bye.” I hung up.

It’s party time! I got to the venue of the party – wearing my red sleeveless, long flowing gown, my silver shoes, and holding to me, my silver purse embellished with pure diamonds, my neck and ears adorned with pure gold jewelries – in a special ride Cayden prepared for me. The venue for the party was a rented garden in a five-star hotel in Nedford.

Arriving the venue as the celebrant, I made a grand entrance of which I wasn’t such a fan of as I like to always roam behind the scenes. Knowing the kind of person Cayden was, I decided to live the moment, beaming with smiles as everyone greeted me cheerfully.

“You look alluring,” Cayden whispered into my ear while I was still responding to kind gestures by either nodding, waving or just smiling.

“I do?” I turned to look at him.

“You sure do, missy. I never knew this dress will refurbish your natural endowments in this manner,” he flirted and had me blushing real hard.

“Hey celebrant,” Jarod called out to me as he approached us.

“Jarod!” I exclaimed excitedly and hugged him. “Good to see you. I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

“Of course I’d be here. Or have you forgotten I’m a shareholder in this great empire.” We all laughed.

“Good to see you, man,” Cayden chipped in.

“Good to see you too. I have high hopes for the party tonight. Can we get started already?” he sounded enthusiastically.

I locked arms with Cayden – who was dressed in a black tuxedo as usual; Looked like he had a thing for that brand of suits – as we made our way to our seat.

“Can we make some noise?!!!!” the MC – Jarod – got the party rolling.

Following the arrangements of the party, there were servers who walked around randomly with trays having cups of red wine on them, wearing aprons around their waists. There was of course loud chattering from every corner of the party, coupled with the mild music that could be heard from the sound system. Alcohol of course was a given; some tables had just alcohol laying all over.

I and Cayden, while enjoying the view chattered, giggled and laughed within ourselves. I was having a lovely time with my man.

It was now time for the guests to give their remarks seeing how random people took the mic to say something.

“It’s happy occasion today!” the man who seemed a little tipsy took the mic from the MC. “Mr. Cayden?” he turned to where we sat, “this is indeed a happy occasion.” We smiled. “And as for the celebrant, I must commend her audaciousness and admirable quality…,” he commended, making me smile sheepishly, “seeing how she’s able to make something out of her life despite throwing away her life as a rich heiress…,” he blurted and the smile I had on my face instantly faded. Cayden turned to look at me with awe written allover him.

“What’s he saying?” He whispered.

I watched Jarod hastily and discreetly usher the man out, denying him the chance to speak further.

“Lily I asked you a question. What was he talking about?” he glared at me.

“It was obvious he was tipsy. Don’t take it to heart.”

“If that’s the case, why did Jarod usher him out like that?” he asked with a lot of doubt in his tone.

“Just let it be, okay?”

“Lily I thought we no longer had secrets between us.”

“What are you saying?”

“It’s obvious that man knows something about you that I don’t . Were you a rich heiress?” he sounded a bit upset.

“I’ve told you Cayden. It’s nothing like that. That man was talking all gibberish back there. There are no more secrets to be told,” I lied, discreetly avoiding his intense stare

“If that’s the case, why can’t you look me in the eye and say it? You’re lying to me right now, aren’t you?”

I looked him directly in the eye this time and said: “There are no more secrets to be shared. Happy now?”

“You’re certain you’re not hiding anything more from me?” with traces of doubt in his eyes, he asked.

“Absolutely,” I affirmed strongly.

“If you say so,” he redirected his gaze back on stage.

*NEW YORK*

*MR. STEVE’S POV*

*Knock knock*, a knock came on my door in my office. It was my secretary who came to provide me with the progress the investigation on Cayden assumed.

“Good day sir,” she greeted.

“Good morning. Anything new?”

“Yes sir. Please take a look at this,” she gave me an envelope.

“What’s this?” I asked and opened it; turned out the contents of the envelope were pictures. “Whose are these?” I asked, taking a look at them.

“Miss Eliana, sir.”

“Eliana?”

“Yes sir. The lady said to be carrying Cayden’s child. She lives alone in a condo in Stowe.”

“She’s indeed pregnant!”

“Yes sir. I sent her bank notes to your email sir.”

“Her bank notes?”

“Yes sir. Mr. Cayden has been providing her with financial support.”

“That must have been the deal they struck that made her leave Nedford.”

“Probably, sir.”

“Okay, thank you so much. You can go now?” I excused her.

I immediately turned to my system to check my mail box for Miss Eliana’s bank statements that my secretary sent to me and confirmed her claims.

I felt utterly disappointed in Cayden as I really didn’t expect him to behave that way but I didn’t think to call him. Despite the fact that he was my employee, getting a lady pregnant had to do with his personal life but still, I could not bring myself to turn a blind eye. I called my secretary back in and asked her to discreetly make plans for me to pay Cayden a surprise visit in Nedford.

*NEDFORD*

*LILY’S POV*

It’s been days since the opening party of my new shop. Everything went pretty well back to normal; Cayden didn’t bug me again concerning the drunk man fiasco that occurred at the party.

“While I was making lunch for Jacek, my phone rang. I picked it up and realized that it was Cayden calling.

“Hello dear,” I smiled.

“Hello Lily, how’re you doing?” he inquired with concern.

“I’m good and you?”

“I’m doing just great.”

“Are you free later tonight? I made reservations for us to have dinner together,” he proposed.

I instantly thought it was the perfect idea that would provide me the perfect opportunity to ask Cayden all the questions I had for him.

“Sure, why not?” I concurred strongly. There was no way I was going to throw the golden opportunity presented before me under the bus.

“Really?” He sounded overjoyed.

“Absolutely!”

“Alright then, I’ll text you the details right away.”

“No issues. I love you,” I replied cheerfully.

“I love you more.”

“See you at dinner.”

“Surly looking forward to it with you. Bye.”

“Bye.”Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.