It Started With A Contract

The department was louder than before as male and female staff discussed her husband. She was mortified as Susie broke down into a commentary about his looks.

Bile rose to her throat and she forced herself to take a sip of water from her flask. One of the rules of their firm was this: No inter-staff relationship. It was forbidden and highly frowned upon, so most of what they were saying would only happen in their dreams.

Still, their thoughts nauseated her. She wasn’t breaking the rules by being married to the boss but she felt like a criminal as she listened to them ogle him and try to picture him without a shirt. He was her husband and she hadn’t even seen him shirtless yet.

Susie was the loudest of the gossipers, her comment about Kelvin’s lips bothered her and she scowled at their backs when they laughed at her remark. Her cheeks warmed when she remembered their near kiss from this morning. Kelvin was perfect as he was.

Lily dragged a seat close to her, Sarah’s instructions seemed to have flown out of the window with this new development. “Have you seen the picture?”

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Just yeah?” She nodded. If she spoke too much, she might lose her temper. “That man is freaking hot. I want to do him,” Lily said with a laugh that died down when Leila didn’t join her. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Sorry. Don’t feel so good.”

Lily’s face contorted in concern, she placed a hand on Leila’s back and pressed the back of her palm to her forehead. “Have you taken anything for it?”

“Not yet.” She counted to five before speaking again. How could she take anything when the sickness wasn’t real? “It just started. I’ll be fine. Thanks.”

“If you say so.” She motioned to Leila’s phone, the screen lit up with the picture of her husband. “What do you think? Hot or hot?” She sighed dreamily and Leila bit her tongue to avoid lashing out at Lily as she listed his good features. “Did you see his eyes?” Lily sighed again and Leila counted to twenty to steady her breathing. “I don’t stand a chance with him being the boss and all that but do you think he’s single?”

No!

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Lily asked when she bent over. She was more than fine. She just needed some time before she screamed at everyone to shut up.

“What’s going on?”

They both jumped at the sound of the new voice. Lily cursed, Leila froze. Her husband was here. He stared right through her like she was an ordinary staff and she burned with embarrassment when he scoffed before turning to Lily. His fingers drummed on her desk.

“No cursing in the office,” he told Lily. Sparing one look around, he said, “That applies to everyone here.” Leila didn’t remember sitting but her knees couldn’t support her weight any longer. “Who is not okay?”

A lump formed in her throat, Lily passed her a sorry look. They didn’t know if silence would be best in this scenario. “Me,” Leila finally volunteered an answer to save Lily from getting into trouble. “I’m the one.”

“What’s wrong with you?”

she had no choice but to look

He lifted a brow. “I feel

you need to take

out of genuine concern or because it was

phone is that?” He pointed to her

She tried to remove it

with indifference. The way he focused on the screen cracks made her say, “It just

to Susie’s table to grill her. Her nervousness turned into annoyance at the ease with which Susie answered his questions. He wasn’t flirting with her, was

of her lips when it was her turn and she looked away when Kelvin frowned at the use of her former last name. Collins. If

shuffled on her feet and her eyes found the ground at Kelvin’s stare. That was nice of Sarah but she didn’t think her husband cared about her achievement. “Has been

have been her imagination but she caught Kelvin’s curt nod before he left her office. When the door shut again,

she walked past Leila’s table. Leila threw a paper napkin at her head and

murmured. “It’s my

corner of her lips twitched.

walls,

answer. Leila was the last one to leave the office. It was a big room divided by desks and slabs. If she

left leading to the subway. There was no bus so she sat waiting at the bus-stop. Her phone rang inside her bag, she retrieved it and burst out laughing when she saw Kelvin’s name on the screen. She was a married woman now. She no longer lived at that apartment complex that

the long journey to her new house. Kelvin assigned a driver to her before he left this morning

get some meat and vegetables. Kelvin didn’t let her pick out any food items from her house. Yesterday, he asked her to order for them but she chose to make

It was a few minutes past six when she finished grocery shopping, more than an hour since work closed. Her heart sped up at

she gulped. There was a figure pacing in front of the elevator with his head bent over his

Kelvin said

She nodded. “Yes.”

you use the

like he didn’t know her. She didn’t matter to him but he could have at least tried to be

“Sorry.”

the answer.” Leila had no

just her husband, he was her boss. He held her future. His eyes narrowed at the bag in one hand, she raised it to explain. “Stopped by to get ingredients for soup.” He didn’t stop staring and it made her uncomfortable. Her hand dropped to her side and she offered him a faint smile. “Sorry I missed your

chance to refuse, she sucked in