Special Relationship

Carla Alicia, 30 years old and working in a bank. There, she worked as an HRD or Human Resources Department staff.

This year 2022 is her fifth year working at a bank, although the atmosphere was much different from the previous bank, she quite enjoyed her job.

There, she met a man who had made her fall in love with him. The man was very friendly to all the employees there including his boss, Joanne.

The man was Alfred, he was three years younger than Carla. He is handsome, attractive, tall, and intelligent.

Carla was quite close to Alfred, every time they took a break they always ate together in the staff's special dining room. Apart from the two of them, Karina and Andrea also ate there.

Carla's days as an employee at Villegas Bank were very pleasant, until one day Alfred and Carla became lovers. Then Alfred promised Carla that he would make Carla his wife.

Joanne is a good and wise leader. She is the wife of Dave Andrews, owner of Pierce Hotel and Resort, snack food company, and cosmetic company. Dave is a billionaire of Indonesian-English descent.

During 11 years of marriage, Joanne had been pregnant several times, but her pregnancies are always miscarriaged. According to gossip circulating in the office, Joanne miscarried many times because she often came home late at night, besides that she rarely checked her womb.

Joanne was indeed very busy with her work and had absolutely no assistant to help complete her tasks. Dave also often went out of town to take care of his business there.

******

One years ago, in June 2021, Carla realized that Alfred was very close to Joanne who was far from Alfred's age.

Every chance he got, Alfred would meet his boss in his room. Carla became suspicious of the two of them. Actually, what is the relationship between Alfred and Joanne?

Carla began to find out what really happened. At that time, she was so curious that she deliberately worked late into the night with the excuse that there was work to be done that day.

Fortunately, her senior believed in her reasoning. The HRD room was located on the 2nd floor next to the Accounting Room, while Joanne's room was on the 1st floor next to the meeting room and tax room.

It was almost 8 pm, Carla deliberately accompanied her co-workers to work overtime until 9 am. Suddenly, she felt hungry and nauseous. Carla immediately asked Freya to look for food outside.

She purposely didn't tell Alfred that she worked late that day. A few minutes later, Carla went down to the lobby past Joanne's room, while Freya cleaned up her work files first before she went down to the 1st floor to have dinner with Carla.

Just then, the room door was slightly ajar, so she could hear the voice of their boss talking to someone.

"Can you accompany me to the obstetrician tomorrow?" asked Joanne.

"Of course you can, Ma'am. But have you had permission with Mr. Dave before?"

Deg! Carla's heart skipped a beat when she found out that the voice Joanne was talking to was Alfred. As soon as he stood frozen outside his boss's room, he was completely taken aback.

"Alfred, take it easy. Yesterday I had permission with my husband."

"Alright, tomorrow afternoon I will accompany you to go to the obstetrician."

What?! Tomorrow afternoon they will go to the obstetrician?! Carla said in her heart.

Unbeknownst to her, it seemed her boyfriend really cared about Joanne. Carla knew that Alfred was a nice man, friendly, and considerate of everyone in their office, but that didn't mean he had to care about Joanne who already had a husband.

Even though he was already dating Carla, Alfred never kept his distance from other women, it was clear that Carla was very jealous and hurt.

She stood there for a while and couldn't contain her feelings. Suddenly, she heard someone calling out to her while patting her shoulder.

"Carla ... why have you been so empty for a while?"

"Y--You just called me?" Instantly Carla woke up from her daydream and asked Freya, her co-worker.

"Yes, I called you. We will have dinner outside, let's go," said Freya excitedly.

"Okay," Carla said flatly.

"Let's go," Freya grabbed Carla's arm.

"Wait a minute, I am going to the toilet first. You wait in the lobby, okay?" Carla answered, her voice shaking.

"Okay," Freya smiled broadly while holding up her right thumb.

After that, Carla rushed to the toilet located near the pantry to wash her face which felt hot and could barely hold back the tears.

Ah, do I want to cry? Why did Mrs. Joanne go to the obstetrician and ask Alfred to accompany her? Is she pregnant? thought Carla.

She went to the toilet while still thinking about their conversation earlier. She firmly believed that Alfred and Joanne had a special relationship.

Carla washed her face in the sink to feel refreshed and not sleepy because she still had to work late until 9 pm. Carla also didn't want Freya to know how she felt at that time.

After work, she planned to ask Alfred directly whether the man had a special relationship with Joanne or not.

*****