5 Breaking up

"Alright. I get it now. I have understood my lesson, you can stop the play now Alice" Lucien said with a little smile on his lips as he shook his head in understanding.

Meanwhile, Alice merely folded up her arms in confusion as she looked and responded.

"What do you mean?".

Still shaking his head as though he had already understood the ploy that has been formulated by Alice.

"I know that you did all this for me to learn my lesson. And I can promise you that I have already learned about the error of my ways" Lucien responded with a small chuckle.

"So there's no need for you to keep up the parade any longer. Huff….I almost believed you, you know".

"Is that what you think this is? Did you think that this is one of the numerous skims that I would have done just so you can learn your lesson and then give me another meaningless promises about not making those same mistakes again?" Alice said as she looked at Lucien with narrowed eyes.

"And besides making promises about learning the errors of your ways and promising never to do them again, how many times have you broken them?" Alice paused as though she was waiting for Lucien's response.

"I.." But before Lucien could speak, Alice continued, directly interrupting his words.

"If it's just once, I would have just taken it as another mistake. If it was twice, then I would have just taken it as a scenario in which you couldn't help yourself and just did what you had to do. But instead, you had to make the same mistake thrice"

After this, I have finally understood that you are just a man who goes keeps on making baseless promises. Nevertheless, it isn't your fault but mine. After all, as the saying goes " Alice said as her lips formed a thin curve upwards "Fool me once, shame on you. But fool me twice, shame on me".

"But Ali…"

"Don't try to beg your way again out of this Lucien, because it was my fault anyway. I thought that I could change you. But I was only a naïve girl for believing such thoughts".

"Will you just lis…" Lucien said once more before he was interrupted again by Alice.

"Get out of my office Mr. Lucien. I need to work and I need my space to do that" Alice said as she pointed at the way out for Lucien.

"Sigh!! Alright, I understand. And if this is what you really want, then I will respect that as long as it's really the best for you" Lucien replied.

"Hmph…You wouldn't even know what's the best for me even if it struck you in the face with lightning" Alice replied.

"Bu…"

"Get out of my office Mr. Lucien….I won't repeat myself!!"

"Haaa…" Lucien finally stood up and left without saying a thing.

"Oh!! And before you leave, you should better head to the manager's office first. It seems like there is something that he would like to discuss with you" Alice said while not even bothering to turn back to look at Lucien.

"Why?? Wait don't tell me.." Lucien immediately gulped down a mouth full of his saliva as soon as he figured out the reason.

"I don't know figure that out yourself" Alice replied absentmindedly.

Lucien who had seen this could only shake his head as he turned around and left.

"See you later, Alice" Lucien said.

But even with that, he didn't get any reply.

"Sign!! Today is really a bad day" Lucien exhaled a mouth full of air as he walked towards the manager's office.

"I better hope that my assumptions are wrong, hopefully..Haaa!! Sigh!!!".

While walking towards the manager's office, Lucien first stopped at the secretary's desk before it.

"Cough!! Cough!!!.." Lucien faked a cough as he tried to get the attention of the woman before him.

"Cough!! Cough!!! Cough!!!.." Coughing slightly again, but only to see that he was ignored once more.

'The way all these women are either ignoring or getting angry at me, It seems that today will really be a bad day' Lucien thought 'Oh! Lord. Heavenly Father in heaven, please tell me which daughter of Eve did I offend to receive such retribution'.

"I can hear you, Mr. Lucien. Hold on I will soon be done" The woman replied without looking in his direction.

Meanwhile, Lucien could only wait patiently as he couldn't do anything but watch the woman type away on the keyboard of her computer.

"Click!! Click!!! Click!!! Alright, I am done. As you can see Mr. Lucien I already have so much work on my hands this morning. So kindly tell me what you are here for?" The woman said as she joined her two hands together while looking at Lucien tiredly.

"I am here to see the manager" Lucien got straight to the point as he didn't feel like teasing the beautiful secretary before him.

Although he really felt like it, Lucien could only hold himself back as he thought about today's recurring problems.

"Alright. Let me check…" The woman said as she began typing effortlessly on the computer.

"I am sorry Mr. Lucien. But I can't seem to find your appointment on the schedule. Isn't your assistant supposed to have already arranged that yesterday if you were planning to see the manager today?" The woman said as she shook her head after finding no traces of Lucien's name on the schedule she has already prepared for today.

"Well. Ahem!! You see…" Lucien immediately felt the conversation turning awkward as the matter of his assistant was brought up.

"Mr. Lucien, as you can see, I am currently busy. So, please tell me what you need or kindly step away from my desk":

'What's wrong with all these women today?' Lucien wondered as he exhaled tiredly.

"My assistant quit this morning . So now I am currently without one".

"I see" The woman responded as she narrowed her eyes slightly, while looking at Lucien.