chapter 8

Lilliane looked at the building and went in

The employees seems to be busy as if something's happening making Lilliane concerned if it was a good time or bad time to be there

One of the staff approached Lilliane 'ms.Lilliane what brings you here?'

Lilliane looked at the staff making her feel Abit anxious, she's still shy around strangers 'oh..I'm here looking for Mr. Calyx is he here? Or Mr.Akira'

The staff seemed to be thinking and shook his head 'the president is at somewhere at the moment'

Lilliane nodded 'okay, thank you for your time' And left

Lilliane sighs and went to a bus to her workplace she received a message from Calyx 'Hey Lilliane, This is Calyx, Just letting you know that you don't have to go to work today, it's not that busy today, sorry for late notice'

Lilliane looked at the message and was confused 'oh okay no worries 😊' She replied, she was a little bit surprised suddenly Diana messaged Lilliane 'Hey Lilly, sorry for late notice but can you meet me at the shop today? I wanna talk to you'

Lilliane suddenly became anxious 'okay I'll be there 😊' She replied

After a few minutes she arrived and got off the bus she ran but she bumped into someone 'im sorry' And ran once again

'i should've watch where I was going I'm bumping into people' She thought

She finally arrived and been panting as she tried to open the shop but it seems to be locked, she waited for Diana.

A few minutes has passed and Diana seems to be getting late, she's been acting that way ever since last three weeks ago

Sofia was walking and saw Lilliane sitting there waiting for someone 'Lilly? What are you doing here? I thought The big boss didn't let you go to work?'

Lilliane stood up 'oh yeah, Diana asked me to.meet with her but she isn't here yet'

Sofia opened the shop 'Ahh I see then come in first, Diana won't be here till 9am'

Lilliane walked in and just sat down on a chair that Sofia placed 'want some coffee or anything?' Sofia asked

Lilliane shook her head and smiled 'no thank you. All good'

Sofia smiles back 'alright then, just tell me if you want something'

Lilliane nodded and just uses her phone she browses the internet, thankfully the video about her got deleted, making her relieved 'its been a month since that happened..people seems to forgot about it and new drama happened'

She scrolled, and watched on UTubb. Few minutes passed and messaged her dad 'dad, my.boss told me I don't need to go.to.work, I'll be home soon you need something?'

Her dad saw the message and replied 'can you grab us some bread, milk and eggs? We ran out'

She saw the reply and gave him a thumbs up. There she saw Cedric's phone number.

'hmm' she seems to be thinking if she should talk to him or not 'wont it be awkward if I text him' she thought

She typed in 'Hey Cedric good morning :)' she paused and deleted the message 'hi Cedric morning! You aw-' she deleted it once again 'good morning Cedric!' She sigh and accidentally hit send she was surprised about it and there's no turning back in deleting the message

She kept her phone in silent and placed it to her bag when finally Diana came

Diana looked around she seems to be with someone 'hey I'm already here' she said to someone and kissed him. The man went out Lilliane really couldn't see who it was.

Diana saw Lilliane and approached her 'lilly you're here, sorry that took me a while to get here'

Lilliane smiles 'its okay Diana, what do you wanna talk about by the way?'

Diana crosses her arms 'oh right, I just wanna ask you something, are you perhaps seeing someone?'

Lilliane widened her eyes 'excuse me!?no! Why would you ask that!?'

Diana chuckled 'oh it's nothing it's just that I saw you someone yesterday'

Lilliane shook her head 'No no no that's a misunderstanding, that was just a friend of mine'

Diana looked skeptical but she believed in her 'really? Because if not you interested in meeting with someone?'

Lilliane felt Abit uncomfortable how Diana is acting this way but she goes with the flow 'oh sorry, but really I'm.not interested in dating..wait is that the only thing you wanna talk about?' Lilliane asked

Diana rolls her eyes 'oh no it's just not that, I'm actually wondering if you and Calyx have.like y'know something going on'

Lilliane scrunches her face and frowns 'what do you mean by that?'

Diana scoffs 'oh y'know seeing how Calyx treated you differently, even Akira got closer to you'

lilliane placed her hand at the back of her neck 'no were just co-workers? I thought Calyx treated everyone like friends and family..and probably because me and Naya are best friends Akira..uhm..were just friends like everyone does'

Diana seems tapping her foot 'thats not the point here Lilliane, He literally treats you differently compared to everyone!, this past days he either treats you to dinner or hang out!, I've known Calyx and Akira longer than you think, Even with his fiance or your friend doesn't treat her like that'

Lilliane felt anxious and seems to be scared about Diana. Why is she suddenly scolding her, some people from outside seems to be looking at them.

'i don't know I really don't know Diana, i-im sorry then I'm really sorry!' Lilliane looking down she felt tearing up

Diana sighs 'look it's just unfair for you to be treated differently unlike the others, it's not just me that having this thoughts even the other staff thinks so too'

Lilliane kept looking away 'im sorry'

'im not here to scold you okay? I'm just here to let you know about what's going on okay?' Diana said with a serious tone

Lilliane's lips trembles she tries not to cry 'yes Diana' she replied she quivered Abit

Diana nodded 'okay that's all the things I wanna tell you..you may go'

Lilliane nodded and walked out, she kept walking and shook her head and tried to smile it off 'this is nothing!' She thought, she grabbed her phone and saw Cedric's reply from 30 minutes ago 'Hey Lilliane good mornin what u up to?'

Lilliane just read the message and smiled 'nothing really I don't have work today, so I'm here to get groceries what about you?' Lilliane replied

Lilliane was about to put her phone to her pocket when her phone vibrated, she looked at it being puzzled how fast he replies 'really? Awesome I'm actually here at the city, wanna hang out?'

Lilliane messaged back to Cedric 'Oh that's fine!, as long as you're not busy!'

Lilliane smiled, her worry from earlier seemed to be fading

'of course I'm not busy!, tell me where you are I'll be there' Cedric replied

Lilliane gave her location, she seemed to be in a street where the mall and shops are located. She went to the side and waited for Cedric it wasn't long until Cedric came

'Lilliane!' The familiar sweet, deep yet gentle voice called her

Lilliane looked at Cedric, he was wearing a white shirt and a black cargo pants with a lot of chains

Lilliane was fascinated that Cedric's fashion looked like a bad boy style that she kept seeing in the internet

'hey Cedric..did you ran?' Lilliane asked

Cedric shakes his head and smiles 'nah, why? Do I look like I did?' Cedric ask with a smile his hair seems to be a mess

Lilliane wanted to fix it but they're not that close for her to be touchy with him

Cedric fixes his hair 'well then, I actually wanna see you again today ever since we had that date yesterday'

Lilliane blinked 'youre really honest huh Cedric'

Cedric laughs 'well I'm always honest, like I said before I'm trying to flirt with you'

Lilliane shrugged 'well..do what you want'

Cedric leaned closer to Lilliane 'oh so you're telling me that I can flirt with you as much as I want?' Cedric said with a wink

Lilliane moved back Abit giving them space 'Thats up to you' Lilliane said as she got flustered 'damn it, I know that I'm not interested but being with a handsome guy really makes me flutter' she thought

Cedric kept looking at Lilliane and smirked as he backs off 'anyways you said you going to grab groceries?'

Lilliane nodded and looked at Cedric

'great! I'm also gonna get some too' Cedric said

The two started to walk

'ah I see it's such a coincidence that you're here too at the city, I thought you're only free every night?' Lilliane said

Cedric eyes looked at Lilliane 'wait you remember that?'

Lilliane nodded 'yeah, it wasn't that long y'know'

Cedric smiles awkwardly 'well I only said that out of impulse'

Lilliane chuckled 'ahh right okay whatever you say'

Cedric frowns 'what you don't believe me?'

Lilliane rolls her eyes and shrugged 'i didn't say anything'

Cedric squints his eyes and just smiles

The two kept walking some people still look at Cedric but some doesn't

Lilliane noticed it but she's not bothered about it. She's actually surprised that she's getting along with Cedric is it because Lilliane is much more comfortable with men because of her father? Or it's because it's Cedric that he doesn't do anything that makes Lilliane uncomfortable. Either way she's greatful

'yknow Cedric you're like the third person that's a guy I made friends with' Lilliane said

Cedric's face darkened a little bit 'third? Who's the other two 2?'

Lillaine uses her finger to count 'so the first one was Akira, well he's the Secretary slash assistant of my boss , the second is Calyx..well he's my boss but I guess...we gotten closer? Because His fiance is my best friend..and now you' Lilliane said as he points at Cedric

Cedric's eyes lit up and smiles 'ahh I see I guess you have a good boss then'

Lilliane nodded but then suddenly she looked Abit sad making Cedric concerned 'whats wrong?' he asked

Lilliane shook her head 'oh it's nothing don't worry about it' she smiled

Cedric looked suspicious but didn't ask any questions

The two kept walking and finally they went to get groceries, it took a while but they had fun, Lilliane seemed to gotten know more about Cedric hes Abit picky and he knows how to budget himself

Once they finished their Grocery Lilliane suggested to go to fastfood to grab some food

'okay I'm paying this time' Lilliane said

Cedric laughs 'Lilliane, don't tell me took it literally on what I said yesterday?'

Lilliane seemed to be confused 'what do you mean? Isn't it my turn to treat you?'

Cedric sighs 'lilliane, the reason why I paid yesterday was because I asked you to meet up and like the date y'know'

Lilliane pursed her lips as her eyes looks left and right 'but I feel bad for you paying it, I don't want you to waste your money just because you asked me out'

Cedric places his hand to Lilliane's shoulder gently 'lilliane really don't worry about it, it's fine as a gentleman I'll pay today since I asked you to hang out again'

Lilliane sighs 'alright fine..but please let me treat you too okay?'

Cedric smiles 'alright'

The two ordered their food and went to take a seat. While eating Lilliane kept looking at Cedric

Cedric smiles awkwardly while he eats 'whats up?'

Lilliane grabbed a chip 'well..it's just that the more I look at you the more I realized your lips and nose looked exactly like my boss'

Cedric smiles 'what do you mean by that?'

Lilliane shrugged 'well the more I observed you, you and my boss has similar structure and voice, but the thing is your personality is quite different to each other'

Cedric laughs 'really? What makes you say that?'

'well my boss, is gentle and sweet he knows boundaries and hmm he's nice too, makes me glad that my best friend has to marry to a nice man like him' Lilliane said with a smile

Cedric nodded 'then what about me?'

Lilliane looked at Cedric 'hmm..well you're kind and sweet but how should I say this...uhm.. youre very touchy and especially since the first time we met, you ...suddenly ..err..' Lilliane looked down, she doesn't wanna hurt his feelings by saying 'creeped her out'

Cedric remembers what he did when they met 'ah right, well sorry about that then, it's fine It did kinda felt weird that I asked you that' Cedric awkwardly laughs

Things gotten became awkward

'anyways because of yesterday I kinda now know that you're not a bad guy!' Lilliane said making Cedric smile

'but I do have a question tho' Lilliane said

Cedric sips on his drink 'whats that?'

'dont your eyes get irritated for wearing contacts for long?' Lilliane said

Cedric was surprised by her sudden question making him cough

Lilliane panicked and grabbed tissues and gave it to Cedric

'that caught me off guard but .I'm not wearing any contacts at all!' Cedric said with panicked face

Lilliane was skeptical 'really? But having ablood red eyes isn't natural tho' Lilliane said as she sips her drink

Cedric leaned back to his chair 'well..that's true but my eyes are 100% natural'

Lilliane chuckled 'ahh I see suree' Lilliane said with a sarcastic tone

Cedric grunted a little 'you don't really believe me don't you' Cedric said

Lilliane just kept sipping her drink 'i mean there's a lot of people that lies about them having natural eye color, hair color and so on, so this isn't the first time' she thought of course she couldn't say that

Cedric slicks back his hair 'okay, believe me or not but they are real'

'well I mean my boss wears bandage around his eyes and has that cute tattoo on his forehead, so..not like it surprises me anymore' Lilliane said

'arent you curious why he does that?' Cedric ask to change the subject

'well Akira told me that he was shy to show his face, but the thing is he could've just used a mask to hide his face' Lilliane said

Cedric paused and nodded and agreement 'huh that's true, maybe he's just being extra y'know'

Lilliane nodded

Few minutes passed

The two talked to each other until they finished. They finally head to Cedric's car. His car looked expensive

'ill drop you off' Cedric said

'and don't you dare reject it' he added making Lilliane couldn't reject it and just got in the car and put on the seatbelt

Cedric places the grocery at the back of his car and went to the driver's seat 'just tell me where you live' Cedric said

Lilliane gave him her address and drove off, they talked to each other while Cedric drives

30 minutes later they arrived, Lilliane took her grocery and looked at the driver's window

'well thanks for today Cedric' Lilliane said with a smile

Cedric smiles back and leans closer to Lilliane 'dont mention it' as he kissed her cheek making Lilliane surprised

Cedric backs off 'well I'll see you again' and drove off

Lilliane touched her cheeks and became flustered. She went in and saw her dad

'oh Lilliane welcome back' Her dad said

Lilliane smiles 'im home'

'have you had lunch yet?' her dad asked

Lilliane shakes her head, since she knows that Her father hasn't eaten lunch yet and wanted to eat with her father so he doesn't eat alone even if she's full

'oh alright I made lunch so come and eat' Her dad said with a smile

Lilliane nodded and went to change, her dad and Lilliane talked to each other and the afternoon became night

Lilliane went to her room Cedric and Lilliane seemed to be chatting with each other, her dad knows about it too so she told Cedric about it.

The two messaged each other alot until Lilliane went to sleep

At Cedric's house

Cedric was wearing a robe and was having a glass of wine when Lilliane slept he seemed to be in a good mood.

'youre in a good mood today huh' a woman's voice called out

Cedric looked at the woman 'of course I am, today is just the best, I gotten closer to the person I like'

The woman rolls her eyes 'you sure you're not playing with her?'

Cedric sat down and places down his glass 'i don't know..maybe? Maybe I'm not who knows'

The woman pulled Cedric closer and they kissed.

On the other side of the door a man was listening and walked away.