Chapter 10

ANDRE

"Hey, Reyna," I said as soon as she picked up.

"Hey Andre. Why could you possibly be calling me?" I could hear the smirk in her voice.

"Oh, cut the crap Rey. You know very well why I'm calling you... I mean, uh how are you doing today?" I changed my tone as soon as I remembered why I was calling.

"I'm doing great. What's the purpose of this call Andre? I'm kinda busy now." She clearly wasn't.

"Well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for breaking up with you before and for talking to you the way I did in the restaurant. I've already ended things with Cleo and I'll be very happy if you have dinner with me today..."

"Okay, gimme a sec to check my schedule..."

I rolled my eyes, knowing fully well she was only doing that to seem like she had no idea what her dad had done... plus Reyna didn't even have a schedule.

"Oh, guess what?"

"What?" I asked doing my best not to sound irritated.

"You're in luck. I have an opening by... 6pm."

"That's perfect. Be at my house by then."

"Your house? But I thought you'd want to take me out or something..." I breathed in and out.

"Look Reyna, do you want this to work?"

"I do."

"Then be at my damn house by 6. Goodbye!" I said with a note of finality as I hung up.

"You know, you could have been nicer about that," Cleo remarked behind me. I turned around and groaned when I saw her smirking.

"I know. I know. It's just... Reyna just makes me so mad! Makes me wonder how I ever managed to be around her," I replied through gritted teeth.

"I guess that's why you should learn to examine a lady's character before jumping in bed with her," she said pointedly.

I smiled. "Whatever you see, kitten."

The expression on her face suddenly changed and she appeared lost in thoughts.

"Cleo, you alright? Cleo!" I said snapping my fingers in her face.

"I'm okay! I'm okay!"

"You sure?" I asked still examining her.

"Yeah yeah. It's nothing. I'm okay... I'm serious Andre."

"Okay okay. If you say so. Now, about your plan, are you sure it's going to work?"

She smirked and said "Trust me Andre, no good Cleo plan ever fails"

"Then what if this is a bad Cleo plan?"

She chuckled and leaned in, whispering, "That's the thing. There are no bad Cleo plans."

Her lips were so close and if not that I didn't want to end up doing something I'd regret, I would have leaned in and kissed her.

Thankfully, Cleo pulled away before I had any chance of giving in to the temptation.

"Come on! Let's get started. She'll be here soon."

I nodded and trailed behind her as she headed upstairs. I could only hope she's right and that her plan does work.

***

"There ! You look perfect," Cleo said as she smoothed my shirt.

"Perfect enough for you to fall for me?"

"Mmhm. Very funny Andre... not!"

Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Showtime I guess," I muttered.

"Yup! You're right. Remember though, don't press her too much or else she'll get suspicious."

"I know. I know. You don't need to worry Cleona. I've got this."

"You better. I'll be on my way now. Once you nail her, I'll come out and tell her what we did."

"Okay."

"Go now."

"I know. I know. Get in place, will you?"

She rolled her eyes at me before leaving the door. I sighed and went out of as well, groaning when Reyna rang the bed again.

I reached the door, exhaled again and opened it.

"Hey Reyyy...na?!" I exclaimed, unable to get over my shock at what she was wearing.

"Hey Andre... Aren't you going to let me in?"

"Oh yeah... Sure," I replied, opening the door wide enough for her to enter.

I closed the door behind her and turned to find her staring at me with a seductive smile on her face.

"Um, come right this way," I said leading her towards the dining room where I'd prepared a special dinner for two.

"Aww Andre, it's beautiful."

"I knew you'd like it," I managed to say as coolly as I could manage.

"Well I do," she replied smiling. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asked, gesturing towards her seat.

"Yeah yeah. Sorry about that," I replied smiling as I adjusted her chair for her.

She smiled and sat down.

"So... why'd you bring me here?" She asked staring at me.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her and instead I said "Let's talk about later. Wine?"

"Of course."

I nodded and poured some wine into two glasses, handing one to her.

She smiled before she tipped the glass towards her mouth.

I watched her do that before offering her some food. She nodded and I served her the meal I'd made.

"Wow Andre, this is delicious. I love it!"

"I knew you would."

She smiled at me before taking another bite of the meal again.

"So– my question again. Why did you call me here?"

"Well your dad called me yesterday..."

"And?"

"He asked me to marry you or risk losing him as a client..."

"Well what does that have to do with anything?" she asked as though she didn't know.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes again and continued, "Well I've decided to do the former and marry you."

"Really? Well my answer is ‘yes’," she squealed.

"I hope you do realize what that means right?"

"Yeah. We're getting married."

"That and that if your dad hadn't threatened me, this wouldn't be happening."

"Ugh! So my dad threatened to stop patronising your company if you didn't get married to me? So what? Why do you keep revisiting the issue?"

"Because you do realize that your dad literally threatened me so I could get married to you?"

"Whatever! We're getting married either way," She said smiling like the fool she was.

"No you're not!" I heard Cleo say behind me.

I smirked as I stared at Reyna's surprised face.

CLEONA

"You! What are you doing here? In fact, what the hell is going on?" Reyna asked, surprise etched on her face as she looked at me and then Andre.

"What's going on is that you just got busted!" I said smugly.

"What are you talking about?!" Reyna shrieked.

"I'm talking about this!" I said withdrawing a tiny recorder from the vase I'd placed on the table.

"What's that?"

"It's a recording of you clearly stating that your dad, a supposedly upright business man tried to threaten Andre to marry you, his daughter."

"Wh– what are you going to do with it?" Reyna asked fearfully.

"Well it's up to you what we do with it. If you insist on getting married to Andre, this recording will be uploaded on the internet... I can already imagine the headlines that will result into, the scandals... Juicy, juicy scandals," I answered licking my lips.

"You BITCH! What are you planning to achieve with this?"

"How about you staying away from Andre? If you attempt to blackmail him again like you just did, this recording will be uploaded on the internet. You can be sure about that."

"Argh! Whatever! I don't care about him anyway," Reyna yelled before stomping off, closing the door hard behind her.

As soon as we heard the door close, we burst into laughter.

"You know, you should be thanking me Mr. Simmons," I said when we stopped laughing.

"I know. I know. Thank you Cleo.... Gosh! I'm so happy right now, I could kiss you.

"You don't mean that."

"No, I could really kiss you right now," he said again.

My jaw dropped and then I watched as he placed his lips on mine.