6. The blues

At CG City, a lady was observed the waves hitting the rock constantly. It bothered her as to why the waves constantly hit the rocks and they knew they would not get through. She wondered why they would not just stop and give up. The man seated next to her observed her for a while and as if reading her mind, he said to her in a low voice, almost in a whisper, "You know, Julie, very soon, though not anytime soon, those rocks will crumble under the constant hit of the waves. The erosion from the constant thumping and salty water will wear them out and the rocks will pave way for the water. That is how life is, wherever persistence meets resistance, the former is bound to win, always."

"Well Sam," she replied as she stood up dusting her sandy jean short and then her hands, "my name is no longer Julie, and I disagree." She added as she turned around and began heading to the house. He ran after her. "Julie... Julie..." He called as the stubborn girl successfully ignored her. He increased his pace to ensure that he caught up with her before she got in to the house. "Cecilia, please." He said as he watched her take two more steps then stopped. "Is this about him again? You can relax, he has not found you, and he will not. Just let it go. Have you not held on to your past for far too long? You are rich and have enough money to go anywhere in the world and start off afresh, if you want to. Do you not think that you can allow yourself to be happy?" He asked his friend who still had her back against him. Suddenly, she turned around and walked towards him, angrily.

"That man you are asking me to let go of and move past, almost found me last week. He almost found my parents. And because of him, my parents and I can't meet nor be together as much as we used to. Because of him, my life was turned upside down. He will not stop. So I have to stop him. Happiness? That man deleted that word from my dictionary the moment he stepped in to my life. I thought he would let me go and four months later he showed up in my city looking for me and my family? No matter the cost? No. Not any more my dear. Now I shall pay him back." Julie replied, almost shouting. Her tears were red with tears and the man standing in front of her felt frightened. He watched as the lady wiped her tears and turned around to get into the house.

In the beach house, her phone vibrated. It was a text message. She unlocked her phone and read it. Her face turned pale in anger. She rushed to her room and immediately stated packing her things in to her suitcase. Samuel watched her at the door and asked what the matter was but he was successfully ignored, again. He rushed to her phone and opened it. They had stayed together for long enough for him to know her password. He saw the message that read, "He has found a new pretty GM. Prettier than you. Without even an interview." He looked at Julie. Then he chuckled to himself.

"What really happened between you and him? You say he has been looking for you but I can see you also have him watched. What happened between you and Bran, Julie?" Julie paused and looked at her friend. She rushed to him and took the phone away from him and put it in her short's back-left pocket. "It is none of your business!" She retorted and went back to packing.

"You are right. It is none of my business. My friend said she needed help one time, in the middle of the night and I offered it to her. Both her and her parents. Protection against a very powerful and dangerous man in the country and region, and now, she says it is none of my business, four months later. Well, I have done my best, have I not? I thought he was obsessed with you. But it seems, it is a mutual thing between you guys and so I shall let you be. Just know this Julie, Cecilia, or whatever you will call yourself next, I am done helping you. You are not a good friend. And it breaks me that your one and only friend is the one telling you that. As soon as you walk out of that door, please do not bother coming back. At least have the courtesy of extending to me that honor." He said with tears balancing in his eyes and turned round to leave her room.

"Samuel…" She called out softly but not looking towards the door. He had already left and she had a decision to make. And she had already made it the moment she read that text message. She finished packing and changed into a pair of blue jeans and a chiffon dark blue top and put on a cap with sunglasses covering her red eyes. She left the house and got into the taxi she had called for earlier on as she was packing without looking back. Through his bedroom window, Samuel watched the girl he had been in love with since his childhood get into the car and leave without a goodbye or even looking back. His pride was deeply wounded. He turned around and hit the wall behind him as he slowly slid down the wall to the floor. Bitterly, he let the tears flow.

As soon as her flight landed in BB City, an hour later, the phone of the man in the top most floor of BESMA Group lit up with a notification. "Boss, facial recognition identifies a woman who has just landed from CG City, named Cecilia Owen. Shall we proceed to have her on watch?" His heart leaped, though unsure of joy or anger. "Positive." He replied to the number from whom the information had come from. 'You even had the audacity to change your name. But, am I to believe that you just came back, just like that-from the blues-, after months of successfully avoiding me? Impossible. What are you up to?' He thought to himself as he played with the pen in his hands.

The desk telephone in the GM's office rang and Natasha picked up. As soon as she put it down, seconds later, she got up and rushed to the CEO's floor. She was dressed in an all-white jumpsuit and white matching heels, her hair was held in a bun, very minimal make up and she had her glasses on. She did not have an eye problem, she just enjoyed having them on to hide her eyes and their reactions to what people were saying. She had been working for a week now and she had begun getting a flow of the works. Her assistant was still throwing tantrums at her and she was beginning to accept that he would never come around.

"Go right in Ms. Claire." Maggie said with a warm smile. She liked Margaret. She was always nice and always smiling. She looked at Watson's desk, there was nobody there.

"Where is he?" She asked Margret. "And, could you possibly know what he has called me in for?"

"No Ma'am, he just asked me to call for you." She answered, "And as for him," she said looking at his desk, you never know what the boss has him doing."

"Please, call me Tasha." Natasha replied with a smile and proceed to knock the CEO's door then walked right in. The office was very big, twice hers. Everything in it was bigger than hers. A bigger sofa, bigger table, bigger file cabinets, bigger office desk, bigger seat, bigger windows thus an even bigger view of the city below. She looked to her left and saw another door. 'It must be an even bigger restroom than mine!' She thought to herself.

"You wanted to see me, Sir." She said as she stood before his office desk. She was so absent minded that she did not remember walking across the room to his desk. He was, however, caught up in the view of the city. Above his seat was a huge painting of a flamingo drinking water from a water body, possibly a lake. But when she looked closer, the flamingo had a piece of fish in its mouth. The flamingo was blue in color. 'Aren't flamingoes supposed to be white? Or pink at least? Weird!' She thought to herself. She did not notice that the man had already turned and was looking at her.

"You like that painting?" He asked as he tucked in the pen in the breast pocket of his coat.

"What?" She asked back, she was not listening.

"Sit." He said as he went on to seat in his chair. He was dressed in an all-black suit, as always.