40. RUMORS; MORE PROBLEMS 2

A week to the wedding, Raymond had settled down to start his work for the day when Clara rushed into his office, "Sir." She shouted.

He stood and ran to meet her halfway, "What's wrong, Clara?"

Clara gave him the newspaper, she was holding, for him to see for himself, "WHAT!!!" He yelled in anger, squeezing the newspaper in a tight grip.

"THE CEO OF MOND ENTERPRISES SEEN IN COMPROMISED POSITIONS WITH HIS ASSISTANT." was written with pictures of him and Yvonne taken from different angles.

"When was this released?" He asked harshly.

Clara gulped at the harshness in his voice, "This morning, Sir."

A knock was heard at the door, Yvonne didn't wait to be asked to come in before she entered. Clara wasted no time leaving the office, on seeing the look on Yvonne's face.

"Kitten, I swear on my life, I did not know about this write-up or the pictures." He tried explaining himself as she came closer to where he was standing.

"I know this wasn't done by you but by your soon-to-be bride and it's driving me insane." He could see the fire burning in her eyes.

He hugged her to calm her down, "You won't leave me because of this, right?"

"I never said I would leave or did I?" He pecked her lips, shaking his head negatively. "Good, cos you're stuck with me."

"I love you, Kitten." Smiling widely. He was happy she wasn't leaving but staying.

"I love you more, Mond."

Raymond told Clara to call the company where the newspaper was published, to take the news down before it goes viral, and also to stop spreading rumors.

Later on that day, Susan came visiting, "Hey, fiance."

Raymond glared at her right from when she entered till she got to his front, "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" She went around the table to his side and bent to kiss him. "I came to visit my fiance at his workplace."

"Don't even try to get closer." Yvonne entered the office, rushed at Susan, and pushed her away from Raymond.

"Excuse me." Raymond left the office on getting an urgent call from Clara that his presence was needed.

Susan turned to Yvonne, "Oh... If it isn't the assistant whom my fiance was seen with, in a compromised position but no worries I don't bite you." She winked.

"It did not come to my mind that you would go to the media. You are too scared to fight on your own."

Susan laughed, "Why would you assume I did that?"

"I'm sorry for assuming but..." She gave a fake apologetic face. "Who do you think would be this foolish to do it?" Giving an innocent face.

She smirked on getting the reaction she wanted from Susan, "The person is not foolish if she's telling the truth." Susan yelled.

"Oh... The person is a she?" Raising eyebrows at her. "You can tell me the person's name so I won't be that careless next time..."

"Best friend, there won't be any next time. It's remaining 6 days to our wedding so no time again." She shrugged.

"You know a lot could happen within those 6 days." She folded her arms on her chest.

"Yvonne, haven't you done enough already. I have apologized for what happened which isn't only my fault. What more do you want."

Faking teary eyes.

"Bring back my Dad from the dead then maybe then I would have a rethink." She smiled. "Aren't I too generous?"

"Your Dad's mistake lead to his death, when would you get that into your empty skull? Wake up from your slumber."

Yvonne's flashed in anger, "Don't you dare talk about my dad."

"You..." Susan's phone beeped. "Excuse me." She gave Yvonne a mischievous smile and left. Yvonne breathe in relief and sat on a chair backing the door.

The door opened, "Susan, not again." Yvonne murmured, waiting for her to talk but the person covered her eyes from behind. "It's not Susan for sure." The person chuckled.

Yvonne felt the person's hand and noticed the fixed nails, "Clara..." The person laughed and uncovered Yvonne's eyes.

She turned to look at the person, "Cla... Mercy!!!" Chasing her around the office, "You little witch." Mercy laughed, pulling out her tongue to annoy Yvonne.

Soon, Raymond entered, "Hey, my office isn't a playground." Yvonne ran to hug him, "She was scaring me."

She felt his chest rumbling with laughter, "Get your hands off me." Yvonne hit him, "You're laughing at me."

"I'm sorry. Mercy how could you do that to her? What if..." Yvonne pushed him away. "It's okay." They laughed.

"I saw a rare sight at the parking lot." Mercy said.

"What's that?" Raymond asked.

"A smiley Susan."

Yvonne laughed, "Why call her a smiley Susan, are you just seeing her smile?"

"I haven't seen her smile as wide as that before."

Yvonne nodded, "Well, she had on a mischievous smile before she left."

Raymond sighed, "A smiley Susan isn't a friendly Susan, Kitten. She's preparing something big for us."

"For me, most especially and I'm waiting for it" Raymond and Mercy looked at each other then back to Yvonne. "Fine, I don't know what to do but something would come up and I'm sure of it."

Raymond woke up to missed calls from Clara, "Hey, Clara. Why..."

"Sir, I'm sorry for disturbing your sleep but you need to see this." His phone beeped.

He checked what she send, "What's the link for?"

"I can't tell you, Sir. It's not something I can say like that."

He laughed, "What can't you say? I'll get back to you after going through it." He hung up.

He tapped on the link, waiting for it to load but it didn't go through, he connected his phone to his laptop then switched on his WiFi for the network.

Suddenly, a picture came up and went a blur, a white circular pattern appeared at the center, showing that it was loading. He blinked rapidly as if to clear his eyes, "I thought I saw Yvonne's..." The picture came up again, "No no no..."

It was a picture of Susan and Yvonne, underneath her picture was written Mond Enterprises, CEO's assistant. He tapped on it to play, It was a voice recording of Susan and Yvonne's conversation.

_(VOICE RECORDING BETWEEN YVONNE AND SUSAN)_

Yvonne laughed, "Bestie, somethings happened 5 years ago that made me leave back then and you were the main cause of it."

"Yvonne, that was 5 years ago, let bygones be bygones, please."

"Aww... But bygones aren't in my dictionary. Only revenge."

"You want to take revenge on Raymond and me?"

"I didn't say Raymond or anyone's name, Oh... are you afraid I'll take revenge on you for what you did?"

"Yvonne, you aren't like that. Don't let your anger take over you."

"You are making me so emotional and you should know it won't work on me, bestie. I won't allow the marriage to take place."

"Why are you punishing me for what I know nothing of?" She said in a weak voice.

"The marriage isn't important as you take it, it could be canceled within days."

"What would you do?" Susan asked.

"Simple, Go to Raymond, telling him I love him and ready to fight for our love. Hmm... Oh, first thing foremost, cancel the marriage and an advise my dear, collect those invitation cards that were distributed."

"Why?"

"A new invitation card will be printed and distributed, and I mean the original invitation card that has my name as the bride in it."

"I won't allow you to take my happiness away from me." She said in a teary voice.

Yvonne laughed out loudly, "It's already being taken dear."

___(VOICE CONVERSATION RECORDING ENDED)___

At the end of the audio, the pictures of Raymond and Yvonne which were published on the newspaper were being displayed.

"How could she have done such a thing?" He hit the table in anger as he went through the comments of the video. They called her lots of abusive words.

He called Clara, "What have you done about this video?" He couldn't take his eyes off his laptop, maybe if he had let her be and married Susan, nothing of such would have happened.

"Nothing, Sir."

She could hear his heavy breathe, "Why!!!" He shouted, making her jump from the chair she was sitting on.

She stammered, "I... I can't do... anything, Sir. It has gone viral, it was posted on the net and people share it to reach more people."

"We can at least so do something." He pulled at his hair in frustration.

"It would take a lot of time and work and we were able to clear the other one because it was just on a newspaper but..."

"We can't clear this up because it's on the net, it has reached a lot of people worldwide." He panicked, "Don't tell Yvonne yet. Has she arrived?"

"No..." Clara hadn't completed her sentence when Raymond heard Yvonne's voice from the background.

"Clara, what's wrong?"

"What do you mean? Everything is okay." She sounded out of breathing.

"Everyone is looking at me like I did something wrong." Raymond ended the call and ran to the bathroom.

He had to get to the company quickly, Yvonne could trace Susan down to do anything to her which would add more fuel to the news calculating on the net.

He had been thinking, trying to come up with ideas to put an end to the marriage which would be taking place 4 days from now, "F**k you, Susan." He hit the bathroom wall in anger.

He didn't bother to eat breakfast before leaving, speeding to the company like a mad man. He rushed into the elevator, without answering any of his employees' greetings. His mind was on Yvonne.

"Susan!!!" He heard Yvonne yell as he got out of the elevator. He ran to her and took her to his office.

"Kitten, calm down."

"She recorded our conversation, changed most of what she said and added some parts to mine, turning me to the bad guy." She sobbed. "The comments..."

"We would do something about it, don't worry yourself." He said that to take her mind off it but deep down, he knew there was nothing they could do for the main time.

"This isn't a newspaper, Mond. It's on the net, everywhere." She sobbed harder.

"Trust me on this, okay?" She nodded and held onto him.

For days, they tried taking control of it. Reporters were scattered everywhere at every angle, waiting for Yvonne and even outside her house so she had to move to Raymond's house.