IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE THIS - EPISODE 32

Lavender’s viewpoint

I stood over her grave, smiling warmly as tears rolled down my cheeks and into my collared neck. I was alone in the cemetery, wearing a amethyst winter flock coat with white double-breasted buttons and white wool layer at the hem of the sleeve and my collared neck. The bottom of the coat which stretched down and covered three third of my thighs, had a net layer underneath, a white one.

I stood with a bouquet of her favorite flowers, blue daisies. She loved the flowers a lot because it matched her mother’s eyes as she would always tell me. I had left Rominic in bed at a ungodly hour of the night and drove here, so I could talk to her. I just needed to.

“Well, you’ll probably be tired of me standing here and staring at you for minutes. I just don’t know what’s up. I’m so happy, mom,” I smiled, raising my eyes to the dark sky, “I’m so happy I can feel my chest bursting with emotions, good emotions. You know, I was so worried about Link two days ago, I was worried that he would kill himself which he almost did if the guys didn’t get there on time. However, just last night, the investigator called and said things were looking up. According to him, he got a footage from the club they attended and it proved Link passed out after drinking. Polly drove the car, not Link. He got the information so fast and it makes me wonder who he really is, or maybe Polly did a messed up job at trying to cover up. I’m positive that in three days, we would have enough evidence to apprehend her, so I’m not worried. Tyra actually surprised him after I told her what was happening. I have no idea what she did, but when I called him hours ago, he sounded extremely happy about the surprise. Maybe it’s sex, maybe she baked him his favorite cake or gave him one of her exclusive dance shows, or maybe it is all. I don’t know and ever want to know. I’m just happy that they are okay.”

I lowered myself to a crouch, tapping the flowers in air. “You know, Rominic gave me back everything you worked for and in the next hours, I would be at my office again, this time, taking better care of my family legacy. I’m so happy, Mother, I can’t wait. And then, Serenity is representing her school in the junior state national in swimming whatever she called it. Every school in the state for lower graders would be involve in a competition and the winner get a grand money price for their school and a scholarship to one swim camp, I don’t know. I was too excited to listen. She lost me after she mentioned she was chosen and made the leader of the five students chosen along with her. I’m so proud of them, Mom,” I wiped my tears with the back of my left hand that held the bouquet, only wiping one cheek messily, “they have made me so proud and happy. I remember the day you told me that I would fall in love and have my own children that would make me proud and glad I had kids. And I know you always told me that I make you very proud, but I never believed it and I still don’t. I’ve done so many stupid things that makes me thing otherwise, but this time, I know that I am already improving and even if I’m not, I WILL get better and make you proud of me someday. Or maybe I just need to make myself worthy of your acknowledgement.”

I dropped the flowers on her grave. “You always told me that if I am scared, I should hold your hands. If I am weak, I can lean on you. If I am sad, I can count on you to be my ray of sunshine. If I am lonely, you will be my companion. If I am angry, you will be my tranquilizer and if I am confuse, you will be there to unconfuse me,” I laughed, wiping my tears again. “Then, I used to think you were hella weird, the creepiest AND coolest mom ever, but now I know you were just trying to be the best mother you could be. I know that if you were here, you would have been the best grandmother to my kids, and probably slap me when I make mistakes to get my brain functioning again. I miss you, Mom, really bad, and I’m scared. I don’t know why I feel like this but I’ve decided to stop playing stupid and trust my instinct and ‘womanly six sense’ like you’ll always call it. I don’t know what is coming but I hope that you are watching me wherever you are and protecting me, because I need your protection more than anything else.”

I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that things might go south very soon. Call it the calm before the storm. I had a feeling the storm wouldn’t be good, but hoped that somehow, I make it out okay with no one hurt. Even if I do get hurt, as long as nothing happens to anyone else. Hope and prayer was the only thing I had left.

~~~

I sighed heavily as I drove the car into the compound. I sighed because Rominic was outside, pacing with a well deserve anger. I may have forgotten to drop a message of my whereabouts, just left a note that I would be late into the morning. I really need to learn how to call or leave proper messages.

He stopped pacing when he saw my car and shifted to tapping his foot. I parked the car, opened the door and stepped out with my most sweetest smile. His eyes darkened as he glared at me with temporary contempt. I sighed again and walked towards him. “Good morning, Her Royal Majesty. Finally decided to grace me with your magnificent present, don’t you?” He said sarcastically… Well, more like sardonically to me because of how disdainfully he spat it out. I gulped, fidgeting with my left foot.

“I’m…”

“Save it. If you still want to go, you know where to take yourself. The MD would be waiting for you to show you around. I’m off to work… Hey, see what I did there?” He asked with mock enthusiasm, “I waited for three hours to tell you where I’m actually fucking disappearing to!” I jerk backward a little from how loud and sudden he screamed. He narrowed his eyes at me one last time before stomping over to his car where his guards were already waiting for him.

I completely deserve that. It’s just that I’d been alone for so long without having to inform anyone of my whereabouts. Zachary and Serafina knew everywhere I went to by my time schedule so I never really had to tell them, they just knew and told the others. Then when I returned with Rominic, we were never in good terms so I had no reason to tell him where I was going to, I just left and knew my kids would be fine because they have him. I completely forgot that adding your destination is a vital information and for someone like Rominic who loves keeping track on things and people, not knowing my whereabout must have got him worried… Okay, anybody would be worried after waiting up in the morning to find out the love of your life left you in bed in the middle of the night and disappeared, with only a pathetic excuse of a note as the only assurance that she wasn’t kidnapped. If it was me, I would have cried until the break of dawn.

I just need time.

~~~

Before I left, I went into the house, showered and wore the same outfit only that the frock had no woolly hem but was beaded and the amethyst was lavender. At the company I’d missed so much, I stood outside gawking at what Rominic did to my mother’s life achievement… Well, her family’s life achievement. It wasn’t bad, really. He renovated the building to lose a lot of the brick walls and replaced them with some kind of glass that made seeing inside the fronter part of the building easy. He got rid of the smooth yellow lawn, cut down my trees and replaced them with fountains and flower bushes and statues. He changed the pink-purple colors to different shades of blue with a picture of the company ambassadors everywhere. It wasn’t bad, just not the usual style of my family. But there is no way I’m spending more money on redecoration. He probably bulldoze the building to the ground and rebuilt it.

I kept staring at the building. I would get use to it. Serafina or Serenity would inherit this one day. “Miss Amherst?” I looked away from the model on one of the banners to who called me. A man was walking up to me, giving me a billion dollar smile that would have been breathtaking if I was single and he wasn’t like twelve to fifteen years older than I am. He was not that tall for a man. Wearing his natural shaved head and brown beard, broad shoulders, little belly fat from good living and a weird sense of dressing. His suit was big enough to fit him and a thinner person. But, he wasn’t bad to look at.

“Miss Amherst, welcome, I’ve been waiting for you,” his deep voice buoyantly announced on nearing me. “Everyone have been waiting.”

“I’m sorry, I got held up by something but it would not happen again, for now.” He nodded.

“My name is Francis Wolfman, I am the managing director. I would show you around and inform you on the changes made here including the chemicals use in producing the different brand of cosmetics. Since you are here, you will have to sit for the presentation the team have prepared for the new shower kit. You have to approve or disapprove of it…” He must have seen the look on my face because he chuckled. “Don’t worry, miss, you’ll be fine. I’ll be here to assist you until you are ready. Now come, the workers are dying to meet you.”

“Alright, I guess.” I murmured. The MD started with showing me around the really changed building. If I didn’t own the building before, I would never have believed that they ever was another setting before. Rominic must have spent millions of dollars redecorating and buying more modern equipments to help ease the stress of the workers. He explained some things I took less note of, and then took me to my office and showed me a lot of files. If he wasn’t standing so close to me, I would have collapsed from the number of files he placed on my desk.

I found out that unlike before, the company was no longer a solo flyer. Rominic associated the company to fashion houses, movie producers, and others that helped the new and improved products sell better. For example, whenever the producers were working on a movie or music video or commercial, the makeup artists must use the company’s products or at least five to six of them. And since there was little side effects than before, it was never a problem. Rominic didn’t ruin the company, if anything, he made it even better and I was certain he already got back the money he spent on the improvements. He deserves a gift for his work.

The MD introduced me to my secretary, Olive, his niece. I didn’t get any weird vibes from her, so she was A-okay. However, I noticed something about the recent sales account, there was something missing. I asked the MD but he didn’t seem to notice it or even understand that my calculation proved that something was missing. So after he left to get the meeting ready, I called Olive, the only one who seemed to get me. She told me that she too noticed the error in the record, but her uncle waved it off as nothing.

I instructed her to get me all the records available, then we spent twenty seven minutes on calculations. We came to a conclusion that three packages were missing from the last stock to a mall. It was not noticable because the stores didn’t have a specific number of orders but we fetched it out from the number of cosmetics made and packaged into a set and taken out.

Before I went to the meeting, I sent Rominic a long romantic message and a recording of me singing a love song for him. The board room was a blur glass with a long rectangular silver table in the middle of the big room filled with flowers. The different flowers mixed in the air, forming a very pleasant atmosphere with the help of the cold air conditioner. Make my gift for Rominic ten.

“As you all must already know, this is Miss Lavender J. Amherst, the original owner of Blissful Beauty and the fiancée of Mr. Verlice. She would be taking over from now on as the director. You are charged to give her absolute respect because she can take away your job as well and anything she likes. Mr. Verlice already sent out emails beforehand to inform the shareholders of the change of ownership, no cause for alarm…” Is it me or is he swaying out of point?

“Thank you very much, Mr. Wolfman,” I giggled at his name. He rolled his eyes but had a smile on his face too. “Well, I don’t have anything to say, but I will make it known that I will not tolerate disrespect or any form of rebellion. For example, that woman glaring at me, probably screaming in her head, ‘who does she think she is waltzing into this place and claiming ownership after spreading her legs for Mr. Verlice like the harlot or whore she is! Does she think her body will make her last forever? Coming in here to boss me around and claim what is mine’ or something else,” I smirked, not even sparing her a glance. I didn’t need to see her to know she was glaring. The moment I walked in, I felt three immediate hateful glares and from her gasp, I knew I guessed exactly what she was thinking.

“Or that one at the right end, scoffing every ten seconds and eyeing me with distaste. According to her, I don’t deserve to be here.” I’d almost forgotten how it felt when I was in charge. I automatically detect things, thanks to my intuition and years of training. I’m not always right but with how people are, it was easy to guess–most of the time.

I raised my head from the file I was looking at and shifted my smirked to a lopsided one. “Now let me tell you something,” I leaned back on the chair and threw my left leg over the right. “This company is originally mine, my family’s. Founded by my grandfather, taken care of by my father and grew by my mother, and then me. I own this company, every words I say goes and like I mentioned not so long ago, I will not tolerate disrespect from anyone, especially bitches that know nothing about the true history of where they work. No one is perfect, they can make mistakes, yes. But continuous floundering from blunder to blunder would earn them a sack letter. You only get five strikes, depending on how much you make the company lose with your mistake. I also will not tolerate theft, deceit and wrong use of company funds, just like the missing packages that were cleverly covered.”

“I’ve told you, Miss…”

“Olive, what are the names of the people in charge again?”

“Miss Louisine Mosley, Mr. Cooper Forbes and Lincoln Nañez.” I rolled my eyes around the room, identifying the culprits by their fidgeting and stunned faces. I tilt my head and smiled at no one in particular. The third woman glaring at me was one of them.

“Can you please explain how three goods got missing and yet paid for?” One of them stood up, a tall black haired man with light chestnut brown eyes and slim body. “Yes, what do you have for me?” I asked with mock enthusiasm.

“Sir… I mean, ma’am, there is nothing missing. I personally counted the goods myself before it left the sealing facility, and since there was no reduction of money, the goods were sold.”

“To who?” I blunted out, “sold to who?” He opened his mouth and shut it back. “Olive, please explain what you understand from our investigation.”

“Yes, ma’am. According to my understanding, the three packages were taken away and paid for by three of our usual customers. According to the sales record, the payment for their purchase was higher than the others which means the missing goods was pushed on them. Now the question is where is the missing packages and what have been done with it?” Everyone looked at the three people specifically, murmuring amongst each other.

“I don’t have time for this. Who is in charge of payment distribution?” A woman stood up and opened her mouth to talk, but I cut her off. “Don’t bother. You will cut out the amount of the stolen goods from their salaries, one to each. Give the money to the accountant and whoever is to deliver the next set of goods to the three deceived customers, give them the goods that these three generously paid for as me appreciating them for their regular purchases of our goods. That way, I have given them back what they paid for without letting them know and breaking their trust in us. As for the remainder of their salaries, give it back to them as a goodbye gift from me.”

“Ma’am…”

“Don’t,” I snapped, “you either take it or go to jail for theft. I just got here, I don’t want to overwork myself. Now, do me a favor, resign everything under your care to the management department and get the hell out of my property. Your salaries would be sent to you at due time. That goes for the rest of you that think I’m a whore and don’t deserve to be here. Olive, make sure they are out of my property before sunset, understood?”

She nodded hastily. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright, while the ex employees leave, please begin the presentation. And please, it’s Miss Amherst.” It was more like “get this over with, I have a angry boyfriend to think about.”

~~~

After the meeting, I couldn’t bear it anymore, I dropped by at the kid’s school and picked them up early. I took them to Mrs. Dave’s, you know, the African woman with the good spicy dishes? I left them there so she can get to know them and bought some food for Rominic. Zayne was more than happy to stay back, it meant more free food.

“Lavender!” I was resting on the elevator wall, waiting for it to open. I turned to smile at Giovanna, I knew it was her. She was wearing black work pants and a long flannel shirt that made her bust look massive. She left the first three buttons open, revealing her cleavage and boobs. She was wearing a pushup bra so you can only imagine. She had more than her usual makeup on her face and wearing really tall heels.

What’s up?

“Giovanna, you look hot?” I questioned, giving her a once over. She swayed her hips sexily and smacked her ass.

“All for Lucky. We have a date after work. He is taking me to see his friends. The last time I went to see his friends, one of his old not girlfriend was there and she was trying to intimidate me with how sexy she is and her slutty outfit. So, I decided to show her that you don’t have to dress like a slut to be hot. I’m aiming to frustrate her, that’s why I’m wearing this work pants that makes my ass look bigger,” she turned sideway so I could see her behind, and she was right, it did make her butt bigger. “What do you think?”

I smiled. “I think by the end of the night, you will be naked on Lucky’s bed with a very, very, very, sore pussy.” She laughed.

“That’s the plan,” she said winkingly and laughed again, “what are you even doing here? Thought you got a new job?”

“I did, I came to drop this,” I lifted the polythene bag, “gotta go. Where’s Micah and August?”

She twisted her face in disgust. “In the closed up space at the basement of this building, the place where all sexcapade takes place. He dragged a girl there so you know what,” she rolled her eyes while I sighed. I really needed more time to play cupid for that wayward boy. Vanna jumped with excitement. “Micah went out for lunch with a hot date, damn! She looks like she was born with a crystal spoon!” I nodded. The elevator doors dinged open.

“Well, that’s my cue, but word of advice, save the seduction for Lucky and spare other poor souls from temptation,” I winked at her before jumping into the elevator, laughing at the confusion on her face. That girl, she didn’t even know what she was doing to the male population. I’m just glad my arrow hit a spot once again.

Men, I’m good!

Usually, a therapist cannot cure herself, she needs other therapist to help her if she ever gets a need for it. So in this way, my own love life was a mess when I easily fixed others. Notwithstanding, I was ready to prove that theory wrong by working hard to make my relationship work. He can’t stay mad forever, can he?

I walked into the office, my hands behind my back and the bag hitting the back of my knees. I stood in front of his desk, swinging myself back to forth, waiting for him to acknowledge me. He started scribbling angrily, meaning he would not acknowledge me. Oh well.

“Would it make you less angry if I say I’m sorry and I brought you food?” Silence. “It’s from Mrs. Dave?” Silence. Sighing, I dropped the bag on the desk, then walked around to meet him. “Beau,” he still said nothing. I forget how good he is at ignoring people. It hurt like crazy and I could feel what he went through when I ignored him for months. He had only ignored me for hours and my heart was already ripping to shred. Now imagine ignoring me for months, I’ll kill myself.

“Beau, I’m sorry, please, say something, anything. You can scream, you can throw a tantrum, I don’t mind. I will take everything because I know I deserve it. I shouldn’t have left without letting you know my destination, for security purpose and your feelings. It’s just that I’ve been use to not telling anyone about my whereabouts because I’ve had no one except the kids, and they knew where I would be by my schedule… I don’t know, it’s an habit. I am sorry, I am really, really sorry and I promise never to make a repeat of it. I would call you every time I change destination, text you everything I’m doing every two hours. I would wear a tracker on me so you can locate me, I would leave my phone tracker on at all times as well, just please, don’t be mad at me anymore, I beg you.” I pleaded in tears. He had to understand I didn’t mean it, I really am sorry.

“Stop crying, you are making me feel guilty,” he murmured to himself. My heart skipped with joy and hope. As long as he said those words, he had forgiven me. Now, for the final phase.

“I haven’t eaten all day, Beau, I couldn’t eat because I kept thinking about how mad I’ve made you, I’m sorry,” yes, guilt trip or reverse psychology, whatever you’ll call it. Not a fair way to play but I wasn’t lying, I couldn’t eat. “Let’s forget about what happened and eat together and then you can have me as dessert.” He looked at me with a disapproving frown.

“Are you trying to guilt trip me into forgiving you and then bribing me with office sex?”

“Yes,” I quirked a brow, “going to reject my peace offering?” My heart skipped a beat when his usual beautiful smile curved on his face. I squealed in exultation. Without wasting any more time, I happily climbed onto his laps with a smile on my face. “I promise, I will never do that again.”

“You better not or next time, I’m not talking to you for a month,” I gulped down with fear and nodded. Just be careful to never repeat that mistake, got it. “Now, tell me all about your day at work.” And tell I did.

~~~

“What do you mean she is now the new director of Blissful Beauty!” I screamed into my phone, “that company is mine! It rightfully belongs to me!”

“I’m just telling you what I heard, that’s all. I need to go, Peyton, take it…” I screamed as I threw the phone against my television. Why! Why! Why is she taking everything! My mother’s life ambition, now stolen away.

Lavender, Lavender, LAVENDER!