Not on My Watch
1476 Words
VILLEL knew that Ella was on the verge of crying when she left the office.
She heaved a sigh. Her attention went back to the documents piling up on her table.
The stress was on her shoulder since two of their branches were set on fire last night. It was the first thing that she heard before she could even enter the office this morning.
She raised her head from what she was reading when the door opened. She glared at her new bodyguard. Instead of being rattled by the reception she got, the tall woman sent her a smile.
Solana has a cup of coffee in hand. The new employee placed the hot drink on her table.
“Miss Bombardo, will you be eating lunch outside the office?”
Villel straightened. She stared at her personal bodyguard.
She blinked when their eyes met.
It must have been the light. She saw Solana’s eyes turned red but when she blinked her eyes, the red ones were now back to blue.
“Miss?”
She shook her head. She massaged her temple before returning her eyes back to the documents.
“I will be having lunch here. Tell Ella to order my food at the deli. I want salad and a clubhouse sandwich.”
She sipped from the cup. She frowned.
“Miss?”
“This is not Ella’s.”
“I made it myself. Ella received another call after you called. Is it bad?”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. I’m just used to Ella’s. By the way, have your choice of lunch. Accompany me.”
She glanced at Solana when she did not hear from her. The tall woman remained standing. She saw her scratched the back of her head.
“About that, can I leave the building for lunch?”
She glowered at the new employee. Villel gave the tall woman her full attention.
“You like her, huh?” She muttered.
This morning when she left the confinement of her office to asked her assistant for her second dose of coffee, she found Ella and Solana in the pantry. They were laughing over something.
She did not like what she saw that she reprimanded Ella when they were alone in the office. It resulted in her assistant almost in tears.
“What?”
“If you and my assistant wanted to flirt, please don’t do it during office hours. Particularly not in my office.”
“I don’t like Ella romantically.”
Villel looked away when Solana stared into her eyes. She sipped her coffee again.
“I’m meeting my mother for lunch. It’s her flight later.”
She exhaled when she heard that. Somehow, the words she heard from her personal bodyguard made her feel better.
She finished her coffee.
“Take the afternoon off. I don’t have a scheduled meeting outside the office. Return before six.”
“Yes, ma’am. Do you want another cup?”
“Please.”
Her eyes followed the tall woman as she walked towards the door.
Villel must admit that her new bodyguard has a great physique. Behind the clothes she wore was a lean body.
Solana was tall for a woman. Her tanned skin looks great on her. And, her eyes were the most striking feature. It was stormy blue and very expressive. Her squared jaw supported her often playful façade.
Her new bodyguard is a very attractive woman. She acted boyishly and she likes women.
Solana proudly admitted that she is a lesbian.
Villel exhaled.
A long time ago she was attracted to girls but her father chastised her when he realized that his only child was pinning for the same s*x.
She idolized her father so much that she followed his every command. She wanted to become a doctor but his father never let her chose for herself.
She excelled in school that she graduated with honors despite not liking the undergraduate course that her father chose for her.
Her mother was a housewife. Missus Bombardo was groomed to be a pretty little wife by her own conservative family that she agreed to her husband’s decision.
Both her parents were old money that Villel could outlive the wealth she inherited from them but she grew up working her ass and live up to her father’s little puppet that not working made her sick.
If she would be honest, when her parents died, the pressure of working as her father’s only heir was hard but knowing that her father was no longer hovering on her made her breath easier. But the loss of her mother made a toll on her.
Her mother agreed on everything that her husband planned on her daughter but she was Villel’s to-go person. Missus Bombardo was her bestfriend.
The night when her parents died, Villel was supposed to be with them in the car but she has to bail out at the last minute. The gown that she was supposed to wear had an issue.
It was a charity ball for one of the business associates of EP Express.
An hour after her parents left the house, she received the most tragic news. She lost both her parents at the same night.
According to the investigation, her parents’ car collided with another car drove by a drunk driver. Both her parents and their driver died that night. The drunk driver died on the spot, too.
She got no justice for her parents’ death.
She mourned but she showed up in the company three days later. Just a day after her parents were buried.
Villel has no room to immerse herself in pain. She has a huge company to run and a thousand employees depending on her. Her grief has no place in the office but she cried herself to sleep at midnight when the pain was too much.
In the last eight years that she managed the EP Express, a lot of times she has to assert her power as the biggest shareholder against the male chauvinist that wanted to overthrow her from her position.
All those years, she fired many employees. She was called the ‘stone lady’ behind her back.
It does not affect her even slightly. She runs a multi-million-dollar company and error was not an option. She could pardon a single mistake but the second time, they will be dismissed from the post.
She wanted to be a just employer. She gave the employees the salary and benefits due for them but she never socialized with anyone. In fact, she trusts a few but still puts them at an arm’s length.
In eight years, she had countless attempts on her life. She had three failed kidnappings including the one when Solana saved her. Her car was shot at twice, too.
It was the reason why she has expensive but reliable cars. Those costly vehicles were not to show off money but for safety reasons.
It was seven in the evening when she went out of the office. Solana was in her usual seat. The tall woman has her eyes on the smart phone but immediately stood up when she felt her approaching.
Like she always did, Solana gets the bag from her. Her hands were now empty.
“How’s your mom?” She asked when they were in the elevator.
“She’s well. She’s excited to see my father.”
“They don’t live together?”
“No. My father lived overseas. He has his business there while I and my mother stayed in my mother’s family so that I could embrace my heritage.”
“But they are still together?”
She saw a smile formed on the tall woman’s lips. “Yes. They loved each other so much but they loved me more. They set aside their personal needs for my sake.”
“You’re lucky.”
“I am.”
Solana opened the door for her before going to the driver’s side. Her bodyguard revved the engine.
“Would you like to have dinner with me, Ms. Bombardo?”
Stunned by her question, her eyes went to the woman behind the wheel. Solana was watching her from the rearview mirror.
“Let’s go to my favorite Italian restaurant.” She answered after a while.
“I have a place in mind.”
After staring at the woman for a couple of seconds, she nodded.
Villel looked outside the window the moment they left the basement parking.
Perhaps, she needs a distraction after a stressful day at work.
- Writer
