Chapter 26: Chapter 26

At work, the connection between Marcus and Jane was almost visible.

Marcus kept sneaking into Jane’s office for random good-luck kisses.

Employees at the office didn’t stop glaring at Jane and whispering as she walked by. Some went the extra mile to tell Marcus to quit his job their reason was—‘for all we know she could poison you too.’

Mr. Robert who had never really cared if Jane worked or not; became intentional about keeping her busy throughout the day. He bombarded her with trivial things to do like bookkeeping and posting journal entries, the kind of work reserved for junior accountants. But she did not complain, she was glad to have easy access to every little information she needed. Later that afternoon, Mr. Robert barged into the office with Mia—his wife.

"Jane, I know your father will not approve of you not having any assistant and this company cannot risk the life of any of its employees again, so she," He pushed Mia forward. "will do whatever you need her to do. She is dumb, she has no idea what she is doing, just give her minor things to do."

He glared at Mia scornfully. "Try not to mess this one up." he sneered and then left the office.

Marcus was by her side as he always is whenever Mr. Robert was in the office. He bent down and whispered something to her ear. Jane scrutinized Mia.

"I do not think so." She whispered back to Marcus.

"Trust me," he mouthed.

Jane nodded and turned to Mia.

"So what can you do?" Jane asked her.

"I-I er I can do anything you want me to do." She stammered.

"Does that include preparing budget forecasts and publishing financial statements?"

Mia gulped. "I am afraid not ma'am," Mia muttered.

Jane scoffed. "I thought so," she mumbled, closing her nose from Mia's unavoidable body odor. "Where are your CV and Application letter?"

Mia looked like she was going to cry. Her cheeks were red as she shuffled from one foot to the other, her head looking down. "I didn't bring any," she replied, shaking her head.

"Then what are your qualifications?" Jane snapped.

It did it this time for Mia, a single tear rolled down her cheek. "My husb-Mr. Robert just told me to come and do whatever you ask me, too," she said in a cracked voice. "I only graduated high school."

Jane groaned. "This is going to be torture. An illiterate as my assistant. Worst of all you haven't been here for up to five minutes and you are already crying. I cannot wait to see how this goes." She said without a trace of empathy.

Mia's tears were flowing uncontrollably now her head was still down.

Jane moaned angrily. "Get out and go pull yourself together and also clean the mess on your face before returning here," she murmured.

"Yes Ma'am," Mia muttered and gently made her way out of Jane's office.

Once Mia was out Jane stood up and turned to face Marcus. "I do not like this," She complained.

Marcus grinned as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Yes I know," He said, softly swaying her from left to right.

"She looks so innocent, I do not think Mr. Robert is using her. He hates her too much, that part is extremely obvious," she added, sounding frustrated.

"Just the way Suzan was too nice he couldn't be using her?" It was a rhetorical question and Jane didn't answer. She frowned and placed her head on his chest. "I guess you are right," she mumbled.

"Truly she does not look evil." murmurer mechanically. "And she obviously doesn't like him.

We can use the situation to our advantage and convert her to our side."

"Really?" Jane asked, raising her head to examine his face.

"Yes ma'am," Marcus responded with his crooked smile in place. "Now stay still, let's converse in my favorite dialect."

Jane blushed as Marcus' lips met hers and even with no practice at all her body knew how to respond in the way he likes.

* * *

Mia felt goofy as she ran to the reception for the 7th time to make the same kind of coffee again. Jane was in one of her unpleasant moods for the second time that week. Mia used the back of her hand to clean the tear that stained her cheeks. She was glad the receptionist was on his lunch break and there was no other person there with her; it was a peaceful cry. Jane threw a tantrum in her office when Mia came with the wrong kind of Coffee the sixth time, but there is only so much Mia could do about it. She was always already emotionally, mentally, physically and all the other 'allies' drained before going to work to deal with whatever trouble Jane prepared to throw her way. She couldn't even pick who was worse, her husband or Jane. She gently patted her swollen arm where Mr. Robert had hit her the night before because she reported seeing an iPad similar to the one she saw him destroy one time but didn't take it.

He was only using her to get information about Jane just like he had used Suzan. But unlike Suzan who got at least 30% of whatever money they stole, she is getting nothing. He wanted to know if Jane had any evidence on him in the coming trial. She truly did not want to do it but he threatened to chase her and their 2 children out of the house if she didn't. She had dolefully obeyed.

Flanz, Jane's driver walked in and patted her shoulder. “Are you okay Mia?” he asked sympathetically.

Mia nodded as she quickly tried to wipe her tears.

Flanz held Mia's shoulder as he softly turned her so she was facing him. “Hey,” his voice was deep but sympathetic. “You can do this," he whispered. "I know Jane can be a pain in the ass but you, you are strong, you are powerful, you are undefeatable! I know that not even Jane’s insensitive behavior will break you. You got this.”

Mia chuckled as she freed herself from Flanz's hold on her shoulder. “Is that your motivational speech?”

“Ouch! That was the best I got.” Flanz said, trying to sound hurt.

“Umm, I guess you need more practice," she mumbled.

Flanz chucked.

She and Flanz had become friends two days after she became Jane's assistant. Jane and Marcus had gone for lunch and left them in the car. Flanz noticed her swollen face and asked her about it. After much persistence, she opened up about her abusive husband. Since then Flanz was always checking on her and doing little things to make her day better.

She dolefully turned on the coffee maker and with the help of Flanz, she got it right.

Flanz made a cup of coffee for himself and slowly exited the reception. Jane and Marcus had requested he becomes Mia's friend.

"She needs a shoulder to cry on," Jane told him.

He had completely disagreed. "I cannot do it for obvious reasons," he told Jane. "One, she looks like hell, two, she smells like hell three she is always crying and four she is one of the bad guys."

Jane had glared at him angrily. "Do you think she would be like this if she had a choice?"

Flanz instantly regretted his actions and apologized. He then agreed to do it but mostly because of the increased salary Jane promised him.

But as he sipped from his coffee and leaned on Jane's Mercedes Benz his earlier reasons for not wanting to be her friend became a blur. It was clear that Mia was trying to destroy whatever evidence Jane might have against her husband Mr. Robert but it was also clear she was doing it against her will. He moaned softly in his deep voice. "I did not sign up for this," he grumbled. "I am supposed to act like her friend, not think of her throughout the day and justify her every action."

He threw the empty plastic cup in the nearest trash can and went into the car. Without meaning to, his mind slipped into thoughts of Mia again.

He imagined what she would look like if she didn't wear too much makeup to cover her bruised face. He imagined what she would smell like if she didn't wear the same clothes with expired perfume over and over again and he also imagined what she would be like–who she would be if she was his wife.

By the time Marcus and Jane slid into the back seat ready to go home, he and Mia were already in their nineties living in a farmhouse with 16 grandchildren.

"Are you watching some kind of invisible comedy or something?" Marcus asked, irritated after tapping him three times.

He blinked back to reality–where is still 39 and Mia is still Mr. Robert's wife. He realized he was grinning sheepishly and Marcus and Jane were staring at him confused.

"Uh? No!" he replied in a rush to Marcus' question. "I am just thinking about my future."

Jane and Marcus looked at him and then at themselves and shrugged.

"Everybody has a right to that," Jane said laughing.

"EVERYBODY HAS THE RIGHT TO DREAM."