Temptations

Chapter 2

When Jean arrived at work she felt happier than usual. "Wassup Jean," Bri said walking towards her.

"Hey girl," Jean smiled at her.

"So, I want to introduce you to my friends, we're going to lunch. Do you wanna come?" Bri asked.

"I can't!" Jean quickly said.

"Why not?" she interrogated.

Jean held up her bag, " I brought my lunch today! Maybe next time." She put on a fake smile.

"Well, just know, I'ma hold you to that next time!" Bri smiled back.

When Jean walked into her office, she locked the door and immediately started crying. She couldn't admit to Bri that she was out of money because she gave her last to Rue for the Book Fair at school. The only thing she had in the lunch bag was a peanut butter sandwich and a bottle of water.

...

As soon as Clinton came to work, he went straight to his dad's office. The door was opened, so Clinton thought his father was in the talking mood. He overheard his father having a conversation with a woman. He peeped his head through and instantly felt embarrassed, his dad was talking to the woman he hit with the door yesterday.

"Are you going to come in or you're going to stand in the doorway staring at her like a creep?" Mr.King scolded.

Jean instantly turned around and her demeanor had quickly changed. "Anything else Mr. King?" she asked slightly annoyed with Clinton's presence.

"Call Mr.Adams and tell him, I need to reschedule for either Tuesday or Friday," Mr. King said

"Yes sir," she answered before speeding out the room. Clinton shut the door behind her and sat down to ask, "Who's that woman?"

"Jean Pelton, she's the new executive assistant," Mr. King replied. They sat there in silence for a moment. "Clinton, don't turn this into a rerun of Reign."

"Dad, it's not even like that." Clinton gripped the side of the chair, his father knew how to get underneath his skin.

Mr. King threw his hand up. This was his nice way of telling Clinton to shut up. His dad started typing on his computer, pretending Clinton wasn't there. He wanted Clinton to leave the room. Within a couple of seconds, Clinton took the hint and he left his dad.

Clinton made his way through the building and with hesitation, he knocked on her door waiting for her to allow him to come in.

"Come in," he heard her voice say. When Jean saw him walking through the door, she instantly shot him a look.

He cleared his throat, " May I sit down!"

Jean pointed towards the chair, "This is basically your company."

"You're right!" he smirked causing Jean to roll her eyes at him.

"Arrogant punk," she mumbled under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Clinton gave her a look. She was about to respond but her phone rang. "Can you just give me one second," Jean said before she walked out of the office. While he waited Clinton looked around Jean's office. He was very impressed with what she did with this space.

When Jean came back into the room, Clinton could see in her facial expression she was upset. So, before Clinton spoke, he carefully thought about his words. "I love what you did to the office," he smiled.

"Thanks, what can I help you with?" she responded in an annoyed tone. There was an awkward silence between them for a second. Until Clinton scratched his beard and said, "I wanted to apologize to you and formally introduce myself. I'm Clinton King." he held out his hand to shake Jean's but she just stared at him.