A Business Love

chapter 37

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Jessie kept her eyes fixed on the meals available to her. She could not concentrate and stop on a choice. The stares she felt stung her all over the place.

A full week had passed since the big reveal of her relationship with Julian. Today, for the first time, she had decided to come out of her lair, and as she held her tray in the cafeteria, she suddenly began to regret her choice. She quickly got her hands on a pre-made sandwich and headed to the cashier.

As she walked over to the table where her friends were seated, she felt like she was in high school, being watched like a hawk by everyone. The looks she met showed either intrigue, fascination or disgust.

"I feel like everybody's watching me," she said while sitting down at the table.

"You ain't never lied!" said Deluca while avoiding looking at her.

"Ok, I need to know what's being said about me," she said in a decisive way.

All of her friends stared away. She immediately noticed their uneasiness. "Come on! I can take it."

"Jess, like why do we even care what people say?" said Mariana raising her hands.

"I just want to know! I'm not gonna die, guys. I'm not this fragile."

"Uh, I beg to differ!" said Mariana who had seen her friends break down crying countless times. Jessie was the definition of sensitive.

"I swear! I'm over it. I can take it now."

"I'll tell you," said Teresa.

"No!" they all screamed to Teresa.

"We've agreed..." said Sofia mumbling under her breath, but Jessie had heard her.

"What? Agreed on what? Guys, come on! You don't have to protect me. I can take it. Plus, I already have an idea of what's being said."

Deluca uncomfortably scratched his head. Sofia looked down. Mariana raised her eyes to the ceiling. Jessie could see that they were all uncomfortable. Teresa was the only one looking at her with a sorry expression.

"Teresa? Come on," urged Jessie.

Teresa exhaled loudly. "Well, first you should know that people that know you don't believe the rumours at all," she said. "And the good news is that most leaders actually know nothing about these rumours. And those who've heard about them don't care for them. You've worked with many of them, so they know that you're a top performer and it has nothing to do with Julian or anyone else."

"Ok, ok. That's good!" said Jessie optimistic.

All of her friends were visibly still uneasy. Teresa hesitated, but continued, "Well...that means the majority of people actually believe the nasty rumors."

Jessie looked unbothered and confident. "Ok. What are they saying?" she asked.

Deluca intervened, "It's not important, Jess. The right people know that you've earned your promotions."

Jessie was now really annoyed. "Guys, dai, come on! Tell me. I can take it. I swear."

"Fine, fine..." conceded Teresa sighing, "They say that it's impossible to be promoted twice in less than a year, especially since you just finished school last year. And they are saying that it is all related to the fact that you're sleeping around with the right people," said Teresa avoiding Jessie's eyes.

"Sleeping around?! I'm only dating Julian and I've only been with him!"

"You don't have to tell me! I believe you! But some girls are very vicious. Your colleague, Natalia, she's the one who started it all. She's been saying nasty stuff about you. And some people believe her dirty stories or at least pretend to," said Teresa.

"Darn it! This girl! What's her freaking deal with me?!" said Jessie infuriated.

She had come to find out that Natalia had been the one that had discovered her relationship with Julian and who had sent their photo to everybody.

"What stories is she inventing now?" asked Jessie.

Teresa looked unsettled, but she pursued, "She says that you basically tried to bag any executive to get to the top. And that you've lured Massimo. That you always flirt, and that the reason you always dress up to come to work is to be able to charm the senior leaders. She's saying that you're a tease."

Jessie shook her head in disbelief. She hid it from her friends, but she was completely hurt by what was being said about her. She never thought it'd be that bad.

"That's completely ridiculous. How can people believe that? I'm literally always working! And I only dress up for meetings!" she said appalled.

Mariana tried to resonate with her friend. "Jess, your picture constantly appears on the Intranet with a promotion announcement. Some people were already saying that your looks was the reason you kept being promoted. Now that they know about Julian, you can imagine how they jumped on that opportunity to drag you down. They're just jealous."

"How can someone be promoted simply because of their looks? This makes no freaking sense!" Jessie argued.

"Well...it happened before. When a beautiful girl asks for a promotion with her batting eyes, sometimes strange things happen. I know it's not your case, Jess, trust me. You're a workaholic," assured Mariana.

"Jess, don't mind those people," said Deluca. "They're just jealous. They've always been jealous of you; they just no longer have to hide it now."

Jessie's friends had heard first-hand what people were saying about her, and even now they were downplaying it. The hate that this news had generated was unmatched. All these girls that dreamt of Julian at night and had their dreams crushed by Jessie did not hesitate to give in to the horrible gossips that Natalia was spreading about her.

"And..." said Sofia hesitant.

She was holding back a piece of information and was still not sure whether to say it or not. Jessie wasn't even sure that she wanted to hear more, as she felt her heart crumbling.

"Listen...I think...you should ask Julian to talk to Cecilia," finally said Sofia.

Jessie's face went pale. "What is she saying?" she asked now fully traumatized.

"Precisely. She's not saying anything. People in my team have been asking her about you considering she's Julian's sister. And all she answers is: 'I don't know nothing about this Jessie girl'. I mean, it looks bad. I've been defending you, but I feel like she should start speaking up! It would help."

Jessie knew that Cecilia did not like her and there was no way that she would be defending her.

Now she felt really horrible. She wanted to disappear. 'Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry,' she repeated within herself.

Everyone could see that the news had affected her.

Mariana was extremely pained for her friend. She had been defending her, soul and body, in the past week, and she had also made sure that Jessie wouldn't know about any of this as much as possible. Mariana could see in Jessie's eyes that she was hurt and shaken.

"Jess –"

"It's okay!" interrupted Jessie, knowing that Mariana was about to express her concerns. This was the perfect combination for her to burst into tears. "I guess I'll just have to work harder and prove everybody wrong. That's all," she said in a mock casual way while getting up.

"Where are you going?" asked Mariana.

"Work! Obviously!" said Jessie with a 'duh' face.

She grabbed her food and quickly left before anyone could add anything. She was hurt and humiliated. She couldn't conceive that people believed such horrible things about her. She knew how a business reputation was important and hers was ruined. She'd forever be tagged as the girl who sleeps around to get promoted.

Instead of going to her office, she almost jogged to the nearest bathroom, entered one of the cabins and sighed deeply. She couldn't hold it anymore; she started silently crying.

'Why is this always happening to me? Why do people always hate me so much?'