MR SENSUAL, MISS SASSY

BLOODY PARVENU.

It was a new week and I was feeling worse, a black cloud was hanging over my head. I heard nothing from Chike still. I was trying not to snap at my workers, I was in a shitty mood and I didn't know how to come out of it. Dave came into my office to drop some files and I looked up when he lingered.

"Anything?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing."

He practically ran out of the office, his attitude was weird but I was too focused on my troubles to worry about him. I usually skipped lunch but I was suddenly hungry so I ordered rice and fish sauce and had it delivered to my office. I ate at my desk and popped one of the buttons of my trousers when my belly expanded from overfeeding. Dave came in when I finished my meal to take the files he'd dropped earlier. He halted at the door and looked at me.

"Spill, what is it?" I asked, he was beginning to get on my nerves.

He looked at me then looked elsewhere. "It's nothing."

I hissed when he left and went back to work. Maybe he needed something or was in trouble. I knew he found it difficult to express himself sometimes, I was going to have a chat with him after office hours. I was retrieving my camera from the bottom drawer when I heard someone clear their throat. I almost had a heart attack when I looked up and saw Chike beside Dave.

Dave started, "I tried to stop him but-"

"Go," I said to Dave.

I sat still in my chair and watched Chike, he looked like he'd been getting his eight hours of sleep unlike me. He came closer to my desk and flung a newspaper my way. I picked it up before it could slide to the floor and read the headline, Lil Don finds love.

There was a long article and it was further proven with several pictures from the date night. It showed when we kissed, us holding hands, his hand in my hair. How did they know to use the picture where his hand was in my hair? They used the perfect pictures and we looked truly in love.

"Is this why you broke up with me?" Chike asked.

"How do you break up with someone you never dated?" I asked pushing the newspaper aside.

It'd been days since I sent him the text and the only reason he came to see me was to ask silly questions because he saw a headline on a gossip column.

"That's your reply? You're so fucking disgusting. I knew you were obsessed with a certain lifestyle and people but I thought you were all about working for it." His face was tightly drawn and he was pointing his fingers at me as he spoke. "Now I know you were just bidding your time with me until you found someone wealthy and famous to latch on to. What was it? I wasn't wealthy enough for you?"

"I wouldn't have continued to come to your dingy apartment if I cared about your wealth or any man's," I said my words slowly so he could understand that his financial status was the least of my problems.

Chike moved closer to my desk and I sat still in my seat with my lips pursed and face upturned.

"Tell that to those who don't know you. All you care about is the money, doesn't matter if you whore yourself out in the process. How much more is it going to take for you to be fucking satisfied?"

He was so fucking annoying and all I thought about was how badly I could hurt him like he was doing to me.

"The audacity, are you fucking kidding me?" My hand hit my desk and I stood from my seat. I looked at him and spoke with pride laced in my voice. "You walked into my office to tell me I'm whoring myself. Look around you, I'm building a fucking legacy. What are you doing? Nothing!" Chike folded his arms and I continued speaking, "You're just a spoilt, little brat that enjoys rebelling with his parents. Grow the fuck up!"

I saw Dave close my glass door out of the corner of my eye. I sat back in my chair and ignored Chike.

"Is that what you think of me? You think it's rebellion? You're more stupid than I thought then. Who are you building your legacy for? Kids? You have none."

"I hate you." I spat out. I shook my head and refrained from leaving my desk to hit him.

"You disgust me. How did I ever bring myself to be attracted to someone like you? You embody everything I hate, you're so money hungry and there's no line you wouldn't cross to get more."

I laughed before replying. "And you're fucking stupid if you think you can get anything done without money. Of course you'll never understand, you were born rich. You could play at being poor for a year and run home to rich daddy when you grew bored. Some of us don't have that fucking choice, stupid!"

"You're a bloody parvenu, that's what you are. A parvenu, nothing more."

"Get out." I could have slapped him if I was standing but I wasn't. Chike kept looking at me, chest rising. I picked my extension and rang Dave. "Can you see Mr. Chike out of my office, please?"

I took the camera I'd ignored when I saw him and watched as Dave came in and motioned for Chike to leave. I bit my lips to stop them from quavering, I was boiling with so much rage. The nerve of him to speak to me like that. He had no idea the things I sacrificed to be where I was. How did I ever fall in love with someone so querulous? We were done, it was over. There was no coming back from this. Those things he'd said to me would never be forgotten and I wasn't going to tolerate the disrespect anymore.

Dave came back into my office and I waited for him to speak. "What was that about? Are you going to call him?"

"No. I won't reward bad behavior."

"But you cheated."

"Go away," I warned. I was too close to lashing out.

"But-"

"Shut the fuck up! You saw the bloody article and you didn't think I needed to know?"

That was the reason he kept on looking at me weirdly. If he'd told me about it, I wouldn't have been so surprised when Chike flung the newspaper at me. But even he had judged me before getting any explanation from me. Dave looked at me in shock. I'd never yelled at him before but he deserved what he got.

"Leave me alone," I said, dismissing him.

He went out of the office and I went back to the camera.

He called me a parvenu, very classy. I was proud of my humble beginnings, and he could jump off the cliff with his pejorative terms. Snobbish, classist, parvenu. Who the hell did he think he was?

I dropped the camera back in the drawer. I wanted to leave the office but there was no place to go. It was only Dave that knew about Chike and I was keeping him at arm's length. My friends had no idea of his existence, except for Bym and she thought he was my mechanic.

I dumped the newspaper still on my desk in the bin. I knew the pages were filled with trash and lies but I wasn't going to get sucked into it by reading what it said about me. After few hours of being angry, my heart started to ache. If only he'd asked about the article like a normal person would, I signed an NDA but I'd have found a way to tell him. He had thought the worse of me yet again. I was always going to be a money hungry person to him.

I wondered how he came to that conclusion. I liked money like everyone else but not obsessively as he thought. All I did was think about my workers and my parents, not once did I think about myself while signing that contract. I shouldn't have given him so much space and time. Dave's prediction came back to haunt me. I thought I could have a fling and also have a normal relationship with him, like a friendship. I should have just fucked him and kept it pushing, no dates, no sleepovers, no conversations. Just sex.