Forget Me Not 1: DECEIVED (4 page)

~

I love my new clothes, each and every one of them, although I hardly think I’ll ever be able to fool Kenneth into believing I was hired to look after his kids wearing this wardrobe—not to mention my lack of experience in babysitting.

But I shouldn’t hesitate. Monika’s wellbeing and our future depends on my acting skills. If being a Mary Poppins is all it takes to get me and my best friend a better life, I’ll make damn sure to become one. It’s Marilyn Monroe’s seductiveness that I doubt I can pull off.

Giddy with happiness at riding in a luxurious car, I glance down at the half- dozen shopping bags at my feet and realize I have a big problem. There’s no way I can carry them back home doing the three-bus commute. Even if I could manage it, by some miraculous stroke of luck, how am I supposed to commute to work every day in those skimpy clothes? I’d risk exposing myself to sexual molestation in overcrowded busses or on isolated streets at night while walking home.

“What’s the matter?” Loraine lifts her head from her tablet and looks at me on the other side of the passenger seat in the back of the Mercedes.

Since she’s been nice and generous to me, I don’t find it difficult to open up to her regarding my problems. “I don’t have a car. I use the bus only.”

She pulls her eyebrows together in obvious confusion, then her features soften and her gaze drops to my bags. “You’re worried about carrying the bags to your place.”

And wearing them while on the bus.
“Yes. I was thinking it might be better if I could leave them at your home and change into them at your home.”

“No.” She shakes her head in discontent, her lips a flat line while she’s thinking. She looks upset and I wince mentally for bringing up my problems. I could take a taxi back home and invest in a long coat to maintain a decent look rather than bothering my boss with my dull problems.

“I’ve got a better idea,” she exclaims, rather excited.

“Oh.” I shift my body slightly so I don’t need to crane my head when I’m looking at her.

“You’ll move into my home. It’s better both for you and my plans. You’ll have more opportunities to seduce Kenneth. An accidental bump into each other while you’re half-naked in the laundry room, or him walking in on you while you’re having a shower in the master bath. Those are all great ways to draw his attention to you,” she says without any visible discomfort, as if she’s talking about mundane arrangements, like manicure appointments.

My jaw drops at the vividness of her descriptions. Once again, I’m shocked to find she’s serious about this. She really wants me to have sex with her husband and she doesn’t even cringe at discussing the embarrassing details of the process.

“I don’t know,” I mumble, trying to push away the very graphic image of Kenneth walking in on me in the bathroom while I’m fully naked in the bathtub. The thought makes me grimace and warms me up inside at the same time. Then I remember Monika’s possible pregnancy. “My roommate is sick. She’s my best friend. I don’t want to leave her alone. She needs my help.”

“What does she have?”

I notice her body moves slightly toward the door, away from me. Perhaps she thinks whatever Monika has might be contagious. If she’s not pregnant, her sickness may very well be contagious. “I don’t think the doctor we saw diagnosed her correctly, but I think she’s pregnant.”

Her face lights up in a sympathetic smile and she tilts her head, looking away, lost in thought. Her eyes find their way back to my face when she says, “Will you move into my house, if I get my gynecologist to check her?”

“You would do that for me?” I’ll move to the moon if her doctor can figure out what’s wrong with Monika and treat her.

“Sure.” She shrugs as if it’s no big deal while I gaze at her with gratitude swelling my chest.

“Let’s pick her up now. I don’t have any plans for the next couple of hours. We can drive her to the clinic now,” she adds.

Dizzy with excitement, I give Scott the directions to my home and in less than an hour, he pulls up the Mercedes in front of my century-old apartment building. Thankfully, Loraine waits in the car rather than paying a short visit to my tiny apartment that’s smaller than the smallest bathroom in her mansion. She doesn’t need to know what kind of misery I live in, although she should have an idea based on the type of job I’m willing to accept.

The elevator is broken and has been since Monika and I moved in, so I run up the stairs and hurry to unlock the door. Monika is out of her bed and doing the dishes for the first time since her illness started. She’s showered and wearing a black cotton blouse with blue jeans.

“Heading out?” I ask.

She turns to me with a surprised expression on her face and smiles. “Wow, I almost didn’t recognize you. What’s up with your hair?”

“Do you like it?”

She grins. “Yeah, you look different….hot.”

“So, are you going out?” I ask again.

“Yeah. Azzam called me this morning. He said I can keep my job if I take over Pamela’s shift this afternoon.”

Going back into the lion’s cage after being eaten?
“Are you crazy? You’re not going anywhere near Azzam. We should report him to the police. He raped you, and you’re possibly pregnant with his child.”

Her eyes fall on the sink before her, her cheeks blushing in a way that can only mean shame. If I know her even a tiny bit, I know she’s hiding something.

“What are you not telling me?” I sigh in frustration and walk toward her.

“I don’t think I’m pregnant.” She picks up a dirty plate and runs a soapy sponge across it. “And even if I am, the baby might not be Azzam’s.”

My eyes grow large in shock. Dear Lord, was she raped by another man, too? My eyes run up and down her lean and petite body. Her weak looks must be attracting the wrong type of men. “Who else can be the father?”

She shrugs at first, in an attempt to wave it off, but I’d be a fool to let it go and expose her to more violence.

I glance down at my watch and notice I’ve been in here for longer than ten minutes. Loraine must be getting impatient. “Talk to me!”

“Have you met Teo from the hotel restaurant?”

“Yes.” As far as I remember, Teo is actually a good-looking stud and a college student, and not the usual type to pursue innocent girls. Then again, who am I to know what kind of man gets a kick out of forcing girls into sex?

“He and I are dating,” Monika says, pulling me back from my thoughts. “Kind of,” she adds, her cheeks flustered.

“Oh!” Of course, there’re other ways to get pregnant besides getting raped. I must have a seriously depressed outlook on life not to consider the possibility of Monika having consensual sex with a man.

“Yeah. Teo is the father
if
I’m pregnant, of course.”

“How can you be sure?”

Exhaling a long breath of frustration, she shoots me a sharp glare. “I’m not exactly comfortable talking about this,” she screams first, then her shoulders slump down, and her expression turns apologetic. “I’m sorry. It’s very embarrassing. Azzam used condoms. And it wasn’t full-fledged raping. He coerced me into it by threatening to fire me, but he didn’t physically force me.”

“That’s raping in my book.”

“You know how much I need the job. And I told Azzam I might be pregnant with his child. At first he didn’t believe me, but I could tell he was scared shitless. He told me he’ll give me a full-time contract if I abort it. He’s ready to do whatever I want.”

“It doesn’t matter. You shouldn’t go back there. He’ll try to take advantage of you again.”

She shakes her head, dismissing my prediction and rinses the last of the dishes before wiping her hands dry with the kitchen cloth. “He won’t attempt it. In fact, he’ll help me get a safe and secure job with health and pension benefits. I’ll use his fear to turn things around.”

I look down at my watch again. “You’re playing with fire. But anyway, I don’t have time to discuss it. We need to go right now. My new boss has arranged an appointment with her gynecologist for you. She’s waiting outside in her car to drive us to the clinic,” I sum it up in the shortest way possible and grab her by the wrist to pull her out of the kitchen.

She barely gets a hold of her purse and a jacket before we both run out. We find Loraine on the side walk talking softly to Scott, the chauffeur. Her blonde hair shimmers under the sun, and her Gucci sunglasses cover most of her face making her look even more out-of-place on this God-forsaken street of Koreatown.

After a quick introduction, Scott opens the backdoor for us. Monika and I climb in after Loraine. Monika doesn’t try to hide her astonishment in the least as her eyes examine every corner of the luxurious vehicle that must have cost more than our shoe-box-sized apartment.

Loraine’s gynecologist, Dr. Fiona Lopez, with her tall, thin body and long, black hair, looks more like an ex-super-model than a doctor, and takes Monika right in without making us wait. She not only confirms my suspicion that Monika is pregnant, but also diagnoses her stomach flu, handing Monika a bottle of pre-natal vitamins and another of medication to treat her sickness.

“I assume there’s nothing that’s keeping you from moving into my house now.” Loraine sets down her sunglasses and looks at me with an expectant expression as she reclines in her seat back in the Mercedes.

“Are you moving out?” Monika asks, worry thick in her voice. She and I have been inseparable for the last ten years. I can see how both of us will suffer from the separation. As much as I’d like to ask for Loraine to reconsider her request, I don’t want to risk having her change her mind altogether about keeping me as her nanny. I haven’t even signed a contract yet. I can’t do a thing if she decides to drop me.

“It’ll only be for a few months,” I say, feeling heartbroken for abandoning my best friend during a trying time.

Loraine clears her throat, as she interrupts my emotional exchange with Monika with a kind gesture. Her glance is warm and her voice is tender when she says, “You’ll have one day a week off and you can have your friend over for a night a week, if you promise you’ll keep the noise down.”

“Thank you!” I exclaim with a rather high-pitched voice and turn to Monika. “It’ll be fun, and four months will end before you know it.”

Despite my best attempt to cheer her, Monika’s eyes remain sad and she lowers her gaze at her hands fidgeting in her lap, shrugging with one shoulder. “Who’ll pay your part of the rent when you’re gone?”

The whirlwind incidents of the last two days have kept me from thinking about the rent. It’s not like the apartment has an additional room to rent out. It’s a miniscule studio apartment with the bedroom inside the living room.

“I’ll continue paying it,” I suggest. Monika will have more space to do whatever she wants without having to bother about a stranger roaming around the tiny space, not to mention the fact that most potential roommates would ask for a lease longer than four months.

My answer somehow relaxes her, and she looks up at me with a tired smile. “I think we can manage it.”

Scott drives us back to my apartment so I can pack a bag with my personal belongings. I hug Monika goodbye and promise her I’ll call her tonight before carrying my duffel bag to the car.

A peculiar mixture of melancholy and excitement keeps my pulse high on the drive back to Loraine’s home. A new life is ahead of me. I can discard my poor life and begin something new. Although the prospect of having to seduce a man—a married man, no less—is revolting, the reward of being someone other than a dirt-poor orphan is something I can’t wait to experience.

~

“Put on the pink minidress. I’m taking you to Kenneth’s office,” Loraine calls out from the hall while I’m busy hanging my new clothes in the walk-in closet of my new room. How I wish I could just keep this room for the rest of my life.

A king-sized bed tastefully decorated with a golden and red comforter set stands in the center of the massive chamber. The two vintage nightstands on either side give me shivers with their exquisite designs. The carpet beneath my feet is so soft, it’s hard to resist the urge to get naked and just rub my entire body against it.

“Did you hear me?” Loraine shouts again.

“Yes, ma’am.” Going through the last of the shopping bags, I pull out the dress Loraine wants me to wear. Quickly, I take off my own clothes and slide into the soft pink fabric. It sits beautifully around my hips and chest, but there’s a problem. Funny how problems never cease to exist in my life. The hair on my legs. There’s no way in hell I can walk out with a two-months’ growth of hair covering my legs like stockings.

I hurry into the bathroom, locate an unopened package of razors, and hop into the shower. Not only do I manage to free my legs of all hair in less than ten minutes, but also apply lotion until my skin feels soft.

When I put on the dress again and slip into the black high-heeled sandals, I can’t take my eyes off myself. It feels good to look pretty, although my looks aren’t even half as eye-catching as Loraine’s. She’s drop-dead gorgeous, whereas I become passable with the help of a sexy dress and my new hair makeover.

Fluffing my hair around my shoulders, I rush out of the room and nearly bump into Loraine, who’s standing by the doorway and looking down at me with confusion tensing the muscles of her face. “Everything all right?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just had to shave my legs.”

“Oh!” Her eyebrows rise as her eyes sweep down my dress. After a quick assessment that has my heart beating faster, she smiles her approval. “You look nice.”

“Thank you.” I blush and turn my eyes down in embarrassment.

“Hurry. I have a few people I want you to get to know so you can do your job better.” She spins on the heels of her cream pumps and walks down the hall in an elegant manner, making sure to sway her firm ass with sensuality.

Confused about which of my jobs she’s talking about, I follow her, trying not to stare at her buttocks for too long. I’ve already been introduced to the daycare and preschool teachers, so I guess she means my
other
job.

I watch her carefully as she enters the Mercedes and try to imitate the way she keeps her legs closed while pulling them inside, but as always, I fail miserably. Practice makes perfect, I try to remind myself so I won’t drown myself in misery.

She slips her tablet from her handbag and busies herself with it throughout the drive. Although my head is exploding with hundreds of questions regarding Kenneth and her and the real reason behind my recruitment, I keep my mouth shut and just observe her so I can learn how to have a natural elegance.

Scott parks the Mercedes inside the closed garage of a tall building with glass walls and I spot
Carter Inc.
written in large golden letters at the entrance. The young, blonde receptionist stands as she welcomes Loraine with her last name. Without so much as looking at me, the young girl goes back to talking to her earpiece phone. I struggle to keep pace with Loraine while my eyes try to drink in every little detail of the colossal reception area richly decorated in silver and black.

My heart thuds hard and erratically as I line up next to Loraine in the elevator. “May I ask who I’m going to meet?” My voice comes out weak and shaky just like my legs feel on the thin heels.

Loraine tilts her head to face me with a genuine smile lighting up her face. “I like that you keep your interest high.”

That doesn’t answer my question, though.

The doors open and Loraine gracefully exits, her smile widens, but I can tell it’s a façade because her eyes radiate a cold indifference for the first time since I’ve met her.

While walking side by side with me on the marble floor of the long, bright hall, she lowers her head to whisper into my ear, “I’ll introduce the two sharks you should be wary of at all times.”

“
Sharks
?”

“Yes, sharks, as I like to call them. They surround my husband like sharks, ready to attack at the first opportunity. If I die of a mysterious death one day, you can be sure one of them plotted it. They’ll eat you alive if they figure out my plans for you,” she explains with a soft, almost inaudible voice and stops as we reach the end of the hall that, I assume, leads to Kenneth’s office.

The hair on my neck rises with both fear and curiosity. My eyes land on the young girl with pale blonde hair wearing a black skirt suit on the other side of the double doors. She buzzes us through and stands when she says with a high-pitched voice, “Good afternoon, Mrs. Carter. Kenneth is in a meeting right now.”

It doesn’t escape me how she refers to Kenneth by his first name while keeping formal with Loraine. Perhaps, I should start addressing her formally as well.

Ignoring the girl’s cheerful welcome, Loraine glances at me. “Lisa. Meet my husband’s secretary, Trish Jordan.”

I can see a subtle sign of disgust cross Trish’s face at the word,
secretary.

My eyes grow large when I turn to Loraine with a questioning look, trying to ask with my stare if Trish is one of the sharks. Somehow, I think, Loraine understands my unspoken question and responds with a slight nod of her hand.

Working hard to keep my excitement and panic in check, I turn to the so-called shark I should be wary of at all times.

Trish walks around her glass desk and offers her hand to me, her chin up while her blue eyes take a quick sweep of my entire body. She’s a few inches shorter than Loraine, but still taller than me, even with my high heels. Her fine, blonde hair is secure in a ponytail. Her blue eyes, attentive and assessing, shimmer with a practiced smile.

I can tell she’s not impressed by my looks and has quickly put me into the
harmless
category in her mind. All the better for me if the enemy doesn’t think of me as a worthy opponent and underestimates my abilities.

I almost laugh at my thought process. Half a day into my job, and I already consider myself in a war. And worse, it’s not like I possess any kind of unique ability for others to underestimate.

“Trish has been a loyal employee of the company since her father’s death three years ago. May he rest in peace, Ronald was the cofounder of Carter, Inc. Without his hard work and intelligence, the company wouldn’t be what it is today,” Loraine explains with fondness and respect clear in her tone, making me wonder how she can think so lowly of Trish while respecting her deceased father.

“Thank you,” Trish says and shifts her body to retrieve something from the table. A framed picture of a middle-aged man. “I’m blessed to have been able to get to know him before his death.”

So, her father didn’t raise her? I wait in curiosity for her to continue, but she just shrugs and exhales the fakest sigh of nostalgia I’ve ever seen, with all the head tilting and eyes looking lost into a distant memory expression. I shiver internally in disgust, while Loraine rolls her eyes in obvious amusement when Trish isn’t looking directly at her.

Then, the door opens behind me. I can feel that it’s Kenneth although my back is turned to the door. As soon as my nose recognizes his unique scent, something in my body switches on. I tense, my skin covered in goose bumps, once he stops beside me.

My eyes slowly move over to his shoulder and up to his face. His thick hair, his strong jaw, those plump lips, the wide muscular body carrying that beautiful head. It’s as if I see him for the first time. White hot desire courses through my body in violent waves. I blink and give my head a little shake as if to make sure the vision beside me isn’t just a dream.

He smiles, the sparkle in his eyes as he looks at his wife brightening the large room in a flash. His arms lift in the air toward Loraine, and Loraine walks into his hug. It’s like watching a royal ceremony. The two of them are made for each other. Anyone who denies it is either delusional or blind.

Just before Kenneth throws his arms around his wife, Trish cuts in with her high-pitched voice. “Kenneth, you’re running late for your four o’clock meeting with Mr. Silverstone. Also a Mr. Schmidt called to ask for an appointment. He said he met you in the—”

With an abrupt wave of his hand to signal Trish to stop, Kenneth proceeds to greet his wife with a hug and a kiss on her forehead. It’s utterly embarrassing to watch the couple exchange gestures of love so close up. That’s why I turn my attention to Trish, who looks furious with her flushed face and tightly pursed lips. Her eyes, wide and blazing with anger, flick over their bodies.

With her position and years of experience, one would think she’d be good at concealing her true emotions, but this girl is an open book. She clearly loathes Kenneth’s show of affection toward his wife, and the longer he keeps Loraine pressed against his chest, the redder Trish’s cheeks get. She’s a shark all right, for wanting her boss. But not the smartest one, I assume.

“Cancel all my meetings for the rest of the day.” Kenneth finally ends the jealousy-inducing display of affection with his wife and holds her hand to walk her into his office.

I gape after them, unsure if I should go in with them or wait outside with Trish. Loraine glances at me over her shoulder and signals with her head for me to follow them. I hurry inside and push the door closed. Shutting the door to someone’s face has never been so satisfying, I think to myself, remembering Trish’s obvious jealousy.

“We’ll take only a few minutes of your time,” Loraine says as she walks hand-in-hand with her husband toward his desk and slides onto his lap in the chair.

Kenneth chuckles and moves his arms around her waist.

The two are intertwined with each other and don’t pay any attention to anything or anyone around them, including me. Without waiting for a gesture from them, I sit as silently as possible on one of the chairs before Kenneth’s desk. To avoid gazing at them, I allow my eyes to drift across the wide room with a spectacular view of L.A. A glass desk sits in the center, with a black leather sofa set on the west wing, and an oversized mahogany conference table that could easily host ten people on the east side.

“It’s about Lisa,” Loraine explains, her one hand splayed on his chest, her legs crossed, her eyes glued to his.

Hearing my name startles me, and I feel my cheeks turning hot. I blink, wondering what she’ll say about me. Kenneth keeps on gazing at Loraine, without so much as a small gesture of recognition of my presence despite the mentioning of my name. I might as well be the trash can beside his desk.

“Can you please ask Tom to get her on the health care plan?” Loraine asks in a soft, affectionate voice, and runs a finger along the hard line of his jaw.

“Consider it done.”

“Also, she’s moving in to live with us while taking care of the children. I thought it’d be easier for her and the kids.”

Kenneth’s neck muscles tighten visibly, and, for the first time since our introduction in the morning, he turns to look me directly in the face. A flicker of suspicion goes through his blue irises. Cold chills run down my body as I stare back at him.

I’m afraid he’ll see through me and figure out the purpose of my recruitment—to destroy everything that’s dear to him. His marriage, his family, his financial status. I might be looking down at Trish for her inability to hide her jealousy of Kenneth, but I’m the real snake here. I’m the one whose head should be smashed first.

Loraine’s phone rings right at that moment, and Kenneth cuts the frightening cold eye-contact with me and glances at his wife, who stands to her feet and steps into an adjoining room.

As hot and mouthwatering as he may be, being alone in a room with Kenneth isn’t exactly comfortable while enduring his murderous look. Pushing back his chair, he gets up, takes slow steps around the desk, and stops behind my chair.

Lowering his head, he whispers into my ear with a nonchalant voice, “I remember you from the café yesterday morning.”

His hot breath caressing the side of my neck distracts me momentarily. I wonder how his skin would feel on mine if he actually went ahead and touched me. I’m not one of those touchy-feely people. In fact, the very idea of someone’s hand anywhere on my body grosses me out. Even when Monika touches me occasionally, I find myself startled and pushed out of my comfort zone. Perhaps it’s a reaction from growing up as an orphan and having no one around to shower me with physical love and affection. I don’t know, but right now, I wouldn’t mind a little touchy-feely with Kenneth. His hand flipping my hair over my shoulder to free my neck for his pleasure…his lips pressed against the sensitive spot where my shoulder meets my neck…his tongue stroking it gently…

My eyes close briefly, and my lips part as I draw in a sharp breath of air, the desire growing hot in my belly.

Couple that with the insanely arousing scent of his body, and I instantly turn into a bubbling mess. “I…I…yes. The café. You’re right.”

“One minute you were staring at me with goo goo eyes. Next minute, you’re showing up at my home as the nanny to my kids. I’m curious.” He comes closer; I can see his face beside my mine from the corner of my eye, but he never actually closes the gap between us and touches my skin. “How exactly did you convince Loraine to hire you?”