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[Hearts got involved]
GENRE: Office Romance
Written by; Racheal A.
DON’T COPY OR REPOST ⚠️
DON’T GHOST❗
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Chapter 30
Kiara looked at him and then pretended to give it a thought.
“Sure”She said.
He smiled.
“But I get to pick the place”She said.
“I already have a place in mind” He said.
She shook her head. “I’ll be the one to choose where we’ll go” She said.
“You won’t give me the luxury of picking out a place for us despite the fact that it’s my birthday today?” He asked.
“Nope. And,I already wished you a happy birthday so I should be the one to pick the place”She said
“Come on” He urged “Please” He pleaded.
“No” She shook her head.
He sighed “Fine”.
She smiled before leaving his office.
“So…I called my friend last night and she’ll be joining us in planning the party”She said to Ken
“Cool”Ken smiled “Hey, what about the cake. We haven’t…”
“Don’t worry. That’s covered already” She smiled.
Natasha placed her phone on her ear after dialing Thomas’s number. He picked in a few seconds.
“Sweetheart”He said.
“I’m not in the mood for your flirty talks. Let’s meet this week. Business related”She said straightforwardly
“Is something wrong?”He asked, sensing the urgency in her voice.
“Not really”She said and he exhaled “But we have to meet this week else something might actually go wrong”
“Okay. So,when and where should we meet?”He asked.
“I don’t know,you should choose”She said.
“How about…My place”He said.
She rolled her eyes. “I already told you it’s business related”
“Only business?Not even a bit of pleasure?”He asked, displeased.
“No. And we’re not meeting at your place. You can choose the day we’ll meet but we’re meeting at my supermarket,my office”She said and hung up immediately.
Erik came out of his office and went to meet Kiara who stood and smiled immediately she saw him.
“Are you ready?”He asked.
She nodded and picked her bag.
They both left the office and went to the parking lot.
Erik collected his car keys from the driver and sat in the driver’s seat while Kiara sat beside him.
“So, where are we going?”He asked her as he drove out of the parking lot.
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you the directions”She smiled.
He chuckled “Okay”.
Daphne walked in with tons of bags in her hands.
Emily was with Ken, they were decorating the lounge. She smiled when she saw Daphne.
“Hey”She walked to her.
Daphne smiled, dropping the bags in her hands.
“I’m not late,am I?”She asked.
“No”Emily chuckled.
Daphne smiled hugging her.
“This place looks nice”Daphne said, looking round the lounge. “Who’s the dude?”She asked when she sighted Ken who was beginning to walk to them.
“That’s Ken,my boyfriend”Emily said.
“Oooh,I didn’t know you had a boyfriend”Daphne grinned
“It’s a recent thing”Emily said.
“Hi”Ken said to Daphne “You must be Daphne. Kiara’s best friend”
“You know Kiara?”Daphne asked,surprised.
“Yeah, we’re workmates”Ken nodded.
“Workmates? Are you by any chance her boss’s secretary?”She asked.
Ken nodded.
“Oh”She nodded slowly “Nice to meet you by the way”
Ken responded with a smile.
“Why do you have so many bags with you?”He asked
“Can’t have a birthday party without foods, snacks, and drinks”Daphne said.
“True”Ken said
Emily chuckled.
“Where’s the cake?”Daphne asked when she noticed there was no cake in sight.
“I don’t know, Kiara said she already took care of it”Ken said.
Just then,the door opened and Nathan came in with a box in his hands.
“Mr Nathan?”Ken said with surprise in his voice.
Nathan greeted them with a smile.
Ken went to take the box from him.
“Who’s that?”Daphne asked Emily in a whisper.
“I don’t know”Emily whispered back.
“I didn’t know you were coming”Ken said to Nathan.
“Kiara called and told me about the surprise party and I offered to bake a cake. She tried to decline but I couldn’t just sit back doing nothing after being aware”He said.
Ken smiled.
“These are your fellow coworkers I suppose” Nathan asked, facing Daphne and Emily with a smile.
They bowed slightly.
“No, she’s the only coworker”Ken gestured at Emily with a smile. “That’s Daphne, Kiara’s friend”
Daphne smiled shortly.
“This…Is Mr Nathan. He’s really close to Mr Erik” Ken introduced.
“Oh”Daphne and Emily said at a time. “Nice to meet you sir”They chorused.
He smiled “It’s nice to see you coming together to plan such a nice event for your boss. Thank you”He said.
“It’s actually Kiara’s idea. We only helped with a few things”Emily said.
“It still counts”Nathan said.
“All we have to do now is wait for Kiara and
Mr Erik” Ken said.
“In the meantime, I’ll arrange these on the table” Emily said, referring to the snacks and drinks Daphne brought.
“I’ll help”Ken smiled, assisting Emily in carrying the bags while she took the cake from him.
Daphne brought out her phone a minute later when she heard it beep.
It was a message from Kiara.
“They’re here already”She said out loud after reading the message.
Erik arched a brow as he stared at the building in front of him after coming out of his car with Kiara. He turned to look at her. She smiled.
“Come on, let’s go in”She said.
He followed her.
“Just so you know,I don’t sing”He said,aware that the place she brought him to was a Karaoke house.
She giggled.
They walked into a hallway. Good thing the doors were sound proofed or they would have been welcomed by loud singing voices and noises from speakers.
Kiara stopped walking when they got to a door and Erik did the same. He looked at her
She smiled secretly before opening it.
Immediately they stepped in,a shower of confetti fell on Erik and was followed by a loud ‘Happy Birthday’
His eyes widened,shock and surprise written all over his face as he stared at the familiar faces in front of him.
“Happy birthday Mr Erik”He heard Ken say and he blinked as he looked around the decorated room.
“Surprise”Kiara said with a grin and he turned to look at her.
He looked around the room once more,a chuckle escaping his lips. “Wow”He muttered,still surprised. “This is…”He was speechless.
“Kiara’s idea”Ken said
“You… Don’t like it?”Kiara asked seeing the look on his face.
Erik shook his head, trying to get over his shock “I do… I’m just…”
“Surprised?”Daphne asked
“Yeah”Erik nodded.
“Of course, it’s a surprise party”She said
They chuckled.
Erik smiled “I… Wasn’t expecting this”He said sincerely “Thank you”He said to them
“We’re glad we’re able to do something for your birthday sir”Emily said
“You were in on this too?”Erik asked when he saw Nathan.
“I was informed late but yes I was”Nathan nodded. “Don’t keep standing there, your cake is over there”He said
“Cake?”
Nathan nodded and led the way to the table.
Kiara urged him to follow and he did while the rest followed behind.
Daphne hung her arm around Kiara’s shoulders.
“I’ll ki|| you if you don’t plan a surprise party for me on my birthday”She said.
Kiara giggled.
They got to the table.
Erik smiled when he saw the cake. It’s been long since he had a birthday cake specially made for him.
“Wow, that’s a beautiful cake”Kiara said and Nathan smiled.
Emily lighted the candles on the cake.
“Aren’t we going to sing a happy birthday song?”Daphne asked and they turned to look at her. “Never mind,I got it”She smiled and went to grab a mic. The large screen in the room turned on, showing the lyrics of a birthday song after she pressed a button on the remote. The same song which the lyrics of it displayed on the screen began playing, coming out of the small speakers in the room.
She began singing along to the song.
Kiara joined her and Erik couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he watched Kiara.
The rest had smiles on their faces also.
Kiara and Daphne finished signing the song in two minutes.
“Make a wish and blow out the candles”Kiara said.
Erik bent and closed his eyes for a second before blowing out the candles.
Claps and laughter followed.
Daphne dropped the mic after leaving music on and went to join them. Kiara followed her.
A few minutes later and they were all seated with snacks in their hands, chuckling and conversing while playing a game which Emily suggested.
Kiara smiled as she looked at the people around her with smiles in their faces as they related with one other.
Though the reason she came to know them, exempting Daphne,was because Natasha wanted her to get back her father’s wealth,she has undeniably found a new family where she finds solace and happiness. And to think that she was going to lose all of them once she gets what she came for was…
She sighed,her smile slowly disappearing.
No one needed to tell her she would lose them once she gets what she came for.
Even worse, what would they think of her if they found out the reason she came to work at Tech Builders? Taking revenge for something Erik’s father did didn’t seem right to her,it has never for once seemed right to her but she was just doing it out of the love she has for Natasha and the need for a mother – daughter relationship with her.
But…She was beginning to rethink her decision. If this was what she had to do in order to get such relationship with Natasha,it wasn’t worth it. She couldn’t hurt someone just because she was trying to please another person. That wasn’t the kind of person she was. Also, Erik wasn’t just ‘Someone’ to her. He had become someone really special to her and whenever she looked at him, she couldn’t help but feel…
“Kiara”Daphne’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She blinked
“it’s your turn”Ken said.
“Are you okay,you seemed lost in thought”Daphne whispered to her.
“No, I’m fine”She smiled
Erik looked at her. He also noticed how she looked earlier. Like,she was bothered about something.
They ended the game minutes later.
“Should we play another game?”Daphne asked.
“We won’t get to finish it. We only paid for two hours and in ten minutes we’ll be leaving the lounge”Ken said.
“Oh”Daphne muttered.
“Two hours?”Erik asked
“Well,we should take pics before we leave”Daphne said, bringing out her phone.
“Yeah”Emily nodded.
“On the count of three, we’ll all shout happy birthday,okay”Daphne said “Ready?”She asked and they nodded.
She started the countdown and once she got to three, they all shouted ‘Happy Birthday’ and she took the pic.
She stood afterwards and took a pic of them.
“I should take a pic of the new couple”She smiled, facing Ken and Emily.
“New couple?”Erik asked Kiara. He was seated beside her. She nodded.
“They look good together, right?”She smiled.
Erik chuckled, staring at Kiara who’s gaze was on Ken and Emily.
Daphne grinned as she secretly took a picture of Erik and Kiara while he was staring at her.
“O-kay, I’ll send the group photos to everyone”She said.
“Well,I guess it’s time to leave”Nathan said to Erik before standing up.
“I’ll meet you at home”Erik said to him.
“I thought we were leaving together”He said.
“Kiara and I are actually going somewhere”He said
“We are?”Kiara asked.
TBC…✍️