A Naive Bride for the Sophisticated CEO

Chapter 18: Ruined shirt.

Charles sat in a restaurant, waiting for his divorced wife, Helen. They had both agreed to meet because of their son and nothing more.

He took a peek at his wristwatch and saw it was almost noon.

“This is one of the reasons why I get so mad at her. Why didn’t she just choose noon for the meeting if she would keep me waiting till this time?”

He picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. He looked out of the restaurant through the transparent walls.

He soon sighted a car park outside the restaurant. The car door opened, and he saw Helen alight.

She looked as beautiful as ever. Charles gulped heavily and looked away. He picked his cup of coffee and took another sip.

“I am so sorry! I got a bit delayed at the airport,” Helen uttered and sat.

He looked up and stared at her face. There was no difference from the last time he saw her. She looked so beautiful and young.

“Airport?” Charles asked in surprise, and she bobbed.

“I just got back from Malaysia. I’m sorry I kept you waiting for so long. My driver is so annoying.”

Charles nodded and heaved a sigh.

“I bet you are too busy. So let’s get straight to the point.”

He tried avoiding her face as he spoke, and Helen noticed it. She smiled softly and bounced her head.

“Before we get straight to the point. How are you and James?”

Charles scoffed and shook his head. “You don’t care, you don’t have to pretend you do.”

“What? C’mon, Charles. You know I do care about the both of you. You are my family.”

“Your other family, you mean? Listen to me, Helen. I called you here because you are the one James listens to every time. Even after all you did to us, he still loves you so much. You should be grateful for that.”

“Of course, I am grateful. And I thank you for not letting him hate me. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t have…”

“You had a choice, Helen. You should have fought for our love, but you didn’t. You let your father get in the way of our marriage, and you divorced me. He hated me because I wasn’t rich, and you allowed him to ruin our marriage.”

“I’m sorry, Charles. I know you hate me for it, but I had my reasons. If I didn’t leave, then you would have…”

“I don’t want to know. You have a family now, you are wealthy, and thank God I also became wealthy after you left. There are no rejects.”

Helen gulped hard and nodded.

“So, you told me you have found the perfect wife for James. I’m so happy you are getting me involved in this,” She uttered excitedly.

“I didn’t have a choice. He is so stubborn.”

She let out a little laugh, while Charles kept his cold look on.

“So who is this perfect wife you have found for him?”

“Her name is Amelia Cooper, the niece of a very good friend of mine. She works as his secretary now. Believe me when I say, she is the best. She is so innocent and quiet.”

“Wow. Do you think James likes her?” She asked, and Charles shook his head sadly.

“He doesn’t like her a little bit. He keeps complaining about everything that has to do with her. I would have taken it up myself, but I would never succeed…”

“So you thought of contacting me so that I can help you talk to him and convince him to get married to her?” Helen butted in, and he nodded.

“Yes. It seems hard asking him to marry a lady like her. But I prefer her because she isn’t like the other girls he f**ks. She is everything we can ever wish for our son.”

Helen smiled widely when he said “our son”. Charles noticed she was smiling, and he creased his brows.

“What’s so funny?”

“You said ‘our son’. I’m so happy we still have something that brings us together.”

Charles gulped and looked away. He picked up his cup of coffee and gulped everything that remained at a go. He was beginning to feel nervous.

“So, what do you think we can do?” He asked.

“Ermm. First things first. I’ll have to relocate to Alabama for the meantime. I am on Vacation, so I’ll spend it at home because of James.”

“At home?”

“Yes. At your house. Where else do you want me to stay, Charles?”

“Anywhere, apart from the house, okay? You have been gone for eighteen years. You can’t just walk back like nothing happened.”

“But you need my help. You have to let me stay at the house, or I won’t be able to talk to James.”

Charles raised his brows in surprise after hearing her statement.

“Wow. But this is about our son, Helen.”

“More reason why I should move back in for the meantime. The more time we spend together, the more opportunity to talk to him. I’m not staying forever. Just for the meantime.”

Charles exhaled loudly and nodded.

“Fine. When are you going to come?”

“Let’s move right now! I can’t wait to see him.”

Helen grinned widely, and Charles let out a feeble smile. He truly missed her, but he was still hurt.

***

Amelia got into the store, looking at James’ shirt in her hand. He had instructed her to wash it and iron it as soon as possible.

He had only singlets on when he gave it to her, so he needed it to be done very fast.

She was happy he wasn’t going to fire her because of what she did.

She walked to the washing machine and before she threw the shirt in it, she slowly moved it to her nose.

She inhaled his cologne for a long time and closed her eyes. His smell always brought comfort to her.

Amelia poured some detergent in the washing machine and put it on. She sat on a chair not so far from it and stared at the machine.

The machine stopped working after some minutes, and she went ahead to rinse and dry it.

Soon, the shirt was dried, and she took it out of the machine. She looked up and saw an ironing board not so far from where she was.

The board was covered with an ironing blanket, and on it was the quality steam iron.

She buttoned the shirt and laid it neatly on the board. She connected the iron and waited a little bit for it to heat up. She started ironing afterwards.

James silently walked into the store and found Amelia ironing his shirt. He smirked and went ahead with removing his singlet.

He walked up to her and stretched the singlet to her.

“Wash this too.”

Amelia raised her head to look at him, and when she saw him standing in front of her with his bare chest, her eyes broadened.

She took the singlet from him, but found it hard to look away from his muscular torso.

She admired the contour lines from his collar bone, down to the waist of his trousers. It was so evident and looked so rigid.

“I promise you that if you burn my shirt, that is the end for you.”

Amelia blinked out of her fantasy and hastily looked away. She looked down and saw that she had placed the iron on the shirt unknowingly.

She quickly raised it up and saw nothing had happened to the shirt. She heaved a sigh of relief and kept ironing.

James stared at her and giggled inside of him. ‘She is so much fun to make a fool off.’

“Why don’t I have your phone number? Weren’t you supposed to submit it too?” He asked.

“Errm… I… I’m yet to get one.”

“Hold on a sec. You don’t have a phone?”

“No, I don’t. I never thought of having one because I didn’t need it. I have no one to talk to, and I feared it would be useless.”

James’ lips parted in disbelief. He had never seen such a dumbass his whole life.

“You fear your phone would be useless if you buy it? And now you are working, you don’t think you’ll need it?”

“I’m going to get one soon. I promise, Mr. James.” She lowered her head.

“Get it today. I must have your number before the end of today. I won’t be in the office every time, and I’ll need to tell you about some things, okay?”

“Yes, sir.“

Amelia finished ironing his shirt and raised it up. “It’s all done, sir. I’ll wash the singlet now.”

She stretched the shirt to James, but he refused to collect it, leaving her confused.

“Put it on for me.” He lifted his arms in the air and waited for her to clothe him.