The One Who Holds Me (Sovereign Love #4)

9. Alex

9

ALEX

NOW

M y throat is parched, but that is not enough reason for me to drink the coffee in front of me. The guilt rising in my chest has taken over my whole being and I’d rather die of thirst than do anything that would give Olanna a false perception of my intentions.

She left the room because of me. She has shed tears today because of me. Her whole day might be ruined because of me. I knew she’d be angry, but I didn’t know she’d still be in so much pain. This is worse than I thought.

“Is everything okay with your coffee, sir?” Lerato walks into the room and nods at my now lukewarm beverage on the table. It has been thirty minutes since Olanna left the room and a part of me wanted to run after her, let her know how sorry I am, and let her take out her anger on me. I thought playing it cool and sending her a smile would break the ice, but obviously, that backfired. Lord, this is harder than I thought.

Alex, my beloved.

Don’t worry about her.

She is clay in My hands.

I am working on her.

Trust Me.

“Sir?” Lerato’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, reminding me I haven’t given her an answer.

“Erm...no. I mean, yes, everything’s fine. Thanks, Lerato.” I take a sip of the coffee before pushing it away from me and she exits the room again.

My gaze sweeps through the conference room briefly and then to the glass walls. The employees are at their workstations in the open plan office, minding their business, but I won’t be surprised if they’re whispering to themselves.

They’ve probably made me out to be the villain in this story and they’re not wrong about that. But if the vilest offenders can be redeemed, then there’s still hope for a villain like me. If only I can get Olanna to believe that this story might have a happy ending.

The door opens again, and Olanna walks back into the room. This time, no tears, no smile and a look of determination on her face—stern and almost venomous. I rise to my feet as she settles behind the chair at the head of the table.

“You can take a seat, Mr. Obeng,” she says without looking at me, and her jaw tenses as Lerato hands her an iPad and a pen. “Once again, I apologize for the delay this morning. As you’re already aware, Yin, our managing director, had to take emergency leave, so he couldn’t be with us today.” She finally looks at me and sends me a smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. I’ve seen that smile so many times in movies. She’s frontin’ and wearing a mask to hide her true feelings about this situation.

“Welcome to Madu Health. We’re excited to be working with you on HearCare’s next launch. Please, you can proceed with your presentation as planned. The rest of the team managers will join us shortly.”

“Oh, I thought the presentation was going to be later this afternoon?”

“Well, plans have changed and I’m sure the team can spare ten minutes of their time to listen to your presentation,” she says before her eyebrows furrow. “Unless your presentation isn’t ready?”

“No, it’s ready. I’m happy to proceed.” I walk to the front of the room and connect my laptop to the projector before loading my presentation.

In less than five minutes, the other managers flood into the room and take their seats around the conference table with Lerato sitting on Olanna’s right-hand side.

“Good morning, everyone,” Olanna addresses the group. “I’m sure you’ve already heard Yin couldn’t be with us this morning, but I wanted to introduce you to Mr. Alex Yaw Obeng, who is HearCare’s SEO strategist.”

Wow, she still remembers my middle name. I think I only mentioned it to her once.

“Alex will be working with our team over the next three months to ease us into the exciting world of search engine optimization, so we can set up our own team here at Madu Health. But before we get into that, Alex is going to give us a presentation about how we will work together.” Olanna introduces everyone seated in the room.

“Alex, this is Neil, our PR manager, and Melissa, our digital marketing manager. Sarah is leading the content marketing team, James—branding, and Carolina is head of advertising.” She points to all the managers as she goes around the room. “Everyone, please welcome Alex.”

“Hi, Alex.” The crowd responds before I start my presentation.

“Thank you, everyone. I’m so happy to be here. As you know, my name is Alex Obeng and I’m the lead SEO strategist at HearCare. Over the next three months, I’ll be working closely with each department to show you why implementing organic SEO success is an important long-term marketing strategy that will help increase the discoverability of your clients’ products.” I go through my slides and finish in ten minutes.

A round of applause follows the end of my presentation, followed by Olanna’s closing remark. “That was a very interesting presentation, Alex. I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re all excited to work with you.” She smiles.

“Lerato will take you on a tour around the facility and inform you of the next thing on your agenda.” She hands her iPad back to Lerato and stands up. “I believe we’re done here. Thanks, everyone, for coming,” she says, her gaze moving around the room, looking at everyone but me.

Following her lead, everyone stands and makes their way out of the room. I walk up to Olanna and extend my hand to her, but she ignores it. “When will our next meeting be?” I ask.

“If you want any more information, then please liaise with Lerato, who knows my schedule,” she says with a straight face. That’s all she gives me and I deserve it. All of it. But God sent me here for a reason and I refuse to be defeated on the first try.

As she walks toward me, heading for the door, I step out onto her path and grab her elbow gently when she is about to walk past me, bringing her to a halt. “It’s so good to see you again, Olanna,” I lean in and whisper into her ear. Her tropical scent fills my nostrils and transports me back all those days when she buried her head on my shoulders and allowed them to be her safe space.

Her gaze drops to my hand on her elbow and it slides upward slowly as I pray earnestly that she’d look me in the eye, allowing me the pleasure of beholding the sparkle that was once there when she looked at me.

But her gaze stops just above my shoulder and after what seems like forever, she exhales a sharp breath and says. “I’m afraid I can’t say the same.” She jerks her elbow away from my grip and walks out of the room, with Lerato trailing behind her.