Chapter 29 - Deep Breaths

Juni Cartel drove home in a blur that fateful night, he had bounded out of the hotel ignoring the courteous usual farewell greeting of the door man. He had shakingly pressed the lock and unlock button on his car remote repeatedly, starting the ignition, he drove off .

Now here he was, cruising down the avenue that led to his house, his mind still frozen with the night's event and what it could mean for him

"It's fine, I will.. I can fix this, it will be fine"

He kept chanting.

How he got home tipsy,he did not know,it was like the drunkness went away immediately he stepped out the hotel.it was until he got home that he realized he had left his Coat jacket in the penthouse. He banged his head repeatedly against the steering wheel "what's happening,... What's happening Lord?"

He took deep breaths in and out before alighting from the car and walked into his dim lit house, immediately he walked in ,he flopped on the nearest couch and the clock chimed 10pm.he was lazily removing his shoes and socks when a shadow emerged by the door.

"Hey babe"he said thinking it was his wife but not until the shadow clicked the light switch box and the light flooded the room did he recognize Alma, Derek's nanny.

"Good evening , Mr Cartel" She greeted

"Ohh... Evening Alma, isn't Carmen home yet? Didn't think you would still be here " He asked

"Yeah, Mrs Cartel told me she already notified you she would be working late today , she also instructed me to wait around till you were home, Derek has eaten dinner and I have tucked him in.

It's kind of getting late so ,can I go now please? "She explained

" Oh, right she did mention that, sorry I'm late, ofcourse you can" a tipsy Juni said

" Thanks, Mr Cartel, goodnight" She said as she headed out

" Goodnight Alma"

Juni watched her retreating figure walk out the door for some minutes before stood up to go to the kitchen to brew coffee for himself

He needed to sober up before his wife arrived. He considered all his options and concluded on a certain decision that could come to haunt him later.

30minutes later, A sober and refreshed Juni Cartel, in shorts and a t-shirt sat down in the sitting room and for the first time that month, he switched on the tv , trying to calm his panicked mind, a few minutes after, Carmen Cartel drove into the house garage

"Hey babe.." She said just as soon as she stepped into the house , dropped her bag then came over to sit by her husband

He smiled wearily at her as she pecked him then chuckled

"What?" He asked

"I can't believe you are watching TV, I thought it was Alma when I drove in"She explained

" Oh, I just felt I should take sometime to relax and calm down"he said truthfully

" Yeah you should baby, because no matter what, you getting promoted right? I saw your message about having dinner with Angela tonight. I thought

... "She said then made to straddle him then kissed his lightly before adding " we could.." paused again to kiss him "celebrate" she finally concluded kissing him firmly now then pulled away when she didn't feel any response from him

"Is something wrong , Juni?" She asked in concern

He smiled wearily at her as he reached up with his hand to tuck her hair back behind her ears "Everything is fine" he finally said mostly to himself but so heard him

"Really?" She asked lowly

"What if I remain an editor for now, babe? and get promoted later on?" Juni said trying to indicate to her that he didn't get the contract signed

She understood everything he couldn't say and instead of freaking out and calling Angela names like he thought

She smiled then put her hands around his neck

"Then I guess, alot of other people are gonna get the best editor for a few more years"she concluded with a kiss.

" I love you"He whispered

"I love you too".

***

The next morning, Juni woke up feeling quite better, brushed then bathed and soon enough the last night events came rushing back causing a bit of a panic as he dressed but when he noticed the peaceful face of his sleeping wife , it went away but left a smile on his face instead, now to put his plans in motion.

He took his phone from the table and texted the young author

"Good morning ma'am,If you don't mind, I was hoping we could talk. "

He hesitated to press send to avoid awkwardness but being the smart man that it is, he knew he had to and that's exactly what it did knowing this could go two ways

Either he remains an editor or get promoted.

Both options were in his favor so he would be fine.

After all, Charles was far experienced than he is and deserved the position without having to go through competition.

For the first time, Juni put himself in his opponent's shoes and understood how hard it is to be competing against a junior.

"Morning babe" A sleepy Carmen said stretching her hands as she made to get up

"Morning sweetheart" Juni replied smiling down at his lover and wife from where he was dressing up

" How did you sleep?" He asked

" Great"she replied as she stepped out of bed to where Juni was knotting his tie unsuccessfully

Pushing his hand away,she stood on her toes and took over the task with a smile

"You can only try.but what exactly could you do without me?" Carmen asked mockingly

" I don't know, probably nothing" Juni replied smiling and Carmen smiled right back

And that was how it always was,no words was needed to convey the love

In their silence , a thousand words were spoken.

they understood each other perfectly with nothing but smiles

..Meanwhile in the penthouse..

Angela woke up whimpering on the couch covered up by a coat jacket though with an headache to the sounds of gurgling and quickly made her way to the kitchen where Nancy was feeding her son "Angel".

"Good morning, ma'am. I thought you needed the rest so I decided on not waking you up"the middle aged woman stated

Waving her hands, Angela replied "good morning Nancy and its fine, thanks for coming this early " then made her way to the coffee maker feeling groggy as she brewed some coffee for herself

Taking a sip in, she strotted to her personal bedroom in the penthouse barefooted , she went to the bathroom to rinse her face and was halfway through her cup of coffee when it all came rushing to her

The memories of last night's event and it's failures, she didn't think she could face the editor now or anything. She saw his message

Cartel -

"Good morning ma'am, if you don't mind, I was hoping we could talk"

She couldn't reply instead she group dialed her mischievous friends who had pushed her into what she tried to do last night.

"So how did it go?" Mikasa shouted gleefully over the screen

"C'mon, give us all juicy details now" Annie added

"There's no juicy details , guys. Everything is fucked up, he refused my advances and left, I slept off where he fucking left me, damn it"a panicked Angela said

The ladies went silent

"Oh God, My reputation would be ruined if this gets out, he could even threaten me with this anytime, he already sent me a message asking to talk"Angela cried out

" Hey.. hey, calm down, don't cry , the only thing to do know is to move faster than him"Annie said surprisingly calm

" What do you mean? "A confused Angela asked

"Listen carefully, Sweetheart... You have to.."

"But dont you think that's kind of you know, bad? " Angela asked slowly over the phone

" Do you wanna be on a lease throughout your whole life, have a man control you again?" Annie asked

" That's kinda harsh, Annie"Mikasa said knowing Annie was talking about Angela's controlling ex

" The situation requires it" Annie defended herself

" She's right"Angela admitted slowly

" So are you gonna do it or something?" Annie asked

"I guess" Angela replied

"I want a Yes" Angela insisted forcefully

"Annie..." Mikasa called out

"Shut up,Mikasa" Annie said over the phone before Adding "Angela?"

"Yes, iwill do it" Angela finally said

"Glad you see it my way and two more stuff, Make sure no one else finds out about it, this stays between the three of us, second. Do not reply that message"referring to the message the editor had sent Angela that morning

"Sure, thanks guys, I don't know what I would do without you"

Angela said smiling slightly

" Probably be lost or something" Mikasa replied making them all chuckle as if they were not just about to ruin someone's life.