The CEO's Painted Skin

It's been two weeks and the new owner of the property still not making a show up in the stores to meet the employees. However, she is conversing regularly with a certain Alex in the messenger, which was introduced to her by the old owner as the 'new owner,' she was given a new bank account to deposit the stores' daily revenue. This guy, Alex, was asking her a lot of questions about how she manages the stores on daily basis, he was also inquiring about the daily sales report she encoded in the excel files.

She found it strange though...

The store has now a new owner yet nothing had changed with the way things were going in the stores, it's the same as before. She was expecting that the owner will storm into the stores, she and the rest of the crew will be discharged from their jobs but it didn't happen. When she asked Alex if he will hire new workers for the shops, he answered that he won't as long she can maintain her good performance and the excellent overall performance of the crew in the stores.

She was feeling happy...

Yet, she can't shake that feeling that there is more to everything.

When she asked Alex why he was not appearing yet in the stores to meet the crew, he just answered that he is a bit busy with his other businesses, he will come at the stores at some point in time to meet his new employees. His visit to the stores will come unannounced! that is what he said.

That bothered her a lot. She hates surprises!

She continues tossing and turning in her bed. She reached out for her phone. This new owner is a mysterious guy!

She checked her messenger if Alex is online, he is!

"Catherine....are you there?" he sends her a message.

"Yes, am here Sir," she answered.

"The old owner mentioned the two rooms on the second floor."

"Yes, Sir, we have two rooms here on the second floor, I'm occupying one of the room. The other room is vacant," she answered, frowning.

"That is good. I want to occupy the vacant room when I will start overseeing the stores."

"Huh? You will be sleeping and staying here, Sir?" her eyes grow bigger. This is a big problem!

"Why are you sounding very surprised? Am I not allowed to sleep on my own property?"

"But...but...b...but...," she stammered.

Dang! she had difficulty finishing her sentence.

"What is wrong, Catherine? Tell me?" he asked.

Catherine was silent for a while. She will be living with a male stranger under one roof? He is the owner though, she scolded herself, but it doesn't feel right at all.

"Catherine, why are you not replying? Are you still there?"

"I'm still here, Sir! No problem, I will clean the room for you. I will be looking for a boarding house somewhere nearby. This is to make sure that if you already want to stay here you won't be disturbed by my presence," she explained.

"No need! I won't be staying there every day, I will just drop by from time to time. Why do I have this feeling that you don't want me around you?" he said.

"Huh? You misunderstood me, Sir. Just that...," she scratched her head.

"Ah I got it, are you single, Catherine?" he asked.

"Yes..."

"I'm single too. Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes I have," she replied.

"Ohh, what is his name?"

"His name is John..."

"Oh I see, would John be angry if I sleep in the same place as you?"

"Huh?" what kind of question is he asking? Catherine rolled her eyes. "Yes, he will be. He is a jealous type of guy."

"That's good. If I stayed there, we will make John jealous, okay?" he replied with laughing emoji.

What the heck---!? Catherine groaned. This new owner is a prankster, whoaaa, he is annoying as hell! Is he a jerk? or what?

"Hey Catherine, I'm just kidding, stop worrying about everything. I won't be staying there all the time, just once in a while. Can you tolerate my presence once I'm there?" he asked.

"Yes, of course, Sir. You are the owner, you are always welcome here," she said.

"That's good. Now that's settled. I might be dropping by in the stores one of these days. I won't inform you ahead 'coz I want to surprise you."

"Huh? Please no, Sir! I hate surprises!" she complained.

"Oh, why? are you hiding something---?

"Huh? I'm not hiding anything. I just want to know when will you visit her so that I can prepare the room, your foods, your sleeping quarter and everything."

"Ah okay. I will inform you then so that you won't have a heart attack!" he sends another smiling emoji.

"Thank you, Sir," she sighed in relief.

"Catherine, listen, I haven't seen you before, can you take a picture of yourself right now and sends it to me?"

"No problem, Sir, wait for a second..." Catherine took a quick photo of herself and send it to her employer.

"Nice photo you had dear. You look beautiful without makeup, your natural beauty is refreshing. You are exactly the type of woman I want to become my wife," he said.

Alex sends her 3 heart emoji.

Catherine sighed and rolled her eyes. Dang! Is he hitting up on her? She wanted to end their conversation now since it's no longer work related.

"Sir, I will log out from the messenger now because I still need to collect the reports from the crew, it's near closing time for the stores."

"Okay. Go ahead Catherine, I will chat with you tomorrow, bye bye," said Alex.

"Bye Sir!" Catherine immediately logged out from the messenger.

Oh my God! The new owner is freaking her out! She released a deep sigh. She exited her room and went downstairs to perform her job.

>>

John closed his messenger, a wide smile appeared on his lips. Then the smile faded away. Things are getting complicated now. He has to make an appearance in the stores somehow. He is Alex the owner and he is also the mute man, he has two disguises now, and the third issue was, of course, he has a new image, but then he was always been 'John the ugly guy' to Catherine, it's gonna require a lot of explaining from his part to her.

First, he will explain that...the mute guy, the owner Alex, the ugly John and the good looking guy in front of her, is composed of one person only, that's him, John, he can't help but feels amused and bothered at the same time.

He was looking at his calendar, looking for the perfect day to visit his new property and meet Catherine once and for all. All the disguises have to stop at some point in time or else it will make Catherine very angry for being lied upon many times.

The best time to visit her will be during her rest day, Saturday night, that's it! Then he will sleep in there after he's done revealing everything to her, hopefully, she will let him sleep beside her in her room because he really misses her so much, he missed cuddling with her.