Chapter 4.3

Chapter 4.3

Before Cedric knew it, he was practically a young adult.

Since becoming part of Spade’s Publishing, Acticom magazine’s sales had almost doubled.  Seth Spade was even able to employ another editorial assistant, and gave Cedric a pay rise for his outstanding input towards the company.  Raziya was a University graduate from Egypt who had studied overseas in Simerica for the past four years.  She had a keen interest in writing and was one of the most charismatic girls Cedirc had ever met.

It was not long until Billy took an interest in her.

The sight was sweet to begin with, but Cedric soon got irritated with watching them flirt openly by the coffee machine when they should have been focusing on getting their articles sorted for the magazine.

Still, as a team, they gelled together brilliantly.  However, Clark regularly stood over them whenever he graced them with his appearance in the office.

Resentment and jealously burnt though his veins, particularly whenever he set eyes on Cedric.  Seth, his Father, praised Cedric a lot.  Too much for Clark’s liking.

He relished every small opportunity he had to discipline Cedric; even if he was a minute late for work or a second late returning from his lunch break.  What aggravated him the  most was that Cedric would only smile and apologise without showing a hint of frustration at Clark’s blatant discriminating behaviour.

As for Cedric’s family, his older brother, Dexter, had started working part-time at the local trade store, where residents were welcome to bring in their creations to sell (ranging from mechanical objects, to the sweetest of baked goodies).

Of course, he still invented in his free time.

Dexter had also taken a keen interest in maintaining his fitness, so joined up to the local gym.

It was also a brilliant way for the outgoing young man to meet new people, such as Russian born Natalia Andreev who had moved from the big city to Honeyset Valley six years ago.

It turned out that Natalia was an Editor for ‘Fitness 1^st’, one of the best selling sports magazines in the area.

Unsurprisingly, what interested Dexter the most was that Natalia was also a part-time lingerie model, and she was not the least bit shy about her body!

It was not long until Dexter was completely smitten with her, although he had no real plans to settle down with her anytime soon.

Unfortunately, not everything was sugar coated in the Meerkato household.  A few months ago Rocio had been diagnosed with the same illness her Mother had passed away from.  Naturally Rocio was terrified, she had prayed her Mother’s leukaemia would not affect her, but fate had harshly shattered her hopes.

Thankfully, modern medicine had advanced over the past few decades, so Rocio was given medicine and treatment which her family hoped would eventually cure her.

One Friday evening, Cedric returned home from work as usual, collecting the mail before he trekked up the path and quickly shuffled into the warmth of the house.

The living room was unusually quiet.  He knew Leon was still at work, and Dexter was either at the gym or at Natalia’s house, but Rocio should have definitely been home by now, preparing dinner.  Cedric was about to walk around to the kitchen, when he heard the faint sound of voices emitting from the downstairs bedroom, where his Grandparents used to sleep.

Identifying one of the voices as his Mother’s, Cedric tapped lightly on the door.  Five seconds later, Rocio granted him permission to come in.  Subconsciously taking a deep breath, Cedric opened the door and stepped into the room.

He got the complete shock of his life when his eyes instantly focusing on the two people sat at the chess table.

Rocio stood up from her seat, a warm smile on her face as she analysed her Son’s shell-shocked expression.

“You’re a very lucky young man, Cedric.”

“To have a young lady travel this far to visit you; a lot of men would kill for such love.”

Sun Young Kim gracefully stood up from her chair, her hazelnut brown eyes affectionately staring him down.  Cedric felt his knees buckle; his mind was heavy with confusion, but yet he could not deny the intense feelings he had for a woman he had only met once before in his life.

“I suppose I’d best let Sun Young explain why she is here,” Rocio chuckled as she headed towards the door, brushing her hand against Cedric’s arm as she strolled past him with a proud smile beaming off her face.

Once the door had shut, Sun Young broke the silence that had barely had time to manifest in the room.

“I’m sorry that my arrival is unexpected, but I could wait no longer to see you again,” Sun Young revealed.

“You and me, we were destined to meet; the reason, I’m not completely sure yet, but I know it will soon come to light,” the Chinese beauty in front of him continued to speak in a gentle voice.  Cedric could still not fully comprehend what was happening.  The entire situation felt surreal- he barely knew Sun Young, yet he felt a peculiar urge to protect and love her.  Simple feelings, yet they caused so much complexity in his head.

Sun Young was stunned when Cedric, without uttering a single word, pulled her into his arms and held onto her tightly.  It was the only action he could think of doing at the time, and he was glad when she hugged him back just as hard.

The kiss that followed was just as instinctive; tender and delicate to top things off.

Later on that night, the two young adults gave into their passions and desires and did what came naturally to any living life form in existence.

Neither of them stopped to think they were moving too fast.  After just five days of staying at the Meerkato house, Sun Young had already made a solid decision.  The following morning, she phoned up her Brother, Ho Sung, and informed him that she would not be returning to China.

He was bemused by her choice, but loyal as he was; he respected her wishes and promised to ship over her belongings for her.

Sun Young was welcome into the household with open arms, especially by Rocio who enjoyed finally having the company of another girl, since her daughter, Allegra, had moved out a few years ago.  They  would often cook breakfast together, and Sun Young was even more than willing to help out with chores around the house.

The bond Rocio shared with Sun Young was a complete contrast to her relationship with Natalia.  The Russian model and publishing editor never offered to lift a finger around the house whenever she came over, even if Rocio or Leon cooked dinner.  Still, she was tolerated, just because she was Dexter’s girlfriend.

Rocio even subtly hinted that perhaps Natalia should spend some time with Sun Young, secretly hoping that Dexter’s girlfriend would learn a thing or two from the mild mannered Chinese woman.

So the next time Natalia came over, Dexter decided to put a plan in motion.

“Perhaps you two girls should go out for the day, you know, get to know each other?” Dexter suggested, whilst Leon nodded in agreement.  Sun Young had not actually been out into town yet, despite she had been in Honeyset Valley for almost two weeks.  It was an ingenious ploy, and Dexter hoped it would stop Rocio from nagging at him!

Although Sun Young was not too enthusiastic about the idea of spending a day with Natalia- a woman who had practically ignored her whenever she came over to spend a night or evening with Dexter- she refused to kick up a fuss and went along with the flow of things.

Natalia insisted on giving Sun Young a lesson in fashion, cockily announcing that her current attire was not entirely flattering.

Still, she was surprisingly kind and bought Sun Young the outfit she liked the best, and even treated her to dinner.

Even after all this, Sun Young was in two minds about Natalia.  Despite all her gracious efforts, there was still something about the Russian girl that made Sun Young feel on edge (sometimes it was just too difficult to trust a pretty face); more the reason why she knew she had to stay by Cedric’s side.

Sun Young was indeed wise to be weary of Natalia.  The young blue eyed beauty had a secret agenda, primarily involving Cedric.

It did not take Natalia too long to figure out Cedric’s password, so she had access to his computer.

‘This has been far too easy,’ Natalia thought, amused as she surfed through the files on Cedric’s computer.  Her intentions were indeed downright evil; but then again, business was business, and times were tough.

And she simply had to cheat to get what she wanted.

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