Hidden Passion
Chapter 28

What Lillian was feeling was more than uncomfortable. She was really nervous and scared knowing that Nathaniel was home with a strange woman who was pretending to be her. What would they be doing at that moment? What if he really thought she was her and they started to get along? What if he fell in love with her? She could not help asking herself these rhetorical questions. She had tried calling his office, but she kept being told that he was not in the office. Did he take the day off to spend time with the imposter?

She did not realize when she started crying. She wiped her tears with the back of her hands, blaming herself for her misery. She would not have been suffering now if she had put herself first before her best friend's happiness. Only if she had told him that she was his childhood friend. Even if he would not recognize her, he would have recognized the inscription.

She was given so many chances to tell him the truth, but she chose her best friend over her love. She really wished she could turn back the time to when he had asked her to show him her arm, then she would not hesitate to do just that. She wished they were back to the trip alone in Abuja, she would not hesitate to take every chance she could to reveal everything to him.

The more she realized the chances she could have taken to tell him everything, the more she blamed herself. She had been a fool and she regretted that. All of these would not have been so painful if her best friend had actually not lied to her about her relationship with Nathaniel. She hated herself for being so kindhearted. Only if she was selfish.

Just only.

But it was never too late. She was going to be more selfish from that moment onward. She would start to care less of others' feelings. Her pride and good heart had been brutally stabbed that she was not certain she could ever be kind again. Not again.

She wiped her tears and relaxed in her office as she pondered on what she should do, but someone knocked on her door which made her look toward the door in surprise. She was not expecting anyone because the office had closed about thirty minutes ago and she had no booked appointment scheduled after work, of course.

"Come in," her voice was firm, but did not stray her sight from the door. Thin lines appeared in between her brows as she furrowed them. Just someone who could visit her, but least expected at the moment. "Nester?"

The lady smiled and approached her. "Hello to you," she said. "May I have a seat?"

Lillian nodded. "Of course, you may. What brings you here?" She questioned as she took her seat before her and set her bag beside her. She watched as she crossed her legs at the knees and admitted that she was quite modest and professional. But she did not like her. Not that she did anything wrong to her but ever since she was told that she was the one who found the fake Lillian, she started viewing her in a different way.

Who could blame her? She knew she would not have known the Lillian with them was fake. It would have all been the imposter's plan, but all the same, she just felt that kind of way. She respected her though. She must have been very loyal for Nathaniel to have told her he trusted her and told her about such a thing when she could not even confide in her best friend about the same thing.

Nester smiled again as she looked into her bag and brought out a file and Lillian could not help but notice that her smiles had been ungenuine and she was smiling way too much than necessary. Nester handed over the file as she said, still smiling, "My boss asked me to leave that with you for you to go through. He would have been here himself, but he had some other issues to attend to at the office."

Lillian's eyebrow raised. Had he been in the office all the time she had called? Then, why would they tell her he wasn't? "I thought he had not been at the office for a few days now. I have been trying to reach his office line but to no avail," she explained.

"Well, that's true. I'm only telling you that professionally."

"And if you don't want to tell me professionally?" She placed the file on the center table.

"I'm sorry that's all I can tell you. I can't say any more than that. You can call to inform us after going through the file. I do not know what it is all about, but I am sure it is explanatory. I shall take my leave now," Nester said and rose to her feet. Lillian rose to her feet as well and shook hands with her. "Thank you so much. But I'm just wondering why you came after work?"

"I am very sorry about that. I got caught up in traffic," Nester replied while Lilly nodded. Lagos traffic had always been crazy.

Lillian bit her lip as she started considering whether she should ask her about the fake Lillian with Nathaniel. Since she was the one who found her, she might know or may have noticed any strange signs about the lady or probably woman. "Uhm...Nath told me that you helped him find a long-lost friend?" She could see as she tensed up before she turned around and faced her.

Something immediately struck Lillian as she noticed Nester's every expression. Why did she suddenly tense? And why did she suddenly feel nervous? Wait, what even made her think she would be trustworthy? Just because Nathaniel trusted her? That should not be her reason. It was possible that she planned it all. She was not concluding she did it, but anything could happen.

"He... He told you?" Nester had not expected her boss to do that. Where did they even meet? Her palms started sweating with the curiosity of what Lillian's reply had been. Perhaps, she had told her boss who she really was. But if she did, her boss would not have been so happy with Linda. He was a bad actor, so he sucked at pretending.

She remembered how she had met with her boss' agent who he had asked to look into the Lillian before her to see if she had been the woman he had been looking for. The result had been positive, and she had blackmailed the agent to give her boss a false result and that had been successful.

Only if Lillian was out of the picture totally, then having Nathaniel and his company all to herself would never be a problem nor would there be any hindrance.

Lillian smiled and nodded. "Seeing your expression, you know who I truly am, right?"

"Who else could you be other than Miss Williams?" She was trying to play her cards unsuspiciously, but she only earned a smirk from Lillian. Gosh! How much she hated smirks! How come there was another lady aside from Linda who smirked? Lillian folded her arms around her bosom, waiting for her response.

"I knew you were the one Nathaniel had been looking for."