Chapter 278 - Fake girlfriend (1)

~ Los Angeles ~

At White corp. in the break room, one lady was reading tabloid with pictures of Jeffrey White and a 'mystery woman'. Group of women entered, and the one with newspapers got up excitedly. "Martha! This is you, right?" She was pointing toward the paper in front of her.

Martha, woman from the group, didn't understand what the reason behind that comment is and smiled while approaching the table with magazine to take a look. She saw pictures in the newspaper and froze.

Martha is woman who did presentation of financial data from marketing department few days prior when Jeff smiled while exchanging messages with JoAnna. She misinterpreted his behavior and thought that he is smiling at her. Martha ended up 'confiding' in few of her friends that CEO White has a crush on her. Now her friends assumed that she is the woman in photos! If she denies it, what does that mean? Is he cheating on her? Or did they break up already? She can't have that... She continued smiling, and not denying that she is woman in the photos.

The women around her all squealed with excitement.

"Martha, you are dating our CEO! And you got photographed!"

"Oh, how lucky... you look great together!", one woman commented.

Martha is similar to JoAnna in build and hair, so it is easy to confuse two of them since JoAnna's face in photos is from far away and slightly out of focus.

"They say that he is gay... Martha, you should give an interview and tell everyone that he is not. You two did it, right?"

Martha could not deny it at this point... so she went along and confirmed that Jeff is great lover.

"Uhhh! I'm sure he is packing truckload of muscles under that suit!"

"Forget the muscles… it's what's in his pants that counts! Hihihi…"

"Waaah! With such a body, he can last long, right?... Ah, I'm envious!"

"So, when was this taken? Article says lunch. You are having lunch with us every day. When did you meet with CEO White?" One woman found a hole in Martha's story as Jeff's girlfriend.

Martha took a second to compose herself. "Of course, this was last weekend... We are keeping it low profile for now, that is why I'm still with you during weekdays."

"Oh, I see... makes sense... people on top have reasons to keep their relationships secret. It must be to spare you from all this media attention. He is known for keeping his private life out of media."

"Yes, he is very considerate." Martha smiled confidently. She liked the attention, and really thought that Jeff likes her... who cares if she is not the woman in those pictures?

While ladies talked about Jeff and Martha and their relationship which Martha made up, Bridgette was in the break room, and listening to their conversation. She was curious about this Martha, and how was she able to capture the heart of the CEO who seemed cold and distant.

Shortly after, group of women together with Martha, left the break room. As their chatter faded in the hallway, Bridgette was sitting and thinking about the conversation which she overheard.

Male voice gave her a start, "Hello!"

Bridgette's heart skipped a beat when she saw Steve, Jeff's assistant, standing next to her. "May I join you?", He nervously asked.

Bridgette vigorously nodded. Sarah told Bridgette that Steve is single and helped them to meet for a coffee. Since then, Bridgette and Steve met few times and talked. They are still only friends, but Bridgette has a feeling that they are getting closer.

Steve also has hopes that Bridgette is interested in him. He finds this petite woman attractive, and he is happy that she is not rejecting his invitations to meet for a coffee. Steve hopes that soon they can move on to lunch and then dinner.

Steve took a seat next to Bridgette and looked around. In the break room, it was only two of them. "It seems nothing much is happening today." Steve started conversation.

Bridgette remembered commotion from few minutes ago. "Oh, you are wrong about that."

"Oh?" Steve was curious.

"By only few minutes, you missed a big ruckus..." Bridgette gestured to the table where women gathered before he entered. "Boss's girlfriend was here, and everyone wanted to hear details about their relationship."

"Who was here?" Steve could not believe that he heard right. 'Miss Hill came here?'

"CEO White's girlfriend." Bridgette explained. "It seems she is doing something with finances in marketing department. Tall, dark hair."

Steve was confused. 'Miss Hill does not work here.' Even though description is a match, many women match that description. "What makes you think that was CEO's girlfriend?"

"Tabloid published their photos, and she acknowledged that it's her with him on the photos."

"What?" Steve got his phone and searched through news. It took him some time to find photos of Jeff and JoAnna. At first Steve was surprised that his boss got photographed, but then he calmed himself down and decided to stay on topic. He needed to find out who is that woman claiming to be boss's girlfriend. "These photos?" He showed his phone to Bridgette.

"I don't know what photos..." Bridgette shook her head. "They were holding some magazine. I didn't see the details."

"I see..." Steve thought how it's strange to have a woman claim to be Miss Hill. 'I will need to tell boss about this.' He wondered how his boss will react to this.

Steve and Bridgette chatted a bit when Steve's phone rang. Jeff arrived to work and called Steve to come to his office. Steve was happy that his boss came to work. Lately he always feared that Jeff will just decide to stay with his girlfriend and leave everything to him. Steve didn't have knowledge or power to replace Jeff, so he mostly ended up postponing meetings and apologizing to people whose schedules were impacted due to Jeff not coming to work.

Steve excused himself and left the break room, leaving Bridgette with her thoughts to finish her coffee.