The Classmate Series(BOOK I): The Personal Assistant

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Undigested Caesar's Salad.

c h a p t e r t w e n t y t h r e e

t h e u n d i g e s t e d c a e s a r s s a l a d  

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Nobody spoke except Kenneth for the first few minutes. He talked about the weather in England and I saw Sebastian roll his eyes at the feeble topic that Kenneth had chosen. However, I did notice one thing – Kenneth was looking at his plate the entire time and I could see him holding the fork in his hand really tightly. Kenneth always made eye contact while conversing so I had a feeling that this dinner was going to be a disaster. I should have reasoned this out beforehand – how many multimillionaires invited their personal assistants to dinner? Definitely Kenneth!

My phone buzzed from my clutch but I ignored it. Kenneth had shifted to talking about some herbs he'd brought from his trip to Italy and how the herbs seemed to just exemplify each dish he cooked. I had to keep myself from yawning unlike Sebastian, who had absolutely no intentions of hiding his boredom.

The dinner was slow, to say the least. With dishes like chicken and steak in front of us, Kenneth had opened the lid of only one – the Caesar's salad. My hand was itching to open the other dishes. When Sebastian's hand went to open the lid of the other dish, Kenneth motioned for him to stop.

'The Caesar's salad is very nice, don't you think Leah?' Kenneth asked me, smiling slightly which could be easily mistaken for a smirk.

'Yeah, it is very good.'

'It should be, I prepared it myself.' I smiled at him and he continued, 'You know what Caesar reminds me of?'

'Julius Caesar.' Sebastian answered, 'You always used to tell Jenna and I, the story of Caesar whenever we had this.'

'Indeed, I did. Now when you mention the old times, I have a story to tell to you and Leah.'

Sebastian looked like he was going to object but I spoke first, 'We'd love to hear it, sir.'

Sebastian looked dejected and Kenneth chuckled, 'Always the convincing one, Leah.'

I didn't like his tone when he said that but I ignored it.

'Julius Caesar was close friends with the Roman Senator, Marcus Brutus. Brutus admired Caesar's power from the very start. Although very courteous and smart, Brutus was ambitious and easily manipulated. So it was very easy for Caesar's enemies to get Brutus on their side. In exchange for power and money, Brutus gave away his own dear friend's life...Caesar was assassinated.'

None of us said anything for a minute. Somehow I could feel some tension rising in the room.

Kenneth continued, looking deep in thought, absentmindedly twirling the fork in his hand. 'Betrayal was the cause of Caesar's end. Caesar failed to realise the big plot and ended up being brutally emotionally hurt.'

I looked at Kenneth and he was directly looking in my eyes, an unknown anger blazing in his eyes.

'You know who Brutus and Caesar remind me of?' Kenneth said and spoke the next words slowly, 'You and Sebastian.'

This seemed to catch Sebastian's attention. 'Dad, what are---'

Kenneth held a hand to shut him up. 'Sebastian is a very smart man but he is blinded by your friendship. And you're also a very smart woman, Leah, because you know how to play his cards well. He was so engrossed in you – that he didn't realise that over thousands of dollars were being transferred from the company account to your account.'