Chapter Thirty-Two: Corporate Identity

"Thank you, sweetheart. Have a nice weekend." Bonnie's first costumer in over half an hour said when she grabbed her coffee and went back to work. She had already spent 2 hours at , the construction firm she had been working at for some time now. Usually the canteen was crowded with people but it was Friday and on Fridays most people finished up early and left the building around noon. When Bonnie came into work there only were the very high ranked employees and managers being found in their offices. Bonnie always liked working on Fridays because that meant way fewer stress and she could spent her day with her favorite colleague, Lyanne.

Lyanne had probably worked here longer than any other person, excluding the big bosses, but she knew her way around and could always tell Bonnie a story to every costumer that came in. The employees trusted her and every once in a while they shared some work stories with her. She was around 50 and despite her sharp tongue she had a heard of gold and made Bonnie feel at home at once.

"The time just won't pass today." Lyanne said form across the bar. She was finishing up with some dishes while Bonnie checked after the coffee machine.

"It's just one of those days." Bonnie replied, not exactly too mad about the time not passing, this would give her more time not to think of the problems facing her outside this building. "Hey Lyanne, should I go and clean out the stock? We've been pushing this for weeks now and today is really not too much to do up here."

"If it is not too much to ask? Sure, go ahead Bonnie." Lyanne agreed and Bonnie made her way into the storage room right behind the bar. She made sure to keep the door open so she could still talk to Lyanne and also she didn't like being in this room with the door closed, she always felt imprisoned. So, when she entered the room she first had to decide where to start. The catering crew had the reputation of making the best coffee in the entire city and it was true, they were really good but where they succeeded in quality with the drinks they lacked the ability to keep everything organized. The storage looked like a battle field and even after a few weeks of work Bonnie didn't know her way around the tiny room just yet. So she decided to start with the most pressing matter and organize the delivery of the drinks for next week.

It took her longer than she expected to and Lyanne joined her after about half an hour but when she heard someone at the bar she left to go serve them. Bonnie was focusing her attention on where to put all the stuff she saw and didn't even notice Lyanne wasn't coming back instantly. She kept talking to the customer and Bonnie could make out what they were talking about from where she sat.

"Well bite me, if this isn't a rare sight. The high and mighty joining us peasants down in the canteen." Lyanne's voice sounded to her ear.

A deep male voice chuckled and answered. "You over exaggerate, Lyanne. It hasn't been that long."

"Hell yeah it was. But I don't blame you, you have a lot on your plate right now. So, what can I get you?"

"The usual please." The man said in a smooth voice, something about it seeming familiar, and Bonnie heard the bar stool squeak from being pulled back. Form what Bonnie could understand the person must be one of the highly ranked employees. They didn't come to the canteen that much. Lyanne had told her once that they don't like being here because everyone always wants something from them and they can't relax in their coffee breaks, that's why they never show but Bonnie thought that they might not even have a break because she always pictured the managers as being workaholics. No matter what theory was true, it didn't change the fact that serving the important people of the firm was only a rare occasion.

"There you go." Lyanne said while probably handing him his 'usual'. "So tell me, sweetheart, what's going on lately. I am totally not up to speed."

"You know, there is always some crisis to manage, buildings to buy."

"How vague. Anything in particular that's giving you a hard night sleep?"

"Acutally yeah. You know, we have this big project on the line and I need this to work because it is the one project that will convince the board to finally go along with my plans and expanding into international cooperation on next week's event and I was this close to getting everything I need. But we need to get the permission to build on this very old, historic ground and the historical society is filing a lawsuit against us because we are destroying some kind of historical battle field or something, I don't know. Well, as long as this lawsuit is up there, we can't pursue and as long as we can't pursue there is no international cooperation." The man said. Bonnie only understood half the things he had just confessed to Lyanne but she got the picture that that man out there was kind of screwed.

"Oh, honey that does sound like a lot of work. Here, I'll give you a double, I think you could use it."

The man chuckled.

"So, is that why you are down here? Want to get you mind off things?"

"No, I am actually done for today, I am waiting for my son. Want to prep him for the big event." He admitted.

"Oh good that you mention that." Bonnie heard Lyanne approach. "Hey love, I have forgotten to ask but can you work next Saturday? is celebrating their 100th anniversary and it is going to be a huge party. I need all hands on deck, please tell me you'll be there. I think the firm will even pay extra."

"You don't have to convince me, Lyanne. I'll be there." Bonnie smiled.

"You were sent from heaven, love." Lyanne said while going back to her costumer.

Bonnie had already heard about the anniversary and she wasn't too keen on spending the entire day as an underpaid waitress in a dumb costume but she could use the money and the distraction. Bonnie heard some rumbling and then the man asked Lyanne if she could send his son to his office when she sees him and saying his goodbye's, leaving Bonnie and Lyanne to deal with the storage.

"What a shame, I should have introduced you two." Lyanne said when Bonnie came out of the room to get her hands cleaned. One of the milk cartons fell down and the whole fluid was spilled on the floor and after swiping it clean she needed to wash her hands.

"Introduce me to whom? One of the big fish?"

"Not one of the… THE biggest fish in the building. The big boss himself. He only shows up every once in a while, no matter what he says. I have known him for years now, have witnessed his children growing up. Two of them would even be your age. What a shame, he would have liked you. Well, I'll have to see if I we can find an opportunity to lure Joshua Parker away from his business partners next week."

"Did you… did you just say Joshua Parker?" Bonnie asked, not wanting to believe what she just heard.

"Yeah, Joshua Parker. He leads this firm in third generation now. His grandfather founded it and his father was the one in charge before him. Didn't you know?" Lyanne asked.

"Never thought about it." Bonnie quickly turned around so Lyanne wouldn't see the confusion and panic in her face. She had never known what exactly Joshua Parker did for a living. She only knew he was very busy and earned a lot of money with what he did. She had never imagined she would practically be working for him, even though she wasn't an employee of but of Mrs. Riddles catering firm, but still. And when she remembered whom Mr. Parker was waiting for she wanted to run and hide. She wasn't prepared to talk to Kai right now. She was about to go back into the storage room when she heard a silent 'pling' of the elevator and just a second after that Kai Parker stepped out.

There was no way of hiding now. If he caught her in the act she would only give him more reason to feel weird around her, so she stayed where she was, watching Kai move along the corridor of the firm to get to the elevator his father must have taken just minutes before him. He was looking down on his phone and even from the distance she could see that he was chewing a gum.

"Oh, look there he is. Kai, sweetie!" Lyanne yelled across the room and Kai looked up. The woman hadn't exaggerated by saying that she had watched the Parker kids grow up, at least not judging from the look on Kai's face when he spotted her. His face lit up and he smiled at her, making a detour to the bar. When he spotted Bonnie his features turned confused for a second but he quickly focused on Lyanne when he reached the bar.

"Lyanne, how long didn't we see each other?" Kai asked in his usual charming way, leaning his upper body against the counter. It was frustrating to see how nice he could be and how hard he was behaving towards her. Even right now he didn't acknowledge her presence at all.

"It must have been close to 8 months now. But young man, that is certainly not my fault." She fake accused him. "Kai my sunshine, may I introduce you to our newest team member, this is…"

"No need, we know each other." Kai interrupted Lyanne, not giving Bonnie a glance, and Lyanne frowned.

"Oh really? What a coincidence." Lyanne watched Bonnie for a second before she focused her attention back to Kai. "Can I do you any good? Would you like to drink something, or eat? I still have some donuts left."

"Lyanne, you know exactly that the food is only for the employees." He said with judgment in his voice that was clearly playful. Bonnie hadn't heard that kind of playfulness in his voice for a while now and it made her heart race faster without her permission.

"Come on, think of it as my investment in your future." Lyanne joked back and Kai reassured her that he really didn't need anything.

"So tell me, how are you doing these days?" Lyanne asked.

"Well, let's just say I just got rid of some extra baggage. It can only get better." Kai shot her a nonchalant glance and that was enough for her. He had been ignoring her for weeks, only being mean to her and now he was referring to her as extra baggage? Bonnie let out a scornful puff and Kai turned to her.

"You got anything to say, Bennett?"

"No not really, Parker." Bonnie retorted angrily. It was the first time she didn't try to talk to him nicely. She was done trying to play nice when all he would do was being mean.

"Really? That would be a first because we all know how much you like talking to people about stuff that doesn't concern you." Kai provoked.

"Oh, maybe I didn't make myself clear. I got nothing to say to YOU!"

"Finally something we can agree on."

"Kids, kids… I don't know what's going on between you but I suggest you resolve this some other time because we'll have company in a few seconds." Lyanne pointed to the elevator in the distance that indicated someone was coming down. Kai turned and looked at the elevator and the next second Joshua Parker stepped out and stopped mid-step when he spotted his son.

"I was already wondering when you would show up." Joshua Parker's icy voice reached them from across the room. "Let's get started, I don't have all day." He was about to turn around and step back into the elevator when he spotted Bonnie and decided to walk to them instead. "Ms. Bennett, I didn't know you were working here."

"She's our newest member. Sorry, we never had a chance to introduce the two of you." Lyanne explained.

"Well, there is no need for that. I already know her." Mr. Parker gave her a small smile that didn't reach his eyes when he came to a stop next to his son. "So, maybe the fact that your friend is working here is going to improve your willingness to participate more in your duties with the firm and make you show up every once in a while." He added in Kai's direction.

"Don't bet on it. We're not friends." Kai said nonchalantly.

Joshua looked from his son to Bonnie with an analytic gaze and then he shrugged and turned back to Kai, wanting to say something but then stopped, obviously irritated by something. "Malachai, get rid of that ridiculous bubble gum immediately." He ordered in his typical dictator voice.

Kai turned back around so his back was facing his father and sighed, annoyed. He searched for somewhere to put the gum and Lyanne quickly offered him a small table bin. Kai spit his gum inside the bin and turned back to his father, a taunting smile on his face. "Better?"

"Sometimes it seems like I haven't taught you any manners." Mr. Parker said more to himself then anyone specific.

"That's because you didn't." Kai answered, if it was meant ironically or not, Bonnie wasn't sure.

"See yourself off, Malachai. We need to start." Joshua said coldly and without a second glance at her or Lyanne he headed back to the elevator.

Kai shook his head and turned around to genuinely smile at Lyanne and say his goodbye. He even nodded at Bonnie but probably only because Lyanne was watching because his expression was nothing close to candid when he looked at her.

Within the next second Kai had joined his father in the elevator, leaning against the walls only to be pulled away from it by Joshua to get him into a more upright position and the last thing Bonnie could see before the doors closed was Kai looking like he wanted to spit into his father's face.

Her gaze was stuck on the closed doors of the elevator for a few more seconds with a heavy heart. She was about to get back into the storage room when Lyanne grabbed her arm to prevent that from happening.

"You never mentioned you knew the Parkers."

"Well, I know them. Not a big deal."

"Well yeah, kind of a big deal. At least for you and our young Mr. Parker. It seemed like the two of you had some serious unfinished business. What was that all about?" Lyanne wasn't being nosy or something but she just simply wanted to talk to Bonnie about that obvious bad blood between her and Kai. Maybe she even thought she could help Bonnie with this but she wasn't in the mood to talk about anything Kai Parker related. She hadn't planned on seeing him this afternoon and it seemed like every time she didn't plan on seeing him her heart felt a little heavier after it. And today it was even worse because she had been hard on him, barking back and letting herself get provoked by his comments. She didn't want to react that way but he made her so furious sometimes. So no matter what Lyanne would say she couldn't make her feel any better about herself.

"There is nothing to say, we go to the same school and that's it. No unfinished business at all."

"Okay, I get it. It is none of my business but you should know, and maybe I am overstepping here but someone has to tell you that, this boy has it hard for you."

"What?"

"You know what I mean. He may say that you aren't friends but he clearly doesn't mean it. Or otherwise he wouldn't treat you like a total ass." Lyanne said and smiled. After that she turned around and did some dishes, letting Bonnie go back to storage. The thing she had mentioned got stuck in Bonnie's head for the rest of the day. Was she right? Did Kai still care about her and was his spite only a defense mechanism? A try not to show his real feelings? Was there still hope she could get through to him and convince him to give her another shot? All these questions and only one way to get answers, but that way being denied.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

When she finally got home her frustration had reached its apex. She had been ranting about the whole situation when she ran into her mother in the kitchen and now that she got everything off her chest she was finally willing to get to her room and try and calm down and get into weekend mood. Due to her extracurricular work schedule next week she had the weekend off and she could finally catch up on all the superhero shows she had been missing this past few weeks.

She was about to settle into her bed and start her binge watching when her phone buzzed. Annoyed by the disturbance she looked at the screen and was a little confused. Elena's name flashed brightly across it and Bonnie didn't hesitate to take the call.

"Elena?"

"Bonnie, good you're there. Are you home?" Elena got straight to the point.

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Can you get to skype please? There is something I need to tell you."

"Yeah, sure. See you in a second." Bonnie hung up and opened skype. She was wondering what Elena would have to tell her because recently, after all the break up with Jeremy, her friend had been a little distant. She hadn't even told her about Kai yet.

The familiar ringtone of an incoming call was sounding through her room and she quickly answered it, not only seeing Elena's face but also Caroline's. They were in Elena's room, she could see.

"Oh, hey guys." Bonnie said.

"Hey Bonnie." They said at the same time and smiled at her. Their expression was soft and it calmed Bonnie down. So nothing bad had happened that they wanted to inform her about.

"So, what's going on?" Bonnie asked an Elena and Caroline shared a look.

"So, there was something I wanted to talk to you about." Elena said while still looking at Caroline whose eyes were wide open, silently encouraging her friend.

"Okay?" Bonnie said hesitantly and Elena finally looked back into the camera.

"Don't blame Caroline, I made her tell me and she actually didn't spill that much only that… that you have been going through some hard times and I was so surprised to hear that and then I realized that it was my fault that I haven't hurt about that because I have been the worst friend to you, Bonnie. Ever since you and Jeremy broke up I was trying to hear both sides but Jeremy influenced me in my way of thinking that I couldn't stick to my best friend. I didn't listen, I tried to push the two of you back together because I always thought that you were meant to be but I was wrong and I get it know. I am sorry, Bonnie. I am so sorry that I was an ignorant, judgmental bitch and you deserve better than that."

Silence filled the room. Bonnie was so taken aback from Elena's apology that she didn't know who to respond to that. On the emotional scale, he had already been at a 9 out of 10 today but Elena's words made that number explode and land on an solid 18. Tears formed in her eyes and she couldn't stop them from pouring.

Caroline and Elena both worried about her instantly. "Bonnie, don't cry." Elena said.

"Sweetie, please we can talk about this, we can make it work." Caroline added.

"No, it's not that. I am actually happy to hear you say this Elena because the situation had been bugging me. I didn't know how to tell you and I didn't want to hurt you. Of course I get that the situation is weird for you too but I just… I'm just glad to have my best friend back." Bonnie smiled and they all laughed.

"Oh, I wish I could hug you right now." Elena said and Bonnie knew the feeling. She could really use her friends in times like these.

"So, you want to elaborate why you feel like crying? Does that have to do with the thing you told me about?" Caroline asked after a little while of chit-chat.

"Well, yeah it does. I mean it is just the whole situation and today wasn't really good either." Bonnie started but Elena interrupted.

"Hold on, remember that you didn't tell everyone in this room about what's going on with you?" Elena reminded them.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Bonnie added quickly and then tried to figure out a way to explain to Elena what had happened without hurting or upsetting her. "So, when Jeremy and I broke up I kind of … well a while after that I started to have these feelings for someone else. That was why I send Jeremy away the other day. I don't know what he told you about that weekend."

"Nothing really, must have been pretty embarrassing. He didn't even say how he got beat up, or by who. But I guess he owes that to a certain someone that stole our little Bonnie's heart?" Elena teased and Caroline smiled.

"No one stole my heart, I just… developed some irritating feelings and they are certainly not platonic."

"Oh, come on Bonnie. Spill. I am dying over here." Elena said impatiently.

Bonnie gave Caroline a glance, and she only nodded. "Well, it's… Kai."

Elena's eyes widened and her mouth dropped to the ground. "No way? Kai Parker? The sexy, mysterious bad boy that you had a crush on forever? How did I not see this coming? Did you see this coming, Care?" Elena asked. But her reaction indicated that she was more than okay with this new information.

"Well, actually I kind of did. I mean, you never forget your first love, do you?" Caroline confessed.

"Wow, Kai Parker and Bonnie Bennett. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Elena said and Bonnie's smile died instantly.

"Well, it's not like that. Right now, it is more like ice age between us. I did something and I screwed up my friendship with him and whatever the hell had happened between us in the past weeks."

"Screwed up how?" Elena wanted to know and Bonnie told her about the whole mess. Caroline only nodding the entire time because she had already heard the whole story. Elena looked more than surprised when she told her she had already slept with Kai and that after that everything went downhill.

"And today he openly insulted me in front of my colleague." Bonnie finished her story.

"Your collegue? Is he a stalker or something?" Elena asked.

"No, his father kind of owns the firm where I work at the canteen and he was visiting him or something." Bonnie explained and Caroline and Elena both nodded in understanding.

"So, you really like him, huh?" Elena asked, sounding like she held back on that question for a while now.

Bonnie swallowed. She was very certain of her answer to that question even though the past few weeks had been hard. But if these tumultuous times had shown her anything than it was that she was really, honestly and genuinely into Kai Parker. "Yeah, I guess I do." Bonnie confessed.

Elena nodded, obviously accepting the change in Bonnie's feelings and saying goodbye to her perfect version of Bonnie and her brother. "Then you have to do everything you can to make him realize how much he is missing out on."