CHAPTER 4

KLAUS MIKAELSON

We had moved the kissing and making out to one of the sofas. I felt like I was the happiest man in the world. I had the woman I loved in my arms and currently she was telling me how much she loved me too, because she wouldn't risk it, if she didn't. And I knew she was right. She was the one taking a bigger risk. Aurelia wouldn't do anything to me, but she could very well try to kill her. That made me pull her even tighter into my embrace.

She wanted to take a little breather to the kissing and we were just laying there, in each other's arms, when she said,

"Klaus?"

"Yes, love."

"How are we going to keep this from your wife?"

I chuckled.

"The first rule is: no public showing of affections, not here in this building, not in New York and not even anywhere else in the world."

She looked disappointed, I knew that she would be, I just hoped to god that she wouldn't change her mind.

"What um…options is it gonna leave us?"

I chuckled again. "I tell you all about it but first," I stood up and she groaned 'no' and again I chuckled as I pulled her up too. "Let's check each other's presentability."

"Presentability" she commented and smiled while adjusting my suit and shirt, "did you learn words like that during your Harvard studies?"

I laughed and then laid a kiss on her forehead, "I love you, my little criminal". And I continued to adjust her hair and clothes.

She did the cutest fake-shock face, "Criminal, huh? Look who's talking, pyromancer."

An then we both laughed.

"Okay, the plan is as follows: when the lunch hour comes."

"Yes?" she said as she nibbled at my earlobe.

"Go down to the basement floor, it's the one with 0 in the elevator."

She pulled away and hit me in the gut.

I laughed, "Then..."

"Yes?" she said as she started on my other ear.

"Wait for me in the room nr 2."

She pulled away, "That's all?"

"That's all. Be there as quickly as I can."

Lunch hour didn't come fast enough. Klaus gave me little things to do. I don't know if is to keep me occupied or if he really needed them done. But when the clock hit 12, I got up from my desk, took my bag and started going as casually as I could to the elevator. I pushed 0 and I nearly had an heart attack when as I stepped out a janitor came around the corner who nearly had an heart attack seeing me there. I let her get to her janitorial elevator and searched for the room nr 2 which was near the elevator. "Washing machines" it read.

"That couldn't be right, could it?"

I opened it, it was dark and I found the switch and it was a small room with few washing machines.

I checked my phone and then after checking the news about last week, after 5 minutes, the elevator doors opened and closed and then I jumped a little as the door to this room opened and on the doorway was no one other than Klaus himself. I smiled and I wanted to embrace him, but put his hand up.

"Not yet." He checked the hallway again and then came in and closed the door behind him.

He then took my hand and pulled me with him and I was confused for a moment, but at the very back there was another door that led to another little janitorial room and then in there in the dark he used keys to open another door and then he switched the lights on and I was in awe. The last door led to a tiny apartment. As I looked around the little rooms, it couldn't be more than maybe 25 m2, he threw his keys on the table in that little living room area.

"Oh my god it's so tiny, I mean it's actually smaller than my home apartment." I laughed.

Then I looked at him and his face totally fell.

"Klaus…" I started but he was so upset.

"Forget it, Caroline, it was a mistake." He grabbed his keys. "I can't give you what you deserve, not the time, not publicly show you off, not even give us a proper apartment with windows."

I saw that he had tears in his eyes, so I closed the distance between us, grabbed the keys, threw them somewhere in the corner.

"Carol-" but I put my finger on his mouth and said, "It's perfect, I love it. I don't care about any of the other stuff, if we can have a secret love nest like this."

Then I pulled him towards the bed, "Come on."

Then he got over himself and suddenly I was thrown onto the bed and I giggled as he climbed on top of me.

"I'll do you, you'll do me?"

I smiled and I nodded as I started unbuttoning his shirtf.

"Omg, I'm so late, my lunch break ended 15 minutes ago," I said as I was searching my other heel. Then I heard him chuckle.

I turned to him and he had my shoe in his hand. I went to grab it, but he didn't give it to me right away.

"Relax, love, I'm sure your boss won't mind."

"People are going to notice, Klaus." I jumped up to get my shoe but he just laughed.

I tried to reach for my shoe again but he kept it away from me.

Then we had a little staring contest which I lost by starting to laugh first. But he had mercy on me and gave the shoe back.

"I know, if we always come like right now, leaving only 5 minutes in between. That's why I have the world's smartest plan."

I laughed, "Which is?"

"You get your sweet ass behind your desk right now and I won't come sooner than at least 15 minutes later."

I laughed at his use of words "sweet ass" which was so unlike him, then I gave him one last kiss and I left quickly because otherwise things could heat up again.

When I got to the office, Stacey who was filling in for Kelly told me, "Caroline, Klaus' wife called and with you both being out, the call was re-directed to me."

"When was that exactly?" I asked as seriousness of it was just now sinking in.

"Just now 5 minutes ago." She said and continued to work.

I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 25 minutes past my lunch time.

I was so nervous the whole time until Klaus came back. What if she knew what my lunch hour was? What if she started to suspect that It wasn't just someone, that it was me? Klaus had told me to watch out for Aurelia because of my own safety but I was still more worried about him.

When Klaus came he had a total poker face on. As he went by me, I said "Klaus, your wife called when you were out."

He turned around and asked casually, "Did she leave a message?"

"No, I don't think so."

"You don't think so?"

"I wasn't there, I was still at lunch."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know."

"Sure." I muttered.

AURELIA MIKAELSON

I just knew Klaus was heaving an affair again and with his secretary too. Why else was she still lunching 20 minutes past her official lunch hour. And Klaus was missing at the exact same time according to my sources.

Then my phone buzzed and surprisingly it was calling me on his cell.

"Yes, honey."

"One of my secretaries told me you called me while I was in a meeting out of office`?" He asked.

"Yes, why wasn't Caroline at her desk?" I inquired.

"Because she was with me at that business meeting."

"I see, anyway, I wanted to know when you'll be home. You know dinner and all.

"Right, right, you know I have to be late again because the explosion really pushed us back. So have dinner without me and don't wait up on me."

"Don't tell me what to do, Klaus. If I want, I will."

"As always, Aurelia, it's completely up to you."

And then the bastard hung up on me.

"Joaquin, have you driven Klaus anywhere today?"

"No, Mrs Mikaelson, he hasn't requested any rides today. As far as I know he has been cooped up in his high tower all day."

I hung up and I almost beat that stupid phone to pieces. "Meeting out of office, my ass"

The rest of the day, Klaus had asked Ben from accounting to come over and show me accounting programs the company used, also where to send concerning documents, so his department would get them the best way possible. I was so tired finally when I switched off the last lights, ready to leave. When my intercom buzzed and I nearly had a heart attack.

I thought everyone was gone already, it was 6 p.m. already.

"Where do you think you are going?" came his strict and maybe even a little bit hurt voice from the intercom.

I quietly opened the door and again his back was turned to me and he said, "Come in and close the door."

I did as told, "I'm sorry, Klaus, I must have totally spaced, because I swear I saw you leave about an hour ago."

"You didn't space," he said before turning around and with the same seriousness he continued to say, "I returned when you had a bathroom break."

"Oh."

He stood up and said, "You can moan in bed if you like, Miss Forbes, but here we speak in complete sentences."

I tried to not to laugh, it was obviously some kind of a role play, I just had to keep up.

"Is something funny to you, Miss Forbes?"

"Um…no?"

"WHAT did I just tell you about speaking in complete sentences, Miss Forbes?"

Oh, it's the classical, student-teacher. Oh, I know this one.

"No, nothing is funny, Mr Mikaelson."

"Then don't laugh, Miss Forbes, or you will be flogged."

"What?" And then I started laughing hard, "I'm sorry, Klaus." And I continued to laugh.

Then the asshole actually grabbed me, pulled me behind his desk, sat on the chair and actually pushed me down so that my ass was up in his lap and he had his hands around it, then he quickly unzipped my skirt and pulled it down with my panties,

"It's Mr Mikaelson to you," he said as he hit my behind with an opened hand.

I laughed again.

"You think this is funny, don't you?" He hit me stronger.

I still couldn't help but giggle.

"Tell me, Miss Forbes, how much you want me right now?" He hit me even stronger.

"Ow. So, so much, Mr Mikaelson."

"I told you we are talking in complete sentences, Miss Forbes!" This time he added even more power when slapping my ass.

"I want you so, so much, Mr Mikaelson."

Then he kissed both of my ass cheeks and slapping my ass gently, he said, "Come on, let's go home, I don't want this to get too sadomasochistic."

I got up and smiled as I put my underwear back and he helped me zip my skirt up.

"Unless we're into that, sweetheart?" He asked as he got done with the zipper and pulled me to sit on his lap. I was now with my back toward him and he rested his jaw on my shoulder.

"Not really. Where was this coming from Klaus, role playing this soon in the relationship?"

"Oh, we're in a relationship, are we?"

"Hey, being your lover in a secret affair is still a relationship, with rules for both."

"Of course, it is, I was just kidding. And the role playing was just what I used to be into and right now I spontaneously wanted to try it with you. You didn't like it?"

"No, I did, I just have so little experience with it."

"I noticed, but let's leave that roles plays to later. I actually wanted to go downstairs with you, but it's getting late."

"And you need to go home to you wife."

Then he turned me around so I was facing him.

"Hey," He said while adjusting my hair, "The last thing I want to see is you being jealous of her. I love you and only you." He kissed me then.

"I'm not jealous of her, I'm envious, she gets to be with you when I can't which is more hours in weeks, then I have."

"If it's any consolation, then I only think about you when I have to be home with her."

"Really?" I smiled.

"Of course."

"Okay, then let's go home and think about each other until we see each other tomorrow morning."

He chuckled. "Sounds like a plan."

He again then drove her home, although I told him that it shouldn't become a habit to keep up pretences. He told me he knew.

We got in front of my shabby apartment building and we kissed, that just drew out for so long. Then he pulled away, "Come on it's just one night, we have to learn to say goodbye."

"Goodbye, Klaus," I said and pulled the door handle already when he yanked me back and kissed me again and then said few minutes later, "See you very soon, love." And then gave me a little peck on the lips and I quickly went out, looked back at him for a second, he smiled and drove away.

"It's just one night." I said to myself.

I told mom that because I couldn't work on Thursday and Friday, that meant being late today.

"Did Klaus drive you home again? I saw a fancy car in the front and why did he stop here for that long, Caroline."

"He offered because it was late and we just talked the details of our December trip to Los Angeles."

"What trip?"

"Mom, I you know I got to start accompanying him in different work related trips now."

"I don't know, I still think he's interested in you some way. If he starts making moves, resign. You can find another job."

"Mom, he's a really good guy and doesn't 'make moves' on his secretaries. He's just lonely and wants to talk."

"Okay, but promise you'll be careful with him."

"I promise."

The next morning I wanted to go to work so much I was nervously pacing at the bus stop waiting for that damn thing to arrive already. I got there half an hour earlier, hoping that maybe arrived sooner too. But he was late for some reason.

KLAUS MIKAELSON

Aurelia was so attached to me when I got home at night and when I wanted to leave for work. Asking all kinds of questions about work and just suffocating me. I told her that finally when I just couldn't take it anymore. She started moping and I looked at the watch and knew I had to go and not deal with that right now. I got to work nearly 9:30 a.m. and I couldn't read Caroline face as he greeted me whether it was her poker face or he was mad that I was late.

I had some important things to do and gave her something to do to help me and then hour later I used the intercom to ask her to come in to my office.

She came in and asked, "What do you need?"

I went closer to her and grabbed her hands and we interlocked our fingers and I said, "I need you. What's wrong, I thought you'd be happier to see me."

"Well, we have to keep up the pretences so I try to be neutral towards you out there."

"Yeah, but we're inside alone now, so talk to me."

"I was here half an hour early, you half an hour late, why?" She pouted. It was so cute.

"Because, I think Aurelia is suspecting something, she was suffocating me in the morning."

"Oh, no."

"Don't worry about it. I have it under control. Okay, Caroline, let's make a deal that if either has a problem, we talk it out right away, not make the other one guess."

She smiled and put her hands around my neck and kissed me "When she pulled away, she said, "Deal, Klaus, I want to do something important, I don't want to bring you only coffee and shuffle papers."

I pulled away and made sure the door was closed, "Come one. I'm gonna show you how to draw important contracts, so that I have nothing else to do than sign them."

Hand In hand we walked to my chair, I pulled her on my lap with her back towards me, opened the lap top and started with the most basic contrants, which she already knew about. I discovered that she was a good student and the we worked well together and got things done, not just enjoy each other all the time.

Then somebody knocked on the door, Stacey said, "Klaus, your wife is here." I was so startled, thought I was fucked now, but then I had an Idea. I whispered to her to sit on my chair and look studious with my lap top and then I looked into the mirror for a second adjusted my suit and went to the door.

She was in her chair and my company's driver was with her at my door.

"Hi, honey, what are you doing here. Is something wrong?"

"Yes, how about kissing your wife."

I reluctantly kissed her on her lips for a second and pulled back.

"Still what are you doing here." I saw her sneak a peak in my office.

"I thought I would come and wait until you can take me to lunch, hadn't been to a restaurant for a very long time."

"Sure, sweetheart, whatever you want. I was just now teaching Caroline how to draw different contracts. And now we're almost done. I just gave her a huge task and until she completes it, we can go to have lunch downstairs."

"I though you could roll me to some fancier café around here and get some fresh air. You over work sometimes, honey."

"You are right, I'll get my things and then we can go."

With complete poker face I went to get my keys, the wallet and my phone from my desk.

"Caroline, you can work from here, while I'm out."

She smiled and without really looking at me, said, "Sure, thanks, Klaus."

Then I closed the office door behind me and relieved Joaquin from having to deal with her.

"So which business school did she go to, anyway."

"She went to local community college."

"What? Why would you hire someone like that."

"I don't know, I guess her desperation spoke to me, you know, she comes from nothing, I come from nothing."

"You are special and have proved yourself Klaus. She on the other hand still learns drawing contracts."

"Hey, you partied all your way through Harvard, don't lecture me about hard work and what should happen when for someone."

"Well, I learned how to draw legal documents for Father already at the age of 16."

"Well , everyone doesn't have a father like yours was."

"Why are you defending her so eagerly."

"Like I said, I see myself in her some way."

"That's very peculiar."

I faked laughing and pointed at the nearest café, "Will that suffice for Madame Mikaelson?"

"That's a little better yes then diner you have there."

CAROLINE FORBES

"Okay, if getting stuck in a wheelchair turns people into that, I will kill myself if that ever happens to me," I muttered to myself. Now could you lose interest in life and turn into bitter old lady like that? She seemed totally obsessed with Klaus. And just like that, I wasn't jealous or even envious of her. I only felt sorry for Klaus. Living with her, I couldn't even imagine.

As much as I loved sitting in his office, by the time he got back I was working at my own desk.

I drew him the document, used a little bit Google's help and he seemed satisfied with it. He said, "That will do." Then he sent me a text "Sorry about lunch, meet me 5:15 p.m downstairs?"

I texted back like a teenager, "I can't wait, x:o, x:o"

We didn't have private talks that day anymore before meeting me downstairs. He had given me my own key, so I wouldn't have to wait in the janitorial closet.

So I went inside that little apartment and looked around, it was still messy from yesterday. But It was cozy and the room was nicely furnished, space was well used. When he came in, I wanted to ask the back story for it, but as I started to say something, he put a finger on my mouth and said, "Later. We'll talk later, right now I have to have you."

I giggled and gave myself to him over and over again, until he got enough and then I could ask my questions.

"Well, I made it when the building was built, paid a lot of money to keep it out of the official plans and they destroyed later the ones it was on. I just knew I had to have my own place without her and I knew that If I later wanted to have someone with me, it couldn't be some open and officially on my name penthouse apartment."

"What about cleaning it?"

"That I have to do with my own two hands, sweetheart, can you believe it." I shook my head and he just laughed. "Just can't trust anyone here with that information. So late at night I wash the sheets and clean it. The janitors think it's some boiler room where they have no business to go."

"Well, your secret is safe with me," I said as I kissed him.

"Our secret now. Caroline, it's the only place we can be 100% ourselves and enjoy being with each other."

"Yeah, today's midday showed that in your office we can't lock as in that often." I pulled away and rested my head on the pillow as our hands and fingers her intertwined in the air.

"How did she become so bitter and even evil. I mean wheelchair is not death sentence. Doesn't she have some hobbies, friends etc."

"No, she only has me, she only wants he and the minute she understood I wouldn't have sex with her like that, then she started platonically keep close to me. I don't know how that happened. I mean her friends before the accident weren't really her friends, the were gone pretty soon after the accident. Her only hobby before was hanging with her friends and partying with me and our friends. It was crazy how it all just ended abruptly and she didn't try anything to get into introspective on life. Then later her father died but before that he lost most of his assets because of tax evasion. He left some money to Aurelia but compered to my assets it's coins. Still he has enough to use if she wants to eliminate someone."

"Eliminate?"

He pulled me tighter against him and said, "Yes, I told you she was dangerous. Few years after the accident I had fling, I fell in love with a girl my age and when aurelia found out, well the official story is that she fell from the balcony of the apartment we used for getting together. But I knew that my current friend discovered us and went to the apartment to talk with her, confront her, I got the text from her that Roger was there and then about half an hour I got the call that she was dead. That's why I'm scared for you, Caroline, you have to be careful, both of have to be very careful publicly."

"Don't worry, Klaus, Deceit is my middle name."

Klaus laughed and kissed me and that soon turned into something more.

AURELIA MIKAELSON.

I let Joaquin drive me to a club, there was a side door that led to his office.

"Aurelia, how good of you to come to me." Phoenix started.

"I have a little job for you, it's not much but bigger things are coming, I'm sure of it."

"What do you need?"

"Klaus has a place, a room or even an apartment that he uses with his whores, in his own office building. Find it by tomorrow morning."

"Ok, that I should even have you tonight."

"Great, send me the details. Money will be delivered soon enough."