The perfect disguise

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“I don't know man, but I feel Tasha is cheating on me”.

“Hmmm…. That's a strong accusation Rob, what gives?” Alvin inquired as he took a bite from his burger.

“Well, for starters I recently discovered she's been keeping late nights which explains all her morning exhaustion and every so often, she reeks of masculine perfumes.”

“Is that all?” Alvin questioned with a creased brow and a full mouth.

“No, she suddenly has unexplained money, takes care of the bills and never nags me for running late with some utility payments. In fact, sometimes, before I manage to pay, I discover she already pays for it. I'm not happy, and I don't know what to do, I can't bear the thought of Tasha cheating on me.”

“And it's even more painful because I cannot catch her. Something do not just add up.” Rob concluded as he squeezed on his soda.

“Hmmmmm…. I don't know what to say to you, man. I have known Tasha and she doesn't swing like that. Just try to talk to her about it, ok?”

“No, I'll just keep watching her until I can catch her red-handed and have my ah-ha! Moment".

“Hmmmmm, I still don't know what to tell you man”, Alvin shrugged as he continued to devour his meal.

“Later man, got to run”. Rob excused himself from their late morning sit out.

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LATER AT ROB'S OFFICE

“Good day sir.” Mariam, Rob's secretary, greeted as she got up from her chair and followed Rob to his office.

“Good afternoon, Mariam, how are you?” Rob responded while taking a sit.

“I'm ok sir, let me help you with your coat.” Mariam suggested.

As she made attempts to take off Rob coats, she quickly slipped his expensive diamond crusted wristwatch into the inner coat pocket, of which she took out as she hung it and made her way to her desk.

Rob on his end didn't know he just got robbed by his secretary as he was too absent-minded to even pay attention to the surrounding happenings.

For some time now, his company has been on the verge of bankruptcy, and he's been living off the edge without the knowledge of his wife.

He's either pawning his jewelry or selling off other of his assessories to make ends meet.

That diamond crusted wristwatch was the last expensive thing he owned, and he had planned to pawn it to be able to offset the coming month bill before his wife does. Unfortunately, by the time he got to the pawn shop, the wristwatch was nowhere to be found and Oh, Rob cursed and hated the day that he was born.

Feeling like a failure, he went home and locked himself in to have a good cry before Tasha gets back from groceries.

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Later that evening, Tasha could notice the deafening silence as they had dinner.

“Did I do something wrong?” Tasha questioned as she carefully placed her cutlery on the edge of the chinaware. She's used to the silent treatment from Rob whenever he's displeased with her and even though she knew she has been careful in her dealings not to upset him, she was still worried.

“Rob? Are we having a fight?” Tasha inquired again.

“Why does everything have to be about you, Tasha or is there something you think I should know about?” Rob questioned as he abandoned his food, locked both his fingers, placed it underneath his chin and gave Tasha a stern look.

“I'm sorry, I was just curious.” Tasha said, politely flashing a smile to calm the situation.

The rest of the night was long as it was quiet. The couple rarely said a word to each other and as they lay next to themselves, Rob couldn't help but ponder how he misplaced his expensive watch at such a time he needed it the most.

On Tasha's end, she was patiently waiting for Rob to fall asleep so she could sneak out.

Thinking far into the night, Rob noticed Tasha's phone was blinking signifying a call, he looked at Tasha who pretended to be sleeping and just as he was about to take the call, it went off. Out of curiosity, he sorts to go through the phone but noticed it was passworded.

Rob anger grew, but he decided to play it cool. He dropped the phone by Tasha's bed stool and went to sleep. A few minutes after Rob had dozed off snoring like there was no tomorrow, Tasha got up, hurriedly played dress up and zoomed off.

The moment Rob heard her drive off, he opened his eyes and set to follow her, but then he noticed for some time now, Tasha's dressing room is always locked and on this particular night, she had hurriedly left without closing it. Knowing that he had Tasha's phone tracked through find my iPhone, he decided to take his time and go through Tasha's dressing room, hoping to find some clue before he set off to track her down.

As Rob snooped, he didn't really find anything aside some of his expensive suits and coats he used to wear for meetings that he no longer wears, some exotic masculine perfumes and as he was about to conclude on his snoop, he pulled out Tasha's hidden drawer…. Lo and behold, he saw his missing wristwatch, and all the other items he has either pawned or sold.

Rob was stunned, he grabbed his car keys, turned on find my iPhone and started tracking Tasha's location. Surprisingly, he traced her back to his office and as he gained access into the building, he was even more surprised to see Mariam.

Mariam was also shocked to see him, and she stuttered trying to give an explanation for her being at the office at such an hour. As Rob stood listening to her, he noticed some voices coming out from his office. He made attempts to find out what's happening, but Mariam stood in his way.

“Sir, I promise you, by the time the night is over, everything will make sense,” Mariam pleaded, but Rob was too furious to listen.

“Mariam, do not let me call the police on you, step aside,” Rob warned, but Mariam was adamant. Rob then brought out his phone to dial the police, but just as it rang, the door knob to his office turned and out came Tasha dressed as Rob up to his beard. To Rob, it was like looking in a mirror.

“What the hell is going on?” Rob yelled as he dropped his phone and it cracked open.

“Babe, I can explain”, Tasha pleaded as she took off her costumes.

“I need to sit down for this because I think I'm losing my mind, my wife is now me, stealing from me, pretending to be me…. Ohhh, I need to sit down for this”, Rob staggered as he held his head.

Mariam quickly helped Rob sit and offered him a bottle of water, of which he rejected.

“Go on, Tasha, I'm all ears, explain this circus to me”. Rob thundered.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling softly, Tasha started narrating.

“It all started when you couldn't seal the Chinese deal and your Company had to liquidate. Mariam ran to me and filled me in on everything.

I didn't believe at first because we were still living fine but then when I saw you secretly struggling to pull off our Maldives trip and noticed your expensive accessories and shoes leaving their cases, I had to do some digging and found out Mariam was right.

I knew I had to help, I mean, you worked too hard to just lose everything. Not only that, but I started taking up extra jobs online as a Chinese tutor to pay off and recover your pawned/sold items.....”

“And my wristwatch? I didn't pawn that yet, so how did you get it?” Rob interrupted.

“Oh that, Mariam took it off you when you weren't looking because there's no way we could have recovered that if pawned and that's the only thing left. We knew it's only a matter of time, so we had to get it off you somehow...."

"Can I go on with my narration?” Tasha inquired.

“Yes, I'm listening” Rob responded.

“Ok, so, Mariam and I joined forces and applied again for the Chinese partnership deal. At first, I felt it was dead on arrival, but Mariam had high hopes and kept encouraging me being that I am fluent in Chinese. According to Mariam, they will find me, I mean you more trustworthy if you communicate in their language which you failed to the firsy time.

It was tough getting through to them at first but we got through and we've been having series of meetings both in person and online.

Today was the final meeting and.....” Tasha paused for a while, and Rob's patience was running thin.

“Out with it already! Damn it, Tasha, why did you stop?” Rob urged and yelled for Tasha to continue.

With a sad face, Tasha responded calmly, “We got the deal babe!”

"We got what?" Rob inquired, tilting his head and extending his right ears for proper hearing.

Tasha's sad face, turned to joy as she screamed in excitement, “10billion US dollars in partnership babe, the Chinese investors just concluded all the documentations for us to supply them the materials needed for the project and they also want us to handle the project”.

Rob jumped up from his chair, over joyed, as he grabbed Tasha and raised her turning her around. They both screamed in excitement and as Rob turned to Mariam, he paused, smiled at her, blinked to signify gratitude and then lip sync thank you.