: Chapter 13

“So, you mean he declared that he wants you? That you’re his?” Cassie asked, with her jaw on the floor.

“He didn’t exactly say that.”

“But this is what he meant with whatever he said. Even a kid can see through it!” she argued.

I threw the cards we were playing on the table and leaned back against the black leather couch, huffing. After the auction, I got a call from her to meet at her place. Suffering from a feeble flu and bored at home, she wanted my company.

“God, I’ve seen people being crazy in love before. But this? This is insane!” She shook her head in disbelief. “Buying an entire company just to bring you closer to him, forcing you to join the board meetings so he could see you more and wasting a million on a painting?”

At the mention of the ‘L’ word, I straightened. “There’s no love! It’s—it just could be a want of possession or obsession of his. I don’t know. But there is nothing like that you’re implying.”

She sniffled. Her sharp little nose was red from her continuous sneezing. Her honey blonde hair was tied in a messy bun. “Even Jeff Bezos wouldn’t do something as crazy as buying an entire company that would cost him a fortune just to bring a girl close to him he wanted.”

I rolled my eyes, but my treacherous heart skipped at her words. After I found out from Tobias that OC Textiles’ owner was Ace, and not Caleb, I was shocked. I even had doubt that he had something to do with my transfer. It wasn’t just Caleb. Though, I wasn’t sure. When I accidentally told Cassie about this, she got this illusion he bought that company from Mr. Cooper for me. Even though I didn’t want to believe her, it did make some sense.

“He must’ve had some other agenda behind it. And it could be a pure coincidence he found out I’d be working in that company, and so he told Caleb to transfer me here. That’s it.” I still denied.

“Really? And what about the message he sent you just the night before that day? That you can’t escape him anymore? Your time was over and blah, blah? Can you explain that?”

I opened my mouth and then shut it. Crossing my hands over my chest, I shrugged.

She gave me a look, but to my utter surprise, she changed the subject. “How’s Warner?”

I cocked my head. “Uh, he’s good?”

What was she trying to do now?

She nodded. “You guys talk every day?”

“No. Both of us were really busy the entire week. But he did call this morning.” I checked my phone, but there were no calls or messages from him. “He was supposed to call me again tonight.”

“So long-distance is already at its work,” she hummed.

My brows creased. “What do you mean?”

Her shoulders lifted as she grabbed her coffee mug and took a sip, sniffling. “Isn’t it simple? Even strong relationships don’t work with long-distance most of the time, and here we’re talking about your one-sided relationship.”

“It isn’t one-sided.”

“Oh?” She raised her brow. “So, you love him?”

Silence.

“Knew it. Look, Em—” placing the mug back on the table, she leaned in, “—you and I both know that what you and Warner have isn’t going to last long. And now that you two are worlds away from each other, and with your new, slash old lover back in the picture, you should take a decision on your relationship with Warner now. You and he both are aware that you were never into this. You never had any feelings for him other than seeing him just as a friend. Yes, maybe he likes you, but trust me, deep down, he also knows you won’t be able to love him, no matter how much he tries.”

I looked down at my lap. “It’s not my fault I can’t do it. I tried. I tried my best to love him. But…”

“But your heart still belongs to someone else?”

My gaze snapped to her. “No! I don’t have any feelings for him anymore. Yes, he still affects me, but… it’s just the awkwardness. Nothing else.” I averted my eyes from her piercing amber ones. “Warner and I are doing well. You don’t worry about that.”

“Don’t lie to me. I know you more than you know yourself, Em. You still want him as much as you did back at your siblings’ birthday party that night. You’re just scared to get hurt again.That’s why you’re denying your feelings, aren’t you?” she asked. When I didn’t answer, she sighed. “Don’t you think you’re doing wrong to Warner? Even if he was the one who insisted on trying, you know you won’t be able to love him no matter if it’s because of Ace or not.”

Closing my eyes, I put my head in my hands. I knew I wasn’t doing fair with Warner. It’s been eating me out for a long time now. But I was too selfish to let him go. Though I didn’t love him, his friendship gave me huge support. Truth to be told, him being my boyfriend helped my mind a little bit to assure myself that I’d moved on. I could show it to the world, to him. But deep down, I knew the truth. I knew I was using Warner for my own selfishness.

My eyes pricked as guilt cut through me. Though I was thinking about talking to him about it for the last few months, I couldn’t do it. My selfishness, fear… fear of facing him alone stopped me from doing it.

Cassie placed a hand over mine. “It’s okay. I know what you’re feeling. But don’t. It’s not your fault. Though Warner doesn’t know about Ace, he does know why you agreed to be his girlfriend. Talk to him. I’m sure he will understand. He deserves to know the truth, Em. Tell him everything.”

I nodded. “I will talk to him. But not now. I need to do this when we’re face to face. He’s coming to Tess’s wedding.”

“Will you tell him about Ace?”

“No. There’s nothing to tell him about Ace.” I cast a glance. “I will talk to him about us. I just hope he will still be my friend after everything is over.”

She squeezed my hand. “He will, I’m sure.”

After a silence, she shifted and cleared her throat.

“So?”

I turned to her. “So what?”

“Now that the issue of Warner is sorted, will you give Ace a chance?”

I shook my head in disbelief. “You talked me into breaking up with Warner so that you can pair me up with Ace? I can’t believe you!”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. It’s not that you weren’t going to do that in the near future, anyway. Especially now that Ace is here.”

I scowled at her.

“What? I’m just helping my best friend with her love life dilemma. You and I both know what your heart desires. And I know, deep down, beside the fear of another heartbreak, you were stopping yourself from leaning towards Ace because of Warner. You didn’t want to cheat on him. But that’s sorted now, right?”

“Are you for real? I’m not going to do anything with Ace. And about Warner, I still haven’t broken up with him. He’s still my boyfriend.” Anger boiled in my chest. I didn’t know why I was angry for. For the fact that she supported Ace way too much or because her words screamed truth.

She waved her hand. “He will be out of the picture soon. It will be better for his own good, anyway. Because assessing your Valencian’s obsession with you, I don’t think he would take this nicely if he has any competitor in the way of getting you.”

“You know what? I’m leaving. I’m not talking to you anymore about this.” Red in the face, I got up and collected my purse and phone.

“Do whatever you want, girl. We both know that Achilles Valencian has played his card. And now, you’re stuck in his trap. No matter what you want, you can’t escape him. And you know why?”

I stared at her, waiting for her to finish.

“Because you don’t want to escape. Your heart won’t let you.”

The elevator pinged, opening for another person to reach their destined floor, leaving only me and Liza inside. I held a bunch of files with one hand while my other hand was occupied with a cup of tea. After the small talk with Cassie, her words didn’t let me sleep last night. Some of my own realizations haunted me.

I was beginning to accept my fate, the change, and him around me again. It didn’t scare me as it did the first couple of days. And it scared me the most. It’s just been no more than twenty days since I met him again, and I was already thinking about him more and more. I was turning weak again. Just like years ago…

No, Em. Don’t go there. You can’t fall weak this time. Be strong, use your head. Don’t let yourself fall into his trap. You don’t know what happened seven years ago. Even if he knew about your feelings, you don’t know if he really had anything for you in his heart. But that wasn’t possible. If he felt something, then he wouldn’t do that with your sister.

But Tess said she didn’t love him…

Then why did they do it? If there was nothing between them, then why? Or there was? Or it could be a moment of heat between them? But do best friends do that?

I blew out a sigh. It was all so confusing. I didn’t know what to think anymore. All my life I thought my sister betrayed me, but the truth was she didn’t. Or she said she would never hurt me.

I wanted to ask Tobias about it. The truth of what actually happened seven years ago. But I didn’t know how to start this conversation with him. Did he even know what happened that night?

“God, it’s not even noon and I’m already so tired! The preparation for the meeting with Arabs is taking a toll on me,” Liza complained.

“What’s so important about this meeting, though? I mean, the way everyone is taking it so seriously, it’s not usual.”

“It’s a very big deal the boss wants to crack with them. He doesn’t want it to go to our rival company. These chipmunks now started a new clothing line when they found out about our new business in this field.” She shook her head. “I tell you, these people can’t take any success from this company.”

Oh! So that’s all the fuss about.

Then something caught my eye as we reached the last stop, forty-ninth floor. It was a fifty-story building. Then why were there only forty-nine buttons on the elevator panel?

“We’re here,” she announced once the doors opened.

“Wait, why are there only forty-nine buttons? It’s a fiftieth-floor building, right?” I asked, strolling out behind her.

She bobbed her head. “Yes. The boss’s penthouse is on the fiftieth floor, and no one can go there other than his closed ones. So, the common elevator doesn’t have access there. They go there by the VIP one.” Her chit jutted towards the other elevator beside the ordinary one.

The golden one.

I knew it was for VIPs, but I didn’t know only this one had access to the fiftieth floor.

Once we were with the team that was working on the presentation for the meeting, we drowned our heads in the work to finish the final touches. As Liza said, the boss, Caleb, didn’t want any deficiency with anything. I didn’t know these people were that terrified of Caleb. Even the words ‘the boss’ was enough to drain color from their faces.

“Phew, finally done. How much time is left for the meeting?” Matt, a guy from the management department, asked. He was always paranoid about every little thing.

“Don’t worry, Matt. There’s still one hour left,” Sierra said, checking her watch.

He huffed. “The boss can arrive at any moment and demand a recheck himself.”

“Anyway, let me print those papers in the meantime,” I said, gathering the sheets.

“All right but be quick. You know you and Matt are joining us in the meeting, right?” Liza asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry. It will only take five minutes,” I told her, getting up from my chair. But my hand accidentally bumped with the tea mug I had put on the table and the cold content spilled on the surface, splashing half of it on my clothes. “Shit!”

“Here!”

Liza passed me some tissue papers, but it was already ruined. The stain marked my white blouse dark. Damn! Did I have to wear white today?

Cursing under my breath, I threw the tissues in the bin.

“Oh God, Boss will be here any moment now and then we will leave for the meeting. You need to clean this up fast!” Sierra was up to her feet.

“There’s no time to clean it. Even your jeans have some stains. You have to change your clothes.” Liza eyed my appearance.

“But where would I find clothes at this moment? I don’t have that much time to go home now.” I bit my lip.

Her face lit up as she spoke.“Why don’t you go up to the penthouse? Your sister had stayed there a couple of times. I’m sure there are some clothes of hers in one of the rooms.”

“Penthouse? But what if Cale—”

“The boss wouldn’t mind at all! At least not for you. Just go change your clothes. We don’t have much time.” Cutting me off, she pushed me out of the door. “I’ll print those papers. You go on.”

Heaving a sigh, I went to the golden elevator and hopped in.

There must be some guards up there to control the unwanted accesses. They know Tess, but not me. Would they even let me pass? Should I call Caleb for permission first?

Too late, I was already there.

As the doors opened, my suspicion was right. There were indeed two huge built guards hovering outside. But much to my surprise, when they saw me, something flashed across their faces as they stood straight and greeted me with polite nods.

Guess I was allowed.

Flashing a smile at them, I walked through the spacious corridor. But there was a second barrier. A fingerprint scanner beside the door. Damn it! Now how would I go inside?

I should just go back and try to get these stains off somehow without wasting my time here.

Just as I turned to go, one of the guards appeared before me, his eyes on the floor. “My apologies for blocking your way, miss. But if you don’t know, you have access to the penthouse. You just have to press your thumb on the scanner.”

I frowned. I had access? But how? When did Caleb collect my fingerprint for it?

Confused, I turned around and placed my thumb on the scanner. And it did recognize my identity and unlocked the door. Whoa!

Strange.

Still surprised, I thanked the guard and walked inside before closing the door. And I just stood there for a moment. The entire penthouse did justice to Valencian’s name. Stunning would be an understatement. The white marble and dark paneling, and the combination of classy white and grey furniture, just enhanced its beauty.

Remembering the shortage of time, I went upstairs, not knowing where to go. And then I entered the master bedroom. Not even a single thing was out of place. It felt like no one really lived here. It definitely wasn’t the room Tess visited. Because she wasn’t the one to keep a place tidy like this.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I padded inside the walk-in closet. Seeing the tons of ironed suits, jackets and other clothes lined up in the racks, I assumed it was Caleb’s room. The closet was filled with the smell of laundry. Even the clothes seemed untouched.

I couldn’t wear his suits, so I searched for some T-shirts or something I could fit into. And I did find one in the back. Though it seemed too big for me, I could somehow adjust myself into it.

Going back into the bedroom, I placed the black T-shirt on the bed and collected some more tissues to pat on the stains my jeans had. They weren’t that noticeable, so I just rubbed on the wet patch a few times and let it be. The T-shirt was big enough to cover them, anyway.

Throwing the tissues into the silver bin, I went back to the bed and removed my sticky blouse. Once I was done wiping the dampness on my chest with it, I flung it on the mattress. As I grabbed the T-shirt, the door of the bedroom flung open, and soon followed a curse under someone’s breath, making me freeze in my place.