It was about 8 in the evening. After doing some light stretches to relieve myself of the exhaustion of sitting all day long, I flopped back on the chair. My hands reached for the first drawer of my desk to pull something out, something that had been a major cause of stress these days.
Opening up the red velvety box, I stared at the sparkling ring. Two days ago, Dustin gave this to me, more like left me with it, and now I had no idea what to do with it. He wasn't picking up my calls, he wasn't answering my texts, he wasn't ready to listen to me at all.
Taking out the ring, I slid it on my finger. The sight of the gorgeous ring on my hand made me smile a little. I loved him, I had loved him for four years. Before all of this happened, before I was given the responsibility of this multinational company, we were so happy and nothing could bring me more joy than being his wife.
But things were different now. Marriage was not on my mind right now. I had so many responsibilities first. I couldn't enter a marriage when I didn't even have time to take breakfast most days.
Taking the ring off my finger, I rested my head against the seat and closed my eyes. Before any sleep could overpower me, someone knocked on the door.
"Yes?" I asked Stav.
"There is someone here to meet you. Patty Dancel," he said.
Hearing the name of one of the very few friends I had left, I asked him to send her in. A few minutes later, Patty entered the room and her presence instantly brought her weird energy. Big eyes, flawless pale skin, fiery red hair. Patty was a gorgeous sight to look at. But the minute she opened her loud mouth, one couldn't help but look for some noise cancelling headphones.
"Well, well, well, look who is this sexy piece of ass? My best friend of course! Alice!” she screamed as she ran towards me with open arms. I stood up and returned to her hug briefly, well as brief as it could be because Patty was a big hugger. Stav tried to control his smile on hearing this and I eyed him to leave the room before my friend could say something worse.
"You didn't call me before coming," I whispered.
"Who are you and what have you done to my friend? When did we start calling each other before meeting, hot stuff?" she said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, you are right. My bad," I said and sat down.
"First tell me, where did you hide your sexy assistant for so long?" she asked, staring at Stav through the window between our offices.
"I just hired him two days ago," I told her.
"Still, if I were you, I would ride him until-"
"Patty!" I yelled and walked towards the window to close it before he could hear anything. Stav's eyes reached me and a hint of a smirk lingered on his mouth.
"Sorry. I forgot you were dating Dustin. Let me tell you, that chef is just as vanilla as you," she said as she opened up her handbag and popped up an M&M in her mouth.
Could she be any louder?
"Don't worry about him. I think I have ruined our relationship for good," I whispered under my breath but she heard it anyway.
"What do you mean?" she asked. Her posture changed immediately and she leaned forwards.
"I..." I sighed. "He was going to propose but I messed up."
She silenced for a moment, pondering over the situation. "Oh. That sounds serious."
"It is," I said and showed her the ring.
"Have you talked to him yet?" she asked, holding the ring in her hand. "Damn, it must have cost him a ton. How much does he earn anyway?"
"He isn't answering my calls or texts," I told her, ignoring her second question.
"He will come around. Despite what I said earlier, he is a nice man," she said. "Basic and boring, but nice."
I changed the topic of our discussion to her life. She still lived the life of a college girl. She ran a boutique, partied, enjoyed her life to the very best and didn't plan each minute of her day like me. Some days, I wished I could be more like her, but when she told me about the pregnancy scare she had last week, the thought immediately vanished from my mind.
We were busy in our conversation when the door suddenly opened and Stav walked in. "I brought coffee," he said and placed the tray containing two cups on the table. "I don't know how you take it so I brought extra sugar and creamer," he said to Patty.
"Why thank you, darling. By the way, how was heaven when you left it?" She winked at him while I just groaned internally at her cheesy pickup line.
"And I thought the sandwich I had for lunch was cheesy." Stav smirked. "I have a better one. I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I get yours?"
"Damn, son. I already like you," she said and extended her hand for a high-five.
"Are you done now?" I asked Stav who nodded. "Leave."
"Whatever you say, ma'am," he said with a blank face, staring right into my eyes. I kept returning his stare until he backed away and walked out of the office.
"Easy, bitch. Let your employees breathe," Patty said once he had left.
"Patty! Don't use the B-word at the office. I have a reputation to maintain here," I warned her angrily.
"Whatever, bitch," she repeated with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.
"Let's call it a day," I said, leaning back in my seat and stretching my arms. "Do you want me to order some food for you, Mr. Trajano?" Celine asked. "It's fine. I'll go home and eat with my wife." I said and stood up to leave. Once I reached the elevator, my eyes fell on Sunshine, standing inside with her hands linked with Thea. Apparently, after dating me, Sunshine reached this conclusion that she wasn't into men anymore. That was a pretty big blow to my ego, not that I didn't deserve it. "Stav." She acknowledged me with a nod. "Sunshine." I passed her a professional smile. The whole elevator ride was somewhat awkward, after which I went straight to the parking lot where my driver was already waiting for me. Almost one year ago, a month before my marriage to Alice, we decided to merge both companies. I took over as the CEO of Montelebalo-Trajano enterprises while Alice decided to head the board. It was the only thing feasible, becau
"What the hell is your doing? Stav, untie me right now." I groaned."Patience, love," Stav said and guided me out of the car. I had been blindfolded for the last fifteen minutes now and despite my utmost displeasure, all I got in response was, "Patience.""Where are you taking me?" I groaned as I felt my heels sinking in the ground. He held me straight by wrapping his arm around my waist and led me forwards."I am going to tie you up and have my way with you," he whispered in my ear and I felt a shiver down my spine. I heard him chuckle at my reaction, after which he untied the blindfold and rolled me around to see where he had taken me.In front of me was probably the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. We were on a dark beach, dimly illuminated by a few fire lamps dispersed here and there. The sun had already set and the moon was casting its beautiful shadow on the blue water. There was a table set near the shore, two chairs around it facing the sea.
The minute I saw Dustin dressed in a three piece suit, I immediately realized that this was a mistake. It was never supposed to be a "friendly" dinner. And then there I was, dressed in blue jeans and a button down black shirt, with my hair tied back with the help of a bandana."Where are we going?" I asked him nervously."Your favourite restaurant. Delilah's eatery," he said."I don't go there anymore, since I came to know that the owner, Delilah is homophobic and racist," I replied and an awkward silence prevailed inside the car."Oh, I didn't know that. Where do you want to go?" he asked.Somewhere casual, so this won't turn into a date."Let's go to McDonald's," I offered.He laughed out loud at this."I am serious. I am craving a cheeseburger," I added."Wait, you are kidding me. Right? We can go to some nice burger place. What about Emily's?" he asked."Fine." I sighed in defeat.There was no way out o
It was almost 2am. After taking a bath and fueling myself with caffeine, I returned to my home office to continue working. With this new decision I had made, things were going to be really hard for the next few months. The work load was going to triple, but I would happily do it if I could be with Alice at the end of the day."You are still working?" I heard Dad's voice. He was standing near the doorframe, watching me with curious eyes. Mom and Dad came to visit me a few days ago but I couldn't find enough time to spend with them."Yes, Dad. I still have these reports to review," I said."You shouldn't have made the decision of moving the head branch to Philippines right now. Things are going to be really hard for you. You should have given yourself some time to settle in," he said."Don't you think I know that?" I passed him an exhausted smile. "I need to be with her, Dad. It's killing me not being near her.""You love her, don't you?" He chuckled
Another month had passed.Another month of drowning myself in work to avoid facing the fact that I was all alone. Another month of being heartbroken, and mentally and physically stressed. Another month of trying to distract myself by taking different hobbies like Pilates and gardening in my free time.I missed Stav, so much that it was killing me. I remembered two weeks ago, when I finally caved in and ended up calling him. We talked for about an hour and that's when I realized how correct he was. Listening to his voice made it harder to stay away.Sundays were comparatively better. I spent the afternoon in the academy and the rest of the day doing different chores. I had befriended all the other students in my class and it was refreshing because they didn't know me as the tyrant CEO.As far as work was concerned, there was nothing to talk about. I had grown used to having Stav in the office and in his absence, the whole office felt dull and drab. It was
I woke up with a strong arm tightly wrapped around me and a heavy weight on my chest that turned out to be Stav's head. My eyes searched for the clock which showed that it was almost midday, which meant we had slept for twelve hours straight. That was the most I had slept in days and apparently, so had Stav."Hey." I brushed his hair to wake him up. My cheeks were flushed at our position, the way our legs were intertwined and his mouth was resting in the valley of my breast, using me as his own personal cushion."Stav," I whispered, grazing his back with my fingernails.He stretched on top of me and then lifted his head, staring at me with his pearl green eyes."Come with me," he said, giving me a peck and then rolling off me. "I want to wake up like this daily. In fact, take me with you.""What about your company?" I said, playing with the dark lock that had fallen on his forehead."Ugh. Why do you have to remind me?" He groaned, kissing my