15

   After an eventful weekend with Taylor lashing out at him and him ruining dinner, Nate was back to work. He had sent flowers to Mrs Wyatt and Taylor, apologizing for ruining dinner. 

He was rather offended by their actions but brushed it aside. He didn’t believe in long term commitments or love and wished they could respect that. Taylor’s persistence over the years was the only thing that had kept their so-called relationship going.

There was no actual bond between them.

   He pushed his thoughts of Taylor aside as he reread an email that caught his eye. He had received an invitation from an association of businessmen to attend a conference in Florida. He was asked to bring a plus one, preferably a coworker. He frowned, he couldn’t think of anyone. Taylor wasn’t an option because she was going to stir a lot of drama and he didn’t want unnecessary attention from reporters. 

As for the workers in his company, the only person he could think of was Ruby.

   There were other people who had more expertise than her but he still wanted her to go on the trip with him. Aside from their usual banters, he was intrigued by her and her intelligence. At the same time, she felt mysterious, he had read the file that contained her information a couple of times but it seemed vague. Another thing that made him curious was how familiar she looked. He could have sworn he saw her somewhere but he still couldn’t place it. 

     He stole a glance at the direction of her office, she wasn’t there. It felt a little awkward for him as she was always in her office, occasionally, he had caught her reading a book or watching a romcom. 

Few minutes later, he saw her go into her office with Ethan, her arm locked in his as they laughed at something.

It was the first time he had seen her smile so much, most of the time, she wore a smug look. Nate was curious about what they were talking about, Ruby had laughed that much with him, not that he had given her a reason to, anyway.

    He watched Ethan tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. Nate felt disgust in his gut, there were so many girls at the office, why did Ethan choose Ruby out of everyone. He had the urge to scatter whatever the two had going on even though they looked so happy together. It annoyed him that they looked perfect together, Ethan's perfect hair and boyish looks irritated him even more.

His curiosity piqued as he watched Ethan take a step closer to her. Were they dating? When did they get so close?

He hated the fact that he was burning with curiosity, he was never curious about anyone, not even Taylor. He always let her do whatever she wanted to do without taking interest .

    When Ethan pulled Ruby in for a hug, that was the height of it, he had had enough of their office romance.

He dialed Ruby’s office number on the telecom with a frightening scowl etched on his handsome face.

  “Come to my office now” he ordered as she placed the phone against her ear. 

He watched Ruby’s once happy expression turn sour. She said something to Ethan and then made her way to his office. Did she dislike me that much? He thought.

Clearly, there was bad blood between them but he didn’t think it was all that serious. 

  “Mr Jacobin, you sent for me” her tone was formal and she kept a straight face

A part of Nate wished she could be the rude annoying brunette he knew, not this cold looking woman. 

 “I have received a complaint about an office romance going on between you and Ethan” he lied

He couldn’t think of anything to tell her and he didn’t want to ask her directly about her relationship with Ethan. He didn’t want to show how curious he was.

 “I’m sorry, what do you mean?” She asked with a frown

  “Informal relationships aren’t allowed at work. I pay you to work, not have a relationship with your colleague”

Ruby could sense a hint of jealousy but brushed it off, why would  Nate be jealous of her and Ethan’s nonexistent romantic relationship?

 “There’s nothing going on between Ethan and I” she loured 

  “I suggest you keep it that way” he said coldly 

A part of him was relieved there was nothing going on between them, he couldn’t hate seeing Ethan tuck a strand of her hair out of her face again.

  “And how about you?” She asked, she couldn’t tell where she had mustered the confidence from. “Don’t you think it’s unfair that you are keeping your marriage with Taylor a secret from us”

Nate sighed and rolled his eyes. He had seen a post about Taylor getting married to him soon but ignored it. She was only giving our false information.

 “Taylor and I aren’t getting married for Christ sake!” He breathed out

It felt frustrating to have to explain that he didn’t want to get married over and over again.

   “Oh”

Ruby tried her best to conceal the smile that was about to spread on her face. She was relieved they weren’t getting married.

 “Why are you bothered about the marriage”

“Umm-m”she stuttered. “I- I you know”

She swallowed hard as she thought of what to say. She felt exposed as Nate’s eyes remained fixed on her.

 “I’m not bothered about the marriage” she breathed out. “I only felt it wasn’t right that you didn’t tell us you were getting married”

  “Oh really? Interesting” he murmured sarcastically

She let out a sigh of relief, thankful that he didn’t push it further.

  “I can see you’re less busy so I’m going to give you work to do”

He really didn’t want to give her anything to work on but he needed Ethan away from her

Ruby frowned, she wasn’t done with what he asked her to do the other day.