Chapter Two.

With a sigh, I parked my car at the parking lot in Vera Construction.

Normally, if you were expecting something as huge as this contract, it'd take a longer time to show up but Friday, the time for the meeting, came quicker than I expected.

I got down from the car with my file in hand as I take a few minutes to admire Vera Construction. It is really a big deal I'm making with them. 

It's mostly made of glass with at least 24 storey buildings and there are beautiful flowers planted around, making the whole atmosphere serene and the building more beautiful.

I checked my time and realized that I'm two minutes late for the meeting with my client. 

Shit! I rushed inside the building, promising myself that I'll come back to check out the building more, later.

I rushed into the elevator and punched the seventh button, where I was told his office would be. It opened with a soft ding a few minutes later and I'm face-to-face with a woman wearing a sleek gray suit.

She looks like one of those barbie dolls children would play with. Her make up is top-notch too.

“You’re Ms. Hemsworth?” she asks without smiling, her sky blue eyes frowning a bit.

“Yes. And you are?”

“Judith Carter. I’m the Executive Liaison for Vera Construction.”

Oh, no wonder she seems so bossy. I almost did the first thing that came to my head, stick my tongue out at her.

But I settled for smiling tightly. "Nice to meet you."

“Right this way. Mr. Woods is expecting you.”

Mr. Woods.

No. It can’t be.

There are a million Woods in New York. It’s a common name.

It can’t be him.

But my heart was racing already and she was no longer the one leading me anymore. I heard a voice sounding from a room that seemed so familiar and I was hoping it was not the same person.

I was transfixed.

And then, she opened the door.

And everything seemed to stop.

He was standing behind a glass desk with his back facing us and his shirt sleeves rolled up as he stares outside through the window. 

His hair was darker, shorter, styled in that effortlessly tousled way he used to hate. He was taller than I remember—or maybe it’s just the way he carried himself.

Probably because of the sound of my heels, he turned and our eyes met.

His eyes widened and I saw the phone he was holding as he spoke to someone on the other end almost slipped from his hand.

For a moment, neither of us spoke and everything seemed weird for a while.

“Elina,” he whispered my name underneath his breath, though I could hear it.

It was the same voice I used to wake up to every morning.

And just like that, my carefully built walls began to crack.

I didn’t sit. Neither did he.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he said after a while, signalling Judith with a nod to leave.

“I didn’t know you were the client,” I replied with my voice tighter than I intended.

“You’re an interior designer?” His eyes didn't leave me as he walked over, probably trying to know if I'm the same person. 

“I run a firm.”

“Impressive,” he said flatly..

We were dancing around landmines, pretending there aren’t five years of heartbreak between us. Pretending he didn’t once trace every inch of my skin like it held the answers to his future.

He gestured towards the project folder on his desk. “You’re here about the West 49th property?"

“Yes.”

“Then let’s keep this professional.” His tone cuts through me. It was not angry though worse and controlled.

I nodded, forcing composure. “Of course.”

He walked around the desk and handed me the floor plans. His fingers brushed mine briefly—just a second—but it’s enough to send a jolt straight through my spine. He noticed it too. His jaw tightened.

“The penthouse has a good foundation,” I said, flipping through the notes. “But the interior lacks warmth. It feels cold.”

His gaze was unreadable. “Maybe that’s the point.”

I looked up, startled by the bitterness in his voice but it’s gone just as fast.

We talked about business for twenty minutes. I gave suggestions and he neither dismissed it nor corrected them.

It's just like I remembered. The bossy egoistic man he once was. Maybe worse.

Finally, he closed the folder and said, “We’ll proceed with your firm, but I’ll be involved in all major decisions.”

A power play! I expected it. “Understood.”

He walked me to the door. Just as I reached for the handle, his voice stopped me.

“Why did you leave, Elina?" I froze. "After five years of marriage, why did you leave?"

My back is to him and I felt his eyes boring into me.

“I thought we were past that,” I managed to say.

“We never even started that conversation.”

I turned slowly. His expression is unreadable, but his eyes—those storm-blue eyes—were on fire with barely restrained emotion.

“You disappeared,” he said. “No explanation. No goodbye. You just vanished. And now, five years later, you showed up in my office like nothing happened.”

My throat tightened. “You’re right. You deserve answers.”

“I don’t want to do this, Elina,” he said, his voice low, like it’s taking everything in him to keep calm.

I couldn’t breathe. 

The words he was saying didn’t even seem to register fully in my brain because all I could think about was the baby. The secret that’s haunted me for years.

“You don’t get to walk in here and pretend like everything is fine,” Noah continues, his voice growing colder, sharper with each word. “Not after everything you’ve done. Not after how you left me.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” I replied, the words escaping before I could stop them.

“Then give me a reason,” he demanded, stepping closer. “One real reason.”

I opened my mouth—but the lie catches in my throat.

Because I was pregnant.

Because I lost our baby.

Because I didn’t know how to stay without destroying you.

But all I could say was “It’s complicated.”

He exhales harshly and turns away, “Of course, it is.”

I reached for the door again, and this time he didn’t stop me.

As I walked into the hall, my phone buzzed. A new message!

Unknown number.

I swiped to open it—and my blood runs cold.

"Does Noah know about the baby you lost?"

The phone slipped from my fingers.