4

Nirvana tilted her head and regarded him with a plain look before she scoffed at the tension that seemed to cloud both the man’s soul and mind.

“Of course, I remember,” She stared blankly and the man’s eyes widened. “How can I not remember all the bad things that both you and Kaitlyn have done? But it is just as it is that I don’t have the time nor the energy to deal with you right now. But mark it when I said that I am going to make all of you pay, but right now? I have to go and see my loving boyfriend.”

Not allowing any more words to come out of Dreg’s mouth, she turned on her heels and went straight to the elevator, not bothering to stop by the receptionist who seemed to be waiting for her.

Greg remembered her words and shuddered visibly. It would spell doom for them if Nirvana suddenly remembered everything. He wasn’t really sure of what she remembered but judging by the way she was behaving which was eerily similar to the kind of behavior she possessed before—bitchy and rude—Greg didn’t want to take the risk.

Not to mention that she was regarding Derek quite sarcastically. So he picked up his phone and proceeded to dial a number as he started walking out of the lobby.

*******

“No, you can’t go in there unless you have an appointment with Mr. Jules,” The secretary stopped Nirvana as soon as she passed her table.

“Tell him that it is I, he would definitely let me pass, I have urgent news to deliver to him,” Nirvana countered her words. The more she stayed here without seeing Derek, the more time she gave to Kaitlyn to start her plans.

“He emphasized that under no condition must he disturbed,” The secretary refused. “Even if it was Mrs. Kaitlyn, she had no option other than to wait.”

“Too bad, I can’t wait and I am more important than Kaitlyn,” Nirvana said, disregarded the woman’s warning and went ahead to open the door.

Eight pairs of eyes were immediately focused on him as soon as she entered and Nirvana wished that she had prepared herself for that, she had assumed that Derek just didn’t want to see anyone so he had locked himself in his office, who knew that he would actually be having a meeting.

A meeting that seemed important nonetheless.

“I…” Before she could get any cogent word out she was cut off by a snap from Derek.

“Who the hell allowed her to enter?! I thought that I emphasized that I didn’t want no one here?” His voice was annoyed and irritated as he continued to glare at Nirvana.

“I am sorry, Mr. Jules. I tried to stop her but she barged in here before I could do anything,” The secretary who had scrambled in after her stuttered.

Nirvana stared at Derek in utter disbelief, he couldn’t believe her eyes and ears. Was he really looking at her with disgust? She felt her heart thump and squeeze in her chest.

“What are you waiting for?” he snapped louder. “Drag her out!”

Nirvana couldn’t be more shocked. Even a stranger would be shown better courtesy than what Derek was giving to her.

“You…” Nirvana words lodged in her throat and refused to come out in order to form a single sentence.

“Well? Are you deaf?!”

The secretary didn’t need to be asked twice before she linked her arm with Nirvana’s and started dragging her towards the door.

Her state of astonishment was so deep that she remained rooted to the same spot, the secretary even had a hard time dragging her.

The men had turned their attention away from both of them and seemed to continue to talk business but even in her half-functioning state, some words reached her ears and she would have been better off without hearing that.

“Who is that?” One of the men had asked.

“She looked a lot like Ms. Ryan, or she is…” another had trailed off, not bothering to complete his sentence.

Derek had shut the conversation up before there could be more questions. “She is nobody, don’t lose any thought about her, there’s no way she would be useful here.”

**********

The feeling was horrible, she could feel her own thoughts weigh on her mind like a thousand loads. She kept repeating Derek’s last words in her mouth and mind.

In her haze, she didn’t have the time and energy to answer the secretary’s sneer about what kind of important person she was.

Was this even love anymore? Do you talk about the people you love in that awful way? Even if there was an act, was there any need to be that cruel?

Gods! He could have said that she was a maid or an employee and she wouldn’t have thought another thing about it, it wasn’t like she expected him to tell them that they had any kind of intimate relationship. He was a respected married man in the businessmen circle.

But nobody?!

Was that necessary?

Nirvana refused to believe it. There was no way Derek was doing that with his will? He must have had a reason. 

Reasons like how he had to keep his face or maybe those men were loyal people to Kaitlyn or how they were his father’s henchmen.

Yes, he would give her a reason, he always did.

It was in that haze that she bumped into a man, it was a casual bump, a normal click of the shoulder between two strangers that weren’t looking in the crowd.

Not obvious enough to be fixated on but not casual enough to be overlooked, it was the kind of bump that a quick apology would be immediately rendered.

And that was just what Nirvana did, only that the daze and self-convincing mantra she was forming in her head didn’t make her pay any attention to the person, She could feel it, the adrenaline being snuff out of her system and the countdown to her meltdown began, it was a ticking clock that echoed loudly through her entire being, so she just went on her way as she continued walking like a ghost.

“Nirvana…”

Maybe if she had, she would have noticed the pair of green eyes that belonged to the same features that just mumbled her name.

**********

Nirvana had been waiting in the living room since she got back from the company, she didn’t answer any question posed by those she shared the same house with, they weren’t the ones she wanted to talk to.

Finally, the man himself stepped through the door and advanced towards the living room. When he noticed her, Nirvana expected him to assume a guilty look but instead there was irritation and a look that definitely screamed. ‘I didn’t ask for this shit’ which made her scoff.

“We need to talk, Derek.” She said simply and he sighed.

“Yes, let’s do that. Let’s talk.” He muttered before he walked away to the play room, there wasn’t anyone who would come wandering there at night, there were hardly any guests even in the afternoon.

“What was that at your workplace?!” She said to him as soon as the door was closed behind them, he glared at her like he couldn't believe what she was saying.

“Thank god that you know that’s my workplace, what the hell were you doing there?” His brows was furrowed as he ran his hand through his hair, he looked so agitated as if merely talking to her was taking his soul away.

“A-are you seriously asking me that?! I-I was there to give you an important update but you just had to go ahead and tell everyone that I was a useless nobody? D-don’t you care about how that was supposed to make me feel?!” Her voice didn't came out as smooth as it sounded in her head.

“You didn’t care about how I felt when you showed up at the company without any permission!”

“A-and that was because I had something important to tell you!” She defended herself.

“And I have told over a thousand times that under no circumstances should you come to the company! The rules were there for a reason and there should not be any situation that would make you behave as stupidly as you did today, did you know how important those people were? You embarrassed yourself and me at the same time, you couldn’t have possibly been deaf all those times when I kept repeating that matter to you!” His exasperation was visible but it got nothing on the tremor that was on her face.