Chapter Two: The Reunion

Chapter Two

Luna’s heart, which had started to settle, jackhammered again at the sight of Justin. She watched, barely breathing, as Justin’s eyes scanned the room. Somehow, his gaze passed over her head for the duration in which he looked at the entire room. And Luna used that time to blink, to stop staring at him so hard, and to let air into her lungs.

People start to move, there were mumbles of ‘Good morning, sir’s’ and Justin moved away from the entrance to walk further into the room.

As he made his way toward the chair at the head of the conference table, his eyes strayed to Luna briefly. And then he did a double-take. His black eyes narrowed sharply on her face, and the rest of the room faded away.

Luna was suddenly back in six years ago, still married to Justin, but on the brink of it all falling apart. Her heart was breaking with Justin’s indifference to his mother’s maltreatment of her, and filled with the pain of loving a man who didn’t love her back. One look into his midnight black eyes, and she was back to the agony of losing the one thing she had hoped would bring Justin closer to her. His son.

Luna swallowed past the lump of pain in her throat, and resisted the urge to rub a hand against the tightening in her chest. Instead, she kept her gaze on Justin’s, and met his stare head-on.

“What are you doing here?” he finally asked.

Hearing Justin’s voice for the first time in so long sent a shiver down Luna’s spine. She glanced at the enraptured audience around them and looked back meaningfully at Justin. But he didn’t seem to care that all his executives and hers were staring openly at the both of them, his gaze never wavered from Luna’s.

The man standing beside Justin, leaned forward a little to whisper in his ear. From his position, Luna surmised him to be Justin’s assistant, and he looked to be more experienced and efficient than hers.

“Sir, she’s the CEO of Green-ish Food, the healthy food company we’re partnering with for the program.”

Only then did Justin’s gaze waver from hers. He looked at his assistant, confusion written all over his face.

“What?”

“Yes, sir,” the assistant replied.

Justin looked back at Luna and she realized that that was the moment. The moment she had been dreaming of for months, when she revealed who she was and Justin looked at her with the shock that was currently plastered all over his face.

And she was pleased to realize that it was even better than she had imagined.

Yes, Justin, it’s me. I made something of myself. After you left me broken and shattered, I picked up the pieces and made something of myself.

Deciding that they had put on enough of a show, Luna cleared her throat and looked at Justin.

“I think we should get on with the meeting now, don’t you?” she asked him.

Justin just stared at her for a full minute without replying, and then without taking his eyes off her, he talked to the rest of the people in the room.

“Everyone, out, now.”

There was a slight pause, as if the men didn’t understand English. And then, the assistant looked between Luna and Justin and comprehension dawned on him.

“Yes, sir,” he said. And turned to herd the rest of the men out of the room. Even Luna’s assistant, who sputtered something about asking for permission from Luna.

The door closed behind Justin’s assistant, the last man to leave the room, leaving just Luna and Justin.

Licks of nerves threaten to flitter through Luna’s fingers, but she covered it by calmly interlocking her fingers in front of her.

“Hello, Justin,” she said, calmly too, even though she had work at it. “It’s been a while.”

”What are you doing here, Luna?”

Luna wanted to flinch at the blandness in Justin’s tone. That indifference, that blandness, had been the most infuriating part of Justin when they were together, Luna remembered. He had mastered the art of looking so totally unbothered by a situation, had perfected it to the point where the other person in the situation starts to wonder if they were the one who was crazy.

Luna felt the familiar feeling of frustration start to pass through her, but she refused to let it spread. So she shook it off internally.

She smiled a little. “I know you hate when people repeat themselves, so I’m sure you heard what your assistant said.” She paused. “But I’ll humor you. I’m the CEO of Green-ish Foods,a green food initiative. And I’m one of the companies your company is partnering with for your upcoming gala week.”

Justin’s brows furrow in confusion.

“But-”

Luna cut him off. “I know it’s a big surprise for you to see me here, and more, in the position that I am in. Given the way I was the last time you saw me. But six years have passed between then and now, and that is a lot of years. I got busy.” She paused, clocking her head slightly to the side. “Still, it was no reason to be rude, sending your employees out of this place that way.”

Justin’s eyes narrow slightly, a little surprise showing in them for a second, and then they clear.

“First of all, I don’t give a damn about being polite,” he said. “And second, yes, I see you got busy.”

Two things happened to Luna as Justin talked. First, when he said he didn’t give a damn about being polite, a dark thrill had run through her body at the arrogance in his words. And secondly, when he said he saw that she got busy, his voice had deepened and his eyes had raked all over her body. And that had set off a tingling from the base of her spine up to the back of her neck.

Oh boy, Luna thought to herself.