Maintaining my composure

Jocelyn’s POV

“Jocelyn?” Eduardo gritted out, eyes gaped and jaw dropped in surprise.

Repressing the urge to laugh at the stunned look on his face, I pressed my lips into a thin line and smiled widely as I beckoned him to take my hand.

It felt so rewardingly good to see Eduardo almost having a meltdown at the mere sight of me after five years. Something in me twirled with manic satisfaction as his eyes dilated restlessly as he looked me up and down in disbelief.

“I will prefer you address me formally, Mr Lopez,” I said. “Won't you give me a handshake?”

“Ah, sorry about that, Miss Roswell,” He spurted out before clasping my hand in a warm handshake that sent a weird feeling racing down my spine.

Ignoring the unsolicited sensation, I pulled away from him and went to sit beside Amelia who had a smile of approval plastered to her face.

Returning her smile, I darted her a stealthy wink as Eduardo finally stopped gaping at me and went to sit down at the head of the table.

“I still can't believe that I finally got the golden opportunity to see you, Mr Lopez,” I began as the waiters arranged dishes of food on the table. “It has always been my lifelong dream to work with you.”

Initially, Eduardo looked taken aback, like a deer caught in the headlights, at my utterance before feigning a smile. “Really?”

“Yes,” I nodded, then grabbed the cup of champagne in front of me and swirled it, staring at the scintillating golden bubbles of the wine. “You are an outstanding businessman with an impeccable personality to match. I'm sure you have various women fawning over you with your good attributes.”

“You flatter me too much, Miss Roswell,” Eduardo let out a screechy laugh that sounded so fake it was disgraceful. “By the way, I'm really looking forward to working with an industrious businesswoman like yourself. I mean, you single handedly raised Roshome to great heights.”

My heart did a weird thing and my insides fluttered at his utterance but I ignored it yet again.

I was probably feeling this way because it had been long since I had last seen him.

I mean, I had been married to him for three years, so it was normal but henceforth, I wasn't going to allow myself feel stupid things like that anymore.

The only reason I had come to America was to seek revenge, and not to fell butterflies in my belly or anything like that.

I had planned my revenge well and good; I would get Eduardo to trust me and when he least expected it, I'd backstab him and make him go bankrupt.

His materialistic mother would definitely abandon him, same as Sofia, and he'd be left alone, poor, miserable and frustrated while I reveled in his misfortune.

About thirty minutes later, we finished lunch and it was finally time to discuss our futuristic business venture.

As Eduardo conversed with his secretary, I finally allowed myself to take a good look at him.

Not only did he have a despondent look to him, his cheekbones were also sunken and he looked like he hadn't slept in days, given the dark circles beneath his eyes.

However, his jet-black hair was still slicked back as usual, to accentuate his sharp jawline and greek god-like facial structure which consisted of his pointed, straight nose, his full pink lips and his alluring deep-set grey eyes.

“Focus, Josie. You're not here to thirst over your despicable ex-husband.” I chided myself inwardly.

Even though he looked slightly emaciated, he still had that suave charm and dashing appeal to him, and thankfully, I wasn't moved by it in the slightest.

“How are you feeling, Miss Roswell?” Amelia whispered, yanking me out of my reverie.

“About what?”

“About your whole revenge scheme. Are you sure you can still go through with it because I saw you staring at him.”

Shit.

“No, I wasn't,” I fibbed. “Maybe you were seeing things.”

“If you insist, ma'am,” Amelia huffed. “But I just want you to know that it's not too late to back out.”

“I will get my revenge,” I muttered. “You will see.”

“Now to the topic of the day, I've gone through your ideas and I must say I'm very impressed with the way you think, Joc-Miss Roswell,” Eduardo started. “Among all the ideas, I like the smart dishwasher idea the most.”

The idea behind that was to create a dishwasher with sensors that could automatically detect and clean dirty dishes, and also sort them accordingly after washing. All one had to was to load the dishwasher with dirty dishes.

“Really? Me too,” I beamed. “Glad to know we are both on board with the idea.”

“Yes, so what next?”

“I will inform you about the next line of action as soon as I sort things out with my lawyer,” I said then stood up. “It was nice meeting you, Mr Lopez.”

“Same here,” Eduardo said as we shook hands. By the way, can we speak in private? There's something I'd like to say to you alone.”

“Sure.”

“We will be outside, ma'am.” Amelia darted me a meaningful look before leaving with Nina and the team leader of the finance department, Oscar.

Without a word, Rafael followed behind them and soon, Eduardo and I were alone.

The first thing I did was snatch my hand from his hold. “How may I help you, Mr Lo-?”

Before I could finish my question, Eduardo enveloped me in a warm hug. “I'm beyond relieved to see you alive and well. I heard about the accident and am so-”

“Let go of me,” I whispered, bunching my hands into fists.

The feeling of his strong, muscular body pressed against mine had awoken the emotions that I thought were long dead and buried, which terrified me greatly.

I also couldn't help but wonder how and when he had even learnt of the accident.

“Right,” Eduardo laughed sheepishly as he obliged my order. “I'm sorry I did that. I don't-”

“That's enough, I don't care about sentiments,” I cut him short. “Fine, we had something in the past but we are in the present. I am only here to do business with you, nothing more. So refrain from speaking to me like we are close or touching me intimately, am I clear?”

Although he seemed petrified, he nodded. “Yes, I'm sorry.”

“Pocket your sorrows and act like the heartless businessman that you've always been.” I gritted out before I could stop myself.

Without darting him a backward glance, I made my way out of the conference room, my shoulders high and my stomach fluttering.