Unspoken Names. Unburied Ghosts

Romans pov***

My day had gone from bad to worse, and yet Levi kept me waiting. I checked my watch for what seemed like the hundredth time, and almost stood up to leave the restaurant when Levi came in.

“Sorry, I’m...” he started, but I cut him off.

“Where the hell have you been? you said 2 pm and you are never late,” I snapped. Just as I was ranting, I saw the PR specialist by his side.

“What is she doing here?” I asked Levi, deliberately not turning to look at her.

“Oh, Levi invited me for lunch, I thought it would be a good opportunity to know my boss better,” she replied instead. I hated her gut. I looked at Levi, my irritation palpable.

“Come on, man, she also wants to apologize for this morning,” Levi offered.

I sighed, thinking of how worse my day could go while they sat down

“So Roman...” she started, but I cut her off sharply.

“Sir Roman, to you, it's Sir Roman,” I corrected, wanting to emphasize my point.

“Cut her some slacks, man,” Levi added, trying to reduce the tension.

“Stay out of this,” I warned him coolly. She had no right to call me by my name.

who did she think she was?

“I just want to apologize for earlier today, it's just I need some time to get around things before coming up with a memo for the meeting and I cleared it up with Levi, I didn't mean to go ahead of you,” she said this time in a rather too meek manner, I thought she always had her guard up. it struck me as odd that she would be humble.

We placed our orders, and I couldn’t help but notice how gracefully she ate. my gaze drifted to the curve of her neck, they were undeniably appealing. I gulped on my food as I watched. She had the skin of an angel. Something about her neck called out to me, and I found myself stirring.

Snap out of it, I told myself. I wasn’t going to have anything to do with her because Levi seemed genuine with her, and because I didn’t want women, women wanted me, just like Tania.

As I remembered Tania, the restaurant door opened, and my unit's head and Tania made an entrance. I scoffed.

“What's the problem?” Levi asked, and I nudged him towards the door, and he laughed. We both knew the only person who could bring them here was Tania.

I watched as they passed to the next available table. While Tania walked towards us.

She seemed to be biting much more than she could chew recently, and I needed to put her in her place. She was just my puppet, and I couldn’t understand why she wouldn't get that.

“Sir Roman, Levi, Miss Sera,” she greeted, nodding curtly at us all. “I see you are beginning to get acquainted with our boss,” she continued, smiling forcefully. Tania wasn’t ugly; she was beautiful in her way, with her always shiny, dark hair.

But she was just like every other woman, dependent and foolish.

“’ May I?” she asked no one in particular.

“I don’t think so, Tania, this is just me apologizing to our boss for earlier on,” the PR specialist replied, and I laughed slightly.

I had never seen a woman as confident as she was. I watched as the drama unfolded. Tania seemed shocked by the response she got from the PR specialist. It made me chuckle even more from the look on her face.

“Well, I’m sure the boss wouldn’t mind,” Tania urged.

“Did you hear what she just said?” I heard Levi say before I could respond. And she left. Levi and I laughed at the same time, but the PR specialist didn’t seem to find anything funny about what just happened.

I looked at her again as she ate, and suddenly a notorious thought ran through my mind. I imagined her crawling up on my bed while I watched her from my reading table.

Snap out of it, Roman, I told myself, reminding myself of the many reasons I couldn't have her in my bed.

Zara’s pov***

Tania approached the table, and all I could think of was how much she had risen, risen enough to walk up to her boss's table.

Unless…. But I waved it off, there was no way she was seeing either of them. I would have known about it.

Besides, Tania was my friend, and there was no way she would be with any of them, especially Roman, knowing fully well that I was wrong and had been unjustly kicked out.

At that moment, I wondered if she was still looking for me.

After lunch, I sat in my office, waiting for time to pass as I was too eager to see the outcome of today's meeting, considering what I had in mind.

“Ma’am, it's time for the meeting, in conference room two,” my secretary reminded me. She was the sweetest soul yet.

“Thank you,” I took a moment to straighten my look and headed for the conference room. Everyone was seated except Roman and Levi.

I could feel Tania's scrutinizing eyes on me from the other end of the table, but I didn’t care much.

Soon, the room became quiet, and I knew that they had arrived. Since PR was invariably the last to finish, I decided to play with my pen until then.

“Miss Sera Quinn, are we boring you?” I heard Roman's voice; he had noticed. I flashed a polite smile.

“Not at all, sir,” I responded, dropping the pen and sitting upright. As the meeting progressed, I thought about Leo and Aria. I had spoken to them earlier today, but I began to miss them again. I watched Roman's face. I could see Aria on his face. She was his exact carbon copy.

“Miss, sera,” someone called, snapping me back to reality.

“Thank you very much,” I said, even though I paid no attention.

“On the file in front of you is a comprehensive 2-year plan of how I intend to create a positive public image for the company. We will be starting with video coverage of the company for the next three months, this is to foster unity among workers and their supervisors. When the public sees how united the workers of  Vales & Sons establishment are, they will be prompted to patronize the company. Additionally, we will be calling on different units from time to time for one on one interviews with the boos, sir Roman, all of which is designed to enhance our visibility and engagement. Moving forward…

Suddenly, Roman interjected my speech

“How do you intend to address crises that may arise within the company?” he leaned forward with a serious expression on his face.

“You have plans to put out the face of the company, but in the face of a real crisis or scandal, how do you intend to tackle those?” he pressed further, the whole room became quiet, and I could feel their eyes on me.

Levi gave me a sympathetic look, Tania, on the other hand, looked at me like she had won a trophy, some sought of payback for lunch. I stifled a laugh.

“You mean, a scandal similar to the one that happened 3 years ago with Miss Zara Amani?” I asked casually, raising an eyebrow. it wasn't a hidden subject; the media had been all over the news back then.

In that moment, the room felt even quieter, Levi’s face swelled from surprise. Tania’s face had no words to describe them, they seemed to have reddened from shock and disbelief.

And Roman, oh, how much I loved how he looked.

“Excuse me, Miss Sera.” Tania finally found the voice to speak, but Roman cut her off.

“No one, no employee of mine dares to mention that name,” he asserted firmly, getting his composure.

I knew I had won, I had hit a button in him that would hunt him for days, I hoped. A wave of satisfaction washed over me.

I remembered his face when he tossed me out of the company, a memory that was etched in my mind.

Looking right into his eyes from across the table, I replied, unfazed.

“I work with you, Mr. Roman, and not for you” …