CHAPTER THREE: THE HIPPOPOTAMUS

Selene blinked, once, twice, three times, as if the man across the table might disappear if she did it fast enough.

"Huh... well, actually, yes, erm, I do have two phones," she said, and let out a laugh that sounded like a squeaky door. She gritted her teeth to hold it in place. "I was supposed to come with the other one, but... I think I forgot it or something."

Adrian scoffed, and waved the waiter over for food and drinks.

Nobody spoke after that. The silence sat between them like a third person. Somewhere behind her, a spoon clinked against a plate, and every tiny sound seemed ten times louder than it should be. Selene's leg bounced under the table. Her palms were damp against her dress.

‘I don't care about the food. I just want to finish this and go home.’

She pulled in a breath, held it, and leaned forward with her elbows on the table.

"So, Mr. Whatever," she said, a little too loudly. "I'm not here for chitchat, okay? I don't want this, and I know you don't want it either. So let's end it here, you go your way, I go mine, case closed."

She said it so fast that the last word came out in a puff of air. Her eyes were wide, her voice was shaky at the edges, and she was pressing her lips together after every sentence, like she was afraid more words would fall out on their own.

Adrian leaned back in his chair and looked at her for a long moment. One corner of his mouth moved, just slightly.

"And what if I don't want to?" he said dryly.

"Well, I mean..." Selene waved her hand around, searching for words in the empty air. "I can't be with someone like you, and you can't be with someone like me, either. It's not going to work, Mr... Mr... okay?"

Her voice climbed higher and higher until it nearly squeaked on the last word. She could feel her cheeks burning under all that powder.

"It's Adrian," he said.

He reached into his jacket and held out a small white card, steady as a rock. Selene stared at it for a few seconds, then snatched it from his fingers, almost rudely, and looked down.

VALE GROUP.

ADRIAN VALE (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER).

The letters seemed to swim. She read it again, then a third time, hoping the words would change into something else.

"Oh, Adrian of Vale Company," she said slowly, her voice getting smaller with every word. "Wait... Vale? As in... you're the CEO of Vale Group?"

"Yes," Adrian said. "May I have your card too?"

But Selene wasn't listening. Her ears were filled with a loud, high ringing, and her stomach had dropped all the way to the floor. The man she was supposed to insult was the same man who signed her salary. The same man whose name made her whole floor go quiet. The man she had waited for six hours today, with sore feet and a fake smile.

Wait…did she just have a date with her Boss!?

And she had just called him "Mr. Whatever."

"Excuse me," she whispered, and stood up so fast that her chair wobbled.

In the ladies' room, she pressed her back against the cold door and fumbled with her phone, her thumb shaking so hard that she hit the wrong button twice.

Clara, pick up. Please pick up.

It rang and rang and rang. No answer. She tried again, and again, and again, until the screen was a long list of the same name. Her chest became tight. A hot, angry feeling rose in her throat.

"Where are you, you traitor?" she hissed at the phone.

She thought about running. She could slip out the back door and let this whole disaster burn without her. But her bag was still sitting on that table, next to him, and inside it was the huge envelope... and the bag itself had cost more than three months of her rent. She couldn't just leave it behind.

She stared at her reflection, at the golden hair and the bright green eyes that didn't belong to her.

*Nobody knows it's you. He has never looked at you. Go out there, finish the job, and go home.*

She walked back to the table like someone walking the plank, her knees wobbling with every step.

Adrian watched her sit down. "Are you okay?"

She ignored him, grabbing the water glass, but her hand trembled so badly that half of it splashed across the tablecloth. The glass slipped from her fingers and landed with a clink.

"Get a hold of yourself, Selene," she muttered under her breath.

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Nothing!" she said, far too fast. She straightened her back, folded her hands, and forced her chin up. "This date can't go on, okay? I can't marry you. It's never going to happen."

"Why do you think it won't?" Adrian asked. He sounded almost amused, which was somehow worse.

Selene's mouth opened before her brain could stop it.

"Because I can't marry a hippopotamus!"

The words flew out of her like a sneeze. Her eyes went huge. She wanted to grab them out of the air and shove them back in.

"I... I mean," she stammered, but there was no stopping now, and she waved her hand wildly. "I can't settle for less, and being tied to someone like you would take away my freedom to see my boyfriends!"

Silence.

"Did you just call me a hippopotamus?" Adrian said, very quietly.

Selene swallowed. Her whole body was screaming at her to stop. Instead she lifted her chin, grabbed her bag, and said in a voice that cracked right down the middle, "I'm sorry, Adrian, but you look worse than a hippopotamus. It can't work between us."

She spun around so fast that her heel slid on the polished floor. For one terrible second she tipped sideways, arms flailing, but she caught the edge of a chair and kept going, half stumbling, half running toward the doors.

Cold night air hit her face. She gulped it in, laughing and gasping, her heart pounding like a drum.

*It's over. I did it. He'll never want to see me again.*

Then a hand closed firmly around her wrist.

“Selene?” The voice came behind. Selene went still, she recognized the voice. It sounds like Jay's.

Selene turned quickly, standing in front of her was Jay. Just then, Adrian came out. Staring at them with his hands in his pocket.

“Who is Selene?” Adrian asked coldly, taking a few steps forward.