The next couple of weeks seemed to fly by. Jake and I were both really busy with work. He had some funding issues come up that had taken up a lot of time. He was often meeting with donors for dinners. I had been out with Jordan one night and we stopped at a bar. Jake was there with two donors. To say that he looked overstressed was an understatement. While at the bar I had stepped away to go to the restroom and Jake cornered me in the hallway. It had been a few days since we had seen each other, and Jake nearly mauled me. If that woman hadn’t come down the hall to use the restroom, I might have let him take me there.
While the relationship with Jake seemed to be progressing, I also felt as if it was stalling in some ways. After the incident with Valerie, Jake had been hesitant to go out. I had not yet talked to Jake about it, but I was hoping to talk about it tonight. Despite even asking about going out to dinner, Jake had declined. It was starting to make m
I spent most of the weekend with Jake or gathering my research. I printed out emails, gathered notes, and printed out my online research folder, which thankfully was all dated. I wasn’t looking forward to having to tell the team about this. This must have been what Katrina had caught wind of at the end of last week. We had not been quiet about our research at work, which did open us up to this type of situation. It happened more often than it should in such a professional field. Ideas were either legitimately stolen or were claimed to be stolen. I had learned from all of these experiences that you needed to keep very good track of research and all steps along the way. That is why I had an online research folder. The program automatically dated everything and even kept a log of when I looked at any articles or websites I had entered in to the online folder.I had asked the team to meet shortly after everyone had arrived. I gathered up the information that I was going to
AMALIA’S POV“Try the move again!” Master Cho called out as we continued to work on wrist escapes. I liked these moves, as they had a lot of practical applications. If someone grabbed your wrist and you needed to escape, any one of these numerous wrist escapes could be used. Mater Cho had also taught me a few countermoves that involved breaking a nose or rib that could be used in conjunction with the wrist escape if the situation warranted it.I grabbed on to Jake’s wrist so that he can practice the move again. He has been a real trooper tonight. I think that Master Cho went a bit harder on the class, and specifically Jake, than necessary when he found out that Jake was my boyfriend. This was the second class that Jake had attended, but the first one since telling Master Cho Jake was my boyfriend. Master Cho was a good support for me when things were bad with Dylan. He just wanted me to be safe and happy. The moves we did today were a bit on the
“He really came to that meeting with no evidence?” Katrina asked, taking a sip of her whisky and coke. Since Monday, the team had been asking me what happened with Terry, but we all agreed that talking about it at work was not really a good idea. I promised to spill it all to them when we went out after work on Friday, and here we all sat. Martin, Stephanie, and Brian all looked at me, waiting for me to answer Katrina’s question.Taking a sip of my drink, I nodded my head. “Yep. Kept saying that he didn’t need any evidence and insisted that it was his idea. As you guys know, I had a ton of evidence. He didn’t stand a chance.”The entire table looked surprised at this revelation. It didn’t make any sense that Terry came into the meeting with nothing to back up his claim, but he had nothing.“Did he really get fired with you in the office?” Martin piped up. “One of my friends worked on his old
“Are you ready?” I asked, turning to Jake as we sat in the driveway of my parent’s house. This was the house that I grew up in. My parents had lived in this house for nearly 25 years. When they first got married, they couldn’t afford much. My dad got a big promotion when I was a young and this was their big purchase. They loved this house and I loved growing up here. The neighborhood was quiet but friendly, a far cry from many of the neighborhoods in the city. My parents lived far enough away from Chicago that they didn’t have to deal with all the crap of the city, but close enough that visiting was easy. Jake smiled at me, grabbing my hand. “Of course I’m ready.” “Well, I am glad one of us is ready.” I said as we exited the car. I could hear laughing coming from the backyard and decided to bypass going into the house and head straight around to the back. Opening the gate, the squeezing noise caught my mom’s attention and she turned quickly towards us. “Amali
The only thing that kept me sane over the past week was staying at Jake’s. My landlord had the front door rekeyed by Thursday, but Jake didn’t want me to leave until after work on Friday. I was more than happy to stay. I enjoyed the nightly stress relief and I had really needed it. The team had been working until nearly nine most nights trying to finalize for our meeting with Dr. Ochoa.On Wednesday, the team had a good breakthrough. Stephanie and Brian had been working in the lab and noticed a reaction in one of our many trials. After Martin, Katrina, and I compared that to the research we had been reviewing, we were able to actually narrow down our questions for Dr. Ochoa. This was a great step, as I had felt like we had stalled in our questions. If this was going to be viable pediatric cancer treatment research study, we needed to have a clear focus.Jake had been equally busy this past week. I knew that he was spending a lot of time trying t
JAKE’S POVDinner was essentially ruined after my aunt left. I stood up for Amalia, I confirmed to Amalia that I didn’t care what my aunt said, but I knew at the end of all of it that what my aunt said and did hurt Amalia. Hell, my aunt really didn’t need to say anything. Just the way that she looked at Amalia was enough to be hurtful.We spoke positively about the meeting with Dr. Ochoa and Amalia discussed her plan for her team this week as we ate, but the atmosphere had changed. I could sense her frustration and unease. She shouldn’t have to always be worried what my family thought about her. That just wasn’t fair to Amalia. Jonathan thought she was great. Anna did as well, despite having never met her. I shared with Anna about two weeks ago. I wanted her to know. I liked talking about Amalia but felt like I was so limited in who I could talk to, that telling my sister felt like a good next step. I planned on telling my other sister, Em
AMALIA’S POVThis week had been long, and I was glad that it was Friday afternoon. Katrina and I had been working the last two nights, running inventory in the lab, and getting things ordered to start some small tests next week. I had planned on staying late on my own, but Katrina had offered to stay with me. I appreciated Katrina staying with me. It gave me someone to talk to so that my mind wasn’t continually going back to Jake.The interaction with Jake’s aunt on Monday had really bothered me. I was probably more upset than I should have been, but the way that his aunt looked at me showed how much she was judging me. After she left, Jake and I didn’t really talk about the exchange. It seemed like Jake was eager to just move past it and forget about it. But unfortunately, I could not move on as easily. My brain just didn’t work that way and I was stuck in a bad cycle. I couldn’t help but think about how she was judging me, or the t
I stood outside of the Waldorf Astoria, admiring the architecture of the building. It wasn’t the first time I had seen the hotel, but it was the first time that I had stopped to appreciate the building. The fall flowers that lined the front entrance added to the beauty of the building. There was a slight chill in the air, the first signs that the weather was completely in to fall, and all traces of the warm weather was gone. The weather was chilly enough that an evening gown was less than warm enough to keep out the chill.“Ready to go in?” Katrina asked. With Jordan out of town visiting her sister, I was left with few options when Jake said he wasn’t going to get back to Chicago tonight. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I was excited to share this with him and he wasn’t going to be here. But Katrina had been great and was more than eager to attend with me.I tried not to overthink things, but I was notorious for doing that