Chapter 4

Chapter 4: A Blast from the Past

Anaya's P.O.V:

Trevina McKinley lived in the complete opposite direction to Reefwood HQ and at a distance of nearly 2 hours from my house. So once again, I had to get up at 4 in the morning despite having reached home at 12.30am, dress within seconds and have breakfast on the bus, reach Ms. McKinley's office by 8.30am, only to find out that I'd have to wait till 10.30 to meet her. Apparently, she isn't a morning person.

Disappointed and a bit furious at myself for not having researched her better, or at least called her office, I decided to wait two hours and try my hardest to stay awake by the end of it. Then again, why hadn't I researched her properly? It's very unlike me. I always stay prepared for all kinds of circumstances. Oh, yeah! Guess I was busy loathing Mr. Manwhore Eustis who had happily dumped all his shit on me and then gone his merry way banging some poor woman who doesn't even know she'll be tossed aside once he's done with her!

God, he makes me so mad!

Sighing, I took a seat on one of the large couches laid out in the waiting room of the office building, a 4-storied mansion that also acted as her residence. To say that it was posh would be an understatement. This tiny building amid the giant skyscrapers had all the luxuries in the world including an expensive looking coffee machine on one and a fancy mini bar on the other side of a room, big enough to fit a thousand people and decorated with huge lighting fixtures the shape of globes that cascaded down from the plain white and black walls. The couches felt like fluffy clouds when I leaned my back on them. Even the air conditioning was set to relax rather than freeze to death. I could definitely fall asleep in here if I'm not careful enough and given the past two near sleepless days, I didn't quite trust myself.

Getting up, I beelined for the coffee machine in hopes that a cup of caffeine just might keep me awake for the next half hour, but the manual had me rethinking my decision. Half the words were in Japanese or Chinese (never could distinguish the two) and I had no idea what the other half, which was written in English, meant. Even the settings were way advanced to belong to a coffee machine. Where was this manufactured, NASA?

"Do you need any help with that?"

My back stiffened at the slightly husky and all too familiar voice. "Keith?" I turned to face the door.

"Anna?" The old name brought a smile to my face.

"What're you doing here?" I asked my ex-collegiate and ex-boyfriend, Keith Simons.

"I am Ms. McKinley's Personal Secretary." He gave me a dimpled smile. "And you must be Mr. Eustis's Personal Secretary."

"Yeah...." What exactly do you say to your ex-boyfriend after nearly five years apart? There must be some kind of guidebook for Awkward Moments 101?

"You've changed a lot. You look different." He motioned to my hair and clothes.

"I had to." I shrugged. "It's very difficult to get a job when you look like you're still in High School."

"True. You never really grew out of your adorable baby face." He winked, making me giggle.

"Thanks, I'll take that as a complement." I said, laughing.

"It was. I'll get your coffee." Thankfully, Keith seemed to have revised the entire awkward moment’s booklet. Walking over to the machine, he pressed a few buttons and the coffee machine hummed to life, beeping and steaming. He produced a cup from the opposite side of the counter the machine was set on and held it under a lever. Steam came off the cup as the hot espresso poured and more buttons were pressed, he repeated the process under two other levers until a professional cup of cappuccino was formulated.

"Extra sugar and cream with a perfect, professional cappuccino froth!" He said as he handed me the steamy cup of goodness.

"You remember that?" I asked, startled. The scent of freshly brewed coffee making my mouth salivate.

"Of course I do." His smile was wide and genuine. "Come on, let's have a seat."

He led me back to the couches and sat opposite me. "Aren't you going to have some?" I asked, raising my cup as a gesture.

"No, I've already had a huge breakfast." He shrugged.

"Your mom!" Shit, how could I forget? Mrs. Simons was always adamant about her boys having a huge breakfast. And yes, that did include Mr. Simons, or Joe, as he likes to be called. I'd made the mistake of accepting her invitation for breakfast once, back when Keith and I were dating, and I'd been full till dinner. "How is she? It's been ages since I last saw her!"

"She's good. She's asked about you quite a lot since then. She was so sure you'd be her daughter-in-law someday." And here comes the awkward territory.

"Keith, I-"

"Its okay, Anna," he placed a soothing hand on top of mine which was resting on top of the couch. "It's been five years. We've come a long way. It's okay to discuss the past now."

He was right. This didn't have to be awkward. We'd dated for nearly three years. Even planned on getting engaged. But then Keith had to move away to Canada after graduating, he'd been offered his internship there while I'd made it to Bluestar. We'd parted on relatively good terms. We didn't have a choice though; we were at a point in our life where career came first. I had to support my mother and he had to support his family.

"When did you move back to New York?" I asked.

"Last year, actually. I tried to contact you, even went to your old apartment, but it's being turned into a hotel or something." He said.

"Yeah. They were selling the apartment so we had to relocate. It's quite far from here." I told him. "So...anyone else you've been in contact with?"

*

*

Two hours went by in a flash as we sat there talking about our old friends, New York, Canada and even us. By the time he had to leave for work, we were almost back to being best friends, like nothing had happened between us at all. The awkwardness had gone away and I was gushing on about my life like I hadn't spoken in years. There was always this thing about Keith, not only was he a good listener but he could make even the most introverted of people acting like a social butterfly. It's one of the reasons why I'd been instantly attracted to him.

At 10.30 on the dot, I was called into Ms. McKinley's office by the same receptionist who'd shown me the waiting room. I walked behind the blonde woman down a long hallway and into a splendid office room.

This place was completely different from Reefwood's office. While Reefwood, although clean and organized, was like a storehouse for millions of files, this place was neat and beautifully decorated. There were even several model houses on various shelves, brought into focus by lighting fixtures from above. Some of Ms. McKinley's earliest and finest works.

The receptionist knocked on a set of double doors and then held it open for me as they replied.

I stepped inside the room and was instantly pinned in place by a pair of gorgeous blue eyes.

She was the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Shiny blonde hair, a face that looked like a Goddess, and a to-die-for slender figure. No wonder Mr. Eustis wanted her at any cost.

"Yes?"

The lyrical voice broke me from my stupor. It also made me realize that my thoughts had drifted towards a very jealous edge, which wasn't supposed to be there.

"Ms. McKinley, I'm Anaya Johnson, Mr. Eustis's Personal Secretary." I told her, taking a seat on a chair on the other side of the desk when she motioned me to.

"Eustis? Which one?" She said with a kind of familiarity I didn't quite like.

"Mr. Lancelot Eustis, ma'am." I answered her and watched as her eyes sparkled with instant interest.

"Lance, huh?" This time, there was an up tilt of her soft pink lips as she spoke his name with that same familiarity. "What does he want?"

"To make a deal with you about a project we're working on." I told her, handing over the file I'd brought with me. "All the details are inside this. Would you like me to brief you about the contents?"

"Sure."

So I did, telling her about our recent project and all the details that go with it, but Trevina seemed like she hardly heard a word I said.

"Good." She told me once I'd finished briefing her. "I like the deal. But I'll need to speak to Mr. Eustis personally if I'm to work with him."

"Okay." Lancelot had told me to hire her at any cost, so I guess I'll have to arrange for the meeting immediately. "When would you like the meeting to be?"

"Now." She finalized. "Take me to him"

I'm quite sure I don't like the sound of that.