The absconded

3

We both stood there looking at each other as all the memories of that night hit me. He didn't recognize me, did he? It would be a lot of drama if he did, the morning I left California I made a vow not to let the past bother me or pull me down like an anchor, and he was a big part of that past, I'm living with our daughter for crying out loud.

I didn't want that at all.

Someone amongst them cleared the throat which brought me back to reality, I tore my eyes away from him despite the voice in my head asking me not to, he was pure handsome. Turning my head I saw the other people looking at us with confusion glued in their eyes, I swayed a little feeling embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen. I hope the man of the hour is here, shall we get started?" I asked, smiling at a man who was somewhat smiling at me.

"Yes, why don't you start with water?" A man with a cane behind his chair said with a tight face.

"Of course." I exhaled smiling.

Nodding my head I walked past him not before looking him in the eye, his eyes on me. The look on his face said something and his eyes said something else. You know, the look when a kid gets back his long lost toy one day, that was the exact same emotion in his eyes. But his face said some other story, it scared me honestly.

"We were waiting for you Mr Haine, please join us." One of the men said, smiling bright at him like a new bride. It really irritated me.

He smelled exquisite, musk. Musk was what I smelt as I walked past him. He smelled the same after five years, yes I know I was drunk but by the time I cried I knew I was sober.

"We're ready to order, miss." The man who was standing in the corner came towards the projector announced for everyone. I looked at them and they were waiting for me to take their orders. What's going on with me? I just met him after all those years and now I'm acting all jumpy and out of track.

Get a grip Virginia. I scolded myself.

Setting the tall pitcher of still and room temperature water I walked around the table and stood by the side as some of them continued chatting looking at the menu card.

Thankfully, no men gave me a hard time, they were quite precise about their orders, like they were used to this. Of course they were, I rolled my eyes. In the middle of taking orders I felt eyes on me, from the corner of my eyes I saw him sitting on the chair in the middle with his right hand on his face looking at me with hooded eyes. He didn't hide the fact he was not only watching me but he wasn't bothered at all with some of them looking at him.

I blushed walking away from them. I walked straight towards the kitchen and gave orders to the chef, after I gave the orders and asked Sheila to serve them their wine. I didn't believe my hands enough to serve them their drink without spilling some, Sheila was quite a pro when it came to serving the wine, she gave me a thumbs up stuck her tongue at me as if she wanted to lick those men in there, I chuckled and pointed her to go inside.

Calling Alice with my two fingers I asked her to pour me a neat scotch, she widened her eyes at me but turned around to get the bottle to pour me the drink anyway, I asked her to stop, smiling she set the bottle down, took the towel which was there before in her hand and continues cleaning the other side of the open bar.

I glanced around quickly for any of the staff to check if they were looking at me drinking in the middle of my shift, I wrapped my hand around the glass and took a big gulp of the drink, emptying it all at one go I put the glass down and then slowly leaned forward keeping the glass on the other side of the bar along with other bottles.

I turned my neck to see Sheila mingling up with the men, but the man I had my eyes on was focused on a document with a pen rotating in his hand. I sighed, what are the odds, I thought. I met him in California, conceived Lilith there and came here to settle down in Seattle, to be transparent I didn't choose to come here, the money I had I could only afford a ticket to here with some money for food and a motel.

Then it hit me like a hurricane. Lilith! Does he know about our daughter? If yes, how did he? Is he going to take her away from me? I can't let that happen, I'll die alive if he takes her away from me. What does he want!? Why is he here!?

For a conference! My inner self said in a 'duh' tone.

I rolled my eyes as I sat in the front of the bar and looked inside the conference room. He was standing now, in all his masculinity, the suit he wore hugged his figure well as I could see his biceps, the tailored dress pants he wore were tight and sexy, he removed his suit jacket and hung it on the chair.

He was pointing his fingers towards the screen as I remembered how his fingers did wonders to my body years ago.

Get a f*****g grip!!

Okay here's a thing, well two, what if he recognises me? And gets to know about Lilith? What will he do? Will he freak out? God, I know I've been the worst in everything but please, please, please don't let him recognise me.

I swear I'll pray before every meal and give up on candies.

I promise.

Please.

I shook my head when Alice told me that the orders are ready, I walked in the conference hall and placed their orders as I kept his plate down, his hand brushed me and shivers ran down my spine. Taking a shaky breath I peeked a glance if anyone was watching, no one was. My eyes met his for a braid moment before I heard a gentleman amongst them say,

"This settlement doesn't do us any good, Mr Haine. 8% of monthly revenue isn't something I'm busting my ass for here," He put the paper down, my eyes quickly went to the man with the game behind his chair. The handle of the cane had a Wolf head and I was certain it was made of gold.

"We all know why we are here, your companies are known for corruptions, you people cheat amongst yourselves, the only reason I'm willing to give this is a shot because my partner wants to have friendly relations with small companies, if we're going to do something big in the future I need to know you will put your all efforts." He said calmly, I told myself it was time I moved before anyone else told me to.

"Where is your partner?" The man asked again, I walked to the end of the dark room to fill the glasses with water, it wasn't necessary at all but I wanted to hear him talk.

"It's none of anyone's concern, plus it's generous of me the 8% you're talking about is monthly and not yearly." He was getting irritated, I saw his jaw twitch in as the light of the projector fell on his face.

"Turn the projector off Mr Ahmed." The man standing beside him said.

I filled the water in the glasses and busied myself in looking here and there until one of them said I can leave, I was disappointed when I looked at him but his eyes didn't meet. I walked in the changing room and sat on the chair and took deep breaths, confused out of my mind.

So f*****g confused.

There could be a fat chance he won't pay any mind to me and leave the city after the conference, I mean, right? It doesn't actually have to be the way it always goes, he doesn't have to talk to me or recognise me which he already had, damn it! Over thinking wasn't gonna land me on a tough conclusion.

I decided to call Adam, I got up and pulled my phone out from the locker dialling him.

"Hello Vir!" Adam chirped as I could here Lilith giggling in the background.

"Adam, uh... don't get Lilith home... home tomorrow... I'll... let you know, okay?" I gushed out, I didn't know how to form a sentence anymore.

"This ain't over, we'll talk about it, yeah?" He asked in his stern voice.

"Thank you." I ended the call sighing loudly.

"Lilith is his, isn't she?" The voice startled the s**t out of me, I looked up to see Charles hovering over me, arms crossed over his chest.

"What are you... what are you talking about?" I let out a nervous laugh, squirming on the bench clearly uncomfortable with the questions he expected me to answer. He wasn't having any of it, he saw past my lies and gave me a stern look, silently saying he's not here to play with me.

"Yes..." I whispered hoping he wouldn't hear, but who was I kidding, fate was never in my favour.

He heard it.

"He doesn't know, right?" He asked and I shook my head, no.

"Why not? Were you both in a relationship?" He asked, taking a seat beside me.

For the change of environment and the thickness in the air which caused my breathing to come out laboured I imagined myself sitting at my home on the couch in living enjoying some ice cream and Lilith in my arms, a smile broke on my face.

"No, it's complicated..." I finally answered.

"I'm all ears." He pushed.

I sighed and told him everything.

"Well..." he scratched his chin with his index finger "it's your fault for running away" he accused me.

As if I don't know... .

I rolled my eyes.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that..." he glared at me.

Great.

"Talk to him?" He asked, more like said.

"I don't want to, I didn't know before he's filthy rich and now that I know I don't want him to take her away and give her to those hoes to raise her. Hell I don't even know if he's celibate!" I cried out in frustration.

"Calm down, he's not," Charles said, making me look at him perplexed, although I was confused that Charles knew such information there was a wave of relief that flooded inside me.

"The tabloids duh, although I know he's not celibate but I don't know if he's dating anyone at the moment," he completed, I groaned low in my throat, people like him are ambitious, they want it all in a small age and for that they dont prefer getting married or raising a kid, it only causes distraction so I wasn't surprised.

But for the dating thing, I was whining in my head, a lot actually. He might be dating someone, what are the odds? He's here, cry me a river. Within a moment he got rid of all the baggage on my shoulder by telling he's not celibate and the other moment he threw more baggage by saying he didn't know if he's dating or not.

Of course he is, have you ever looked at him? With that Greek God physique he has, it's highly impossible for him to be single.

"Hello? Earth to Virginia" Charles waved his hands bringing me back to reality.

"What should I do?" I asked. I don't know if he's the right person to ask advice from but the way he was telling me things, he seemed the right man to go to.

And I'm desperately in need of guidance right now.

"You can wait, if he shows up again and talks to you then sit and have a word but don't easily tell about your daughter. Check if he seems genuine, which I bet he's not. Then and only then should you tell him."He warned me and suddenly his words made sense.

"Thanks Charles," He wrapped his arms around my shoulder.

"I don't know about you but I always saw you as my sister Virginia." he smiled down at me.

I leaned in his touch and rested my head on his chest as he kissed my head and that gave me the surety that I'm not alone.

"Virgi- I'm sorry, I didn't me-mean to interrupt, carry on!" The other waiter, well intern who's name I don't remember from the kitchen burst in the locker room and saw us, clearly getting the wrong idea.

"Mia, calm down, it's not what you think. Now tell why are you here?" Charles said in a cold voice and I saw her shiver race through her body. Wow, he shifted pretty quickly from the caring brother to a 'I'm not taking s**t from any intern' manager.

"Its... th... the businessmen out there are ready to leave," she stuttered. Charles got up and followed her out, not before nodding at me.

I'm left all alone now. Great.

He's right. If he comes, I'll have a word with him and see if he's genuine but now I was worried about the guilt that was starting to consume me. Now that I've seen him it didn't feel right that I kept the news of his blood from him, maybe it was for the best? I thought, shrugging.

But how in the world would you know if he's 'genuine'? Like is there any special question or something you would like to ask him to confirm if he's 'genuine'? My subconscious asked, resting a hand on her hip.

I don't know, okay? I'm new to all of this.

Yeah, you were new five years ago as well, when you decided to give away your flower to a complete stranger to forget your daddy issues, she huffed.

There were no daddy issues, I was just drunk? Yeah, I was drunk... .

Really? It was just a couple of minutes ago when you said you were 'sober' by the time you cried, she c****d her brow at me accusingly.

You're my subconscious and you clearly need to take my side. You're not doing that. I'm reminding you just in case you forgot.

She rolled her eyes as I gave her a blank face.

Babe, you aren't making any sense. I highly suggest you go home and take rest and let me take a rest as well so I can come up with some s**t to feed you and get you on track.

Ugh... shut up already!!

This voice needs to stop or else I'll literally flip.

"Virginia?" Someone called my name, the voice in my head went silent and I looked up to see Charles standing by the door.

"Huh?" I asked.

"The men left, come I'll drop you home, you're tired and need to rest." He didn't wait for my answer as he strolled towards me and grabbed me by my elbow and stood me up.

"Get your things we're leaving" he said and waited for me to take all my things from the locker.

I didn't bother changing my clothes, I quickly took my bag from the locker and walked out with Charles.

Thank the heavens above tomorrow's my day off, I really need to spend some time with Lilith.

Charles opened the passenger's door for me in his blue Lamborghini. I thanked him and hopped inside the car, he jogged and sat in the driver's seat purring the car to life.

I know, he's only a manager and owns a Lamborghini, but come on this is not 'some' restaurant, it's a freaking five star restaurant.

The drive was quick as most of the time I spent thinking about him and my daughter.

"What's his name?" I blurted out and the car came to an abrupt stop, I jerked forward but didn't get hit.

"WHAT!?" Asked Charles and looked at me as if I'm asking for his Lamborghini.

Which I'm not!

I rolled my eyes, boys and their f*****g toys. Ah that rhymed, now's not the time.

That rhymed too!

I glanced at Charles expecting an answer from him, but 'you've got to be shitting me!' a look was plastered on his face.

"Please tell me his name?" I begged embarrassed.

"You don't know?" he asked bemused.

"No s**t Sherlock." I mumbled.

"Magnus Haine." he answered.

"Magnus," his name rolled off my tongue as it sent shivers down my already heated body.

"God you really need some self upgrading." He muttered more to himself.

"I don't! I don't follow tabloids, doesn't mean I live under a rock, I have better things to do and attend to," I crossed my arms across my chest, offended.

"And what do those things include, might I ask?" he rolled his eyes.

"No, now drive before I cause some real damage to your toy." I said in mock seriousness.

He didn't waste a minute in driving off, I rolled my eyes as I saw him sweating on thought of me causing damage to his 'toy'.

"We're here!" announced Charles.

"I know, now go away." I climbed out of his car and he followed my suit.

"Wow... way too good for a thank you," he said sarcastically, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me.

All my irritation went away as I hugged him back and mumbled a small sorry, he patted my back and head at the same time with his hands. I walked inside the building, he waited for me to get inside. I stood in front of the elevator as I heard the sound of his car going off.

Guess he left.

I opened the door of my apartment, I walked inside but not before locking it behind me. I placed all my belongings which consisted of only my hand bag and went to take a quick shower.

Walking out of the shower with nothing but a towel wrapped around me, I walked inside the walk-in closet taking out my pajama bottoms and crop top.

I bought this apartment when Lilith was three, which was last year. I know it's a huge apartment, but I didn't want to bring my daughter up in a bad house and surroundings. I sat on the couch with a glass of wine and my novel P.S I love You in my other hand as music boomed in the background.

This novel is goddamn amazing! Man the way Holly is making herself strong for his dead husband Gerry and his letters, I'm currently on chapter fourteen, where she's in a club and is about to perform karaoke, she's locked up in the bathroom stall of the bar all ner-

The doorbell rang making me frown, who could it be?

Adam and Lilith maybe?

I walked up to the door and peeked inside the eye hole, but the person behind the door covered the small opening as I was left with no other choice than to open. Who buzzed them in?

I took a deep breath and slowly opened the door to meet with dark brown eyes staring at me.

Oh s**t.

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