Chapter 9
1196 Words
Chapter 9
Amelia wakes at her phone ringing loudly, she squeezes her eyes and with sleepy eyes reaches for her phone on the bed stand, she doesn't bother to check who it is before she picks, the voice she hears on the other side sends the sleep flying out of her eyes.
"Hi dad," she says, then keeps quiet. "Sir ?" She says even though she heard what he had said perfectly
"Dad, it's not..." Interrupted she waits and swallows.
"No, sir, it's not what you're thinking." Amelia sighs visibly. "Yes, dad, I will."
She hangs up, throws her phone on the bed, and screams, throwing a tantrum, he had found out about the engagement, the press had released their interview and pictures already. Her dad was boiling lava annoyed he wanted to see her as soon as possible.
She sits on the edge of the bed for a moment not knowing what to do, phone screen still glowing beside her, he hadn't even let her explain properly. He never did, she didn't know why she was surprised It had always been like that, after all that was why Ceci had moved out .
She used to think that was just how fathers were, she thought they were commanding and impossible to argue with but it turned out it was just the ones with money, It's part of why the whole arrangement with Travis makes her skin crawl, another man who thinks the world rearranges itself around his schedule.
She gets out of bed, not able to sleep after hearing this. While getting ready she wonders why Travis didn't at least text her to give her a heads up after all he had texted to say thank you yesterday, why was it so hard to give a heads up today
The thought that maybe it was because she didn't reply to the text crosses her mind, but she drives it out that's not her responsibility. If anything, it's proof of exactly what she suspected about him from the start convenient when it benefits him, silent when it doesn't, all men are like that.
For some reason this realization made her angry.
By the time she was ready for work, she had an extra hour to wait for Andre to arrive because of how early she woke up, not wanting to wait, she decides to head to work alone, phone buzzing twice more in her bag on the drive over she doesn't check either message.
Whoever it is can wait, the way she'd had to wait, half asleep and blindsided, for her father to finish yelling.
About thirty minutes later she's at the office at her desk, still simmering trying to rehearse what she would tell her father later, when she gets a call from Andre. Travis wants to see her in his office, she sighs why now ?
She didn't want to add talking to Travis on top of what was wrong with her right now but she had to go, she reluctantly picked herself up and dragged herself to his office, taking the long way past the break room just to buy herself another minute of alone time.
At his door she knocks once and doesn't wait for him to tell her to come in before she lets herself in, she enters and sees that he's busy on his laptop.
"Good morning sir" he doesn't look up so she greets again this time harsher than the first time
"Good morning" he replies but she can clearly tell from his tone that he is distracted, this adds to her anger but she tries to push it down before continuing.
"You sent for me." Travis raises a finger at her while still typing vigorously with the other hand, she doesn't know what annoys her more between the finger or the fact that wasn't even looking at her.
She waits about five minutes and he's still not looking up, five minutes doesn't sound like much until you're standing in someone's office being ignored, arms crossed, jaw tightening with every passing second, watching a man type like she's a piece of furniture he'll get to eventually, her brain starts to spark and at this point she's had enough she flares up.
"You do know what you're doing is considered rude."
Travis doesn't fully hear because of how deeply concentrated he is and this riles her up further
"I'm talking to you," she says, her face visibly turning red from anger.
"Hmm…" Travis says, still not aware of how angry she had become.
She angrily walks up to his desk and shuts the laptop this makes Travis jolt back in fear.
"Why'd you do that?" he asks, perturbed.
"You want to sit there and pretend you don't know why? You asked to see me, I've been here for close to fifteen minutes waiting for you to look up from your stupid screen."
She pauses to take a breath and Travis tries to talk "But I—"
"But nothing" she says interrupting him.
"There's no excuse. You should be apologizing. Do you think I don't have anything important to do too? Arrant nonsense is what this is."
Travis looks at her, confusion written all over his face. "But what—" She interrupts again
"The only thing that should be coming out of your mouth should be sorry. Why are you so rude? I know you're my boss but I'm human too, and we're all equ—"
She's about to continue when Travis stands up suddenly.
"That's enough. I've had enough of your rantings. What's all this about?" he asks.
"Really? You want to stand here and pretend you didn't do anything wrong."
Travis sighs in utter frustration, rubbing his hand over the stubble on his cheek. "Aren't we speaking the same language? Why are you turning my words upside down?"
Amelia scoffs. "Of course. What was I thinking. All of you are the same. Y'all think no one can correct you because you have money."
Travis raises an eyebrow, amused. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, you heard me," she says, making Travis chuckle. Amelia's ears turn red from renewed anger. "So now I'm a clown?"
Travis waves in desperation. "No, no, you're not."
She folds her arms. "So why, then, are you laughing?"
Travis instantly stops laughing he rubs the back of his neck before walking around his table, he stops right in front of Amelia, the sudden closeness makes her breath catch in her throat.
She brings her hands to her sides and takes a step back but Travis follows, taking another step forward, she tries to take another step back but it feels like her feet are rooted to the ground.
The air between them shrinks to almost nothing, and for a moment neither of them says a word just the sound of her own heartbeat, loud and traitorous in her ears, why does her heart always beat so loud when this i***t is around she wonders.
Travis leans into her holding her chin up so he can speak into her ear, he places his mouth right by her ear before whispering,
"You look cute when you're mad."
- Writer
