push and pull

Chapter 002

Chapter 002:The morning after

The harsh, gray light of dawn filtered through the blinds, cutting across the tangled sheets.

I blinked awake, the lingering warmth of the night before still humming under my skin. For a fleeting second, a smile touched my lips as the memory of Julian's arms around me rushed back. But as I turned my head to the other side of the bed, the smile died.

The space beside me was empty.

The sheets were cold. I sat up, pulling the duvet tightly against my chest, my eyes scanning the quiet apartment. There was no sign of his clothes, no sound of water running in the bathroom. Just a suffocating stillness.

On the nightstand, a small, white piece of paper caught my eye.

I reached out, my fingers trembling slightly as I picked it up. Written in Julian’s sharp, elegant handwriting were just a few words:

I shouldn't have come last night. We need to focus on the merger today. Let's keep this professional.

The ice had returned. The brutal "push" of his reality slammed into me all over again, sharper and more painful than the night before because this time, I had let him all the way in.

I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 7:30 AM. In exactly one hour, I had to walk into the executive boardroom and face the man who had held me like I was his entire world last night, only to dismiss me with a note this morning.

I stood outside the glass-paned doors of the executive boardroom, smoothing down the front of my blazer. My heart was pounding, a chaotic mix of hurt and anger fueling every step I took. When I opened the door, the room was empty except for him.

Julian was standing by the window, a cup of black coffee in his hand, looking as impeccable and cold as he did every other day of the week. Hearing the door, he turned around, his expression instantly locking into a neutral, professional mask.

"Maya," he said, his tone frustratingly even. "You're early for the briefing."

The absolute calmness in his voice broke the last thread of my patience. I closed the distance between us, stopping just a few feet away, refusing to let him hide behind his corporate armor.

"Julian, stop it," I said, my voice shaking but firm. "You can't keep doing this. You can't just use me whenever it's convenient for you. One minute you're pushing me away, the next you're at my door, and then this morning you leave a note telling me to keep it professional? I don't understand you. Do you think I'm just something you can use and discard when the sun comes up?"

Julian stiffened, his knuckles tightening around his coffee cup until they turned white. For a fleeting second, the cold mask slipped, revealing a flash of the same raw, conflicted emotion I had seen the night before.

He glanced toward the translucent glass doors, checking to see if anyone else from the team was arriving, before looking back at me.

"Maya, it's not like that," he lowered his voice, a desperate edge cutting through his professional veneer. "You don't understand the stakes here. It's not about using you—it's about protecting both of us."

"Protecting us from what, Julian?" I demanded, taking another step forward. The space between us shrank, and I could smell the faint scent of his cologne mixed with the fresh rain from earlier. "You can't just throw out a word like protecting to justify breaking my heart every time the sun comes up."

Julian closed his eyes for a brief second, his jaw clenching so hard I thought it might crack. When he opened them, the cold corporate facade was completely gone, replaced by a raw, heavy desperation.

"From the board, Maya. From my family," he said, his voice dropping to a harsh, fierce whisper. "The merger we are finalizing today? It isn't just a business deal. My father set conditions. If there is even a whisper of a scandal—if anyone thinks I am distracted, or worse, leveraging my position with an employee—they will pull the funding. The entire company collapses, and you..."

He reached out, his hand hovering near my face as if he wanted to touch my cheek, before he caught himself and dropped his arm back to his side.

"If they want to hurt me, they will go through you first," he muttered, his eyes dark with a protective fury. "They will ruin your career before it even starts just to get to me. I can't let them do that. I won't."

Before I could process the weight of his words, the heavy brass handle of the boardroom door turned. The sharp click echoed through the quiet room, signaling that our time was up.

Julian’s expression instantly locked back into a mask of pure ice. He stepped back, turning his attention to the projector screen on the wall just as the first group of senior executives and board members walked into the room.

"Good morning, everyone," Julian said, his voice smooth, commanding, and completely devoid of the emotion he had just shown me. "Let's begin."