Chapter 15: Jealousy
1602 Words
Scott hated distractions.
They made people careless.
A careless executive missed details. A careless businessman lost money. A careless man gave someone else an advantage.
He had built his entire career around avoiding all three.
Which was why the fact that he had spent the last twenty minutes staring at his phone without reading a single email irritated him.
He tossed it onto his desk.
“Pathetic.”
The word had barely left his mouth when Asher walked into his office without knocking.
“You look troubled.”
“I’m working.”
“You’ve been staring at the same email since I came upstairs.”
Scott looked at him.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough to know you’re lying.”
Scott leaned back in his chair. “Do you have a point?”
“I was going to ask you that.”
Asher dropped into the chair opposite his desk.
Scott reached for a document.
“Leave.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Then at least pretend to be useful.”
“I am useful. I’m here to stop you from making another terrible decision.”
Scott gave him a dry look.
“I haven’t made one.”
“Yet.”
Before Scott could answer, his office door opened.
Eliana stepped inside with a folder tucked against her chest.
“Your two o’clock meeting has been moved to two-thirty.”
Scott glanced at his watch.
“And the investor documents?”
“Already sent to your email.”
He nodded.
Then she looked at Asher.
“Your meeting with marketing is in twenty minutes.”
Asher smiled.
“See? Useful.”
Eliana shook her head and left.
Scott watched the door close behind her.
Asher noticed.
Of course he did.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Watching her leave.”
Scott picked up his pen.
“She’s my secretary.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
A silence followed.
Then Asher grinned.
“You like her.”
Scott looked up.
“No.”
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You answered very quickly.”
Scott threw the pen onto the desk.
“Get out.”
Asher laughed as he stood.
“See you later, Romeo.”
Scott ignored him.
But after the door closed, his eyes drifted toward the empty space where Eliana had been standing.
He hated distractions.
Apparently, he had one.
That evening, Scott found himself at his father’s restaurant again.
He told himself it was because he was hungry.
It had nothing to do with the fact that he knew she would be working.
Nothing.
He walked through the entrance, nodded at the hostess and took a table near the window.
A few minutes later, Eliana appeared with a tray.
Her hair was tied back, and she wore the restaurant’s simple uniform. There was something different about her here.
She smiled more.
She laughed more.
She wasn’t watching the clock.
She wasn’t carrying a folder or reminding him about meetings.
She looked free.
“Mr. Scott.”
He looked up.
“You again.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“You say that every time you come here.”
“Because you’re always here.”
“It’s my job.”
“So is being a secretary.”
Her smile faltered for half a second.
Scott didn’t notice.
Before she could respond, someone called her name from behind.
“Eliana!”
She turned.
A man was approaching from another table.
He looked around Scott’s age, maybe a little older, dressed casually in a blue shirt with the confidence of someone who had been there before.
“Eliana, I thought that was you.”
Her face brightened.
“Daniel?”
Scott’s fingers stopped tapping against the table.
Daniel smiled.
“It’s been weeks.”
“I’ve been working.”
“I can see that.”
He glanced at her tray before looking back at her.
“You still owe me that coffee.”
Eliana laughed.
“I don’t owe you anything.”
“You promised.”
“I said maybe.”
“That’s basically a promise.”
She shook her head.
Scott stared at them.
There was nothing inappropriate happening.
Nothing.
They were talking.
Laughing.
That was all.
So why was he suddenly irritated?
Daniel leaned closer.
“You’re off at nine, right?”
Eliana hesitated.
“I think so.”
“Dinner?”
Scott’s jaw tightened.
He didn’t know the man.
He didn’t care about the man.
And he certainly didn’t care what Eliana did after work.
So why did he want to interrupt them?
Daniel was waiting for an answer.
Eliana finally smiled.
“I’ll see.”
“That means yes.”
“It means I’ll see.”
He laughed.
“Fine. I’ll wait.”
He walked away.
Scott looked down at the menu.
He had lost his appetite.
“Eliana.”
She turned toward him.
“Yes?”
“Who is he?”
The question came out before he could stop it.
She blinked.
“Who?”
“The man.”
“Oh.”
She glanced toward Daniel.
“An old customer.”
Scott nodded slowly.
“Right.”
There was something about the way she said it that annoyed him.
“What?”
She looked confused.
“What?”
“You seem happy to see him.”
A tiny smile appeared on her lips.
“He’s nice.”
Scott looked back at the menu.
“I’m sure he is.”
She studied him for a moment.
Then her smile widened.
“Don’t tell me you’re jealous of a customer ?”
His head snapped up.
“Jealous?”
“Yes.”
Scott laughed once.
The sound was almost offended.
“Why would I be jealous?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
“I don’t get jealous.”
Eliana picked up her tray.
“Of course.”
There was amusement in her voice.
Scott frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
She walked away.
He watched her.
Again.
And somehow that irritated him even more.
At nine fifteen, Scott was still sitting in the restaurant.
He told himself he was finishing dinner.
He had finished dinner forty minutes ago.
Daniel was still there.
And Scott had noticed.
He hated that he had noticed.
When Eliana finally removed her apron, Daniel approached her.
Scott looked away.
He lasted three seconds.
Then he looked back.
Daniel was smiling.
Eliana was listening.
Scott stood.
He wasn’t sure why.
He only knew that staying seated suddenly felt worse.
He walked toward the exit.
As he passed them, Eliana looked up.
“Leaving?”
“Yes.”
Daniel glanced at him.
Scott gave him a brief nod.
Daniel returned it.
Nothing happened.
No confrontation.
No dramatic exchange.
Scott walked out.
The moment he stepped into his car, he realized he was annoyed with himself.
This was ridiculous.
He barely knew the woman.
And yet he had spent an entire evening watching another man talk to her.
He started the engine.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Asher.
You at the restaurant again?
Scott stared at it.
Then typed.
No.
Three dots appeared immediately.
You’re a terrible liar.
Scott locked his phone.
The next morning, Eliana arrived at the office at eight.
She found Scott already there.
That was unusual.
He was standing by the windows with a cup of coffee in his hand.
She stopped.
“Good morning.”
He turned.
“Morning.”
His eyes dropped briefly to the coffee she was carrying.
“You’re late.”
She glanced at the clock.
“It’s eight-oh-two.”
“You’re usually here earlier.”
“You’ve been keeping track?”
Scott paused.
“No.”
She smiled.
“Right.”
She placed his schedule on his desk.
“Your first meeting is at nine. Finance moved the quarterly review to eleven, and—”
“Who was the man at the restaurant?”
Eliana stopped.
She slowly turned toward him.
“Excuse me?”
“The man yesterday.”
She stared at him.
“I don’t quite frankly get you ?”
Scott took a sip of coffee.
“I’m asking because he seemed familiar.”
“Mr Eliot is there something I don’t know you’re not telling me?.”
“She asked feigning ignorance of what Scott was saying”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why ask?”
Scott didn’t have an answer.
He looked away.
“Never mind.”
Eliana watched him for another second.
Then she picked up her folder.
“You’re trying to be funny .”
Scott looked at her.
“I am not.”
She laughed softly.
“I didn’t say you had to be.”
She walked out.
Scott remained by the window.
For the first time in a long time, he couldn’t argue with someone because he didn’t have an argument.
He was jealous and confused .
And he had absolutely no idea what to do with that.
Because the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about at the office was his secretary.
And the woman who had made him uncomfortable at the restaurant was—
He stopped.
His brow furrowed.
No.
That thought didn’t make sense.
They were different women.
They had to be.
Still, as Eliana’s footsteps disappeared down the hallway, Scott looked at the coffee in his hand.
For some reason, it suddenly wasn’t enough.
He wanted the coffee she made.
He wanted her sarcasm.
He wanted her attention.
And that realization unsettled him far more than jealousy ever could.
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