New Blueprints (Continued)
638 Words
Chapter VI: New Blueprints (Continued)
The ride home with Noel should’ve been the last. But it wasn’t.
He began showing up—uninvited. Some evenings, he waited outside the building. Other times, she’d catch glimpses of him in the lobby, lingering under the pretense of a meeting.
The first time he appeared again, she kept her composure.
“Noel,” she said, stepping out into the cool evening air. “Why are you here?”
“I was in the area.”
Her arms crossed automatically. “You live two cities away.”
He shrugged. “So now you check my address?”
She gave him a flat look. “Don’t play games. Say what you want.”
Noel leaned against a pillar, that familiar smirk on his face—once charming, now repulsive. “You know, Susane says, I’ve been distracted lately. I think... I’ve been thinking about you.”
Beatrice let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “You cheated on me. Lied to me. Publicly humiliated me. And now you’re ‘distracted’?”
“I made a mistake.”
“You made several. Starting with choosing her.”
Noel stepped forward, dropping his voice. “We had something, Bea. You can’t just erase it.”
She tilted her head. “Watch me.”
She walked away before he could say another word.
But he didn’t stop.
The following week, he sent her coffee. Then lunch. Then a small cactus in a terracotta pot with a note: “Thought this reminded me of you. Strong. Still growing.”
She left it at reception.
Then, during a team presentation for a regional safety review, he appeared as a visiting project consultant.
Her jaw locked when she saw him walk into the meeting room in his tailored navy suit, sitting across from her like he belonged there.
After the session, he cornered her in the hallway.
“You’re really going to pretend we’re strangers now?” he said, amused.
Beatrice narrowed her eyes. “You made me a stranger the moment you chose Susane.”
“I was under pressure. Promotion. Expectations. It all got to me—”
“Save it,” she interrupted, voice steady but low. “I don’t need your apologies. I need you to stay out of my life.”
His smile faltered. “You really think that guy—Blake—is going to care about you like I did?”
Her eyes hardened. “I pray he doesn’t. I don’t want what you called love. I want respect.”
Before he could reply, she turned on her heel and walked away.
Later that evening, Beatrice sat alone at her apartment window, the city lights flickering below.
Her phone buzzed. Another message from Noel.
“You can hate me all you want, but you can’t forget me.”
She stared at it for a moment, then deleted it without replying.
The next day at work, Beatrice found Blake waiting by her desk.
“Walk with me?” he asked, holding two coffee cups.
They strolled to the rooftop balcony where engineers often took breaks.
“I saw the man who picked you up last week,” Blake said. His voice was casual, but his eyes weren’t.
Beatrice stiffened slightly. “My ex.”
“He seems persistent.”
“He’s irrelevant.”
Blake didn’t press further, but there was a pause between them—an unspoken understanding.
He offered her the coffee. “Then let’s talk about something that is relevant—your redesign of the Rivermont beam structure. It’s clever.”
Beatrice allowed herself a small smile. “It works.”
“I noticed.”
And just like that, the conversation shifted. Away from Noel. Away from pain.
Toward something that felt more solid.
Maybe not yet safe. But real.
- Writer
