CHAPTER FIFTEEN: JEALOUS COUNTS
1801 Words
LIORAÉ
“Mr Vale… I can’t.”
It felt like I had broken something. I took a deep breath and a step back. “It’s…it’s inappropriate,” I finished. I had almost said yes; he did sound very convincing.
“I'd better get back to work.” I turned on my heels, leaving him alone in the room. As soon as I closed the door behind me, Elara rounded the corner and stood before me. She was wearing a tweed two-piece skirt that stopped underneath her.
Everything about her appearance was screaming royalty. Her face was beaten to perfection, her nose slightly pointed but in all the right ways. I knew she was good-looking, but in the day, it was another kind of beauty.
“Lioraé,” she said, taking a step forward until she was standing right in my path. “It’s good to see you again,” she added.
“Ms Wynn? Welcome.” My voice couldn’t hide the shock of seeing her.
“Is Soren in? Can I see him?”
“He is, but at the moment a little busy,” I said. At least according to his schedule, he should be preparing to go for a meeting with team heads.
“Don’t be silly,” she said, her hand squeezing my cheek like I was a child she was scolding. “My relationship with Soren is way past that. We have been friends since nappies.”
“I understand that, but we are on our way to a meeting,” I tried to explain.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I am just popping in to deliver breakfast.” She wiggled her hand that held onto a neatly packed bag. Considering how full it was, it was going to be a hearty breakfast.
“Oh, but…”
“The other secretaries used to allow me because they knew that I would soon become Mrs Vale, and if they crossed me, it would cost them their jobs.”
“And yet you aren’t still married to him,” I said under my breath. Her eyes flaring with anger told me that she had heard what I said. “If you want, I can just call him and ask if…”
“No need.” She walked by me and stepped in. I followed her in. “Soren,” she was high-pitched; I feared her vocals might explode.
“I am sorry, sir; I tried to…”
“Ms Alcott, it’s okay.” He stopped them from explaining. His eyes moved from me to Elara and gestured for her to make her way in.
She turned to me with an uneasy smile, screaming ‘I told you so’ on her lips. Even though I wasn't playing, why did it feel like I had lost that round?
“Mr Vale, you have a meeting in…”
“Tell the team leaders that I got caught in something important.” Elara lowered herself slowly into the chair, her expression softening, but the uneasy smile was still on her lips. She shrugged as she set out the plates she had brought.
“Soren, honey, I brought breakfast. Why don’t you come eat? ” she said, opening the lids as they popped open.
“Coming,” he said, sounding like he was where he wanted to be.
I had just said no to him, but my heart hurt. He and Elara were the perfect fit. His mother approved, and even the entire world would approve. If I ever wanted to dare to stand by his side, then I needed to be reborn.
“Your mom told me that you probably didn’t get breakfast,” she said as he got up. “So I got this.”
I was supposed to move because it felt like I was encroaching on their personal time, but my legs felt heavy. I felt my hands ball up by my side.
“Lioraé, are you going to stand there and watch us eat? ” Elara cut my raging thoughts. I looked up, and Soren had settled in beside her. Together, they looked perfect. I shake my head.
“Or would you prefer it if I asked you to join us? ”
“Of course not, ma’am,” I sighed and left the room at once.
“You always hire the weird ones,” I heard her remark as the door closed behind me.
They were in there for an hour. What were they discussing? Why did it feel weird that after Soren had just asked me this morning to date him, he had so much to speak about with Elara just moments later?
I was the one who rejected him, yet I couldn't take it? “Stop being ridiculous, Lioraé.” My fingers drummed rapidly on the table on their own accord. The door opened, and they both walked out, smiles on their faces, like they had the best time in there. I stood up almost immediately.
“I should do this often,” Elara declared.
“Don't you dare.”
“You say that, but that smile on your face makes me know you don’t mean it. “You want me to come with these homemade meals,” she added, inching closer, her hand resting on his chest.
“I do not. What part of my statement don’t you understand?” He asked, and she shrugged.
I dropped my hands underneath the table and coiled them. This shouldn't bother me, but it did. I tried to pull a professional smile, but I knew I looked constipated.
“I will be back with lunch,” she declared. “Homemade”
“Homemade? You expect me to believe that you made this?”
“I said homemade; I didn’t say I made it,” she teased and then turned to me. “So lunch?”
“No, I have plans.” Soren’s eyes dropped on me. He didn't have any meetings, and I knew what that gaze meant.
“Suit yourself.” She lifted herself and planted her lips onto the side of his face; she lingered, her eyes dropping to me. “See you later tonight.”
“Alcott?” Soren snapped his fingers in my face. His frown told me that my mind had wandered off.
“I am sorry, sir. What do you need me to do?”
“Don’t we have a meeting to attend?”
“We do.” I took up my notepad and tablet that I had kept neatly by the side of my desk, and was ready to go. His eyes stayed on my face as if he were searching for answers. I smiled and gestured.
The elevator ride was quiet as we moved down. I hated the silence, but what could I possibly do about it?
“To confirm, sir,” I began, feeling my throat close in. “Do you have a lunch meeting I failed to take into account?”
“What?”
“You mentioned earlier that you had plans for lunch,” I explained.
“Yes, I do.”
“Okay, sir, if you would give me the details of the…”
“I have plans with you.”
The elevator doors chimed open before I could even refute the claim, and we were thrust into the busy office floor. As soon as he stepped out, the entire floor ran cold as if on command.
The tension in the air was palpable, and for the first time, I was seeing the man that my predecessor had spoken about. Every step into the corridors was with power and carried grace and flair. I walked behind him, my head up in the air, meeting the scared eyes.
“I give you two weeks, and yet that is what you present to me? Do you not have any form of remorse?” Soren's voice was sharp, and his words cut deep.
The older man fidgeted on the stand, his eyes darting round the room, looking for a saviour, but none of them dared.
“If I am paying your salaries, then you should be working, not just enjoying company benefits.” He wasn’t done.
“We are sorry, sir, if you…”
“You want more time, don’t you?” He cut off the man’s shaky voice. “How much more time? A year? After our competitors have launched their products?’
“No, sir.” He shook his head as he stared at the ground. My hands froze on the tablet. Why did his being like this even excite me more?
“Two more weeks; if you aren’t prepared, then I’ll gladly offer your position to anyone else.” He stood up, and everyone in the room gasped. “All your position,” he tapped his knuckle on the table before he stood straight, fixed his suit and walked to the door.
I threw an apologetic look around the room as I tried to gather my things and meet up with him.
“You walk slowly, Ms Alcott,” he said as we waited for the elevator.
“I am sorry, sir; you didn’t give me time to pack up my things.”
“If you need time, then just ask me for it.” For a man who was just slicing the heads of his employees off with his words, he sure did seem too calm.
“You don’t have to be that gracious to me; I am sure I can catch up.”
The doors chimed open, and he stepped in. I entered, and the door closed after I pressed the button to return to the office. He leaned in across me, his scent clogging my nose as he changed the buttons.
“We are going for lunch, remember? ”
“Sir, I will have my meal in the cafeteria downstairs with the rest of the staff.”
“This is a work responsibility,” he said, his tone final. I gulped and shook my head.
“It is not, sir; you attempt to try and get us to have lunch together.”
“If I call it a work responsibility, then it is.”
“Is dating you also a work role? ” I asked, and silence followed. “Even when you already have a woman? ”
“A woman? ” His eyes grew with realisation. “I have told you that there is absolutely nothing between Elara and me; she is just my friend.”
“Sure doesn’t seem that way.”
“Are you jealous of this morning?”
“Of course not, sir. How could I be?”
His smile dropped as he leaned in close to my ear. “I would have really loved it if you were jealous.”
- Writer
