62.
December 15th, 2020
“You know how ridiculously broody he can get, right?” Sage said to me. “He literally stomped out of the elevator and into his cabin three hours ago.”
I pursed my lips. “You recorded it?”
Her mouth quirked up as she leaned back in her chair. “Of course I did. I’m not a dimwit, thank you very much.”
“Email it to me later.”
She chuckled. “Will do.” Her expression dulled all of a sudden. “He’s hurt, Zaira,” she told me. “I’ve been working for him since the beginning, and I’ve never really seen him this upset and angry. He refused to have lunch when I called him and asked him about it, and hasn’t come out of his cabin once. Whatever meeting he’s conducting inside can’t possibly be so important. He’s keeping himself busy with work because he’s hurting, and you and I both know that when something gets to him, it gets to him real hard.”
As if on cue, a chorus of voices started sounding from inside the cabin.
I was standing in front of Sage’s desk, waiting for Gallan’s meeting to be over.
“Who is he with anyway?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I was out on my break, so I’ve got no idea. He did tell me last night that he had a meeting today, but successfully forgot to mentionwhoit would be with.”
“But you’re hisassistant…”
She rolled her eyes. “An assistant he doesn’t always tell everything to,” she stated, which made me click my tongue.
It had taken an hour after Gallan had walked out of my apartment for me to woman-up and tell myself that I’d been an O-grade bitch to him ever since the incident. It had taken me even lesser than that to call Sage and ask her if he was at the HQ. And, it had taken me all but a heartbeat to decide that I was going to go to him and tell him that I’d finally woken up from my self-induced sleep and was ready to let go of all the excuses I’d been worshipping in hopes of feeling better again.
In hopes that they’d turn things back to how they used to be before Aubrey decided to taint them for me. Before she broke a major part of me.
Because the truth was that I hadn’t felt even a sliver of peace or relief oranythingafter distancing myself from Gallan. All Ihadfelt while I’d stayed in bed these past few weeks waiting for everything to magically go back to its rightful place was hurt, numbness, and restlessness.
Sage cleared her throat, which made me look at her. “You know very well that it’s next to impossible to get through to him sometimes,” she said, and then smoothed out her neatly tied blonde hair. “And after everything you’ve said to him and how you’ve treated him, despite his constant efforts, I think it’ll be a task to get him to reallylisten, or to even make him understand why you did what you did to him.”
“You’re just salty you had to stay here and continue to work for him instead of retiring like you had initially planned,” I mused.
Her mouth opened in shock as she stared at me, which made my lips twitch.
“Relax,” I told her. “It was a joke, not a dick. Don’t take it so hard.”
Her eyes widened. “Good Lord, woman. You kiss your mother with that mouth?”
I chuckled. “I’m just trying to keep things light. I’m already freaking out on the inside thinking of all the ways Gallan will murder me the moment he sees me. Death by stationary products or chairs isnotthe way I wanna go.”
Sage laughed. “You really are one of a kind, aren’t you? No wonder he loves you so much.”
My chest tightened at her words. “Not sure about that anymore.”
“Pssh.” She waved a hand in front of her face. “He’s just upset. If you play your cards right, you may even walk out of here alive. But…” she pointed a finger at me, “…if you don’t, then I get to have your glasses. I think they are super cute and chic and would go perfectly with my facial structure.”
I glared at her. “Wow, Sage; thanks for the vote of confidence. I appreciate it.”
She winked at me. “I’ve got you.” She gestured her head towards Gallan’s cabin. “So, you gonna go in now, or are you going to continue to stall?”
I crossed my arms and shifted on my feet. “I’m not stalling.”
She smirked at me. “That so? Then why aren’t you going in?” she challenged.
“He’s in a meeting, remember?”
She shook her head. “You’re definitely stalling.”
“Am not!”
“Are too!”
I huffed. “Fine.” I stepped away from her desk, straightened my black pencil skirt and coral wrap top, and with a determination as strong as that of a fart after a Chipotle meal, I cleared my throat and walked towards Gallan’s cabin.
Fingers crossed I don’t get pencils stabbed in my throat by the end of this…
