THE PRINTER ran in the background m, filling the deadly silence in my office as I stared at Bella who was now seated across from me.
She kept fidgeting with her cup, tucking hair behind her ear here and then as if to calm her nerves more than look pretty. I stared, no, glared at her from below my eyebrows, letting her know I wasn’t about to take any of her social media shenanigans today.
I had reached the last straw of the social media wars. Right now we were on a tightrope, and I was the only one who could change the course because I wasn’t the main center of attention glued to the rope. One word from me and the media would go wild.
"So, how are you coming along with the magazine publishing?" She made small talk, avoiding eye contact with me.
I almost hissed but stopped myself and decided to be the big guy and wait for her to be direct. "Fine. We have already started printing and the online articles are already doing a countdown to publication. Preorders are already being made too."
"Yeah, I already brought a copy. It seems the sales are skyrocketing from what I overheard the marketing department say in the cafeteria."
Those blabbermouths. Wait until I become the Vice President of this place then I’ll have them know when and when not to spew company secrets.
"Hmm. This might be our best month yet."
"And you might leave the department after fulfilling your wish."
Dad told her. I scrunched my eyebrows, rubbing my nose bridge as all my focus was withdrawn from the speech I was writing. The printer stopped running the bond papers through it and I took them out, feeling the warmth on them as an almost intoxicating smell of ironed paper fills my nostrils.
Placing them next to my keyboard, I turned my attention back to the woman sitting before me.
"Spill it. What do you want Bella? Why did you want to talk to me at a time when most of my team has already gone back home?"
She chuckled silently, the sound coming out suppressed and sad. "They don’t like me. Your young apprentice even went as far as telling me to stay away from the offices or he’ll expose me to the media."
My heart raced at the thought of Keith defending Iris. I even considered hiring him on a whim and making him stay close to Iris at all times. After all, I won’t be in the department forever, and the two are closer than any brother and sister I’ve ever met.
"Makes sense after what you did to their favorite person." I retorted. "That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To talk about this drama?"
Bella nodded, relief washing over her rigid body when I assisted her with giving us the main agenda to talk about. Her stiff posture relaxed, followed by her wiping her eyes as if she had been crying a while ago.
"I don’t know what you have to say, but I think you need to say it all in person," I said folding my arms.
Bella nodded once again like those toys with a jiggly head placed in some cars by the dashboard. "I know, but how can I when she’s not coming to work?"
Glad we’re on the same page, I immediately started packing my bag. "If we leave now we’ll have enough time for you to apologize and be returned here before the sun sets."
"Wait."
I pause mid-packing, furrowing my brows at her. "What is it this time? Are you playing games again to see where my limits reach? I promise you Bella, this is the last chance that I’ll ever give you. Fuck this up and I’m going to the newspaper houses and on the radio to expose all this charade."
Bella’s eyes widened with fear at my outburst. It’s a given since I’ve never really been angry with her nor have I ever threatened to fuck up her life.
"T-that’s what I wanted to..." she stuttered, trailing off so she could take a deep breath. "I wanted to apologize to you too. I messed up the deal we made to keep our relationship private to the world and to break up once we found lovers."
"I just thought there was a possibility you felt something for me after, you know...all these years of being..."
Sigh. I sat back down, watching her break because of me. The heavy weight of what I did to her kept hitting me for the last few days, but it hits harder now that I get to hear her point of view.
I think I subconsciously knew Bella liked me all these years and yet, I didn’t let her go. How selfish and stupid could I be? I am no different from the guys Iris said she hates—pitiful womanizers who play beautiful women and ditch them once they get what they came for.
"You don’t have to feel guilty. It was consensual, we both agreed to it and you kept your end of the deal. I was the one who went overboard."
Double on the guilt.
I suppressed the sudden urge to groan, sitting up straight and finally looking at Bella without all the hate blinding my eyes. There before me is a woman who wants peace. The glimmer in her eyes that she used to have whenever she saw me is gone and now replaced by a teary filter.
I don’t know what’s behind that filter, but one thing is certain—once it disappears, she won’t be the same Bella I knew again. She might probably cut me off from her life, or even hate me. There’s nothing I can say right now that can turn back time and reverse all the mistakes I made, but apologizing is still an option.
"I’m sorry," I said, not able to look her in the eyes. "I was an asshole."
Silence. Then the sound of Bella sipping her coffee. "Yeah. A sick asshole."
Ah, so she does hate me.
"Drink up fast, I have an apology to make and a house to go back to."
Following her command, we were in my car the next second and being driven to the villa by Paul. By the time we arrived home, I expected Iris to be back from the backyard sauna, and I was right because the moment I opened the door, she did her daily routine.
Jumping on me and asking how my day was. Like a wife.
★★★★★