Page 22 of Entangled With You

Sofi’s face turns serious; she’s thinking it over. “Do you want to talk to him?”

“Yes,” I answer immediately, with no hesitation. That man is it for me.

“Okay,” my sister says as she nods her head slowly. “Are you going to tell him it’s you? Do you think he knows?” I honestly don’t know if I should tell him or not. Either way, he’s going to shut down.

“That’s the thing, Sofi, I feel bad for not telling him upfront. But at the same time, I want the chance to talk to him, to reconnect, without him running for the hills when he learns it’s me.”

My sister gives me a kind smile. “You have your answer then, sis. But be prepared for the backlash when he learns he’s been chatting with you. Be kind, and put yourself in his place.” I close my eyes as a big smile forms on my face. “Ahhh, I see that smile, and I know what it means,” Sofi says teasingly, and it just makes me smile bigger. “Just promise me you’ll be careful, Cata. I know how much you feel for him and he’s a great guy, but I don’t want you to get hurt.” And that’s my sister. The woman with the biggest heart on the planet.

“I promise I’ll keep you in the loop so you can keep me in check.”

This time, Sofi smiles at me. “I love you, Cata. I’m so thankful we get to share these moments. Thank you for trusting me.” Tears threaten to leave my eyes; we cry for everything.

“I love you too, Sofi. Thank you for being the best sister ever.”

Sofi is wiping her eyes with a tissue as she says, “Ugh, you made me cry in the office. Now I need to go reapply my makeup.” I laugh at her but blow her a kiss, and she sends one back.

Once we hang up, I go back to OfficialCherub and download his picture to my phone. The only picture I have of him is one we took the first night we chatted for hours by the shore. He’s definitely changed in these four years; he’s more built now, and he doesn’t look like a boy anymore. He’s a man now.

Chapter 9

Matías Moreno

It’s been hours since I sent the icebreaker. Hours! Am I that unlikeable? The little voice in my head grows louder, and that immediately triggers my “hit it with the facts” response. She mentioned in her profile that she’s completely focused on her job. Maybe her work includes weekends? Just wait and see, the fact that she’s not attached to her phone like most people these days is a good thing. It means she has more important stuff to do than spend all day on social media, even though she’s only twenty-two. I take a few deep breaths as I attempt to steady my nerves.

I have the weekly meeting for the stadium project, and I purposely leave my phone on my desk. I need to focus on my work and do a fucking good job—Cattleya will eventually play in this stadium. I chuckle to myself. How crazy is that? Luciano starts the meeting promptly since today a representative from the team is joining us.

“Good morning, everyone. I wanted to join the team meeting today since I’m a new member of the Golden Warriors’ board of directors and have been tasked with being the liaison between your company and the team. Please pretend I’m not here; I just want to learn,” a man with salt and pepper hair, wearing a three-piece suit, says.

I don’t think we’ve ever had someone from a client company join our weekly meetings before. But I guess when you’re investing as much as their team is, you get to do whatever the fuck you want. Natalia, our lead architect, starts explaining the changes that had to be made to the original design in order to fit the terrain better. The rep for the Golden Warriors is taking notes like he’s going to be quizzed later. To each their own.

Once the meeting is over, I head to my desk, but I’m stopped by Luciano.

“Matías, let me introduce you personally to Daniel.” Oh, so that’s the Golden Warriors guy’s name.

“Nice to meet you, Matías. The work you’re doing here is great, I’m pleasantly surprised at the progress you all have made in such a short amount of time.”

I give him a smile as I say, “Yes, we try to be as efficient as possible while maintaining high-quality standards.”

The guy smiles at me and then at Luciano as he starts pointing at me. “And that’s why your company won the bid. Your integrity and high standards are great qualities and what The Golden Warriors Organization strives to be, as well.” I nod at him, happy that he seems pleased with our work, and excuse myself.

I’m a one-track mind kind of man, and right now I need to find lunch; I’m starving.

Once I’ve had a sub and some tea, I’m back at my desk. When I check my phone, there’s a notification from OfficialCherub. My heart starts beating faster, my hands are damp with sweat. What the fuck is wrong with me? I don’t even know this mina. Rubbing my hands up and down my jeans to dry them off, I grab my phone and click on the notification banner. “Click the button to see Milena’s answers.” I click and see we answered the exact same way.

“Nice,” I say to myself as a small smile forms on my face. I take another look at her profile again and notice she also sent me a message.

“Hola, dark angel. You sound interesting, what are you up to now? I just came back from a work trip, and I found the cutest kitty abandoned by my building. *watery eyes emoji* Hope to hear back from you, M.”

Damn, an abandoned cat? I might not be an animal person, but I’m not cruel enough to leave a defenseless animal alone. This girl has a good heart. I immediately make up my mind that I want to know more about her and reply:

“Is it a he or a she? I’m glad you were able to rescue it. Does it have a name? And what am I up to? I guess my job is a traditional job in the sense that I work from 8 to 5, Monday through Friday. So right this minute I’m back from lunch and about to dive into some calculations I need to do for the project I’m working on. What’s your job about? Matías.”

I put my phone away and dive into said calculations, but Milena stays on my mind the rest of the day. I can’t wait to hear back from her again.

I’m in bed, doing the last social media rounds before falling asleep when I notice Milena’s status is online on the app. Is she chatting with other guys? Did she read my message and decide not to reply back? I quickly remove those thoughts from my mind. I decide to open our messages when I notice there are three dots moving. You see dumbass, she’s writing to you. Stop overthinking everything, I tell the little voice in my head.

“Calculations? That sounds complicated and kind of serious. I mean, what would happen if you made a wrong calculation? You mentioned in your profile you’re an engineer, right? I’m not sure if I could live with that kind of responsibility on my shoulders.”

---