Page 23 of Return on Love

Yeah, why wait for me? That’s what Weber was probably suggesting—for him to fetch me from my office. But why do it?

I grit my teeth and shut the door. He swivels around right then and sees me outside. His face has a weird expression. He’s probably worried I caught him tattling about me. “How dare you?” I mouth and show him the middle finger. This time, I do stomp away to the exit.

I hear footsteps behind, gaining on me. I try to walk faster, but the stupid high-heeled sandals make it virtually impossible. Ryan catches up with me when I’m right next to the door.

“Why aren’t you on the call?” he asks.

Did he really say that? How could he have the guts to pin it on me when he didn’t even tell me about the call? I spin around to face him.

“I’m done with this… thing… here,” I say, flailing my arms a little. “I get that you don’t want to work with me. Just like you did in grad school, believing that I’m about as useful as tits on a bull. You didn’t even consider me ‘good enough’ to do the beta testing for your stupid app in school. Why? Because I was too below your standard? Guess what? I was the one who told Alex about the interest calculation error.” He’s just staring at me, horrified. His mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. Yeah, he probably didn’t know Alex secretly begged me to test the app.

I turn around and walk out of the door, trying to bang it behind me. But they have these anti-slam things that make it close all slow and soft. I push the elevator button. Unfortunately, it’s going up.

Ryan comes up behind me. I push the button a few more times, as if that’ll make it come faster.

“Weber must be waiting for you,” I almost spit out in anger.

“That’s okay. Gabs will handle it.”

“Oh, so Gabriel is also there, even though he’s on his way to a party. But not me!” He looks at me with squinted eyes and a creased forehead, as if he can’t bear up with my stupid conversation when all I’ve done is tell him the truth. “Why don’t you carry on with your meeting behind my back, just as you’ve been doing so far?”

There is a moment’s silence. “Eva,” he says. There’s something about the way he says it that makes it sound different and sends some vibrations through my body. Maybe its the way he prolongs the E. “It’s you who didn’t bother to join in.”

The nerves of this man! I can’t believe it, though I’m sure my expressions show it. I’m done trying to control my anger. “You have some balls Mister. Not interested in working with me? Guess what? Neither am I. Ask Weber to assign a different consultant for yourself.”

Thankfully, the elevator comes, and I’m saved from the torture of further conversation with him.

“There’s no one I’d rather work with than you,” he says in his deep voice, just as the elevator door closes. He can even make it sound earnest. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have trusted it. No questions asked. If that’s how he can speak to a woman he detests, it’s no wonder he’s found the perfect wife who’s blessed him with a perfect daughter.

I walk away. Into the cold streets. Today is definitely the worst day of my life. I walk in a random direction. I cross the street and walk some more, aimlessly roaming around.

My mind is filled with thoughts of destroying Ryan. Build a death star and point it at his silly solid body and erase him from existence. Or cut him with a lightsabre. No, that’d be too easy. Freeze him in Carbonite like Hans Solo and send his body floating in space.

I hate him for the way he treated me. For being a successful entrepreneur while my career is hanging by a thread. For going behind my back. I hate him so much, and with such a passion I thought was reserved only for Chancellor Palpatine or Bob and his girlfriend, Priscilla, who is intent on destroying my career in my firm. I hate him for making me think such dark thoughts, and worse that even when I do, a part of my brain still thinks of his arms around me.

I don’t know how long I keep walking, but when I come to my senses, my feet hurt terribly, and I have no idea where I am. I finally decide to take a break and step into a cozy-looking café. The scent of freshly brewed coffee and the promise of warmth draw me in, and I join the queue, craving a comforting cup of hot chocolate. That’s when the realization hits me like a ton of bricks—I haven’t got my purse. Panic sets in, and I mutter a frustrated “shit” under my breath. My bad day just took a nosedive into the realm of disaster.

Thankfully, I have my phone. I book an Uber to the office where I obviously left my purse when I stomped out. As I drive back to the office, I hope I don’t bump into Ryan. I have no desire to see him. Not now, not ever. I ask the driver to wait as I enter the building. The elevator ride is tense, and when I reach my floor, an eerie darkness greets me.

I fumble for my phone to use its feeble light to find my way. The entire floor is devoid of any signs of life. Determined, I approach the door, only to find it stubbornly locked. It seems like my bad day is determined to test my resilience to the limit.

Desperation creeps in. Now what? Who’d have the keys? I drag my feet back down and ask the guard standing by the elevator. He tells me the admin guy is the one who locks up every day, and that he left some thirty minutes ago, soon after Ryan left. And no, the guard doesn’t have the admin guy’s number.

I stamp my foot in anger, but end up stumbling on my heels instead. After a few seconds of cursing Ryan under my breath, for it is his fault I left in such a hurry as to forget my purse inside, I text Gabriel to send me the admin’s number. They all must be close to Cape Cod Mall by now, I think. Thankfully, he’s quick to reply with Joe’s number. Yup. That’s the admin’s name. And also to tell me that Joe is already on his way to meet them.

I try my luck anyway. Joe doesn’t even bother to pick up. He’s probably driving, I try to reason, and he obviously doesn’t have my number saved.

The taxi driver reminds me that his meter is still running. What do I do? My wallet, money, and even my apartment keys are in my purse. Gabriel calls me in a few minutes.

“Is everything okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, but tell me. Can I get another set of keys for my apartment? I think I left my purse in the office, and my keys are in there. And as you can guess, the office is locked.”

“Aw! Shoot! The spare keys are in my home. Do you need me to come back or you have somewhere to crash? You were planning to meet your brother, right? Could you stay with him for tonight?”

Making him come back from there is silly. Anyway, I can’t just stand outside for the hours till he returns? I’ll have to find some alternative.

“Don’t worry. I’ll figure it out.”

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