Page 120 of Love Not Qualified

I threw the phone on the floor, banging my head on the headrest. I should’ve found something better instead and not something as insulting as basically saying ‘I don’t give a shit about you to search you on the internet’.

“Your hoodie is nice?” Merielle burst out laughing, hitting me with a pillow.

I rolled my head to the side, covering my face with my palms. “Shut up.”

FORTY-SIX

HAELYN

The next day when I walked the steps leading inside Graves Automobile, my hands sweat despite the cold weather. My nose was runny and my cheeks hurt from the unforgiving wind.

It was a bad choice to walk here, but I needed time to calm down.

How did that work? It didn’t. If anything, it gave me more time to think and overanalyze whatever was about to happen today.

I was nervous. I regretted the moment I told Tristan I accepted his offer right away because that only proved my lack of control. I told myself I was going to keep him at a significant distance and what did I do? Jumped right into his arms.

Good job, Haelyn. Good job.

The offer was great, that I couldn’t deny. I was highly paid to do something I liked for a living, I had my own office, my ideas were going to be listened to, and yet… the mere thought of being surrounded by Tristan every second of the day threw me off.

How was I supposed to keep myself on the floating line when I was about to know everything about him—his eating hours, working hours, meeting schedule, and even when he had his dates?

I wasn’t a robot. I had feelings and my feelings were beyond scared of my tough shield cracking open slowly with each moment spent in his presence. Tristan was a dangerous man for me.

After the relationship with Josh, I told myself I was never going to forgive someone for their mistakes. They do it once, you forgive them and then theyll do it again, knowing they’ll be forgiven once again.

People never learned from their mistakes. If anything, their mistakes were a true reflection of themselves.

So I was going to act professional and forget about Tristan in a romantic way.

The elevator pinged and I walked out, offering a smile to the woman at the reception. She didn’t hesitate to return it, lowering her round glasses on the tip of her nose.

“Welcome back, Miss Ross,” she said, then turned her attention back to the computer in front of her.

How the hell did she memorize my name?

Oh. Wait. Tristan probably announced I’d be back.

“Thank you,” I breathed out, tightening the string of my bag on my shoulder.

I walked to his office, remembering when I first came here. It wasn’t too long ago, but it felt like ages. I was nervous then too and stared at his name plate for too long before gathering the courage and walking inside. The interview was short and discouraging, but now I knew why. He didn’t ask many questions because he already knew enough about me by pretending to be Chad.

Leave the past behind.

I sucked in a deep breath, knocking on his door.

“Come in.” I heard from the depths of his office.

I did as he said, finding my way inside with the small steps of a kitten. My motions were careful, reluctant, almost as if I was waiting for someone to attack me at any moment.

Why was I acting this way? We were just friends who worked together and managed to act professionally.

Right.

“Hi,” I croaked out. My voice sounded as if taken out from a movie where the woman was deeply in love with the man in front of her.

That was not the case.

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