Page 8 of My CEO Neighbor
"There is.We wait."
"Waiting isn't a solution.Waiting is surrender."Ted's hands curled into fists."I didn't build a company by waiting for other people to solve my problems."
"Sometimes waiting is the only solution."
Everything about Monica's tone was reasonable and measured, which somehow made it infinitely more irritating than if she'd been panicking alongside him.She sat there looking perfectly composed while his world fell apart, and it made him want to crack that serene facade.
"Do you ever get upset about anything?"Ted demanded."Or do you just float through life in some kind of meditative bubble?"
"Of course I do."
"Like what?"The challenge in his voice was clear.
Monica considered this, tilting her head slightly in a way that drew attention to the sweet curve of her neck."Inequality.Environmental destruction.The fact that Americans throw away forty percent of their food while people go hungry."She paused."Bad drivers."
"Bad drivers?"Ted couldn't hide his surprise.
"People who don't signal.Road rage.Anyone who treats a two-ton vehicle like a personal weapon."Monica's calm expression, and Ted was oddly fascinated by this glimpse of fire beneath the Zen."I once saw a guy in a BMW cut off a school bus and then flip off the driver when she honked."
"That's it?That's what breaks your Zen?"
"I don't have Zen.I have practice."Monica shifted position, drawing her knees up to her chest in a movement that was both modest and somehow sensual."Meditation isn't about never feeling angry.It's about not letting anger drive your decisions."
Ted studied her face in the dim light, taking in details he'd been too distracted to notice before.She looked younger than he'd expected, maybe twenty-eight or twenty-nine, with the kind of clear skin that suggested she actually got eight hours of sleep and ate vegetables on purpose.Her dark hair fell in waves around her shoulders, catching the yellow light in ways that made him want to touch it.Her clothes looked comfortable rather than expensive, but they hugged her body in ways that were definitely distracting.
Everything about her was the opposite of his world, where comfort was weakness and relaxation was just another word for losing ground to the competition.
"How long have you been doing the yoga thing?"
"Five years professionally.Longer as a student."
"And before that?"Ted found himself genuinely curious, which was unusual.He rarely cared about other people's career trajectories unless they involved profit margins.
"Marketing."Monica's mouth quirked upward in a way that drew his attention to her lips.
Ted blinked."You worked in marketing?"
"Account management for a digital agency.Sixty-hour weeks, client dinners, the whole corporate lifestyle I was good at it too.Made decent money, had a corner office, wore suits just like yours."
The revelation shifted Ted's perception.She wasn't some privileged princess who'd never worked a real job.She'd been in the trenches, understood the pressure.
"What happened?"
"Panic attacks.It started small—tightness in my chest during presentations, trouble sleeping before big client meetings.Then they got worse."Monica's fingers absently traced patterns on her yoga mat bag."I ended up in the ER thinking I was having a heart attack.Turns out it was just my body's way of telling me that the life I was living wasn't actually mine."
Ted felt a recognition he didn't want to acknowledge.The tightness in his own chest, the sleepless nights, the way his heart raced during important meetings.It all sounded uncomfortably familiar.
"So you just quit?"
"Eventually.It took me almost a year to work up the courage."Monica met his eyes directly, and Ted felt a sizzle of desire pass between them."Scariest thing I've ever done."
"And now you teach yoga."
"Now I teach people how to breathe.How to be present.How to find space between their thoughts and their reactions."Monica's voice grew stronger, more passionate, and Ted found himself drawn to that fire beneath her calm surface."It's not glamorous, and it doesn't pay well, but it's real.It matters."
Ted wanted to argue that his work mattered too, that CloudSync was revolutionizing how businesses handled data integration, that success required sacrifice and compromise.But sitting in the dim elevator light, listening to Monica talk about panic attacks and corner offices, his usual justifications felt hollow.
"You think I'm wasting my life," he said.
