Page 86 of And Then I Kissed Him

“A sprained shoulder? Geez. What the hell did you two do?”

“It was just a silly argument. We accidentally broke the conference room’s glass wall and that’s when Sam fell and got injured. It’s nothing too serious. He’ll be off the sling soon.”

“Please tell me I wasn’t one of the reasons you fought?” I just had to ask.

“No. No, it was all us. You’re miles away now. No reason to argue about you now, is there, because you left us both behind, right? Don’t worry, Luc. You know how Sam and I are.”

Yes, I know indeed, which was why I didn’t even want to know the reason why. I bet it was something trivial. Something as inane as whose pen was more expensive. “You stupid boys. Come on, let’s go shopping.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Joe held onto my hand. “I have something to say first. I need to apologize. For every single thing I’m conscious that I’ve done wrong and for everything else that I’m not. I know I’ve hurt you with shit I don’t even realize I did wrong. Whatever I say will never be a good apology enough. All I can do is say I’m sorry. So I’ll just say it again. I’m so, so sorry, Lucy.”

That was the most honest and genuine admission I ever heard from Joe. It was exactly what I had longed to hear. Not the apology itself. But him finally admitting his wrongdoings. Sort of putting my own mind at ease that I didn’t imagine stuff or overreact to the shit.

I reached up on my toes and pecked his cheek. “Apology accepted.”

Joe draped his arm around my shoulders. “Now how about we skip shopping and go straight for coffee.”

“You know me. I’d trade anything with coffee.”

We were just lucky to find an empty table at my favourite cafeteria. Found that place in my first week living here and have visited it every day since.

While we chose our brunch from the menu, Joe filled me in with details about Zimmerman’s project.

“Did you receive his invite for the hotel launch event? It’s going to be huge. Oh, and Zimmerman wants to unveil his revamped branding on that same night. That means we have a tight timeframe to finalize everything. Therefore, you will be receiving frequent meeting requests to join us in person. No more hiding behind emails. You got to play the part with us because Zimmerman is paying a huge sum to all of us.”

As excited as I was to freelance on Zimmerman’s rebranding project, I wasn’t thrilled about face-to-face meetings with Sam and Joe. So far, I have managed to avoid them. Reasons being that I cannot attend during office hours due to me being at my full-time job and afterwards, my busy schedule constricted travelling.

“Big money is always good news for you. You could save your company with it.” I set my menu down. “But how did you let it get to this point anyhow? You gave so much for your business.”

“Let’s say that in all my eagerness, my mind raced too far ahead than it should have and I made a fewbad decisions.”

“And why didn’t you tell me? I could have tried to help you.”

“I didn’t want you to sink with me. By the way, about your job with Sam…”

Just then, the server came for our order – two black coffees and two chocolate croissants. When the woman left, Joe set a hand on mine across the table and continued.

“About your job, I’m sorry if it seemed like I interfered. It’s just that when you saw the job opening with Sam’s company, I could see your longing to apply. I knew you were considering letting the opportunity pass by out of respect for me, because of my odd relationship with Sam. I couldn’t let the unfortunate circumstance that it happened to be with my rival to hinder your career. Your big ambitions were ones I’ve always encouraged, remember? I was the one who watched you study and stayed awake with you to go over the messy notes you wrote together. I took days off to drive you to the exam centres and waited for you so we could go celebrate right after. I watched you hunt down every job board so you’d find the best ones. Yes, Sam is my rival but I’d be a fool if I didn’t admit that his company was the best place for you to thrive. Lucy, you must know it wasn’t easy for me to call him. But I did it. I overlooked every single fragment of anger towards that man and begged him for a favour. And I did it all for you. Don’t overthink that you got that job because I interfered. I simply bypassed a few steps to bring your application to Sam’s direct attention. He hired you because you are the best. Don’t feel anything but pride in yourself. Now look at you. Creative Director with a big company here in the city. Congratulations.”

I knew he was right, that all he said was true. I shouldn’t have taken it with Joe as interfering with my life. Neither did Sam. Sometimes, perspective was all it took, wasn’t it? Now I saw that.

“Thank you, Joe.”

The coffee was brought to our table then.

“So how’s your new job here?” Joe said as he ripped the sugar packet and poured it all into his cup. Never understood how he could stomach coffee that sweet.

“It’s awesome. The company is huge and their client list is impressive. You should see some of the projects they handle. You’ll be impressed for sure. They’re so good it almost feels like a privilege to be part of their portfolio. And you know what the best part is? My boss Ms Beaumont has complimented my work more than once. I take it as a sign they’re pleased with me as part of their team. In fact, last week, Ms Beaumont dropped a hint that I’m a favourite to replace the Chief Creative Officer who’s retiring next year.”

“Sounds like you got a good boss.”

“She’s okay but she’s no…” I trailed off from finishing my words.

Joe crossed his arms on the table. He must have caught all of my unspoken answer. “Why did you take my call but not Sam’s?”

The server brought our plates of dessert then. Excellent timing and perfect excuse to avoid Joe’s question. Grabbing the croissant, I bit on it, burning my tongue with the hot chocolate filing in the process, just as long as I could slip away from the conversation.

But Joe didn’t buy it. “I called you once, over two months after the last time we spoke, and you picked up by the third ring. You even agreed to meet me. Sam called you every day for almost two months yet you didn’t answer him.”

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