CARLY
“You are buying me lunch at a food cart?” I asked him in surprise. I like it more when people treat just an ordinary girl. In his defense, he didn’t have any idea who I was.
“You can’t be picky for a free meal. And you mentioned that you want a burger or a chicken sandwich.” Rome was smiling as we filled in line, waiting for our turn, and it was actually pretty long.
“Boss, do you need help?”
“No, Zee. You go ahead and take a break.”
“Boss,” Zee hesitated.
“I was in the military too, and may I remind you that I worked in security service once. I can handle myself. And Storm is safe with me. Now, go.” He literally shooed Zee away.
“I’ll be right back. Call me-”
“We’ll be fine.”
When Zee left, I turned to my boss. “So, tell me about the last girl.”
“What last girl?” he asked innocently.
“Where is she now?”
“No idea. I’m not keeping track of my exes.”
“How many?”
“Tell me about the asshole.” I knew who he was referring to.
“He was good at what he did.”
“In bed?” I thought his jaw might crack. What was with him?
“You didn’t just ask me that.” I smiled. “Not in bed, dumb. At his job. He was in military service with my brother. Air force. Do you know how my brother proposed to his wife?” I giggled. I thought it was romantic and sweet.
“Tell me.”
“Kennedy hates the outdoors, but my brother is an adrenaline junkie. They were engaged when a stupid woman obsessed with my brother did something terrible. My brother went bat crazy. Long story short, Kennedy broke off the engagement, left the country, and went to Dubai to skydive.”
“For someone who hates the outdoor and adventure?”
“Yes. So Thay kinda bribed her instructor. He jumped with her instead a tandem with her instructor. Kennedy was yelling all the time.” I laughed so hard. “Cursing my brother all the words known to humans. When they reached the height limit, my brother proposed to her. They would drop into the ocean if she did not accept the proposal.”
“Your brother would not deploy the parachute.”
“Exactly.”
“Wow.”
I giggled at Rome. “I thought that was reckless romantic.”
“Yup.” His smile was genuine. “It was reckless romantic, indeed.”
We were finally served. I chose a hotdog sandwich, while Rome ordered a beef burger.
We shared our lunch at an empty table in a light conversation. For the first time, I felt at ease.
“Don’t look at me,” I said before I bit my sandwich.
He took a bite of his lunch too. “What?”
“You’re a messy eater.”
“Say a girl with sauce at the corner of her mouth.”
I wiped it away. “Who cares? I’m a foodie.”
“Tell me what you eat in your country, Storm.”
“We have just about everything, Langston.”
“So, now you’re calling me Langston.”
“I thought you called me Storm because of your military background. Aren’t you guys called by your rank and surname?”
“Yeah. But Storm is more you than Carly.”
I put my sandwich back on the paper plate. “How so? Am I not feminine enough?”
“You were like a storm when you first barged into my office, defending yourself why you were late.”
“Oh.” I sipped my soda.
“You are-”
He chugged his soda while I waited for him to continue what he was about to say about me.
“I am what?”
“You know yourself better than anyone.” He licked his lips.
“I thought we were over with cryptic.”
“What did you two talk about earlier?”
“Me and Zee?”
“Yup.”
“They started chatting. They aren’t there in the stage where they decided to meet.”
“Really?”
“Well, Heera is still traditional. So, prepare your twenty, boss.”
He smiled. “It’s not yet Saturday.”
“Fine.”
After our fine lunch, we headed back to the office. He had a conference call with one of the subsidiaries in Asia.
“We’ll keep you updated, Mr. Langston.”
“Thank you for your time, Mr. Xang.”
I hit the end call button. “I’ll forward the docs once I receive the email.”
“Maybe we should postpone it till the next two months.”
“Because of the weather?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
“I was thinking the same thing. I’ll write an email to Mr. Xang.”
“Leave it to me.”
I picked up my notes and the iPad. “Are you sure?”
“I’m not scared of your typos.” He smirked, reminding me of my first day.
“Typo, Mr. Grumpy perfectionist. And in my defense, it was forwarded to me. But Florian is not someone who uses British words, is she?” I followed him out of the conference room. “Are you done with the documents? I need to scan them.”
“Stay in my office. My scanner is better than what you have.”
“It’s just documentation. Nobody will inspect them if it’s printed in 3D.” I sat on the chair across from his desk.
“It will save you time, Storm.”
“As you wish, boss.”
“Did I just bore the hell out of you?”
“Nope. In fact, you’ve been more humorous than the last few days.”
“Have you been sleeping well at night?”
I stared at him, searching for what he knew. I hadn’t asked what happened in his cabin and how did I end lying on his lap.
“Storm.”
“Yup. Do I look haggard?”
“You’re perfect.”
“You don’t have to lie to me. I already agreed to be your fake date.”
“I never lied to you. What’s his name?”
“Who?”
“Your ex.”
“And yours?”
Annoyed, he sat back in his chair. “Forget that I asked.”
“Fine. Stellan.”
“Ancient. Nice.”
“And Romare isn’t? I mean, why Romare if they could name you Roman or just short for Rome, like Romy.”
I thought I just amused him. He laughed out loud, and that irritated me more.
“Its origin is actually from Italy, Carlott. Why not Charlotte? It sounds more royal. Where did your parents get your name Carlott Laylin Jemaine Storm?”
You didn’t even know half of it.
I glared at him, scratching my face. “Sevyn Hunter has a nice touch, though.”
His smile faded. “Oh, you’re pissed off.”
I put my elbow on his desk, my chin on my knuckles as I looked at him in boredom. “Is that why you prefer to call me Storm?”
“Your name is lovely, sweetheart. I was just messing with you. But yeah, I prefer Storm because you’re like my brothers, my best friends. I call them by their surnames sometimes.”
He just called me sweetheart, and I was like his brothers. Just great.
I ignored the thumping in my chest. “Now, do your job so that I can do mine.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He picked up the file on his desk and went to read.
“Why didn’t you ask your mother to accompany you instead?”
“To the gala?” He raised his gaze from what he was reading.
“Yup. And you don’t have to read through those pages, you know.”
“I’m still learning every aspect of agreements, proposals, and contracts.” He flipped it close. “My mom is still traumatized by the death of my father. They were attending a party when my father had a heart attack.”
“Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. I don’t know that.” My hands flew to my mouth.
“It’s all right.”
“I should have researched about you and your family and business to avoid awkward situations.”
“I should do the same.”
“What? No!” I clamped my mouth shut quickly, and he was as surprised as my reaction.
“May I know why? Is there something you wanna tell me?”
“Nothing important.” I crossed my legs.
“You’re not married to Stellan, are you?”
“No.” My answer came out defensive. “Can we not talk about my ex?”
“As you wish.” He went back to reading and didn’t talk to me anymore.
I rose from the couch and walked toward the glass window. When I couldn’t take the silence between us, I turned to him. He was still engrossed with the documents.
I was overreacting, and I couldn’t let our working relationship be stained because of my past. Rome started to be nice to me, and I needed that to be able to survive and enjoy what I signed up for.
I snatched the file out of his hands.
“What the fuck?” He turned his swivel chair, narrowing his eyes at me.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. My ex is not my favorite topic either.”
“I had a few exes.”
“Great. Isn’t this conversation getting more awkward?”
“Let me explain before you judge me. You’re not a saint either, are you?”
“Far from it.”
I withdrew a deep breath. “My two previous exes were assigned to me.”
“Assigned? Like an arrangement? Who are you?”
I rolled my eyes. “It was just to make me look like a lady.”
“You are a lady. A beautiful lady.”
I might have blushed a little. “Well, when I was growing up, I wore pants than a dress, which was a family dress code, unless I played polo or rode a horse. So to make my image as a lady, they arranged a respected Ivy league guy for me, but he started to.” I shrugged.
“He took advantage of the arrangement.”
I sat on his desk, facing him. “Yes. So I told my parents. Then another one. We don’t get along. I started escaping family gatherings and going to parties which ruined my demure lady image. Three years ago, I met a rich guy. You may know him if I mention his name, but I’d rather not. He’s a real piece.” I held the weird part. “We started to get along until he talked about marriage.”
“And you don’t believe in marriage.”
“I do. Very much. But I felt like he was only using my family connection. When I decided not to go to him-”
“You mean to come here with him.”
I watched him for his judgment, but I didn’t see any. He just shut his mouth, but clearly, he was not impressed with where this story went.
“Yeah. He said the relationship wouldn’t work if he were only to make the adjustments. So he broke up with me. I said okay. And I knew he was not bluffing. That’s when I realized he was using me to get into my family.”
“Asshole.”
“Then here comes the man of the century.”
“Stellan,” Rome was really mocking his name.
“We started dating behind my brother’s and my parents’ back. It was good. I thought I was living the best life. I feel like the ordinary woman I always dreamed of when I was with him until it went 380 all of a sudden. Even now, I still see the look on their faces. It was taunting, humiliating, and painful.” I wiped my tears. “It was excruciating as hell.”
He held my hand and squeezed it. “This is the last time we talk about this, sweetheart.”
“I just want to be a normal girl, to live a normal life. But I had no choice but to follow the protocol and do my duty. And it was not something that I could just decline it. I still dedicated my life to that job over my own happiness.”
“We always have a choice.” He came to me and pulled me into his arms, hugging me so tight, just like I needed at this moment.
I had never shared this story with anyone, even Heera. All she knew was that I was taking a break from family drama. That was all she needed to know. But I felt like I could trust Rome more than my own therapist, and he seemed to understand my situation.
“I wish it was easy like that.”
“Then let me help you.”
I lifted my chin so that I could meet him in the eye. “You don’t know the half of my family, Rome.”