*Alejandro*
“We’ll talk about this later today. We have plenty of chances.” I said to Clara. I was already beginning to get tired of the conversation. “You’ve always wanted to do business with Jane,” she said in a bid to stop me.
“That’s true, but you’ve not said anything meaningful,” I said. I want to do business with her. But since we’ve been standing here, she has not said anything. “Let’s talk about this later, Clara,” I said.
She pulled my hands before I could step away, “You just want to leave me; you don’t want to be with me in the same space. You want to go to her, right?” I turned.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, my brows furrowed. She removed her hands from my arm, “you know what I am talking about, Alejandro.” she said.
“You brought her here. And I was thinking the P. A was the problem when I saw her earlier. But she wasn’t. You brought Nora. Do you want to get back with her?”
“You saw Anna?” I asked. So Anna is here. Maybe she is looking for me, and here I am with Clara. “That’s not the question. Why did you bring Nora?” She asked.
“Why do you care? It has nothing to do with you.” I said.
“Are you for real Alejandro? I’ve always been here. I’ve been waiting for you,” soft music dawned on her last words. “We’re over, Clara. Don’t be delusional. You are smarter than that.” I said.
“If you don’t want to talk business, don’t let me see you,” I said and walked away, leaving her standing there.
I would have stayed in the main hall if I had known Anna was here. I tried calling her again, but her number didn’t go through.
I walked to the main hall. Noticing a crowd, I walked towards it, the same place Lucas had been a while ago.
“What’s happening?” I heard someone ask another. I didn’t wait to listen to the reply as I walked past them and heard Nora say.
“Why? You came looking for a man to seduce?” She asked, “Or did you come here for work? What assistant meets their boss dressed like that on such a day?”
It was clear what she was trying to say. I knew she didn’t like Anna and must have said something bad to her the other day, but what I didn’t expect was that she would try to embarrass and initiate stuff about Anna in public.
“Well, I… I..” Anna struggled to form a coherent word.
“Oh, has the cat caught your tongue now?” Nora challenged.
I had seen enough. I took a step forward, but someone was already standing in front of Anna.
“Do you mean a P. A doesn’t have the right to dress pretty and be amongst us?” It was the voice of the very man I didn’t want to hear. His blonde hair stood out in the crowd.
He wrapped his hand around Anna’s shoulder, and I clenched my fist. I wanted to take his hands away from her shoulders.
I want to walk there and place my hands over hers. But I restrained myself. I do not want to prove Nora’s words to be true. “She came with me. It’s the waitress’s job to clean the floor when there’s a mess, or do you not agree, miss…” He turned his head to the side and tried to figure out Nora’s name.
In embarrassment, Nora’s face turned red; Mr. Shaw doesn’t know her name.
Mr. Shaw leads Anna away.
Everyone went back to what they were doing before the little drama. I could only blame myself for this. If I hadn’t gone out with Clara and I had been here, I would have seen Anna when she walked inside, and I would have been with her. Nora would not have had a chance to do this.
I made a mental note to warn her about what she did as I watched her walk away.
My eyes quickly found Anna. They were standing at a side amid others. Mr. Shaw’s hands were still on her shoulder. Anna slowly moved away from his hold, and I could see myself smiling. That’s my girl.
I walked towards them. “Anna.” She turned her eyes, holding mine, “Alejandro.” She smiled.
I held her hands, “who would have thought we would be meeting here now?” Mr. Shaw said. I smirked, “I’ll take that, you know.”
He smiled. A smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Business is a lot about who is more wealthy or smart. It’s about being weak and strong.
If you want to be strong, you should be ready to stump on the weak, and this may take cunning measures sometimes. “You are just as I have heard, ”smart,'” he said.
I knew he meant cunning, “You flatter me,” I said. I raised two fingers in greeting to the two other men beside him, who I had ignored, “Now, if you’ll excuse us.” I said, holding out my hand in front of Anna. She placed her fingers on mine and muttered thank you to Mr. Shaw before we walked away.
I took her to the same spot where Clara and I had been a while ago.
“I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” I said, holding her hands. She shook her head, “It’s fine. I should have known she would try to do that.” She said.
She sounded like she had seen her before or knew she was here. “You look beautiful,” I said. The dress I picked suited her perfectly.
“I have you to thank.” She said.
“What happened?” I asked. I caught sight of a waiter and waved him with my hands. He came with a tray of cocktails. I took one and handed another to Anna.
“I’ve been trying to reach you. I sent a text and called, but I couldn’t reach you.” She took a slow sip from her drink and said, “Well, I…” she began.
Her eyes darted around. “My phone died. I lost my way.” She said.
“The driver didn’t come to pick you up!” I was already angry and ready to fire the driver.
“he came. After I got down on… on my way to the restroom,” she said, placing the drink on her lips before gulping it quickly.
“Hey, be careful,” I warned. I found her actions amusing and cute.
“I would have come to pick you up myself,” I said.
“It’s fine. I’m here now.” She said, “You invited your wife?” She asked.
“Ex-wife, you mean,” I corrected her immediately.
“Oh, my mistake.” She laughed.
“Well, I had to. Lucas wanted to spend the day with me, and I couldn’t miss this, so I invited them over.” I explained, “It’s all for Lucas.” She made an oh with her mouth.
“I see. I wanted to introduce you to my son. It’s a shame he left already.” I said. “You think he would want to meet me?” It’s clear he wants you to get back with his mom.” She said, and I thought about it for a while. She was right. I knew that, too. But then we spoke about it last night, and it didn’t seem like a problem.
“I think it would be better if we don’t meet. At least not while Nora is still here.” She proposed.
She had a point. I nodded. I knew she said that because she was worried about my relationship with Lucas; she didn’t want it to go sour. I was touched.
“Why did you allow him to touch you!” I asked, trying to change the conversation.
“Who?”
“You know who I am talking to.” She chuckled when she met my eyes. “Wait, don’t tell me you are jealous.” She said.
I scoffed; I have no reason to be. “I am not. Why should I?” I asked. “Then why are you asking me such questions?” She slanted her face to the side. I took a sip from my drink and turned my face.
“Come on, let me see you. Tell the truth, are you jealous?”
“Of course, I am not.” She tried to see my face, and I moved it again.
“There you are; I’ve been looking for you everywhere.” Nora’s voice interrupted our time.
She walked towards us, holding a glass of wine. She turned her eyes to Anna for a second and then pretended like she didn’t see her, “You didn’t tell me you’d be here.”
“Did I need to tell you?” I asked through clenched teeth. “I should have brought a glass of wine for you if I had known you were here.” She said.
I do not believe anything was wrong with her vision. “I believe you didn’t have to.” She moved her eyes to my hands lazily and smiled, “I guess.” She said.
“Do you have to talk about business here too? We can always talk about business later. I still don’t understand why she is here.” Nora said.
“I’m thankful you are here. It will save me the trouble.” I said. “Don’t you think you owe Anna something?” I asked.
Anna has not said a single word since Nora stepped in here, and I hate to see her silent like this. I know she was uncomfortable with Nora, but this seems like fear, and I didn’t like it.
“Apologize to her,” I commanded. She furrowed her brows and turned to face me, flattering her hair. “What? Why should I?” She asked.
“You know what you did,” I said.
“You can’t be serious Alejandro. Why should I apologize to her? She is a secretary. You aren’t seriously asking me to stop so low as apologizing to her?” She asked. She should have thought of this before she did what she did with Anna outside.
I wanted to speak to her at home and tell her how to never try this shit, but on second thought, I can get her to apologize for her stupidity.
“Alejandro, she doesn’t need to.” I know she was okay, but I was not.
“Apologize to her, Nora. Now.”
She turns to Anna; her eyes don’t soften, but she tries not to glare at her. Her chest heaved up and down.
“I am sorry for what I did earlier.”
It was a halfhearted apology, but it was better than none. Maybe it’s not the apology I wanted. Maybe I just wanted to see her embarrassed. She hated bowing her head to anyone, so I’ll let her bow to Anna.
Hopefully, this would teach her her place.
“It’s fine. You were mistaken. At least you know better now.” Anna said, and I smirked. She wasn’t just any weakling, and I was glad no one could just walk around her.
“Yeah.” Nora shrugged and sent her a glare.
“I’ll be right back,” Anna said and started walking toward the restroom.
“How could you do that? How can you ask me to apologize to her?” She sounded angry.
“You should have thought about it before you pulled that shit earlier,” I replied.
“And you think that’s enough to embarrass me in front of her?” Though she spoke between gritted teeth, she kept her voice low and a small smile on her lips.
“We are not having this conversation,” I said, trying to dismiss it. I stood. I was tired of the party, which didn’t seem to start soon. And I didn’t need to make any more connections. At least not here.
I made a resolve to leave with Anna immediately when she comes out.
“Alejandro, we may not be married, but at least we were once married and have a son together. You can’t do this.” I said.
“Doesn’t mean you can mess with my people, Nora. We aren’t married, so we owe nothing to each other. Don’t forget that we are basically strangers.”
I had barely taken two steps when her voice stopped me, “Do you love her?”