*Alejandro*
I had all I needed on her. I sat behind my table in my study, and pictures of Andrea littered the table. I stared at the pictures one after the other.
There were various pictures of her, and I could only marvel at her beauty.
At first, I could swear she had shaken a bit when she saw me, but I was so wrong; she came back looking more professional than she had ever been.
She didn’t spare me a look, and as I reminisced about how she worked with Dave, my chest heaved up and down in anger.
That should be me.
That has always been me. That was how she used to stay by my side during business meetings. It was me she would speak to and try to get things done.
From what I have gathered from the private investigator I spoke to over the phone yesterday, she worked for Dave as a designer.
I am not sure yet why she was with him yesterday, but I wish I had known. But I was glad she wasn’t his p. a. At least she didn’t get to see him every day at work.
I had called her earlier today but was too nervous to say anything.
I see a picture of her and Dave in a shopping mall.
The picture had been of Dave, but somehow, it included Andrea, and so here she was.
My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts.
“Yes?” I spoke on the phone to Jane.
“Good morning, sir. I called to remind you of the meeting with Mr Mark,” She said.
My eyes moved slowly to the clock at the side, which ticked away slowly; it was 10 am already. I had not realized.
“I know. But I don’t think I’ll be able to meet up with them.”
“Should I cancel it?” She asked.
I slanted my head up the side, massaging my temples. “That would be nice, but no.” I paused and adjusted the chair.
“You should go handle it on my behalf. I’ll send him a message. I don’t want to delay this any further.” I said.
“Okay, sir.” I was about to end the call when she said, “How about the meeting with Nexus? It’s by 11 am.” She said, and I sighed.
I wanted to cancel it, but the name registered on my head once again, “Nexus,”
I have a lot to discuss with Dave. I wanted to ask him how Andrea began working for him. I wanted to know all about her, and he seemed like the best person I could ask.
“I’ll go myself.” I ended the call and left the study.
I hope to meet Andrea today; maybe we can talk. I had a quick bath and got ready.
My car soon came to a stop in front of the company.
People santuated around. I stepped inside through the sliding glass. A man in a gray suit was already waiting for me a few feet away.
He bowed when he saw me. I walked beside him, allowing him to lead me to Dave’s office.
“Dave is not in his office right now but will be here soon.” He said.
I’d have gotten angry if it was someone else or something else. If there was one thing I hated, it was a business partner who was not punctual.
But I refrained from getting angry.
“I’ll wait for him in his office,” I said to the man in front of me. We stopped in front of the elevator, and he turned to me.
“Alright,” I could tell he hesitated.
We were in his office. He motioned to the office with his finger.
I opened the door and stepped into the office. Directly opposite the door was the table with the name, “Dave Shaw.”
I walked closer to it and traced the name tag with my fingers. As I removed my finger from the name tag, I heard something shuffling.
Maybe I heard wrong.
But when I heard the sound for a second time, I halted my steps and turned towards the couch at the side.
I walked over to the back of the table, squinting my eyes. I looked behind the table only to find a boy scrunching down, his back facing me.
Why would a young boy be here? I wondered.
He shuffled towards the table as if it wasn’t enough to cover him. I bent down to meet his height.
Slowly, my hand moved to touch him.
He flinched and fell backward. Without hesitation, I reached out to catch him, preventing him from falling.
He fell backward, his eyes looking directly into mine.
“Huh?” His eyes widened just as I raised a brow.
“What are you doing here?” He asked in his tiny voice as I let him out.
“I should be asking you about that boy. What’s a little boy like you doing here?”
His face contours in dissatisfaction. “Don’t make me look small,” he says.
“But you are small,” he shook his head, “no, I’m not,” he argued.
“How old are you?”
He raised five fingers, “That’s it, I’m a big boy,” he said proudly.
“You are just five. What makes you think you are big?”
“Cause I can use all my fingers on one hand now.” He said, keeping his hand by his side.
He dusts the invisible dust off his clothes before adjusting them.
“How did you get in here?” I asked him again.
He looked around cautiously and stepped closer to me. “You have to keep this a secret; promise me first,” he said and extended his pinky finger toward me.
I met his height.
A small smile quickly appeared on my lips. “Well, it better be worth it,” I said and wrapped my pinky finger around his.
“We have a deal then,” he said, leaning in and whispering in my ear. “I snuck in here,” he said.
My eyes widened dramatically in surprise, “You, my man, are bold,” I praised and watched him bask in joy at my words.
My heart melted in joy seeing him so happy.
“But why?”
“Because my mom won’t allow me here, she wouldn’t have let me see him.” He said his voice low before a big mischievous smile returned to his face.
“Why? She doesn’t want you to go around?” I wondered how the young boy was related to Dave.
He nodded.
Wait, don’t tell me this is Dave’s son.
“Are you his son?” I asked, leaning my head to the side.
“Who?” I pointed to the name on the table.
“Dave.”
His smile widened, “yes.”
Dave was a father, and it’s ironic how I have met this boy for the third time, and he seemed to bring me a lot of joy. I would never have imagined he was Dave’s son.
“Who would have thought Dave has a son?” I spoke out loud, standing.
“You know my Dad?” He asked.
Technically, I don’t know him, “kinda,” I said and sat on the couch.
“Then do you know my mom too?” He asked elastically.
I didn’t think I knew her. I only knew Dave as a CEO and never bothered with his personal life.
“I don’t think I do.”
“Oh, she’s really beautiful. She’s so…” The door opened that moment, cutting him short. He stopped speaking and turned to the door.
“I knew you’d be here.”
“You found me, Aunt Alison.” I paused; my eyes, which had been focused on his small face, moved to the door.
Alison.
I knew that name; I knew that face.
I saw her first. She walked to him and asked, “Austin, what are you doing here? Didn’t we agree you wouldn’t be sneaking in here today?” She quizzed him.
I haven’t seen her in over five years, but she still looks the same.
“You made us worried,” she said, holding him by the arm, ready to take him out of the office.
She turned and met my eyes that moment, and I could swear she stiffened; something flashed through her eyes.
“Alison,” I stood and walked closer; her eyes never left me, and it slowly turned cold.
“I didn’t think I’d see you here,” I said. Her face shifted into a small smile.
“Neither did I.” I extended my hand to shake her. And she did take it.
“It’s nice meeting you, how are you?”
“You know my aunt?” Austin asked, and I smiled, nodding.
“I’m fine.” She looked at Austin, “We need to go.”
“But, but,”
“Come on, Austin, no buts,” she was mad at me.
The door opened again before they could step out, and she stepped into the office at that moment.
Alison stopped, and so did my world. My heart raced behind my chest, Andrea.
I was hoping to run into her, and now that she was in front of me, I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to feel.
“Austin, if you keep doing this…” she stopped immediately, and our eyes met.
“Momma,” the kid let go of Alison’s hand and ran towards her, his hand wrapped around her waist.
My already beating heart accelerated as I tried to make sense of what I had just seen.
I tried to make sense of what was happening in front of me. I refused to allow my mind to make sense of this.
But it wasn’t working. My mind was working against me, and it was working too fast.
Calculating.
If Austin called Alison Aunt and called Andrea Mom, and called Dave’s Dad, then…
I shook my head.
No, I had to be wrong; there was a mistake somewhere.
“Austin, let’s go,” Alison said, taking hold of Austin’s hand and pulling him away from the office.
The wheels in my head kept spinning. And the boy said he was five. If he was five and we separated a little over five years ago, then that meant.
I raised my eyes to meet Andrea, “Mr Shaw is not in his office right now. He is stuck in traffic. He should be here in thirty minutes,” she said, regaining her earlier lost composure.
“You can wait for him in the lobby instead of the office.” She spoke professionally, like a secretary trying to protect her boss’s office.
But I wasn’t fully listening to her.
Austin is five.
My head kept repeating.
He is five.
If he is five, that only means one thing, and I refused to believe it, no. Andrea couldn’t be that cruel. She couldn’t do that to me.
There was no way she’d betray me twice, and there was no way she was two-timing. But Austin was the proof. He was five, so it only means one thing.
She was with Dave while also with me. She cheated on me and had a son with him.
“Is that okay with you? Huh?” I jolted at her voice, and she brought me out of my reverie.
“What?” I hadn’t heard her.
“It seems you want to wait here. It’s fine. If you’ll excuse me.” She said.
She began heading for the door, but I caught her arm and pulled her back before she could reach for the door knob. She tried to remove her arm from my hand.
“Let me go.” She said, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Are you going to keep doing this?” I asked.
“Keep doing what?”
“What you’re doing.”
“Let go of me first,” I shook my head. I wouldn’t.
“Are you going to keep pretending like you don’t know me?” I let her go.
She held her wrist, and I felt bad quickly. Had I hurt her?
“You make it sound like I do.” She said.
I brush my hand past my hair.
“You have a lot of explaining to do. You know that, right?”