It was already evening by the time Rina left the constructed building for the O. S. N fashion house. She stood just a few minutes away from it, her face raised up to the gathering clouds. It was going to rain that night, so the logical thing was to return home before it met her on the way.
But as Rina reached out to flag down a taxi, she remembered the note Zayn had sent earlier that day. The taxi stopped in front of her, with the driver sticking his head out of the window to ask where she was headed.
Rina shook her head softly, her red silky strands bouncing across her back, and a few coming to the sides of her face. She pushed them behind her ears as she leaned closer to the driver. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I changed my mind.”
The driver nodded and sped away in the distance, surprising Rina. She’d been so sure he’d recognize her and dish out his own venom without holding back. Perhaps, not everyone knew her as much as she thought. And there was also the possibility that not everyone cared about Rina Powers and her drama.
Retrieving her phone out of her purse, she called Zayn. She was prepared to hear his new assistant’s voice, perhaps more polite, before forwarding her call to his office. But it didn’t go exactly as she’d mapped in her head.
“Graham Conglemorate,” the chirpy voice greeted. “Thank you for calling. What is your name and what can I do for you?”
Rina decided to ignore the first question, based on her past experiences. “I’m calling to speak to Zayn,” she replied. “Can you please send the call to his office?”
The person at the other end of the line seemed to hesitate for a few seconds. Rina would have thought the call had been dropped, if she couldn’t hear her soft breathing carrying over.
“Do you have any prior business with Mr. Graham?” she asked. “I’m not sure I’m supposed to give you any information or forward the call to his office until I’m certain about the purpose of your call and whether Mr. Graham would want to attend to it personally.”
Rina was getting tired of this.
“He’s expecting my call,” was all she said, hoping it would be enough for the new assistant.
“Mr. Graham is currently not in the office. He didn’t come in today. Kindly provide your name so I can tell him you called once he comes in.”
Rina pulled the phone away from her ears and tried to push the disappointment she felt coming. Dumping her phone in her purse, she raised her hand to flag down the next taxi and got in, heading to her cottage on the other side of town.
She was back to the original plans she’d made for the evening, which was nothing at all. Rina closed her eyes in the back of the taxi, thinking about what she could possibly do for fun. But the disappointment kept gnawing at her, eating so deep that Rina felt so distraught.
This was what she had tried to guard herself against. But because she’d kept that stupid note and was all giddy over the flowers he sent, she’d become entitled to his attention. Rina had seen it coming and could have avoided it by asking Zayn to stop sending her gifts since all they had between them was purely based on a contract.
But a part of Rina had secretly enjoyed all the gifts and the attention. She got excited with what they meant that Zayn had been thinking about her hard enough to decide to send something over. It made her feel seen and heard in the wake of all that had been going on.
But maybe she didn’t need all of that. With her contract with O. S. N fashion house underway, she would be too busy to feel disappointment or entitlement. That was what she needed. Rina couldn’t wait to actually start working.
She stopped a few blocks away from her home and completed the rest on foot. Pushing her door open, Rina dumped her purse on the couch and strolled to the kitchen, fixing herself a quick drink. She heard her phone ring and returned to the living room.
Rina took her time, settling on the couch and turning on the TV before retrieving the phone from her purse. She didn’t recognize the number and toyed with the idea of not picking up since there was the slight possibility that a reporter had gotten her contact from somewhere. It wouldn’t be surprising to find out that either Kayla or Finn was responsible for it.
But when the phone rang again, Rina had a gut feeling that she’d been wrong the first time.
When she placed the phone against her ears, the first thing she registered was the voice, and how it seemed to jerk her forward. It went through her in a rush, shoving obstacles out of the way and causing a riot inside of her. Rina swallowed and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.
It did nothing to still the chaos in her head.
“Are you listening to me?” the voice said, clearly not used to getting silence as a response.
“Hmmm,” Rina mouthed, not sure she trusted her voice to say anything intelligible just yet.
“I wanted to check how the meeting had gone,” he said. She could hear footsteps from the other end of the call. The reception wave changed like he was moving from one room to the other. “Did you sign the contract? Were the terms fair to you?”
“No.”
“No, they weren’t fair, or no, you didn’t sign the contract.”
Rina blew out a nervous breath. Her heart was racing so fast she thought it would find a way out of her chest. “No, I didn’t sign the contract. I brought it home with me.” She was about to ask about the dinner he had proposed, but didn’t want to sound desperate, and entitled all over again.
But Zayn could hear the hesitation in her voice. “The offer for dinner is still on the table if you’re feeling up to it,” he said. “I already made a reservation at the restaurant. I reserved all the tables so you don’t have to worry about bumping into someone.”
“Okay.” Rina bit her lips and then paused. ‘Oh God, she thought. What the hell am I doing?
“Someone will be at your doorstep to pick you up. You can come along with the contract.”