CHAPTER 5: THE ENCOUNTER

CLAIRE

After an hour, I walked towards the staff changing room to freshen up before going to the conference hall for the meeting. The changing room had rows of lockers, the best place to hide away from the staff. I entered the changing room and opened my locker to get my stuff out. The changing room was empty, a rare sight because everyone was extremely busy today. I took out my tote bag from my locker and tried searching for my face wash tube and compact power in all the mess that was in it.

Suddenly I heard a loud bang from behind me. I jumped, dropping the items in my bag on the floor. I turned around frightened and slowly walked toward the fourth row of the locker.

I turned around to the other end of the lockers to see Eric banging his fist angrily on the locker. I gasped at seeing him like this. How the mighty have fallen I thought. He turned towards me, literally shaking in anger. Drenched in sweat, eyes red from anger, he walked towards me.

"You. You bitch, because of you Nick fired me." He said menacingly walking towards me. Pointing a finger at me, he said, “Ever since you came to work here, Nick's given you more importance than me. Rejected my ideas, for your ideas. Treating me like I’m a waiter and you are the general manager of this hotel." He said in a tone barely above a whisper, no doubt to scare me. 

He walked towards me and I backed into the wall. He caged me with his hands and continued, "Everything was going well for me before you came. You ruined everything I had going on. You reported everything I did back to Nick." Recounting all the times I reported his indiscretions.

"I did nothing to you. You have no one to blame but yourself. " I retorted.

"Oh! You did nothing to me? Who told Nick about the bribe I used to take from the customers while reserving a room in an emergency for them, huh? YOU DID. Do you know how much that cost me? I had to beg for my job and as a punishment Nick cut thirty percent off my salary. All because of you." He laughs humorlessly, 

"And today I thought I would finally get rid of Nick but you had me fired." 

“Again, you have no one to blame but yourself,” I stated firmly this time, "I don't recall ever asking you to extort the customers, nor did I assist you in kicking out an important guest that resided in the penthouse or firing innocent employees because shit didn't go your way. You must be delusional if you think I was the only one who reported you. You consciously made an enemy of everyone here, so don’t you dare blame me for your actions.” I held his gaze, letting him know I was not intimidated by him. 

"Someday in one way or another, I will get my revenge on you. Remember that and remember me. I will be back and then you will be sorry for ever crossing my path."

He banged his hand beside me, turned around, and left.

I huffed out a breath and sat on the stool close to me. I try as much not to put any meaning to his threat but I don't have just myself to think about. I try as much as possible not to make enemies but it's inevitable. I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes begging the universe for strength to finish the day.

"Cici, Cici," Aden called me out anxiously.

His eyes held concern seeing me in such a resigned state. He sat before me and grabbed my hands

"Claire, are you alright? Talk to me, Claire. Please tell me what's wrong." Aden anxiously inquired.

He moved some of the hair that was sticking on my face aside with his hands and tilted my head up so I could look at him.

"Are you alright?" he looked into my eyes and whispered. 

I slowly nodded my head and let my breath out. "I'm fine Aden."

"Why were you looking for me?" I asked.

He looked at me and hesitated for a second.

Aden huffed and said, "Nothing. Nick's looking for you. The meeting is about to start in 10 minutes."

Nodding vigorously, I got up and walked to where my things were spilled. Picking it up, I walked towards the washroom.

I threw my bag on the marble counter, which had multiple under-counter washbasins. I looked at myself in the simple frameless mirror above the counter. My face was drenched in sweat, hair sticking on my face. A lot had happened in a day and I did not know what was to come next.

“Pull yourself together Claire”, I encouraged myself.

I quickly washed my face, made my hair, and put some light makeup on to reduce the lines that had sprung up on my face in just a day.

 "Claire, come on, let's go," Aden called out to me.

I quickly put all my things back in the bag and went back to Aden.

"Aden what did you want to tell me." I looked at him and questioned.

He nervously twiddled his fingers and said, "Nothing Cici."

I frowned, "Don't lie to me, Aden. What's wrong?"

"Really nothing"

"I have known you since kindergarten, Aden. I know when you're lying."

When he started to defend himself, I gave him the are-you-kidding-me look.

He opened and closed his mouth multiple times. Before I could ask him anything, my phone started

ringing. Seeing this opportunity Aden ran out of the room.

I huffed at Aden's antics and answered the phone.

"Hello, Claire speaking."

"Claire, come fast to the conference room," Nick spoke on the other side.

"Yes, Nick I'll be there in a minute." I quickly hung up and rushed towards the conference room.

What was  Aden so worried about, I thought nervously. I hope nothing serious.

I started walking towards the big and fancy conference room, which Nick used when his important guests came for a meeting. I have never been here before so this was all new to me. As soon as I entered the conference room, I was met with bright lights. The room was indeed very fancy. A large dark brown table dominated the room, with comfortable black leather chairs surrounding it. Small flower pots were placed in a row in the middle of the table. The room was flooded with white light and soft orange light complimented it. For a place where serious business decisions are taken, the room felt quite calm and peaceful. A few indoor palm plants were placed in the corners. There was another door in the room, which was connected to the waiting room for guests.

Everyone was whispering about something. No doubt what this meeting was about. All the managers knew what the meeting was about and everyone was trying to guess who the lucky person was, to acquire the vast empire of Nick Miller.

I saw Nick enter the room through the waiting room, followed by Scott and some unknown men in suits.

He must have come with the new boss, I thought. I quickly walked towards him. I received many curious glances from the unknown men when I reached Nick. They must be wondering what someone like me was doing at a manager's meeting. The difference between the others and me was evident. My clothes were a bit crumbled and I probably looked like a tornado had hit me on the way.

"Hey Nick, hey Scott." I greeted them once I reached them.

Freaked by the glances, I failed to notice that they were in a deep conversation.

Noticing that, I quickly apologized, "Oh sorry..."

"Claire, where were you? You look flushed. Are you alright?”

"Yes-yes Nick everything is fine." I stammered a little and replied.

"You're lying to me, I know..." Nick started but thankfully, Scott intervened.

"It's time Mr. Miller."

Scott turned towards the unknown men in suits and showed them where to sit. I felt so out of place here. I didn't even know where to sit. Everyone started to take their place. I jumped a bit when I felt a hand on my lower back.

"Sit to my left," Nick said in a no-argument tone. "And we will continue this conversation later."

God, I have to think of a lie to tell Nick.

I took my seat and noticed that the seat in front of me was empty.

It must be for 'the boss'.

Nick stood in front of everyone and the whispering in the room stopped immediately.

"Good evening everyone, if I am not wrong everyone must have found out by now what this meeting is about. The Golden Rose Hotel is merging with another hotel. This merger will propel GR into becoming one of the best hotels in the world and it won't stop there. We are also going to expand to different parts of the world. I'm quite excited about this mainly because I won't be seeing it through as I'll be retiring.” The crowd began to murmur.

“I'm an old man. I believe it's time to rest and hand over the reins to even capable hands that'll take this enterprise to a higher level. Without further ado, I would like to introduce my business partner."

 The feeling of dread took over me as Scott quickly opened the door to the waiting room. I nervously drummed my fingers on the table. People around me were looking at me with disgust for my lack of manners, but I couldn't bring myself to care about them. I heard footsteps coming towards the door. However, I felt his presence before I even looked at him.

No, it couldn't be. No, not him.

My hands froze on the table and I broke out in a cold sweat. His gaze bored right through me. I held my breath and slowly looked up to meet his piercing blue eyes.

Adam Knight.

To others, Adam Knight looks now and the one from five years ago is the same but I could tell the difference. His soft features were a bit hardened now. His playful, energetic, success-seeking eyes were now cold and full of arrogance. He had a five o'clock shadow and looked more muscular than the last time I saw him.

I could feel the world moving around me. I felt like I was in a daze. Who in the world was playing this cruel joke on me? I couldn't tear my eyes away. I gripped the chair tightly as he started to walk into the room. Nick was saying something but I couldn't hear it. Adam was looking at me and I couldn't look away even when I desperately wanted to. He took the seat right in front of me. I still couldn't believe that he was here sitting right in front of me. I suddenly felt claustrophobic. Tears threatened to spill, I gathered every strength I could muster and held them back.

Our staring contest was finally broken when Nick called out Adam. For the third time.

"Adam, are you alright?" Nick put a hand on Adam's shoulder in concern.

Finally taking his eyes off me, he looked at Nick and nodded. I found myself releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding. I looked around the room to avoid eye contact with Adam. Everybody was so fazed by Adam's presence that they failed to notice our little starting competition except one. Nick Miller.

When my gaze fell on Nick, he raised his eyebrow indicating that he noticed Adam and me looking at each other.

God, another interrogation, I groaned inwardly.

Nick knew I once upon a time had a husband who ditched me. He knows the whole story except for his name. I never told Nick his name. Now I have to come up with another reason for why I was staring at Adam.

"Now that I have everyone's attention I would like to announce a press conference for official releases of this news and after that a celebratory party from me to the new C.E.O of Miller Hotel Corporation. Adam if you could address the managers."

Adam stood up and took the center as Nick sat down. His muscles flexed as he moved and I gulped. A sudden memory of his arms wrapped around me flooded back into my mind.

I closed my eyes and thought, Oh stop torturing yourself, Claire.

'Good evening everyone..." Adam started saying and I drowned in his voice.

That husky, strong voice. I clenched my hands and took a deep breath I couldn't concentrate on what he was saying I was just listening to his voice. Once upon a time, I used to crave to listen to this voice. My day used to be incomplete without it.

It was too painful to be in the same room as him. His presence, his voice, and his gaze were too much for me to handle. I uneasily fidgeted in my seat so I could concentrate on anything else.

Suddenly I felt a thumping headache and everything blurred around me and his voice became heavy in my mind. I panicked and stood up and ran the hell out of the room.

I went out and leaned against the door of the conference room. I took deep breaths and calmed myself down. "Claire, are you alright?" a familiar voice called out.

I looked up to see Aden frantically getting up from one of the cabinets he was sitting on and coming to me. He was sitting there as if he knew I was going to come out panicked.

Just then, I realized that Aden already knew about this. About Adam being here.

"You knew, didn't you? That he was here. That Adam was here. This is what you wanted to tell me in the changing room." Tears that I held at bay began to pour "Why didn't you tell me? Why?"

 Aden pulled me away from the door and towards a secluded corner. He cupped my cheeks and tilted my face up.

“I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. But when I came into the changing room, you looked so pale that I couldn't tell you anything. I'm so sorry."

I started crying harder and Aden took me in his arms and stroked my tousled hair.

Hiccuping I pushed back from Aden and tried to calm myself down. Just as I thought things couldn't get any worse, I looked past Aden's shoulder and saw Adam standing behind us. Disgust and betrayal were clear in his eyes and even unknown to him a little amount of hurt too.