Position

BASH

“Why didn’t you tell me that her fiancé died? I could have avoided asking her about him, Lizzy.”

She sighs from the other line. I couldn’t sleep after what I just found out about her relationship. It breaks my heart to see her in such pain, and I can’t do anything to help her.

“Bash, she needs you. She may laugh, jokes around, or pushes you away, but she suffered a lot losing her fiancé. She needs the Bash that she used to know. She needs her best friend,” Lizzy says softly, convincing me.

“She doesn’t need me, Lizzy. You can’t push her on me if she doesn’t want me, and I can’t force what we had to be back to normal. All she needs is to accept her loss and move on. She has you as a friend.” The frown deepens on my forehead. Honestly, I don’t want to be just her friend anymore. I want to be wanted. I want to be someone she needs, not because she was my best friend.

“You didn’t get it, Bash.”

“Tell me then, Lizzy.” I close my eyes.

“You can bring back the old Trinity. Haven’t you notice? She is trying to be strong, but it doesn’t feel right because she is fooling herself. Deep inside, she is broken. You broke her, and then, she’s broken again when her fiancé died.” Lizzy blames me. I know it, and a part of me, I blamed myself too.

“I didn’t break her, Lizzy.” I ignore the pang inside my chest and the fact that she shoves into my face.

“Do tell, Bash. Aren’t you broken too?” she asks, demanding an answer.

“Just drop it, Lizzy. My case is different. It’s not like that,” I clarify awkwardly.

“What is your case then? And how it isn’t like that? You jumped to conclusions, and then you didn’t come to visit again for over three years, and you avoided anything about her. You always walked away when we were talking about her. Tell me, baby brother.” She sounds pissed. She has the right to because she cares a lot about Trinity. They became best friends while I’m gone.

I don’t know what to tell her because I know she’s right. I didn’t come to spend a vacation for three years after what I saw on my first visit. Since then, I have stayed in London and let my family come to visit me. I never asked anyone about her or even checked her on social media. I didn’t realize how much I was hurt when I saw her that night.

“Whatever, Lizzy, and I didn’t call you to lecture on me. I remember asking you why didn’t you tell me,” I retort.

“Bash, didn’t I mention to you that you avoided anything has to with her?”

I slump myself to the couch, defeated. I can’t fight with Lizzy.

“Remember I told you that it isn’t too late? It isn’t, is it? Now, it’s time for you to be a better friend or better be more than a friend.” She starts giggling.

“Lizzy, it’s not the right time for that.”

“Oh, really? So, when will it be?” she asks, sounding hopeful.

“She doesn’t even trust me, and I don’t even know how to befriend her.” I don’t even know what to do or how to start. Trinity seems so close to me—she’s a grasp away, but her heart and mind are so far.

“Yay! My baby brother needs his big sissy’s help. Leave it to me, baby Bash.”

“Whatever.” I roll my eyes at that annoying nickname.

***

“Morning,” I greet her with enthusiasm.

I didn’t sleep well last night. I kept turning in bed after my phone call with my sister. I don’t know how to get back the old Trinity, but I want her back pretty bad, and I will accept anything she can offer even if it’s just an acquaintance or an officemate for as long as I can talk to her every day. I know it sounds desperate, but I need her help too.

But seeing her today is worth a sleepless night. She’s already in her office, hustling on the keyboard, and her green eyes are focused on the screen. She turns her swivel chair when she hears me.

She’s wearing a cream-colored blouse with ruffles in front and a dark red knee-length skirt and white four inches high heels. Her hair curled messily. I guess the red lipstick is her signature because she looks gorgeous.

“Good morning, Boss.” She rises from her seat, pulling down her skirt, then smoothens it. She smiles tightly without showing her perfect teeth. But she looks better today compares to our last encounter in this office.

Trinity is jaw-droppingly beautiful.

“You’re here early.” I check my watch. It’s twenty-five minutes after eight.

“I’m always here before the eight-thirty, boss. Our reporting time is eight-thirty while boss like you is nine sharp,” she says, picking up the iPad, tapping her red-manicured finger on the screen.

“What’s with the boss thing, Trinity? I thought we already agreed about it in our first meeting.”

“I have a good memory, Hughes,” she answers with a hint of a smile on her lips.

“Good because I have a good memory too.” I finally break into a smile.

She smiles back at me. “Okay, then. Can I get you a coffee or something? We have the coolest high-tech coffee machine here in your building.”

I grab the iPad from her grasp. “I know my calendar for today, Tri. You already sent me an email last night about my schedule unless you made some changes.” I put down the iPad back on her desk.

She’s still standing like a runway model. I grab her left hand, and she freezes. “We’ll go out to buy coffee,” I tell her, but she doesn’t move.

I look at her, and she’s looking at me with slightly wide eyes. She blinks and licks her lips. I can’t help but look down at her full red lips when a pink color starts to bloom on her cheeks.

Shit!

“Um, I can go and buy if you don’t like the coffee in the building, or we can just ask your driver to buy for us,” she suggests with uncertainty.

“Trinity, I could’ve bought for us if I wanted to, but I want to walk with you to buy coffee.”

She rolls her eyes. “You know, I don’t do that kind of thing.”

“I know. Now move your lazy ass, and you’re coming with me.”

She’s still not moving as she tries to slip her hand from my grip. Her features change instantly from the sweet Trinity to a distant one.

“Trinity, you can lower your guards down now, and you don’t have to put up walls between us. It’s just me. and I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Hurt me? You hurt me once, Bash, and if I let you in into my life again, there’s a possibility that you can hurt me again. I just celebrated my first anniversary with my fiancé, and I have to celebrate it alone in his grave instead of doing it in the restaurant with him or in our hotel room.”

I loosen the grip. My face falls, and my heart hurts. She pulls her hand quickly as soon as she gets the chance.

She walks past me. “Let’s go. I still have work to do.”

Following her, she strides out of my office to my dad’s private elevator. She gestures her hand. I slide the key card that’s exclusive only for my family.

“I’m not gonna hurt you intentionally, Trinity.”

She gets in the elevator and mutters under her breath, “I wish.”

We are both silently standing side by side as the lift shuts close in front of us. I can sense the tension in the small gap between us. The only things I can hear are my breathing and the whirring of the elevator as it brings us down. I can smell the flowery fragrance of her perfume—that’s how close we are, but the distance seems so miles away.

“You look beautiful today, Trinity.” I glance down at her beside me.

“Thanks.”

My lips curve to smile. “Don’t you think you wear taller high heels?”

Her head snaps, glaring up at me with a cocked brow. “I love my shoes, and what’s with the judgment, Mr. All-perfect?” She’s gorgeously sassy.

“I’m not judging you, Tri, but we will walk down the street. Your feet might hurt, you know,” I chuckle.

“Making fun of me already, huh? Just so you know, I wear high heels just right.”

“I’m not making fun of you, in fact, I think I should pass a regulation banning you from wearing high heels,” I say, without breaking eye contact.

Her face turns pink, and her lips slightly parted. Tempting. And there’s a part of me that notices her. I can just push her against this elevator wall and kiss her lips until swollen, but I value the little trust she’s giving me. If there is any.

“Don’t flirt with me. You are my boss, and we’re best friends.”

My heart thumps in my chest. A full grin spreads on my lips. “It only takes a single flirt to prove, huh, Trinity?”

Her face lights up and smiles at me. A lovely smile. she bumps her elbows on my arm. “Shut up, Bash!” God, how I missed this.

I let her out first as soon as the elevator slides open.

Following her to the glass revolving door out of Hughes Building, I press my hand on her back to let her moves closer to me since it’s still rush hour, and we can’t help to bump with people in suits, rushing against the time. The honking of vehicles and the smell of fumes are everywhere as we are getting far from the building.

“Tri, are you sure it’s okay for you to walk? I’m worried about your feet.” I notice my driver Edmund following us.

Her legs look sexier and longer on those heels. I guess, I just like women wearing high heels.

“Oh, just now you are worried when we are near the shop?” she gives me an odd look.

I can clearly see her green irises. She coated some mascara on her lashes, although they’re thick enough not to notice them.

“You don’t want me to carry you, Tri. I’ve no problem carrying you piggyback though,” I joke.

“You did that before, remember? When we sneaked out to watch Maroon 5 concert?”

I laugh. “How will I forget when you wore that tiny purple dress to impress Adam Lavine. What were you thinking? We’re going to a concert, not to a nightclub.”

She laughs.

God! I always love her laugh. So rich and free, and it always makes my heart flutter.

“Then my car broke down. We can’t find a taxi, and our phones were shut off.”

I cut her off. “Because you consumed our phone batteries just to take video and photos of them.”

She laughs boisterously and grips my arm. “Then my feet hurt like hell. I had blisters. Oh, my god! That didn’t happen again.”

“At least you got a best friend to carry you.”

“Oh, and you almost punch that beggar when he said, “Yo! Watta ass there, folks!” she mimics the beggar’s voice.

I laugh with her.

We decided to take our coffee and blueberry muffins to the office. My phone vibrates in my pocket when we are halfway back to the building.

“Dad, good morning,” I answer cheerfully.

“Is that you that I see walking down the street?” Dad asks over the phone with a hint of a tease.

I let my eyes scan the crowd, but I can’t find him anywhere.

“Maybe? Maybe not?” I reply with a smirk.

“I think I just saw you, son, with a redhead beside you, laughing.”

I bite my lip to hide my smile. “A redhead? I’m with Trinity, but her hair is orange.”

Dad laughs as I look down at Trinity with creased brows. I wink at her, causing her to blush. I mouth her cute, and she rolls her eyes.

“You seem to get along now, son. Can I give her a proper position now? You know she’s just your temporary assistant, right?”

My stomach rolls. My smile fades instantly. “Dad, can we talk about it later. I’ll come to your office whenever you’re free,” I say profoundly.

“She needs a position, Bash. She has worked hard since her internship. Don’t be selfish. She deserves this position that she worked hard to earn it. You can still see each other outside the work,” Dad says with an authoritative tone.

“Dad, please? Let me get to my office. Give me three minutes of your time, please.”

“Bash, I can’t let the position empty for long. She is needed there. I won’t let that happen for your own self-interest.”

I know Dad very well. He’s ruthless and strict when it comes to work and business.

“What’s the position?”

“Financial Analyst.”

My eyes grow a little bigger. “Dad, I’ll be in your office in less than five minutes.” I look at my wristwatch as I enter the elevator.

Dad hangs up the phone call. He can’t put her in that position. She just graduated with less experience. She may be my best friend, will be on my team, under my wings, but I need someone who is more experienced than her.

Oh, is that really what you want, or do you want her all to yourself?

“Is everything okay?”

I blink off the jumbled thoughts in my head. She’s still carrying a bag of our muffins while I have our coffee.

“Yeah. Everything is alright, beautiful.”

“Stop saying like that every time we are in the elevator.”

“Do you think I will only say that if we are in the elevator, Trinity?”

“Answer that, Bash,” she snaps.

“You know that was not the first time I said you are beautiful. You must have forgotten it already.”

“Lizzy’s eighteen birthday,” she responds.

“Nope. Your eighth birthday. You were wearing a tinker bell costume.”

Her eyes grow wide as if it finally clicks together.

“You can’t remember that, can you?”

She shakes her head.

We enter my office, and I put down our coffee on my desk. She places a bag beside our coffee.

“Sit down, Tri. I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?”

“To see dad.”

I stride my way upstairs to dad’s office when Elle said he’s expecting me. I push his office door open without knocking.

My jaw drops with my eyes almost pop out from each socket.

“Fuck me.”