Our orders finally arrived and we begin to dig in. Right after her first bite, Kendra is excited to know about my news. I first feel awkward sharing things in front of Nikolai, but since I already decided to accept him, I think more meetings and setup like this will happen in the near future, so might as well be more comfortable with him. “Well, K, as you already knew, the guy I met in Austria is actually here in The States, and I just met him today,” I excitedly share the bean. “Well, isn’t that great, A? Is there any progress? Did you jump at him now?”, Kendra frankly asks so Nikolai bumps her shoulder with his, but she sulks at him and explains, “What? This is how we talk, duh?”I laugh at them, “Well, I didn’t jump at him, but he may have jumped at me?”, I teased them. And I shared the story about how I felt embarrassed at first, then the hot scene inside the conference room, and how that red-haired woman grimaced at me when she finally realized that I am his woman. I actually
My whole body suddenly gets numb as I hear the voice, the only voice that has a huge impact on me, a voice that I can literally recognize even just for a mile. Right at that moment, my surroundings seem to stop, and only I can move, I don’t know if it is the alcohol or not, but now, I can clearly see Dee’s face.My body is parallel to his, and his arms are now supporting me, then he brushes my nose again with his finger like he always does,“You naughty woman, why are you putting yourself out here in danger? Don’t you see guys are already undressing you in their minds?” his stern voice says.“And what do you mean by danger when she’s with me? Who the hell are y-”, K is unusually much more wasted than I am, so I immediately cover her mouth and whisper to her, “He’s Dmitri Sullivan, the guy that I’ve been telling you?”Her eyes open wide and her jaw drops, she eyes Dmitri from head to foot and utters, “He’s the guy who’s been getting in your pants? He’s damn hot.”I signal Nikolai to ge
I continue listening to their conversation in secret. I just can’t believe what I heard. How will I face Dmitri knowing all about this? How will Dee react? Will he distance himself again? Or will he hold it against me or Kendra? How about K? Should I tell her or not?My mind is so confused right now that I can’t even take another step towards them, so I decided to just go back to Kendra’s, who seems not so herself today. I thought, does she know about all of this? Curiously, I ask her.“Err, K, I hope you won’t be mad, but, did you ever research about Nikolai’s family or his wife specifically?” then I let out a sigh and wait for her to answer.She looks at me with those reddish eyes probably from throwing up earlier. Then she asks me to come to her and softly answers, “Honestly? No. I tried to look it up before but every time I do, I just can’t seem to look at them: the family I am destroying, the woman who’s hurting, the innocent kids who are about to lose their father.”Then her tea
Frustrated as I am, I cry my all inside the cab, and scream a lot while the driver just stares at me, “What?” I hiss at him.“I said what’s your destination?”, the driver asks, slightly upset with my attitude.“Just keep on going and circle around the city. I’ll pay you just don’t stop driving,” I rudely say to him.“Lady, I am running by meter, are you sure-”, the driver doubts my financial capability. I wonder if I look poor to him.“Yes, and just so you know I am pretty damn rich, so please just drive and let me have my sentiments,” I yell at him. I look at the outside city and breathe through the window to relieve my stress.Wasted and distressed, I didn’t notice that there were ten missed calls from a restricted number. So when it calls again, I manage to answer it. My mood is still off so I rudely take the call, “Who the hell is this?”“Where are you, Avery?” the cold voice questions without answering mine.“And why would I tell you when you can’t even answer mine?”, I launch my
After Seid’s visit, I finally sober up, and I remember that no matter how mad I am with Dmitri, he is still the one that I like. But it will never be easy to accept that we have different logic at some point. Now I remember how I bolted up earlier, and I could feel a little embarrassment. I drink the last drop of my coffee and clean the mugs we used.Just like now, even if I want to call him, I have no idea how to contact him. He doesn’t want me to have his number or even his office’s number, but he can call me anytime. I didn’t even give him my number, but he found it anyway. A mixture of unjust feelings and frustration is what I have right now. But I need to accept our differences if I want to be with him. I take a deep sigh.I get my pouch, turn off all the lights and make sure my office is locked and head home to my apartment. I take a cab once again and go straight to my house.***The elevator dings and I get off. I slowly walk to my apartment door, while I search for my keycard
“I am not jealous,” he clears his throat and answers defensively, like a male species who don’t want to be a laughing stock.“Oh, really, then, you don’t have the right to question me about anything, do you agree?” I rebut sarcastically. “At least Seid and I had closure because we used to have a beginning. What about us? We can’t close something, because we never started anything at all. If you like open relationships with no label, please, not me. Because I can’t tolerate that,” I continue while shaking my head, still eyes intact to him.“Why are you so fixated on being in a relationship when you’ve seen how worse it can be? Cheating husband? Busy boyfriend? Mistress? Huh?”, he pounds the wall behind him.“Are you talking about Nik and K? Siegfried and I? How about you, you’ve never been in a relationship with someone you love dearly, have you?” I confront him.“Exactly, why would I if I’ve seen relationships are fake, always crumbling and falling, giving heartaches?” he fights for w
“Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the master of all these magnificent artwork, Jodie Russels,” I open the exhibit and welcome all the guests to their hearts’ content.After my opening speech, I straightly go down from the stage and look for Kendra, who’s been MIA since her last call with Seigfried.A hand grabs me and pulls me behind the stage, when I look back it was Nikolai. Suddenly, the rage I feel for him for being a married man rushes back.“Avery,” he whispers. I glare at him and rudely answer, “What? And you have the nerve to bring her here, huh? What the fuck Nikolai?”“I am sorry. I didn’t we will be going here. Dmitri sets it all up,” he defends.“Oh, right? Your brother-in-law, right?”, I scowl at him. His eyes widen. “Yes, Nikolai, I heard the two of you talking that night,” I add to answer the confusion in his face.“Did she know?”, he looks down and whispers.I sigh deeply, “No, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. I am such an asshole best friend.”“I am sor
“Are you okay, Ava?”, Seid asks and helps me sit down. I nod at him and continuously cry as I remember when I had those eyes, I remember those times, the day I went to Italy, was when my parents died of an accident.I could see Dmitri’s figure still standing up, I slightly tilt my head and look in his direction, his gaze are still fixated on the portrait. When the host opens the bid, a lot goes for it. It has the highest bid now from all the artwork.Then Seid asks me, “Do you want to have it?” I smile at him and say nothing.So he tops up the bid without any hesitation. He keeps on topping up every bid there is and is looking forward to winning it, but with just two words coming out of Dmitri’s lips, everything goes silent.“Five hundred,” Dmitri says. And it isn’t just bucks, we are talking about grand. I look at him surprised but he didn't look back in my direction.“Going once,” the host says.“I am sorry Ava, I can’t top that,” Seid humbly admits his defeat. So I comfort him by s