CHAPTER 28

The hurt lingered, like a dull pain that refused to dissipate alongside with my refusal to believe that Parrish ignoring me was intentional. I stood on that podium trying with everything in me to avoid the blankness in Parrish’s eyes as I delivered my pitch. He looked at me, our eyes jammed countless of times but there was no emotion there and most times he would lean over to Celeste who was seated beside him, whispering in her ears and she’ll giggle with her hands over her mouth. My face heated up with rage and jealousy as I watched them and at the same time tried to stayed focused, and even when I rounded up my pitch, he hadn’t noticed, he was looking at her when he was supposed to be looking at me.

I wrapped up the presentation followed by the applause of my colleagues and that was when Celeste looked up at me, indifference in her eyes and she smiled.

“Lovely, just lovely – Jessica Peters is it?” she said, her Russian accent flowing smoothly on her tongue and smiling at me like she