Chapter 5

It was about 8 in the evening. After doing some light stretches to relieve myself of the exhaustion of sitting all day long, I flopped back on the chair. My hands reached for the first drawer of my desk to pull something out, something that had been a major cause of stress these days.

Opening up the red velvety box, I stared at the sparkling ring. Two days ago, Dustin gave this to me, more like left me with it, and now I had no idea what to do with it. He wasn't picking up my calls, he wasn't answering my texts, he wasn't ready to listen to me at all.

Taking out the ring, I slid it on my finger. The sight of the gorgeous ring on my hand made me smile a little. I loved him, I had loved him for four years. Before all of this happened, before I was given the responsibility of this multinational company, we were so happy and nothing could bring me more joy than being his wife.

But things were different now. Marriage was not on my mind right now. I had so many responsibilities first. I couldn't enter a marriage when I didn't even have time to take breakfast most days.

Taking the ring off my finger, I rested my head against the seat and closed my eyes. Before any sleep could overpower me, someone knocked on the door.

"Yes?" I asked Stav.

"There is someone here to meet you. Patty Dancel," he said.

Hearing the name of one of the very few friends I had left, I asked him to send her in. A few minutes later, Patty entered the room and her presence instantly brought her weird energy. Big eyes, flawless pale skin, fiery red hair. Patty was a gorgeous sight to look at. But the minute she opened her loud mouth, one couldn't help but look for some noise cancelling headphones.

"Well, well, well, look who is this sexy piece of ass? My best friend of course! Alice!” she screamed as she ran towards me with open arms. I stood up and returned to her hug briefly, well as brief as it could be because Patty was a big hugger. Stav tried to control his smile on hearing this and I eyed him to leave the room before my friend could say something worse.

"You didn't call me before coming," I whispered.

"Who are you and what have you done to my friend? When did we start calling each other before meeting, hot stuff?" she said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, you are right. My bad," I said and sat down.

"First tell me, where did you hide your sexy assistant for so long?" she asked, staring at Stav through the window between our offices.

"I just hired him two days ago," I told her.

"Still, if I were you, I would ride him until-"

"Patty!" I yelled and walked towards the window to close it before he could hear anything. Stav's eyes reached me and a hint of a smirk lingered on his mouth.

"Sorry. I forgot you were dating Dustin. Let me tell you, that chef is just as vanilla as you," she said as she opened up her handbag and popped up an M&M in her mouth.

Could she be any louder?

"Don't worry about him. I think I have ruined our relationship for good," I whispered under my breath but she heard it anyway.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her posture changed immediately and she leaned forwards.

"I..." I sighed. "He was going to propose but I messed up."

She silenced for a moment, pondering over the situation. "Oh. That sounds serious."

"It is," I said and showed her the ring.

"Have you talked to him yet?" she asked, holding the ring in her hand. "Damn, it must have cost him a ton. How much does he earn anyway?"

"He isn't answering my calls or texts," I told her, ignoring her second question.

"He will come around. Despite what I said earlier, he is a nice man," she said. "Basic and boring, but nice."

I changed the topic of our discussion to her life. She still lived the life of a college girl. She ran a boutique, partied, enjoyed her life to the very best and didn't plan each minute of her day like me. Some days, I wished I could be more like her, but when she told me about the pregnancy scare she had last week, the thought immediately vanished from my mind.

We were busy in our conversation when the door suddenly opened and Stav walked in. "I brought coffee," he said and placed the tray containing two cups on the table. "I don't know how you take it so I brought extra sugar and creamer," he said to Patty.

"Why thank you, darling. By the way, how was heaven when you left it?" She winked at him while I just groaned internally at her cheesy pickup line.

"And I thought the sandwich I had for lunch was cheesy." Stav smirked. "I have a better one. I seem to have lost my phone number. Can I get yours?"

"Damn, son. I already like you," she said and extended her hand for a high-five.

"Are you done now?" I asked Stav who nodded. "Leave."

"Whatever you say, ma'am," he said with a blank face, staring right into my eyes. I kept returning his stare until he backed away and walked out of the office.

"Easy, bitch. Let your employees breathe," Patty said once he had left.

"Patty! Don't use the B-word at the office. I have a reputation to maintain here," I warned her angrily.

"Whatever, bitch," she repeated with a smirk and I rolled my eyes.