Meeting Horace

As Cali went out of the office, her phone chimed in her purse. She took it out to find out that Horace was calling her. He was also an orphan and they both lived in the same orphanage. An involuntary smile spread across her lips. And she picked up his call almost immediately. She forgot about all her troubles and pain in her life for a moment. It was always like this when it was him. He was like a loving brother that she never had.

"Hey, Horace. How are you doing?" She asked still smiling. "Oh, stop it. Okay? Why do you care anyways?" He said and her smile vanished. A frown took over her features. "What are you saying Ace? You know I care about you, a lot." She said truthfully.

"Oh, really? Then why were you not calling me? It has been

almost a month, you know that right?" He said with disappointment laced in his tone. Cali now understood what was wrong. She was so much caught up in her fucked up life that she didn't have time to call him. She sighed. "I am so sorry Ace. I was actually so much caught up here. Please forgive me? Please, please? Pretty please?" She said and heard him chuckle softly from the other end. And she knew that she was forgiven. "Okay, okay. You are forgiven, but, but, I have a condition."

He said. Cali hummed him to continue. "I am here in a restaurant just infront of your office. So, will you come here? Let us catch up, yeah?" Cali smiled at his condition and replied a quick yes and dashed into the restaurant infront, unaware of the pair of deep ocean blue eyes that were boring holes into her self.

.

.

.

He was standing there, near his office window, looking at the sky. The image of his beautiful wife wearing her pink nightie coming out of their bathroom that night was what he had in his mind. He could not wait to taste her again. Though he remembered clearly how she tasted and how good it was, he would never tell that to her. It would only boost her ego. And what he feared is that she would leave him if she kept living on with that ego of hers, and the thought of her leaving him, scared him. He could not let her go. He did not know about love but she had become his obsession now, that was for sure. At first, she was a challenge for him, but after that night, everything changed. Now, he craved for her. Only he knew, how difficult it was staying away from her for ten long days for him. Although he always went home secretly at night without letting anyone know just to have a glance at her while she slept. Her serene face made him feel at ease. Even though he could not cuddle her in his arms tightly, like he wanted to, he would just place a light but lingering kiss on her soft and plump lips. It was enough to keep him sane for the time being.

He was lost in his blissful little bubble of thought when he

noticed a familiar, actually a very familiar figure standing at a distance from the exit of his office building. She was on her phone. His scrutinizing gaze was now set on her. What was she doing out there? Her working hours were not over yet. Oh, then he remembered that she had taken the remaining day off. And he granted it because he thought that she might be tired and would go home to have some rest.

Then, she sprinted towards the restaurant right infront of the office building. Why was she going in there? Did not she just have her lunch a while ago? Was she going to meet someone there? But whom? As far as he knew, his wife didn't have much friends or relatives. The only friend she had here was Jasmine. He was now getting all vexed. So, he decided to go there as well. Just as he was picking up his phone to go out, someone knocked on his door. He allowed whoever the person was outside the door to come in, much to his dislike. Now, he just wanted to fly out of the window and into the restaurant where his wife was doing God knew what.

The door creaked opened and came in Jasmine. Just the sight of her, irked him. Only they knew that they didn't have any relation between them. They were never once involved in any sexual relation, other than kissing, and that too just infront of Cali. However, Jasmine didn't have any idea that her boss was trying to get his wife jealous there, who happened to be Cali Ruth. And she never questioned it. Because firstly, she didn't have the courage to ask her cold and indifferent boss and secondly, she was getting quite a handsome paycheck for putting up this act. She sauntered inside the office and looked at her boss who was looking all frustrated. She gulped visibly. "I don't have the whole day, Ms. Winter." He said in an intimidating tone.

"Sir, this is my leave application. Could you please approve it." She said internally fearing about his outburst. He was obviously not in the mood.

"Keep it on the table and leave." He said getting ready to go out but then Jasmine again stopped him. "Sir, actually I am going to leave tomorrow and I would need some money. So..." She trailed off. Cain immediately understood what she meant. The paycheck for her acting. She was a part time escort, so this kind of acting was not difficult for her. She was even ready to climb up to his bed, but he didn't want it. He had his wife for that. He had just hired her for the job to make his wife jealous.

"You will get your pay by tomorrow morning. Now you may leave." He said with a finality in his voice. She immediately put the application on the table and scurried out of his office.

He then hurriedly went out to go into the restaurant. The

only thing that occurred in his mind was his wife.

......

She entered the small restaurant and immediately spotted Horace sitting at one of the corner seats, sipping on a cup of tea. As soon as his eyes fell on her approaching figure, he stood up and reached her half way to hug her lovingly. And she hugged him back. "So." He said, smiling brightly at her.

"So?" Horace was looking at her with a mischievous glint in

his eyes. "How is your life going?" He asked her making her smile. "I mean married life?" He said smirking. Her smile threatened to falter at his question. He didn't know about how their marriage had happened or how their married life was. She had told him that they got married because they both fell in love with each other. And he bought it since she was working as an intern in his company. He thought that their love story was a cliché one. A typical love story between the boss and his employee.

She managed not to let her smile slip off her face as she innocently said, "Yeah, it is going quite well." He was genuinely happy for her. Though he could not come for her wedding, he always wished her well since he loved her as his own sister. He always wanted her to be happy. He was well aware of how difficult her childhood was back in the orphanage.

He gently held her by her arms and kissed her forehead lovingly.

"I am so happy for you. You finally found the one who is meant for you. Finally (Chuckling softly) you are going to have the 'happily ever after' like you used to read in those fairy tales in our childhood." He said softly. As he was going to continue, a growl was heard by them from behind. "Get your hands off her." And she froze in her place. That voice. She could recognize that voice anywhere. It was him. But what was he doing here?