Three

Valeria's POV

I took the morning off to see my grandmother in the hospital, like I usually did.

I found her sitting up in bed, her nose nearly touching the magazine she was reading. As I watched, she stifled a yawn. I exhaled in relief, glad to see that she was in good form today. I loved this woman. She had raised me because my parents were not in the picture.

I didn't know why they had abandoned me. Whenever I tried to ask her questions about my parents, my grandma would go awfully quiet, and she would tell me that my parents and I were not meant to be together or to know things about each other.

But I knew she was not happy with the way things were because her greatest wish was for me to get married and start a family of my own before she died. She was always harping on that. She looked around, caught sight of me, and smiled.

"Come in, pumpkin. Come in," she called in her high, tremulous voice, as she waved me inside. "Why are you standing over there?"

"Hi, grams." I walked over to her hospital bed, planted a kiss on her weathered cheek. "You look really good today."

"I feel good too, though I'm kind of sleepy now."

"I can tell."

She yawned, set the magazine down, adjusted the pillows she was lying on.

"Tell me all about what you have been up to, dear," she said.

"I'll tell you later. I can tell that you are really sleepy, so sleep."

My grandma gave me a conspirational wink. "I didn't take a nap, though Ivy thought I did."

I grinned. "I won't tell her if you sleep now."

She nodded and closed her eyes. In a thrice, her regular breathing told me that she was asleep. Her nap was sure to be a long one. I left her hospital room after watching her for a while. I met Ivy and another nurse coming out of a ward after doing their rounds. Ivy smiled and gestured for me to wait for her on the hospital grounds. I did not have to wait long before she walked towards me.

"Hi, Val," she said.

"Ivy." We hugged briefly.

She pulled back to look at me. "You know, I'm still in awe of you for ending that ridiculous arrangement with Dimitri."

I sat and waved her statement away, doing my best to ignore the pain that lanced through my heart whenever I thought of Dimitri.

"Let's not talk about that anymore," I said. "Let's talk about the guy you set me up with. What's he like? Tall or really tall? Good looking or-"

"Whoa there! Hold your horses. It's a blind date, and I want you eager and anticipatory. No way I'm spilling the beans now."

I pouted. "That's not fair at all."

"Life's not fair," Ivy replied with a twinkle.

I let out a laugh and glanced at my watch, got to my feet. "I have to go to the office now. It's almost noon. I'll see you around."

Ivy and I said our goodbyes, and I headed to the office. As I made my way inside the building, I caught sight of Dimitri's broad back as he talked to the receptionist. She saw me, jerked her chin in my direction and said something to him. Dimitri turned immediately, and looked at me with blazing eyes. I swallowed. What have I done now?

'There she is," he said, as he angrily walked up to me. "You certainly took your sweet time getting to work today, didn't you? Do you realize that the company is very busy at this time?"

"Yes, but-"

"And yet you decide to take some hours off work without letting me know, without checking if that was okay with me."

"But-"

"Who on earth does that?"

Determined to speak this time, I raised my voice slightly. "I have done this several times before when I went to check on my grandma. You never had issues with it before. If-

He put up a hand, effectively cutting my words shut.

"Enough with the excuses," he barked. "Get to work and see me in my office in five minutes."

He turned on his heel and stomped away. With my own mood soured, I was in Dimitri's office in exactly five minutes. He was working on his computer when I came in, and didn't bother to raise his head.

"You will handle the Rosy William's account. Make sure you finish everything concerning the account before you leave my employ. Take the files in front of you. Work on them."

The files arranged in a pile on his table were so much. I blinked in surprise. "All of them?"

He said nothing for a while. Then he raised his head, fixed me with a piercing stare. "Yes. All of them. Is there a problem?"

My heart sank. The Rosy William's account was the toughest account the company was handling right now. Dimitri knew this and yet he was foisting the workload on me.

"No," I replied with a strained smile, and snatched up the files. "I still want to remind you about the issue of getting a new secretary that will replace me as soon as possible."

Other than the look of anger that flashed across his face as Dimitri typed, he gave no indication that he had heard me. I didn't leave my office for the rest of the day. Work kept me very busy.

When next I registered what the time was, I realized that I had a date in a couple of hours. I packed up my things hurriedly and left. I dashed home, took a bath and slipped into a dress I had put aside for this evening.

At the restaurant, I went straight to the table whose number Ivy had texted. Seated there was a dark haired man dressed in a pin striped suit who looked very familiar. It looked like-

"Noah?"

The man turned, his eyes widened as he saw me. He shot to his feet. "Valeria?" Noah pulled me into a hug which I returned. "Wow. Fancy seeing you here."

"Yeah. Wait a minute. Are you my er- What are you doing-"

"-here? I'm on a blind date."

"No way. That means you're my date."

I stared in surprise. I never expected my blind date would be Noah. He was my ex boyfriend at the university. We drifted apart and eventually broke up after he went abroad for further studies. With a smile, he drew up a chair for me, waved me into it.

"This is quite the coincidence, but a good one," he remarked. "You look stunning, by the way."

I smiled. "As do you."

"Let's order. Boy! do we have a lot to catch up on."

We ordered some food and wine, which soon arrived.

"It's been so long, Noah," I said as we ate.

"Uh huh. It feels like ages since we were in college. Remember how you always used to show up late to classes, until Professor Varner took it upon himself to always have you give a summary of his lectures in front of the whole class each time you came late." He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. "And you didn't make it easy for me. You were always at the back, making the most ridiculous and funny faces, just to make me laugh. You were supposed to be my moral support, you know."

Noah grinned unrepentantly. "What can I say? You always looked really pretty whenever you stood there, blushing in embarrassment. I wanted to see you blush for a little longer."

We laughed over that. After a while, I asked, "You look like you've done very well for yourself. What do you do now?"

"Oh. I'm er- the CEO of Alfred Group-"

Surprised, I laid down my fork. "The famous Alfred group?" He nodded. "Wow. You're really doing well for yourself."

Coincidentally, the Alfred Group was Dimitri company's biggest competitor. As I thought about how today seemed to be a day for coincidences, Noah's hand slid across the table to grip mine.

"I missed you, Valeria," he murmured. “So damn much,”