Tina’s POVA buzz went through the hall at Simon’s retreating form,‘The idiot, he successfully put a bounty on my head’Hushed whispers go around and people glance at me in unbelief.They were probably wondering how insignificant me was able to grab the attention of a whole Simon Valero.I take one look at the shock on Miss Debra’s face and feel like telling her that she got it all wrong, if only to put her out of her misery. ‘He probably wants me to pack my bags and leave quietly’ I feel like yelling at them all.‘What are you waiting for Miss Tina, shouldn’t you go after him’ she recovered enough to remember she was supposed to be a manager not some hormonal teenager pining after the male species.‘Today is still a long way from ending’ I mumble under my breath but I rise from my desk and head to the door.Adam gives me a thumb up as I head out.I get to the elevator and wait for it to arrive.While waiting I think of how to act, the approach to adopt when dealing with Simon.Shou
‘The weekend’, I breathed fresh evening hair as I arrived at the playground.It was a Saturday evening and I had planned to meet Bella at the playground so Ajax and her daughter could have a fun time, while we catch up.My first weekend as a corporate worker. I enjoyed the bliss of my weekend being free whereas at the restaurant I would have had to take one shift. I was thoroughly prepared to enjoy my weekend.I take another lungful of air blissfully rid of my nose mask. In the park everyone was engrossed with their kids so nobody would pay attention to me.I run to hug Bella while Ajax rushes to the swings with Bella’s daughter.‘Careful’ we both call out to our children.‘It’s been soo long, how has work been?’ Bella embraces me again.‘Work has been fine, what of the restaurant, how was your morning shift’ I ask ‘The restaurant was busy as always, but enough of that we both know how the restaurant is, tell me about your company’‘Don’t forget to include your granite faced ex-husba
Walking in through the glassy entrance to trove drove tremors through me, there was the lingering frustration that Simon was existing in the same building as I was, which brought about the fact that I could run into his icy figure at any point in time.I scanned the lobby for his granite face, once, twice while waiting for the elevator to arrive.Ding, relief coursed through me, thank goodness executives took a different elevator or there would have been the possibility of us riding the elevator together.Just the thought of us being in the same cramped space had me balling my fists in anger. The fact that he had this much effect on me, that just the thought of him drove series of emotions through me was another annoyance.I walked into my surprisingly quiet department and went straight to my desk. I had expected it to be noisy but everyone was busy working. Even Adam greeted me with only a wave and went back to staring at his system.I guess the excitement of the merger and meeting
‘Smile brightly, don’t think of the past, he’s your boss, you need this job’ walking to Simon’s office I had this mantra playing in my head on repeat.I had to survive this presentation without blowing up, I was in my workplace as Simon had so threatingly reminded me ofI relaxed my hands that had balled into fists rumpling the printed report. I smoothen it out and go through it again.Thank goodness it wasn’t much seeing as Trove was not a company with a lot of press.It shouldn’t be that hard to explain a ten page report to him.‘Breath in, breath out’ I knock loudly on the door and walk in after his muffled ‘come in’His head was buried in papers and he didn’t even look up as I walked in.I clear my throat.‘A minute’ he holds a finger up without looking at me.I stand there awkwardly shifting from foot to foot.My smile was still plastered on my face and I refused to break my resolve. I refuse to be angry.He raises his head and my smile falters,‘What did I say about refusing to
‘Mum, that man looks familiar, I think I know him’ ice broken, I turn towards Adam who has his face scrunched in concentration. ‘He’s my boss, dear, you’ve not met him before’ Adam looks at the TV once more, it had shifted to a different news. He shrugs his shoulders and continues eating finishing his food. I go back to mine glancing at Adam to see him finishing his too, I guess his suspicion had died down seeing as there was no picture for comparism. If one looked at both Simon and Ajax together, it was hard to miss the uncanny resemblance in their inky black eyes, the slant of their nose, the shape of their lips or in their small cat like ears. Coupled with the fact that I told Adam we had history, it won’t be hard for him to put two and two together. Even if he didn’t ask me it won’t be hard for him to go make his own findings, I hoped beyond hope that I had not done the wrong thing by telling Adam that I had history with Simon. ‘You’re not done eating? it’s getting la
“Shock, confusion, disbelief”, a torturous mix of emotions rush through me. The murmuring continues, spiking to full volume as everyone turn their eyes towards me waiting for my reaction. Where before they fixed me with shifting gazes, pretending to be busy with something once my eyes met theirs, they now stared at me openly. Open, unmoving gazes fixed on me like hungry wolves waiting to pounce. Obviously, the conversation had been going on for a while. I scoff wondering what brought about the ridiculous thinking in the first place. Even if Simon got me a million dollars worth of jewelry, it won’t even touch my hands in the first place talk less of finding its way to my neck. ‘It’s not your business where she got the necklace, it’s like you’ve all got nothing better to do’ Adam glares at all the unflinching, unmoving gazes. ‘There’, I snap out of my confused daze, I place a palm and Adam’s arm. ‘It’s true, I saw you on Monday clutching it in your hand when you left hi
Simon's POV You could almost hear my teeth grind from the hard set to my jaw as I walked back to my office. ‘The gal of that woman, privately dissing me even among a group of people' My mind goes back to her eyes on me as the sarcastic words rolled out of her mouth. Her eyes, watching me, expecting a reaction and gloating when she got what she wanted. I chided myself for reacting at that exact moment, I just successfully confirmed the underlying meaning in her words. I get to my office and run my hands through my hair, pacing about the office in slow strides. My mind travels to the cause of the problem in the first place. ‘Why, at this time, why did she leave me open to humiliation by the hand of this annoying woman' Taking out my phone from where it was stuffed in my pocket, I raise I to eye level, staring at the screen for any message from Sarah. I look to our chats, check my messages, emails but I’m met with the same crushing disappointment that I had always be
Tina’s POV.The walk to Adam’s office was not as nerve racking as it always had been, I was in high spirits.Even the ding of the elevator was musical, I was still basked in the triumph of a few minutes ago.Considering the sarcastic statement I threw Simon’s way, I expected a withering look before he left but small victories are also welcome.The fact that I was able to get that amused smile off his face was blissful enough.Thank goodness I had gotten that part when Bella talked about the gossip tabloids she had read about Simon. She called it ‘knowing your enemy’ but I had put it off as her enjoying gossip.Now I was thankful at the chance I had at actually knowing my enemy.She had constantly talked about Simon’s declining love life that it was hard for it to not have stuck.I’m almost at Simon’s door when I see Adam walk out, fuming.Anger rolled of him in waves as he his fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly.He glares at the door like he was trying to burn a hole through it.
Taking deep breaths, our eyes still rest on each other and my hands fumble for the phone in my pocket, not eager to break this tiny slip in time.That loud ringing again and my eyes flutter close as I try to ground myself in reality, my chest rising and falling as I take in calming breaths,Sliding my eyes open, I peer at my phone screen seeing an alarm for Simon’s first schedule of the day.I close my eyes again, taking another long breath, making sure my voice won’t crack when I try to speak,‘You have a meeting with the CEO in ten minutes’, my voice sounds a little above a whisper, despite all my calming breaths,I turn my eyes back to him, seeing him close his eyes and take a deep breath, running his hands through his hair again,He stands abruptly, not saying a word to me, slicking his hair back with his hands, aiming for that semi-perfect look from earlier.Walking towards his desk he grabs his suit from it, sliding it on, adjusting his collar.I stand up to, trying my b
‘Where were we’, Simon walks into his office the next morning, adjusting the cufflinks on his sleeve, suit in hand, dark orbs on me,The clipped, hurried sound of his footsteps as he walked towards his desk had my head in a spin.The morning sun shining through the window and beautiful morning weather did nothing to quell the storm brewing in my heart,I try to push it down remembering the day before.‘Mom!!’, Ajax had rewarded me with an excited squeal and a hug when I picked him up early,‘Let’s eat out, let’s eat out’, with that same excited voice, he bugged me till I found a small restaurant secluded enough for our dinner,Spending extra hours with my son helped to reduce the hollow building in my heart to something inconsiderable,But now, Simon is bringing everything up again, unearthing conflicting feelings best left buried.A deep sigh exhales my lips,‘Good morning to you too’, I eye him annoyed,‘Sir’, I add honorifics after second thought,‘Didn’t want to start t
I find myself at the rooftop again, after dumping the bag of overturned pasta in the trash.The breeze from the rooftop did little to quell the building hollow in my heart, the hollow that always found it’s way to me after heated conversations with Simon.A hollow that left me with a deep-seated cold after blood boiling conversations with him.Afternoon sun beating down on my head, light breeze blowing across my face, I try to focus on the birds in flight in the sky and not the cold in my heart.A strand from my hair comes loose and I brush it back, feeling a greasy stain on my forehead,I glance at my hands and see it stained brown from sauce, folding it together to avoid staining my clothes I make a mental note to remember to wash off my forehead.My stomach growls again at the slight sight of food, it grumbles loudly, protesting my blatant disrespect for food.‘Right, right, I got it, never throwing food away again, even if that ass got it for me’, I smile looking down at my
‘Tina, stay, please, eat with me, don’t leave!’My eyes sweep in the direction of his voice, drawn to the magnetic pull of his voice,I find myself lost as my eyes lands on his.‘His eyes!’ my heart beats funny in my chest,They were whirlpools of sadness, longing etched unto the swirls of his magnetic gaze,I tried to utter an excuse, to spit out words rehearsed, words that always lay at the tip of my tongue, ready to be used in swift rejection, should Simon breach the terms of our contract.‘I…I’m not hungry’, I mentally face palm at the sorry excuse for rejection,My stomach rumbled, loudly, and I cringe at the resounding sound, my face heating from embarrassment,‘What the hell happened to ‘I’m not obligated to eat with you’ or, ‘an employer and his employee are not meant to eat together’’, I chide myself further, taking a few steps towards the door to flee Simon’s hypnotic gaze and my increasingly reddening face,My steps falter in their hurried movement when Simon stand
‘Not in this lifetime', I remembered Bella's words as I took the bus to work the next morning, refusing the advice adamantly even in my head, The imposing logo of Trove didn’t look as imposing to me as I walked through the glass doors inside, ‘It's magnificence wore out, probably because I was seeing it every time', this thought was on m mind as I walked into the elevator heading to Simon's floor. ‘Why then did this feeling not wear out', I look at myself in the reflective walls of the elevator through weary eyes. ‘Why did this feeling of impending doom, mixed together with that school girl excitement, splashes of tremor inducing anxiety and that lingering feeling of longing refuse to tire out', my face stares right at me, unmoved in it’s hard set, a total opposite from the raging furnace that was my mind, ‘Why did these feelings always put me in a chokehold whenever I was on my way to Simon's office' the elevator door slid open and my heels dug into the floor, trying to delay fac
She places a finger on her lips trying to look serious and failing miserably,‘Hmm, are you sure you’re coming from a work dinner or a personal dinner’, she stares at me, eyes wide, expectant.Her face morphs into confusion as she peers at my eyes, ‘You also look like you cried’, her hand goes up to swipe at my smudged mascara, her face quickly morphing into one of anger.‘It’s him isn’t it, Simon Valerie or whatever bullshit he calls himself’, her mouth spits fire, tone acidic as she calls his name,She takes hands of my arm rolling her sleeves up and placing her hands on her waist.She stares into my eyes, searching,‘What am I even waiting for, let’s go’, she grabs my hand, trying to pull me out the door.Despite my unstable state, I laughed, ‘go where’‘We have a body to bury’, she looks at me with surprise on her face, like I was the one making ridiculous statements.‘Why are we killing him exactly’, my lips turns up in a smile, folding my arms watching her incredulou
He looked at me strangely, eyebrows raised up in question, causing me to take a closer look at myself,I grab a mirror from my bag, seeing that my hair was properly disheveled, sticking out in different places, the end jutting out, I try and pat it down, my hand running through the curly fibers, trying to wrestle them into a knot.My eyes slide down to my crumpled dress, the hem of my shirt sticking out, I tuck them back in, smoothening down the front, adjusting my breasts that had lopsided from being squashed against something hard for so long.My eyes go back to the mirror in my hand, wiping lip gloss smudges at the corners of my mouth.My hand run across my lips again, savoring the tingling sensation.Taxi driver’s eyebrows meet his hairline, when a laugh drops from my mouth, My mouth drops open and a laugh startling and high pitched rang through the vehicle.I ignore the look on his face, laughing uncontrollably, clutching my chest as wheezes of laughter racked through m
Warm lips crashed onto mine, a thick arm enclosing around my waist pulling me closer and my mouth drops open in shock, He takes that chance to move in, hot mouth moving against my lips, Simon kissed me with fevered passion, plundering my lips like someone starved, I don’t respond, shock turning me frozen, alarm bells going off in my head ‘You hate…’, Bella’s mantra splutters into a stop when Simon whispers my name against my lips, into my opened mouth. ‘Tina’, my knees went weak, and I lean into him as butterflies danced wild in my stomach at that breathy sound of my name. My bag drops from my fingers onto the granite floor as my hand goes to his hair, holding on as I kissed him with as much fervor, Our mouths moved with rekindled vigor, hot breaths between us as I savored the lingering taste of meat on his lips, He dragged me closer, vice like grip at my waist, flush against him until no crack of space was left between our bodies. Our bodies fit perfectly against eac
We made our way into the Korean restaurant, behind the raucous lot that was our PR department.Getting comfortable around the large rectangular table that had been set up for our large group, I breathe in the scent of grilled beef savoring the smoky aroma.The waiters bring out the variety of meat and I take in the assorted combination, Meat, both plain and marinated, was arranged around our large table and my eyes went to the large grill, hanging from the ceiling as it gets turned on and the smell of cooking meat permeates the air.Simon said nothing as the meat started cooking and as drinks went round the table, he sipped from his glass of beer, ‘Before we start eating, this would be a nice opportunity to clink glasses to Mr. Simon Valero, the one who provided us with this premium beef’, Miss Debra raises her glass of beer and clinks it with employees around her and cheers went up, the clinking going round.Simon’s face remains a mask of indifference, only changing when Miss