Three: Sincere Apology

"Aerabella, right?" James asked while putting down my ID on the table. "Can I call you Belle?"

“You can just call me Aera,” I replied. 

I was still seated on the couch while he hovered in front of me, making me feel small. But I tried to hold my ground. 

"Okay, Aera. I'm Louie's assistant. You can call me James. I'm so sorry for the huge misunderstanding. Louie has been through a lot recently. So I admit, he's starting to get a little paranoid. He hasn't set foot in the Philippines for two years now, but there will always be someone secretly following him around. That's why he had trust issues with everyone he finds suspicious," he explained.

"I could sue him for harassment," I said. 

"I know. But believe me, you don't want your name to get entangled with his."

He's threatening me, I know. 

"Is he a celebrity or something? He must be really famous," I asked.

James looked at me as if gauging the truth in my words. "You don't really know him?"

I shook my head. "I’ve been here in Spain for five years now. I don’t know any celebrities in the Philippines anymore.”

James stared at me. It was as if he was weighing the truth in my words. 

"But still… " He shook his head. "Never mind. Let's get down into the business, Aera. How much do you need?" He opened the checkbook. 

I stared at him. Disgust must've been evident on my face because he started to shake his head.

"Okay, don't get me wrong. I believe  you.” Nope, he does not. Not totally, at least. Like he still has these reservations in him. It was evident on his face. “You’ve proven your identity already," he said as he pointed to my university ID. "But still, I wanna compensate you for the trouble."

I sighed. "I've never felt this humiliated before." I grabbed my ID from the table and stood up.

Yes, I admit. I’ve been desperate to earn money. I worked hard for it. I do multiple jobs to earn as much as I can. 

But that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll accept someone's offer just like that in exchange of what? My reputation? I have my pride, too. And they haven't done anything for the past thirty minutes but to step on it. 

James immediately blocked my way. 

"I'm sorry if I offended you," he said, sounding more sincere this time. "I just want to make sure that ---"

"That no one knows about the harassment your boss did to me?" I finished his sentence for him.

He slowly nodded. "Y-yeah.. basically.." he said in hesitation. "Well, that's technically part of my job. To protect him."

"That must be really tough." I was sarcastic.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed, not buying the sarcasm in my tone.

"Please let me go," I said. "They must’ve been looking for me now. I might lose tonight’s pay if I don’t show up at the event right away."

"That's why I am offering to compensate you for the trouble," he insisted.

"I'm tempted, but no. I want to keep my dignity intact. Thanks for the offer." 

"Please. I need to do this. Just let me do my job." He was pleading.

I looked at him. "Do you really think that I have the intention of talking about what happened tonight just because I refused your money?"

"It’s not like that. I just needed to —"

"Will it give you peace of mind if I accept your offer?"

He hesitated a bit before he slowly nodded. "Well, something like that.”

"Listen," I said. "I have no intention of making a big deal out of this. First and foremost, I have no friggin’ idea who your boss is. Second, what will I gain if I make a big mess out of this? Third, as you’ve said earlier, it was a huge misunderstanding on his part. He didn't mean to do it. So yeah. Why don't we just forget about what happened tonight and move on? Fourth, I have no time and energy for all these dramas. I have more important things to do. I couldn’t even get a decent amount of sleep, why would I bother with other things that will only bring more stress to my life, you get me? Like I have too much on my plate already. I don't need any more complications in my life. So rest assured, you’ll never see this face again after I leave this room. Cross my heart, hope to die." I'm afraid I sounded animated. 

That James guy blinked once.. twice.. while holding my gaze. It was as if he was finding it hard to keep up with my (almost) random ramblings. 

"Okay," I said. "For your peace of mind ---"

His face lightened up in an instant. 

"Please tell him to give me a sincere apology instead. That’s all I ask," I continued.

He scrunched his nose. It was as if it wasn't what he was expecting to hear from me.

"I'll let this slide. But only after he apologized to me. Sincerely," I added. 

Based on his facial expression, I wasn't asking for something simple. 

He lightly shook his head. "I'm afraid, I can't do that."

"Why? Is saying sorry that hard for your boss?"

This was getting interesting, I thought. I suddenly felt the urge to get even with that man. By asking something beyond his pride can offer --- a sincere apology, that's it. 

James heaved a deep sigh. "You're making my job harder."

I tried to contain the smile on my lips. But yeah, I am actually starting to enjoy this. If they won't let me go that easy, then I'm gonna make things a little harder for them, as well. Fair enough, right? 

I then spun around and went back to the couch. I threw myself into it and made myself comfortable by crossing my arms across my chest. 

"Please tell your boss I am keeping my mouth shut if he apologizes to me. Sincerely," I said.

I do not know where I suddenly got the confidence in me to face that arrogant man head-on. 

I saw James heave a deep sigh before he pulled his phone out of his pocket, dialed someone's number, and went out of the room. Prolly to call his boss. 

I had to wait for probably five minutes or more before he came back into the room. Together with his boss.

"What the hell do you want?" Louie immediately howled at me the moment he stepped inside the room. 

"Didn't you tell him?" I asked James. Trying not to make eye contact with Louie to avoid getting intimidated by his presence again. 

James turned to him. "C'mon, Louie. You already agreed."

"I didn't," he snapped at his assistant. 

I stood up. "It looked like he had no plan to apologize after all. We were just wasting our time here. I need to go."

James stopped me from leaving. "Aera, wait," he said before he turned to Louie once again. "C'mon, Louie. Let's just get this over with."

Louie clenched his jaws before he turned to me, locking eyes with me. 

"Do you have any idea what I am missing right now because of this nonsense?" he asked me while basically glaring at me. And I hate to admit it, but his presence is still too much for me to handle. "I didn't come here to Spain to waste my time on something stupid like that. I have a very important business to attend to here."

I mustered the courage to raise my head and return his gaze. "Well, you should've thought about that before you started dragging me in here and even refused to let me go when I begged you to," I started in a singsong voice in my dire attempt to act unaffected. "And for your information, I feel the same way, too. I came here to Spain to make a living. The last thing I wanted was to get harassed by a fellow Filipino who didn’t even know how to admit his mistakes. Now, if you don't want to admit your fault and apologize, that's fine with me. But I can't promise you anything." I didn't mean the last sentence, of course. I just wanted to give him a dose of his own medicine. 

I saw anger flash in his eyes. And for a moment, it made my skin crawl. "Are you threatening me right now?"

He took a couple of steps toward me but James was quick to stop him (to my relief) by lightly pushing him on the chest. 

"C'mon, Louie. Just say sorry," the assistant said. 

I saw Louie's jaw move before he pinched his own nose bridge. It was as if he was trying to calm himself down. And seeing him this frustrated made everything --- the fear of being eaten by him alive --- all worth it. 

He turned to James before his expression turned soft (to my surprise, since he doesn't look like someone who's gonna be sporting a puppy look even if you threaten him) as if silently pleading for the other man to help him out. The assistant just shrugged his shoulders as if telling his boss that he was on his own. 

"Get out," Louie snarled when James refused to help him.

James lightly tapped him on the shoulder before he spun around to leave the room.

I was left alone with Louie. The realization made me want to chicken out and ran out of the room as fast as I could. 

But my stubborn self decided to hold my ground. I held his terrifying gaze. He was intimidating but I tried to act unaffected even though my heartbeat was now starting to pound in my chest. 

"What the hell do you want from me?" he asked between gritted teeth. 

"I just want you to apologize for what you've done." Surprisingly, my voice sounded firm and unafraid. That's some good acting right there. I wanna pat myself on the back. 

I saw him heave a deep sigh before he looked away and said, "Okay, I'm sorry. Happy now?" He wasn't sincere. Not a bit.

I wanted to push my luck a bit, so I answered, "Sincerely." With emphasis. I must have a death wish or something. 

He turned to me again, eyes blazing. "Are you playing with me right now?" 

"Do I look like it?" Damn, I must really have a death wish, provoking him like this. 

But still, I wanna stand my ground. I deserve an apology, ain't I? A sincere one. After everything he had done to me. That's the least that he can do because I don't friggin' want his money. I just want his sincere apology so we can all move on from this and forget that this unfortunate encounter even happened. 

I saw him slide both his hands into his pockets. Then he started pacing back and forth right in front of me, eyes fixed on the carpeted floor, as if doing some heavy thinking. Then he stopped pacing around and took a couple of deep breaths before he spun around and walked toward me.

Watching him approach me was spine-chilling. He had this knack for intimidating people around him with his mere presence, not just with his towering height, but with his overall aura. 

I almost took a step back. 

He came to a halt a couple of steps away from me and held my gaze. 

I sucked my breath. I was all ready to face his rage when he spoke in a surprisingly calm tone. 

"Okay, I'm really sorry for what happened. It was my bad. I acted on impulse. I'm so sorry. I mean it."

I didn't know if he was just acting. But surprisingly, he sounded sincere. He looked sincere, too. 

Gosh, the duality of this man is unbelievable. 

He was no longer the intimidating man who kept looking daggers at me and who looked like he wouldn't think twice about wringing my neck if I pushed him even further. He was back to that charming guy who cracked jokes once in a while to make his presentation amusing and less boring. 

I was taken aback. I didn't expect that I would react this way. He just said sorry, for Pete's sake! Why would I suddenly feel giddy? 

I had to look away and clear my throat before I answered him.

"I.. I think w-were good now." I stammered. "Don't worry, you won't hear about me or see my face again after tonight." Shit. Why do I feel more nervous now when he no longer looks mad? 

The room suddenly felt so small for both of us. It was suffocating so I hurried out of the room. 

I beelined to the door, turned the knob, and pulled the door open. I was about to step out of the room when I heard him say something.

"Are you sure you don't want to accept the compensation we are offering you?"

Like seriously? 

***