Claude read through the text for the third time as he tried to make sense of her words. It definitely wasn't just a plain old apology. If that was the case, Ayla wouldn't have bothered mentioning the rest and would have started with 'I am sorry' right away.
He kept on re-reading her message. It wasn't until the fifth time that something clicked in his mind.
What the heck did she mean by the last line?
Why shouldn't he try to find her? Shouldn't she be at her college given the time? If not, then where was she?
"Where's she?" Claude finally looked up from his phone's screen and threw Ethan a questioning glare.
"Umm… who exactly, Boss?" Ethan failed to understand where his sudden inquiry was coming from.
"Ayla… where's she?" He repeated his question from earlier, clarifying it a little more.
"I dropped her at the college just as you asked me." Ethan replied to him, pushing his glasses up his nos
"Is it worth it?" It was a rather simple question which Ethan asked him, but the depth of his words left Claude shook to his core. He couldn't help but ask himself the same thing. Was it really worth it? Was any of it really worth it? It didn't take him long to come up with a concise answer. No. It wasn't. None of it was worth it. As if reading his thoughts, Ethan gave him a small smile. "I am not going to sit here and defend her actions or words because I know that they must have really hurt you for you to be acting out like this. But at the same time, I can neither defend your actions. She's willing to apologize to you, even if you are not willing to forgive her. But here you are, staying at your penthouse just so you can avoid facing her. What does it say about you?" Claude let his mind process it all. It wasn't that he didn't think of this before or the same thoughts didn't
"Excuse me?" Ayla waved her hand in the air to get the attention of the bartender."Yes, Ma'am?" A lanky boy who looked like he was only in late teens walked up to her."Hit me with a drink, just make sure the alcohol content isn't too high." She gave the boy a polite smile as she slid on one of the bar stools."Sure, Ma'am. But you'll have to wait for a little while because we have only opened." The boy gave her an apologetic smile before walking to the back of the bar counter.It gave Ayla enough time to admire her surroundings. Her eyes wandered around as she took her environment in. Despite the fact that the place was nothing more than a club, it had a flair of mystery to it. The light gray walls contrasted with the black furnishing a little too well. Accents of gold marked the edges, bringing out the corners as they glimmered under the dim pale lightings."My, my, my. Look who's here."She was forced to tear her
"Hey, you!" A couple of giggles left Ayla's pouted lips as she eyed the handsome hunk of man who was standing before her. His brooding expressions made others wary of him, but was the least bit bothered about it."Aren't you handsome?" She leaned back against the couch as she tilted her neck up to have a better view of him.He was standing tall and proud, unmoving like a mountain as the background faded behind him."I really hope that you somehow recognize me. Otherwise, I don't think that I'll be pleased with my wife calling a random man in a club handsome." Claude shook his head while maintaining his stance. He had his hands shoved inside his pockets to keep them away from lunging at her. He wanted nothing more than to engulf her in a big warm hug and, hopefully, take all of her worries away. But seeing her drunken state, he had to keep his emotions in check. The last thing would be having her all scared and flustered because she was unable to labe
A groan left her dry lips as she tried turning over under the covers."This hurts." A couple of 'ouches' later she was finally able to shift on her back. With snail-like slow movements, she pulled the covers down. Crawling her face out, she braced herself for the blinding assault that was to follow soon after."I should have thought of a better way to get his attention." The frown on her forehead only deepened as she recalled the events of last night. The last thing she remembered was being with Claude. Even though they were more of blurry memories, she was sure that Claude was there with her. Her surroundings only proved it further.She was in the master bedroom, in their bed. A smile crept up on her lips as she rubbed around her eyes with hopes to provide them with some relief. It was a good thing that the lights were turned down to the minimum settings."He surely has a weird way of showing how much he cares." She mumbled to herself b
"What happened, love?" He took a step forward in her direction, wanting to run to her. "You are getting me worried here. Please, say something."That was all it took for Ayla to blurt it all out to him."You were not there when I woke, so I thought the worse." A frown made itself evident in between her trimmed brows. "I mean, I was right to do so. Given how much I drank last night, you should have been right next to me when I woke up earlier. But, you were not." She was moving her hands animatedly in the air as she continued to ramble on.At this point, all of her worries flew right out of the window. She didn't pay the rest of the people sitting around the long conference table in their prim and proper attire. Her eyes were solely focused on Claude; him and him alone."When I didn't see you there, everything came rushing back to me. And since my mind has this really bad habit of making the worst out of situations, I started thinking abo
Ayla stared up at the screen, taking in all the numbers which kept flashing over it one after the other. She moved her legs slightly under the black coat which was draped over them. Claude had moved it from the back of his chair the minute he realized how her propped up legs were bare and on display. It had already been an hour since.she was pulled to settle down on Claude's lap before a room full of executives. She had tried talking him into letting her leave the conference hall during the coffee break, but the man threatened her in return. "Don't think that I will not kiss you again if you keep arguing with me over this." Since that moment, she had kept her lips clamped shut as she didn't want to give him a single chance. It wasn't because she didn't enjoy their kiss or wasn't looking forward to having another one, but because she didn't want others to have a show of their own to enjoy meanwhile. Her tongue darted out and tra
"I felt so lonely…""Oh, baby." Claude did not know what to say to her to make her feel any better. So, he chose to do the only thing which he could think of. "I am so sorry, my love. I didn't mean to make you feel like that.""It's okay. I know. I was the one who was at fault." Ayla shook her head hurriedly. "I shouldn't have said that.""Ayla, love, as much as I agree with you on that, I am at fault here just the same. I should have just told you straightaway who Eleanor was, but my temper got the best of me. It just ticked me off so much that you didn't have an ounce of faith in me… in us. I would never cheat on you. Never." Claude knew better than to just blame her for everything. He was not innocent in the matter either.The whole situation could have been avoided if he would have handled it better. But the truth was, he had no control over his emotions. The foreign emotions she brought forward in him were someth
Claude smiled at her, seeing how vexed she looked all because he refused to continue kissing her. He really wanted to, but at the same time he needed to clear a couple of things."Spill it out, Claude." She pressed him. "Or do you want me to go find someone else who will be willing to kiss me without ruining the moment.""Oh, baby…" He smirked down at her before leaning forward. Bringing his lips next to her ear, he pressed them against its outer shell. "I want you to remember one thing clearly, if at any point you don't feel comfortable, ask me to stop right away. I won't push you, neither am I going to mind it. Got it?"Ayla's gaze softened as she looked up at him. Instead of letting things take their own pace, he was putting her comfort above everything else. She was touched by his thoughts alone. "I will keep that in mind." She gave him a small smile, hoping that it would be enough to convey how grateful she was to him."Good.