19. Jiya
JIYA
Iwalked into my office with Caleb behind me after the site visit.
My nerves felt stretched tight, like violin strings pulled to their limit. I could sense his presence behind me without turning around, the awareness of him brushing against my thoughts.
“So, how was it?” Liam asked, walking in seconds later.
Caleb stood up immediately and shook his hand.
“It was good. Jiya showed me the layout. We walked around for a bit to see the rest of the plot. Seems quite good. Can’t wait to start.”
Hearing my name… my real name roll off his tongue for the first time sent a strange ripple through me.
“Liam, they need an advance to start the construction, so just wondering if we could discuss those details,” I said.
“Oh!” Liam raised his eyebrows.
“That’s fine, take your time,” Caleb said smoothly. “We’ll start without the advance.”
My gut clenched.
He told me he wouldn’t start without it, and now he’s changed his tone. What the hell?
I kept quiet, even though heat climbed up my neck and into my ears as my thoughts churned. What was he trying to do?
“I’ll send over the details of the construction supplies and materials, and the marketing team will get in touch with you guys shortly,” Caleb continued.
“That’s great,” Liam said. “We’ll start arranging everything from our side.”
Caleb shook his hand, then looked at me and smirked. “Looking forward to working with you.”
I watched him walk away. Folding my arms tightly across my chest, I felt a hard tension in my jaw, the muscles clenching as memories rose.
It was exactly like this when I had worked with him the first time.
He had been a spoiled, pompous brat at the beginning, with arguments between us practically every second day.
Back then, our clashes had been explosive from the start.
Why was he doing the same thing again? Why did he want to provoke and annoy me with that same two-faced demeanour?
“He seems like a nice guy, eh?” Liam asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah.” I forced a smile onto my face. “Nice guy.”
I didn’t think telling Liam about my past with Caleb would make any difference. The one person who needed to know about it was Cole, and I had told him already.
I was a professional.
A businesswoman.
I knew I could handle Caleb. I had done so in the past, standing my ground when he tried to bulldoze his way through decisions, and I could do so in the present too.
Over the next few weeks, I saw Caleb far more often than necessary—sometimes every three days. His secretary kept scheduling meetings with little notice, slotting them into my calendar as though my time was flexible.
It wasn’t.
Each last-minute request disrupted carefully planned work, forcing me to rearrange priorities for discussions that rarely justified the urgency.
And yet, the meetings kept coming.
Almost as if they weren’t about the project at all.
Each time my phone rang with his name attached to it, my stomach reacted, reminding me that peace would be short-lived.
I had to commute from the village to the city every time while trying to manage my time with my children, the restaurant, and the cafés.
My days felt like a juggling act performed on a tightrope, where one wrong step could send everything crashing down.
“Will you be late again, Mama?” Lucas asked during breakfast one morning.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I might be,” I replied, feeling horrible.
Lucas’s disappointment hung heavily over our usual morning routine, dulling even the comforting aroma of toast and warm milk filling the air.
“You’re hardly ever home anymore, and when you are, you’re either on the phone or working on the laptop.”
“I’m so sorry, Lucas,” I said again. I reached across the table and gently squeezed his hand, needing him to feel the sincerity in my touch.
“This is Dad’s special project, his dream.
I’m trying my best to complete it soon. Unfortunately, it’s taking up more hours during the day than I thought. I’m really sorry.”
“Mama, no play,” Emma said with her wide blue-green eyes.
I leaned forward and kissed both of them, breathing in the familiar scent of their hair. “I’ll try to cut down on the hours, guys, I promise.”
I had been having breakfast with the children, dropping Lucas at school in the morning, and then rushing through the day only to see them again in the evening…
sometimes when they were already in bed, their small bodies curled under blankets while I stood quietly at the doorway, watching them sleep and wishing I had been there sooner.
Trying to lighten the mood and bring back their smiles, I forced a brighter tone into my voice. “How about this weekend we go to see Quinn and Noah?”
“Yay!” the children screamed.
“Last weekend was fun at Uncle Liam’s house,” Lucas said.
“My weekends belong to you guys. No amount of work will prevent me from spending time with the two most precious pieces of my heart, remember?”
“Yes, Mama,” Emma said, nodding happily.
After breakfast, I dropped Lucas off at school and came back home to play with Emma for a while before heading to the city for yet another meeting in the afternoon.
“And here you are again for another meeting?” I said, entering my office and seeing Caleb waiting for me.
I didn’t think these meetings were required because nothing had changed in just a couple of days. We would keep visiting the site again and again, walking the same ground, reviewing the same plans, while construction workers had already begun digging into the land.
“Punctuality is not your forte anymore, I see?” he replied, tapping on his watch.
I noticed it was a different watch. He probably threw mine away or smashed it under his shoe.
“Well, I have two kids now, and commuting every three days for meetings which are unnecessary has kind of changed my priorities,” I said, keeping my voice controlled even as the muscles in my neck tightened.
“Hey… you were the one who said it was your late husband’s dream, and you wanted to make it a reality,” he said, placing his hands on the table and smiling sarcastically.
“Yes, but that doesn't mean enough changes in three days to justify meetings on such short notice,” I replied.
My pulse quickened, anger hovering dangerously close to spilling out of my mouth in words I knew I shouldn’t say.
“These meetings are critical, just for your information. It’s not like nothing has changed in three days. A lot has happened. I’m taking time out from my busy schedule to do this too. I do have other projects,” he said in a raised voice, standing up and leaning across my table.
“Well then, maybe you should focus on those and send someone else to work on this one,” I shot back, my raised voice matching his as I stood up and leaned toward him.
The air between us was filled with tension.
We stood staring at each other, the scent of his aftershave drifting between us. When I looked into his eyes, I noticed that his pupils were dilated. His lips were slightly parted, and his nostrils flared.
Standing there in my office, face to face with him, emotions from the past rose. My heart hammered against my ribs as a rush of awareness swept through me, the kind that made my skin feel too sensitive and my thoughts too loud.
I cleared my throat, forced myself to look away, and leaned back slightly, putting a small distance between us. My fingers trembled faintly as I shuffled the papers in front of me and then tucked my hair behind my ears.
Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I gathered my thoughts and tried to breathe through the tension that clung to me.
As much as I hated admitting it, he wasn't entirely wrong.
I was still learning the construction side of the business every single day. Instead of appreciating the time he took to ensure the project moved in the right direction, I had allowed frustration to cloud my judgment simply because the meetings were happening more frequently than I expected.
I opened my eyes slowly.
Swallow your pride, Jiya. Forget the past, and move on.