5. Chapter FiveFiona
Chapter Five
Fiona
S eeing someone you’ve only seen in pictures in real life threw me off. The lady in front of us had her blonde hair in curls. They cascaded down her shoulders like waves. Her lips were painted red, and she wore a black gown.
Her smile revealed a perfect set of teeth, and she seemed to be aware of how her teeth affect people because she smiled the entire time she stood in front of Christian. It was easy to see why she was so full of herself. If I looked like Aurora Williams did, I absolutely would be full of myself.
“What are you doing here?” Christian moved closer to her.
“What a beautiful coincidence! I’m so glad to see you tonight.” She flashed another perfect smile.
“Aurora, I’m being serious. What are you doing here?” Christian was visibly wrenching the words out of his mouth.
“It’s an art show,” Aurora said and took a step forward. She was all up in his personal space, but Christian didn’t even flinch. Not even when she put a finger to his cheek and poked him. “I’m here to see art.”
She concluded the delivery with a wink. I’d have clapped if she wasn’t getting too close to Christian in a manner that unsettled me, and if Christian didn’t look like the entire interaction was stressing him out.
“Knock it off,” Christian said, and took a step backward, away from her.
Aurora scoffed at this. She folded her arms on her chest and pouted. “I want to talk to you. I’ve wanted to talk to you for a long time now.”
Her voice came out whinny when she spoke. You really had to give it to her. Since being seductive didn’t work out, she switched to being cute.
“Aurora-”
“Privately.” She gave a wicked smile and spared me a look. It reminded Christian that I was still there and made me completely aware of my spectator role.
“I’ll be right back.” Christian turned to face me and quickly followed her. They walked out of view. Well, Allison would be hearing all about this when I got home. I needed to figure out a way to tell it to her without making it sound like I was jealous of how Christian was quick to follow after her.
I felt abandoned.
I didn’t have anything to do, so I turned my attention to the art piece we were looking at before perfectly put together, Aurora showed up and stole my companion away from me.
Pretending I didn’t care was a lot harder than not caring. Over and over, I reminded myself that Christian could take care of himself, but then I recalled his yelling. Maybe he needed me to save him from Aurora.
And as a PA intending to keep my employer happy, I needed to do my very best to do my job. I went off in search of them.
“Are you even listening to yourself right now?” I heard Christian’s voice as I stepped into the garden.
If it was their intention to have a private conversation, they were not very subtle about it. If anyone was in the garden, they’d have heard everything.
“At some point, Aurora,” Christian was still going, “you’re going to need to stop being delusional and start living your real life. I don’t love you.”
It couldn’t be any clearer than that. I got right into their view, “Your attention is needed, sir.”
When Aurora grimaced, I emphatically added, “right away.”
“Who exactly are you? Who exactly is she, Christian?”
“I’m his friend,” I was quick to say.
“Huh?” She seemed to disbelieve me, but I liked it.
“That’s enough.” Christian intervened, pulling me away.
The party had not even begun to thin out when we left. Christian spotted Phoebe amidst a group of CEO wives and chair ladies while he dragged me along so he could impatiently say goodbye.
The drive back was quiet. I anxiously bit my nails, thinking I might have overreacted earlier due to my personal feelings. The unending hiss of the air conditioning wasn’t able to put me at ease, and I just prayed we got to our destination on time so we could go our different ways.
When I glanced at Christian, his gaze was fixed straight ahead, and he didn’t look as uncomfortable as I was.
Unexpectedly, he grabbed the bottle of water next to him and gulped down a good quantity, and that was when I realized he was truly uncomfortable but was only trying to keep it in.
Next thing, he dangerously swerved right off the highway, and the car stopped.
He sighed, resting his head on the wheel. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
He looked at me for the first time since we left the party.
“I should be the one to say sorry.” I countered.
“Well, that was my ex.” He anxiously tapped his finger on the wheel.
Of course, I knew that.
“We broke up about a year ago.” He continued.
Oh, that was a while ago.
“I am not perfect, but she was worse.”
“What do you mean?” I had become confident since he had chosen to tell me about everything of his own accord.
“We technically have different priorities in life. What I value, she doesn’t, and she doesn’t want to, yet she expects me to find reasons to accept her values, though they don’t correspond with mine.” He paused and glanced at me.
“She values her dresses and jewelry more than relationships. She hardly cares if you get hurt, and then she always wants her choices, decisions, and opinions to override any other person’s, especially me. She doesn’t respect my feelings, and she just acts insensitively.”
By then, he was absolutely pissed off.
“Several times I have tried to get her to value other people, at least than herself, and not treat anyone with disdain or disrespect, but she’s Aurora Williams, the great heiress to a vast empire, after all. I tried to salvage the relationship, but she eventually pushed me to the wall.”
“I’m sorry about that,” was all I could say. It was apparent that that woman was not very nice, based on the way she had spoken to me, and that she was a complete stranger.
“No, it’s fine. It’s just driving me crazy that she keeps coming back trying to fix what’s unamendable.” He sighed again.
He looked so pathetic; I felt pity for him. Aurora must be stupid to have provoked such an understanding man like Christian to break up with her.
It was terrible, however, to let her turn and twist his spirit this way.
“Shall we take a walk?” I suggested.
We were very much into the night, but then the street lights illuminated our entire surroundings.
“Sure.” He agreed quickly, and then we got out of the car.
I had not been on a date in a long time, longer than I actually imagined, so it truly felt nice to be someone’s date after such a long time.
Then I was grateful it was not just a random person but Christian.
The gentle night breeze fanned my hair in different directions, sometimes slapping my face, and we did not walk any distance at all when my legs started aching.
“These shoes are killing me,” I muttered to myself, trying to steady my weight on them despite the pain.
“Are you okay?” He appeared to have heard me. “ Do your feet hurt?”
I nodded, almost in tears.
“I’ll take them off,” he said, instantly stopping to unbuckle my stilettos.
I was taken aback by both his words and actions. I’d never expected him to volunteer to take off my shoes.
As his hand brushed against my ankle, a shiver ran through me, triggering untold sensations.
“Thank you,” I managed to say when he had finished.
“I’ll keep them with me.” He took me by surprise once more.
Now, as my shoes dangled in the care of his hands, I wondered what more could happen.
The night was quiet save for the ceaseless chirping of crickets. Once in a while, a car sped past us, and as the night grew older, so did the cars appear lesser.
When we had walked quite a distance from the car, he decided to strike up a conversation.
“When did you become so interested in paintings?”
“Well,” I rubbed my arms. Interestingly, he took off his blazer and told me to wear it.
“You know how cold nights are these days.” He added.
“Thank you.” When I wore it, I was tempted to sniff his cologne.
“Yeah. So I was asking when you became an art connoisseur.”
“Ah, since I wanted to attend an art school but couldn’t, I decided to indulge in whatever art I see. I don’t have a collection yet, but I have been at it for about six years. Allison knows about it.” I playfully added the final sentence.
“Cool. I think it’s a nice thing. Dedicated people like you are not only needed in a particular sphere. Thankfully, you are with the company.” He smiled.
“Thank you,” I reciprocated.
“So, have you ever drawn or painted anything?” He inquired.
“Yes,” I bit my lips. “ It was a representation of the fragments of my imagination then.”
“Great! I’d like to have a look at it.”
“No.”
“Why?” He made a face.
“It’s not actually presentable. I know you don’t want to see it.”
“Of course, I do want to see it,” he suddenly stopped walking. I almost missed my steps.
“But-”
“It’s Sunday tomorrow. After the preacher’s sermon, I’ll have a look at it.” He said in a low, commanding voice.
“After the preacher’s sermon,” I repeated, defeated.
“Yes. We can have coffee at your place.” He added, unusually carefree.
Was that another date? Did it count? Was it appropriate?
At that moment, I began to feel like an outlaw who was breaching some kind of law.
I knew I shouldn’t be having romantic feelings towards my boss, who was also my best friend’s brother, yet I was. I knew we were overstepping the usual office or professional, communicative acts, yet I was comfortable with it.
However, suddenly, I remembered he had a charity event out of town the next day.
“Oh, I almost forgot about that. Thank you for reminding me.”
“Yeah,” I was, at least, pleased he would not see the work of art I badly didn’t want him to see.
It would betray my feelings for him, and I didn’t know how to handle the situation.
“So, I definitely will see it some other time.” He smiled.
“Sure, some other time sounds good.” I nodded in agreement despite secretly praying he would never get to see it.
I swallowed, gazing into his eyes as he picked a new topic. For a moment, I almost didn’t care whether I was acting ridiculous by staring into his eyes or not. I just wanted to drown in them.
“Fiona?” He might have raised his voice a little higher.
“Yes,” I tried to conceal that I was startled.
“I think we should get back.” He suggested.
“Yes,” I glanced at my wristwatch. It was well past one in the morning.
When he prepared to start the car, he suggested that I rest my eyes if I ever felt like I needed to.
At first, I thought I could just secretly admire him while he drove, but then my eyes began to close on their own.
We were still very much out of town; it was going to be a long drive.