Chapter 10
Elena
I have always been the type of person who prioritised success over happiness, not only because it is the right thing to do but also I believe that it is important to be able to provide for my family. Even if my parents always told me to do something I am passionate about, I never did. The true reason is because I don’t know what I am passionate about. I never put a thought into it, so I never wanted to pursue something I love. How can I do something I love when I don’t know what it is?
Sure, I am passionate about fashion but I don’t like the spotlight to model.
I hate being the centre of attention in a crowd of people and a runway is the perfectly captured example of my fear. There are many reasons I chose to work in business and architecture, mostly because it is a quiet environment and I can sit at my desk for hours without having to worry about people and socialising. The only time I have to be mentally present is at meetings and work events that frankly and thankfully do not happen often.
But now they will because I struck a deal with the devil and by that I mean that I agreed to his stupid terms and conditions of our agreement.
Three days have passed by since he asked me and in exactly two and a half weeks, we leave for Italy, which couldn’t come any slower. Time is moving way too fast to my liking and I am not enjoying it.
The reaction I got from Reneè was not the one I expected. She was extremely happy even though she hadn't met Gabriel yet.
Normally she criticises every guy I meet. Ben is a perfect example. She never liked him.
My phone lights up in the dark room of my office as I am still there after work hours proofreading the last of the paperwork. There has been a lot of paper to proofread in the last week with a new project starting. More like a continuation of an old one.
The Harvey dreamland park is a project that has been ongoing for years and now they have decided they want to change some of the ride and make the theme park even bigger.
Which means a lot of planning.
And so many more documents to proofread which frankly takes me double the time than it should due to my dyslexia. I always print the contract twice. Once in Times New Romance and the other time in Ariel. I find Ariel easier to read, that is why I always correct the Ariel one and mark the mistakes later on in the Times New Romance one. Which means I need double the time to correct a file.
I place my pen down after hours of writing and check my text messages. ??
@reneè.hamilton: it just came to my mind that my best friend is engaged. ??Can I be your maid of honour? ??
I smile at her text message and type in my message before I send it. ??
@elena.ferreira: I am not engaged. Not really.
I don’t even have a ring. ??
@reneè.hamilton: WHAT? *Shocked emoji*
How dare he not get my best friend her ring.
Can I have his number? ??
@elena.ferreira: No.
You will just shred him to pieces and I don’t need that. I don’t want a murder on my hands.
@reneè.hamilton: I think you are forgetting that I can just ask Charles for his number. ??
@elena.ferreira: I thought you blocked him? ??
@reneè.hamilton: Noo… silly. How else would I stalk him? ??
@elena.ferreira: stalking means discreet. How is it stalking when you are doing it with your main account? ??
@reneè.hamilton: but it is way more fun. ??
I smile as I read the last message, my fingers hover over the keyboard and I stop my typing when I hear a thud outside my office door.
“Hello?” I call out, the light of my laptop shining in the dark room. Curiosity and also the fact that I am scared for my life gets the best of me and I walk to the door, staring at it as I heard another knock before I got up, but no one is there when I call out.
Usually when I walk around the office, the lights turn on automatically but none of that happens, so I turn on the flashlight on my phone. I mumble curse words under my breath as this just costs me at least two minutes where I could have gotten work done. The floor cracks in the corner where a vase is, sending my heart into overdrive. “Gabriel?”
I let out a low whisper as I heard footsteps outside the door. “No, please not outside.” I moan to myself.
I call Reneé’s phone but it goes straight to voicemail.
“Shit. How fast does that girl fall asleep?” I curse under my breath.
Okay you can do this.
Elena Ferreira is not afraid of the dark any more like when she was little.
The floors creep outside.
Never mind, she is.
My heart rate picks up and my breathing becomes more irregular with each passing second. I might burst into tears if there is a ghost outside, and I mean that. I take small steps towards the door and the clicking of my heels isn’t helping in this situation. If I don’t throw up the non-existent food I ate for dinner tonight, then I don’t know what will happen.
My hand shakes as I reach for the doorknob and slowly turn it. The door squeaks as I open it, revealing an empty meeting room as I walk in and inspect the room.
No one.
Looks like a dessert here.
“Ahh, ito?luit!” Son of a bitch/gun. I shout out and jump in place as a sudden brush of something walks on my leg. The freaking cat just meows at me as I point the flashlight on it.
I sigh in relief as it is just the cat.
Wait, since when is there a cat?
“Why are you still here?” a deep voice asks me behind, scaring the living life out of me and I jump in my place. My phone and glasses drop as I let out a blood curdling scream.
“Aman Tamrin'' Oh my god. I shout. I speak a lot of Turkish when it comes to fighting with someone. I do it with Reneè a lot and she always gets mad that she doesn’t understand it. A habit I have got to lose and one I learned from my mother. “Nel oluyor be!” What the hell! I shout at Gabriel as he stands there just staring at me with a blank expression and his arms crossed over his chest. “Why are you knocking and not entering and then scaring the shit out of me in the middle of the night? And why didn’t you say anything when I called your name?”
“I thought maybe the cleaning lady was still here and we have a prank war going on, now why are you still here?” he ignores my questions as he picks up my glasses and phone that fell down and repeats his own question that he asked me a minute ago, turning on the lights with the light switch next to the door. Much better.
“I am just going to ignore the prank war part and why else would I be here? Work.” I snatched my belongings out of his hand.
“It’s eleven pm?”
“So?”
“Your work hours ended at five.”
“I have to finish the documents you wanted. I also have to finish the presentation on the new project and send it to you. Then after that we will be needing a meeting to discuss the blueprints and everything tied to it.”
“You do know tomorrow is a new day and you can do it then?”
Do his questions ever end?
“It would be too much stress in the morning and I would rather relax and be cool then try to fry my brain by stressing to get them done.”
“That is so confusing,” he states.
“Well, I wasn't really expecting for you to understand.” I tell him with a smile plastered on my face and make my way back to my desk to finish the last two pages of the documents and get the hell out of here as soon as possible.
“Insulting your boss isn’t very professional, don’t you think?”
“I thought you didn’t care about being professional? Unless I am mistaken, then pardon me for saying those words.”
“Be careful how you talk, love,” he warns me and I feel a pair of my eyes burn through my brain as my fingers hover my laptop keyboard, my hair camouflages my red face. “It might get you into trouble one day.”
I stop my typing, trying to register his words and I feel my heart rate pick up. I hate the way he makes me feel because he isn’t supposed to make me feel like my heart is about to rip out of my chest anytime he says these kinds of things to me.
The small talk too.
The only talk I tolerate with a guy is dirty talk and that is when his face is between my legs and that is reaching it.
“What is the dress code for the event?” I change the topic, hoping he will drop his talking. I am trying to stay professional here but every thought in my mind is not professional.
He tilts his head to the side, his well-known smirk plastered when I look up, hoping that my face has cooled down. “Formal.”
“As in?” I ask him and he moves away from the wall, a weird feeling of nerves appears on the pit of my stomach as he walks around my desk and stops behind me. He places his hands on my chair and leans in.
“Wear a pretty dress for me, darling.” I widen my eyes at his words, the blush creeps back up my cheeks just when I thought there is no way he would do something like this again.
I take a second to get myself together before I slowly turn my head to him. He is close.
We breathe the same air. I breathe in his cologne, the strong smell invades my nose and my head spins because of it. My eyes wander from his lips to his eyes and back to his lips, my head lightly hurting from the fast moving of my eyes and he looks at me as if I am something special.
His eyes speak more words than any guy's mouths ever had and it scares me. When I broke it off with Ben I told myself no more relationships until I can get my life back in line. But sometimes my mind wanders to the thought ‘what if he becomes my lifeline?’
I hate having to rely on a guy, I want to be able to have my own life under control but I also want to be able to rely on someone. I have burdened Reneè enough so I never ask her.
I think the major reason I stayed with Ben for four years was because I could rely on him. Most of the time.
Sometimes.
“I think it’s time to go home. It’s getting late.” I state to him but he never moves away.
Quite the opposite. He comes closer.
“We have time.”
“Do- do we?”
“All the time in the world, darling.”
“What about tomorrow? We need sleep.” I point out the obvious.
“We can start later. It doesn’t matter, I’m the boss.”
“Right, you can choose when to leave and when to come because you are the boss.”
“Correct.”
“But I am just an assistant. I have to be here at nine on the dot with enough sleep so maybe you have time but I don't, so if you don’t mind. I would like to leave.” And I get up from my seat and start clearing my desk. I pack my laptop back in my bag and organise the desk because I hate leaving behind a mess.
I close my eyes as my vision turns black when I get up from my seat, my head starts to spin in a million circles and my head starts to throb. The next thing I know, my world turns black.