Chapter Three: The Present

Chapter Three

Hours later, Luna walked out of Justin’s company building and towards her parked car, waiting for her in the parking lot.

Jaden opened the door to the backseat and Luna got in, she closed her eyes just as Jaden closed the door. She let out a breath she hadn’t even been aware she was holding, her breath coming out on a shaky tremble. After their little private reunion, Justin had called everybody back into the conference room and the meeting had progressed.

All through the meeting, Luna could feel Justin’s eyes on her, even though she had been careful to not look at him. And she had had to remind herself every few minutes to breathe, when she realized she was staring at Justin’s assistant- who was laying out the objectives of the gala- with bated breath.

She had almost jumped out of her skin when someone spoke beside her, and that had made her realize that she was on pins and needles throughout the entire meeting.

But now it was over. Luna threw her head back on the headrest and opened her eyes to stare up at the top of the car.

She had known, going in, that the first meeting with Justin wasn’t going to be easy. After all, it wasn’t everyday you came face-to-face with the man you once loved with all your heart. There was bound to be some heart shaking, some body igniting, some hand trembling. Luna knew that, and she had been prepared for it. Or at least, she had thought she was. But nothing had prepared her for the reality of it.

She was still affected by him.

Luna scoffed as that thought passes through her mind. She couldn’t believe she was still affected by Justin, after all these years. Although that had been part of the reason why she had carried out her little experiment of seeing Justin again.

One had been to show him what she had made of herself over the years, to make him see that she hadn’t just wasted her life away after he left her shattered. That he hadn’t completely broken her. To also show herself all that, because she had felt like that was the last piece of the puzzle she needed to finally move on with her life.

The other reason had been to see if he had the power he had over her six years ago, still. And that had been a private reason of hers, a reason she hadn’t shared even with her best friend.

Today’s reunion had shocked her to very core. Because not only did he still affect her, but he still affected her strongly. Her body was still trembling minutes after she’d seen him.

“Oh God,” Luna muttered to herself, covering her face with her hands.

“Is everything all right, ma’am?” Jaden asked, closing the door as he got into the car beside her.

Luna waved a hand to gesture his concern away without looking at him.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Just drive.”

At this, the driver in the driver’s seat started up the car and pulled smoothly out of Justin’s company’s parking lot.

As the car moved seamlessly though the streets of New York, Luna’s mind replays her meeting with Justin over and over again.

Moments later, they pull up in front of a high rise building, the driver navigates the car into the parking lot. Just then, Luna’s phone rings in her hand. She glances down at the name flashing on the screen, she swipes right on the call.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hey,” Rita, her best friend’s, voice, comes through the phone speaker. “How did it go? You still in the meeting?”

Luna rubbed a hand over her forehead, feeling a tiny headache beginning to throb there.

“No, we’re here, we actually just pulled into the parking lot. I’m coming up now.”

“Okay, I’ll be waiting for you,” Rita said.

Luna ended the call and sighed wearily as she turned her head and looked out the window of the car. And then as she looked up at the tall building, the glass windows gleaming in the daylight sun, the weariness that was starting to gather in her bones suddenly slipped away. The words Green-ish Foods were installed in big block letters across the front of the building, people-employees- walk in and out of the building. Numerous cars were parked in the parking lot, some bikes, some scooters.

I did this, Luna thought suddenly to herself. I created this, I built a whole company from scratch. I am responsible for hundreds of people’s jobs, their livelihoods, the paychecks that feed their families. I did all that.

And now, just because she’d met the man who broke her six years ago, again for the first time today, she’d suddenly forgotten about all of her achievements. Luna felt a stirring of anger at that, and determined, she shook off the lethargic feeling and opened the door, getting out of the car.

She made her way towards the entrance of the building, Jaden behind her. She responded to greetings as she made her way to the elevator. Riding the elevator up to her office, Jaden went over the key points of the meeting with her.

Moments later, the elevator doors slide open to reveal a hallway. Rita was there. The two women looked at each other, and an understanding passed between them.

“Jaden, go organize the files,” Rita said to Jaden without taking her eyes off Luna.

“Uh- wh- what files?” Jaden stuttered.

Rita gives him a look.

“Oh, oh, okay, I’ll just-”

He disappeared.

“I should have been there,” Rita started. “God, I shouldn’t have- I should have been there.”

Luna shook her head. “It’s fine, you were needed here.” She looked at her best friend. “But, God, Rita, it was not easy. I am still attracted to him.”

“Oh. That’s a problem,” Rita said.

The two women started walking towards Luna’s office, arms intertwined.

“Yeah,” Luna said. “A big one.”