Lyra had gone to escort Rinka out of the building, leaving me alone in the dim office with my thoughts in disarray. Bad idea. The dark reminded me of…of things. Like his warmth against the cold. On my body. His large and calloused hands, hot on my waist and traveling lower. His breath on my neck and lips on my chest.The smile in his eyes when I cried out, realizing he’d hit the spot.“Fuck…” I cursed under my breath with head in my hands. I missed Cristo. I really did. And even though I had to really talk to Lyra about the way she’d been acting, I just wanted to go home and cry my heart out. Maybe throw away my phone to keep myself from checking his Instagram through a damned fake account so he didn’t think I missed him.Pathetic.I was pathetic.Lyra was back way too soon for me to compose myself. “You looked like you wanted to talk to me.”I looked at her calculatingly, and decided I couldn’t do it today. I was too distraught for it. Funny, really, seeing as how Cristo and I never
The ratings for the show came in by the time I got home, and I felt slightly disappointed. Hugo had taken the win for this episode. I guess it couldn’t be helped, he was pretty unconventional after all. More so than the others. There were no excuses to be made, I was off my guard ever since I’d found out about Rinka’s dilemma in the dressing room at the Nakamura house.Sighing, I turned my phone off and got up to get ready for my appointment with Kathryn. I was looking forward to it, even though I had no idea what I would really say to her. I knew she would be digging deeper into my past, something about getting it off my chest seeing how I never talked with anyone about everything that had happened to me. Truthfully, I felt nervous. For such a long time, I felt like a lot of my memories were either false or exaggerated. I was always told I was overreacting by everyone in my life at the time. I barely had any friends because of Mark, and my mother was of no help.Would Kathryn believe
Hugo took his time coming to my place. By the time the doorbell rang, it was 7 pm and already dark. I looked out into New York’s skyline from the glass wall of my living room, dressed in navy blue sweats and a glass of wine in hand. I ran my hand through my scalp, massaging the back of my head lightly and occasionally playing with my loosened hair. I really needed to stop tying it up, it made my head hurt.I quietly let him in and he walked around slowly, taking in my apartment. Holly yelped softly at him from the loveseat, but I head over quickly to comfort her with a ruffle. She understood Hugo was a guest and settled back into the cushions.“The episode’s about to air.” I informed him as I took to the couch. He walked over carefully and slid off his coat to drape over the backrest of the loveseat, coming to sit tentatively on the other end of the couch. “Need anything? Coffee? Tea?”“Water’s fine.”I reached over to the dispenser across the couch with a glass from the table before
This was it. It was the day, the hour, and I sat on a leather seat between two curved couches. Rinka and her family sat on one, Ethan and his family on another. Hugo and his clients were right across from us on a similar couch. It wasn’t entirely unbearable, the set. It was quite lavish, actually. A rose gold stage, black couches with gold accents, and white flowers. Crystals hung low from the chandelier above us, illuminating the studio in a soft, bright light.Everyone was dressed well. Hugo was literally in an aqua colored suit with pink and purple floral print on his tie. His dark hair was gelled back and his eyes sparkled like dew drops on a mint leaf. He looked nice. I, on the other hand, was dressed in a sleek black chiffon dress with a halter neck and gold jewelry. My hair was pulled back into a chignon, revealing a face with soft rosy make-up.My heart was drumming against my chest. Anxiety? Excitement? I couldn’t be sure at this point. I wasn’t even hoping to win. Frankly, I
Guilt.It’s a nasty feeling that feeds on your soul and plants resentment in your heart. The thing about this emotion is that you can’t numb it. Until you find a way to repent, the memory of what you did keeps replaying on loop in your mind at the most inopportune moments.It had been forty five minutes since I entered my office and still, the same report displayed on the screen of my computer refused to make sense. My eyes were reading the numbers but my brain refused to interpret what they meant. Never before had I ever felt so completely thrown off my game. But then again, I had never hurt someone I cared about so badly.Cristo.It was over between us. For real this time. Any chance that we’d had left for mending the pieces that made up our complicated relationship had ceased to exist the moment he found me with that…jerk. How could I have been so stupid? I, of all people, understood how drinking past one’s limit had a tendency of shutting down all their brain cells. What the hell
The universe had to be playing a cruel joke on me.If someone had told me that I would be sitting opposite Selena Caron, discussing her son’s inability to manage their business, mere days after interrupting their meeting, I would have laughed in their face. But that morning, as I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business, Lyra called to say that a certain Selene Caron wanted to see me.At first, I thought she was coming to see me about my ‘interest’ in their company so I had given myself two minutes to formulate a fool proof lie. But when she walked into my office and said that it had to do with Cristo’s incompetence, I was taken aback.“He is behaving like a spoiled child,” Selene complained. “Of late, the company’s performance has been going downhill at an appalling rate. If corrective action is not taken soon, we will be out of business in a few months.”So that’s what they were talking about that day. No wonder Cristo looked relieved when I stormed in.What I still couldn’t
“They look…boring.” I pushed away the file. “For lack of a better word.”“Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt,” Lyra suggested. She glanced at the names again. “They are all excelling in their careers. Not to mention their parents are powerful and influential people.”She had a point. The six girls who’d made it to the shortlist all came from rich families and there was not a stain to their reputation. Clearly, Lyra was following Selene’s instructions to the letter. I made a mental note to give her a bonus if the project went as planned.“I appreciate your hard work. I really do,” I said gently. “You are an asset to this company, you know.”“But?”“I know Cristo,” I explained. “I’m telling you he won’t like them. They are all daddy’s girls. Not to mention…” I stretched a bit to point at the picture of the first candidate. Leah someone. “He doesn’t like blondes.”Lyra was confused. Frankly, I wasn’t making much sense. I didn’t blame her.“Who would be his ideal girlfriend? Let’s
Hugo looked surprised to see me.“What’s with that look on your face?” I said as I hopped onto the bar stool. “You didn’t think I would show up?”“Um, kind of.” He gave me a sheepish smile.I quickly looked away and ordered a margarita. Sliding my hand inside my brown sling bag, I fetched my tablet and got down to business.“So, the billionaire matchmaking club,” I said as I scrolled through the files till I found what I was looking for. “I have been…”“Lily…”“Lilith!” I quickly corrected him. “It’s Lilith. Do you want me to tattoo it on my forehead?”Hugo blinked. “Sorry.”“You were saying?”“You haven’t answered any of my calls for the last two weeks?” He shook his head disbelievingly. “And when we finally meet you want to dive straight to business? I thought we were better than that.”My drink arrived and I murmured a quiet thank you to the waiter for being swift. I had never been so grateful for a distraction before. To avoid Hugo’s watchful eyes, I busied myself with swirling my