To say that I'm scared would be an understatement.
The woman in front of me can bury anyone alive with a mere glare from her. She has an intimidating aura that would make anyone around her shiver in fear, and the fact that I can pretend to sit calmly in front of her is already a miracle.
Since I was able to leave the office earlier than usual, I was planning to head straight home and cook something delicious for Ansel and me, but those plans immediately vanished when the moment I stepped foot outside of our office building, I was greeted by the secretary of Ansel's mother.
I was immediately led to the coffee shop beside our building where Ansel's mother was waiting for me. Adele, Ansel's mother, is a very sophisticated woman who looked way younger than her actual age with her sharp features and flawless skin.
We already met once, and after what happened during our first meeting, I can kind of guess the reason why she wanted to talk to me.
"I will get straight to the point," Adele said as she elegantly placed the cup of coffee back on the table in front of us. Her every move screamed sophistication, and I felt rather trivial in front of her.
"You are ruining my son's life." Adele stared at me with an impassive face, and I couldn't help but notice the similarities between her and Ansel. "His whole life, Caesar was molded to become the heir to a global conglomerate. His education, the people around him – everything was selected impeccably in order for him to succeed his family."
I flinched at the coldness of her words. She made it seem like Ansel is nothing but a mere heir to their conglomerate as if he is not his own person.
'How could a mother act like this towards her son?'
"He chose to turn his back to all of these, for what?" She trailed off. She slightly furrowed her eyebrows before continuing, "For love?"
"Now, because of that silly decision, my son is forced to work for a no-name company," Adele continued, a hint of disgust can be heard from her voice. "The heir of the Chadwick group has to stoop to that level just because of a simple girl."
I curled my hands into a tight fist, and I could feel my nails digging into the skin of my palm. If I don't distract myself with the pain coming from my hands, I might not be able to contain my emotions. This is not the first time she did this, and I know that this would not be the last, but I just hope that she would stop speaking ill of Ansel as if he is not her son.
"Do you know the gravity of what he had to abandon just to be with you?"
"If you truly love him, you would not chain him down and prevent him from claiming the top."
"But what about what makes him happy?" I suddenly blurted out. I couldn't stop myself after hearing the words that came out of her mouth. She kept on saying about how he has to return to their family because he was born to become their heir, but not once did she consider his happiness.
"Does your happiness feed you?" Adele questioned as she raised an eyebrow.
My heart ached when I was reminded that this was the environment that Ansel grew up in, and I couldn't help but slightly raise my voice when I said, "Is that really it what it means to become a part of your family? To sacrifice one's happiness in exchange for glory? Is that really how one should live?"
Adele stared at me incredulously for a moment before letting out a chuckle. "You know what, sooner or later, you will finally realize that the love and happiness you are so obsessed with will not bring you anywhere."
Before I could respond, Adele let out a sigh and stood up.
"Stop living in your childish dreams and start facing reality."
***
I woke up at around 11 AM with a severe headache. I spent a few moments staring at my ceiling, letting the pain on my head subside even a little, and as I was lying on my bed doing nothing, pictures from last night's dinner suddenly flashed before my eyes, and the littlest smile formed on my lips.
After Ansel and I had our little conversation, the atmosphere between the two of us became too heavy for me to stay. I made up some excuse that I had to go back to the private room and left as fast as I could, leaving Ansel alone in the garden.
I wasn't trying to run away per se, but I just don't want to stay and say something that would make the 'amicable relationship' that I was hoping for vanish.
Although I might have already said something offensive since there is a sudden shift in the atmosphere around us.
A few minutes after my return to the private room, Ansel followed suit, and he immediately bid his farewells, saying that he has to leave early to prepare for a business trip. The members were rather vocal in their disappointment at Ansel's sudden departure, but after he left, the atmosphere inside the private room became considerably lighter.
I guess even they cannot help but walk on eggshells around their superior.
I did not drink even a single drop of wine after I returned to the private room. The contract with the Chadwick Group has just begun, and if I ever continued with my drinking spree, I might do something quite embarrassing that might be troublesome in the future.
In my standards, the rest of the dinner went well. I was able to talk to a bunch of people aside from Rachel and Leah, and by the end of the night, I was able to go home in one piece and without vomiting on someone's clothing.
But right now, I just want to stay in bed and nurse this terrible headache.
It wasn't until after thirty minutes that I attempted to leave my bed. My head is still aching, but it became quite bearable now.
I grabbed my phone on top of the nightstand to check for messages and found nothing. Afterward, I head straight downstairs and towards the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
My mother left some food for breakfast on the dining table. There was a fried egg, a few slices of bacon, and some bread for me to toast. Since it is almost lunchtime and my stomach is already grumbling, after getting a cup of coffee, I helped myself onto the meal that my mother left for me.
As I was munching on a piece of bacon, I received a notification from one of the messaging apps installed on my phone. It was a notification for a message sent to the group chat with the project team, and it seemed like someone sent a bunch of photos.
Excited, as we took a lot of photos last night, I immediately opened the message and was instantly directed to the group chat. The person sent a lot of photos with the message, 'have you guys heard the news?' Curious as to the person's message, I opened one of the photos, and after seeing the subject of the picture, my eyes widened in shock, and I almost dropped my phone.
The photos were of me and Ansel. Although my face was blurred, I immediately knew that it was me, and even the members from the project team could also instantly figure out who the woman was after comparing the outfit of the woman in the picture from the other pictures we took as a group last night.
The pictures would not really be much of an issue since I knew from the fact that Ansel was merely helping me at that time, but from the angle that the photos were taken, the pictures looked like Ansel was embracing me, and it could cause a major misunderstanding for those who don't know the real circumstance behind the photo.
As I was swiping through the photos, the message was suddenly removed from the group. It seemed like they finally found out who the lady from the pictures was and deleted the message after seeing my name on the list of the members of the group chat.
My hand began trembling in anxiety. It would be easy to explain what happened by saying the truth, that Ansel was merely helping a drunk woman to walk, but what I am anxious about is the possibility of our past being revealed because of this simple incident.
My heart began beating fast against my chest, and I could feel myself having difficulty breathing. I even just made a promise to Ansel that I would not let our past become a problem for the project, but now, I'm scared that I would not be able to fulfill that promise.
Only a few members saw the message before it was removed by the sender. After checking the names of the members who were able to see the photos and the message, I noticed that Rachel's name was included, and instantly, without thinking of the possible repercussions, I sent her a message.
I asked her about the photos and the meaning behind the sender's question - if the members have heard the news, but after a few minutes of waiting, Rachel has not yet read my message.
And even by the end of the weekend, she never read my message.
My anxiety turned to worst when Rachel ignored my message. It could perhaps mean that she is just busy right now, but worst-case scenario, she did not reply because what I feared the most had finally happened.
They might have found out about my past with Ansel, and with the rumors going around the company about his ex-wife, they probably have already imagined the worst about me.
When Ansel and I first met again after five years, he showed his true feelings towards me. He was full of resentment, and even though the truth was very painful, I knew that I deserve all the anger he has towards me.
Of course, I left him without any explanation while he was fighting for his life, his anger is justifiable.
I was prepared to accept all the hurtful words he would say to me, I believe I could at least do that much. I even imagined that the worst could happen, that he will have retaliation against me, but he never did.
I thought that our company would never have a chance of being selected for the contract because of our past, yet for some reason, we were still chosen.
Even last night, he acted kindly towards me.
I know that he might be merely tolerating me because of my mother and because we are business partners, but that mere fact is already a lot for someone like me.
Even though I have my reasons, I still left him.
Right now, if the employees found out that the contract for one of the suppliers for this project was given to the CEO's rumored gold-digger ex-wife, it is not only me who would be under the peoples' criticisms, but also Ansel who was one of the signatories of the contract.
Ansel is currently away on a business trip for days, and if our past is indeed revealed, the only thing I could do for him is to remedy this issue before he comes back.
I already did him wrong in the past, I should do something before this could ruin his present.
I think that's the least I could do for him after all this time.
***
After a few hours of gathering my thoughts, I realized that it was a mistake to suddenly send a message to Rachel like that. I might have seemed defensive when I sent that message, but either way, erasing my message would be more suspicious if there is a chance that she already saw it through her notifications.
Since there is a possibility that the photos have not yet circulated to a lot of people, I should not ask another person about it, especially the sender, and risk arousing their suspicion. Also, since we have a meeting on Monday, I should be able to discern if something is wrong with the way the members would act around me.
And perhaps, I could ask someone by then regarding the matter.
For the rest of the weekend, I tried convincing myself that there is a small probability that someone would find out our past. There are only a few people who knew about my marriage with Ansel, furthermore, there is no one from the team who knows about it.
I kept telling myself that I might just be overthinking everything, but once Monday came, I instantly knew that I was wrong.
The moment I entered the building, I immediately noticed the eyes and whispers that followed me, and straight away, I felt that there is certainly something wrong.