Sylvie
"Ignore him, he's a grown man not a child." Antonio said as he kissed my nape, his warm breath caressing my skin seductively.
"I...I can't Antonio." I breathed heavily before tearing away from his warmth. "He's our boss, surely you're not okay with this, are you?"
"We're adults Sylvie, he can't control our personal life and how we handle our sexual urges. Stop worrying too much and come back to bed already."
While Antonio was definitely right, I just couldn't continue, not when the heat of the moment had died down. In fact I had no idea how it even got to this. One moment we had been arguing, and the next Antonio was kissing me. Unable to resist his temptation, I had given in and had embraced the temptation without thinking of the past and all the things he had done to me.
"Just leave Antonio, I have something I want to do." I said as softly as I could. Knowing Antonio, he would probably get infuriated over the littlest things, and I honestly didn't want to get him more aggravated than I could handle.
"Tsk, you have some serious issues, Sylvie." He lamented angrily as he picked up his clothes from the floor. After getting dressed, Antonio walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Once Antonio was gone, I rushed into the bathroom to clean myself.
As I approached Michael's room, I felt my heartbeat escalate. I had no idea why I felt so guilty, and why I found it necessary to apologize when he had been the person to walk into my room without permission. Somehow I felt obliged to explain myself to him, and a part of me considered it a wise idea.
Slowly, I lifted my hand to the door, and after three seconds of consideration, I finally knocked. There was no reply, and after several minutes of consistent knocks, there was still no reply from Michael. Without thinking, I tried pushing in the door but soon realized that it had been locked from the outside. He wasn't in his room, and it made me wonder where he might have gone.
Just as I was about to leave and return to my room, I ran into one of the hotel attendants and immediately ceased the opportunity to make an inquiry about Michael. He was a handsome young man, it was impossible to see him and not turn around for a second gaze at his face. I was certain everybody around was familiar with who he was, so this attendant might have an idea of where he might have gone.
"Excuse me, have you seen Micheal Black?" I asked and she immediately cast me a demeaning glare. For some weird reason she got super defensive as though Michael was her lover or something.
"Is there something you want with Mr Black? Does he have any appointments with you?"
"Umm... I'm his assistant, and I have important information to relay to him." I answered and she arched her brow in suspicion. Reluctantly, she finally gave me the information I wanted and walked away as though we were sworn enemies.
I walked to the hotel bar without any second thoughts, and just as the attendant had informed Michael was seated there, a bottle of whiskey tight in between his palms.
I inhaled deeply before approaching him, my thoughts racing and my body fidgeting mildly as I approached his table.
"Is something the matter Ms Mulberry?" He asked the second I was within earshot.
"Not exactly..." I drawled out calmly. "Can I sit?"
He took a second to look up at my face, his red eyes boring into the depths of mine. He wasn't yet drunk, but he wasn't far from getting drunk at the moment. With an air of nonchalance, he whispered, "Do what you want.."
I settled beside him immediately and a heavy silence fell upon us at the same time. The tension was palpable, and it was slowly getting to me. Michael on the other hand didn't seem to care, he took a sip from the bottle in his hand from time to time, while I sat there watching him as he did so.
"Are you sure you don't want to stop? We still have another conference later today." I reminded him, but he paid no attention to my words, not until I reached out and snatched the bottle from his hands.
"What is it Sylvie? What do you want?" He repeated and I felt my lips go numb. I had no idea if I should apologize or just scold him for drinking hours before our next meeting. This project seemed important to him, and while I might not be the best person to talk to him at the moment, I had to do my work as his assistant.
"I....I came to make sure you were prepared for the next meeting."
"I'm fine, you can leave now." He replied sharply before snatching the bottle out of my grasp rudely.
Instinctively, I reached out in the same second and stole it before finally blurting out, "I'm sorry.."
He turned to look at me before breaking into a short laughter. "What are you sorry for Ms Mulberry? Did you do something bad?"
I had no idea how to reply to that question. I wasn't exactly sure if I had done something wrong, and at the same time I felt like I had broken his trust for running back into Antonio's arms especially minutes after I had complained that Antonio had bullied me.
"Well..."
"There's nothing to be sorry for Ms Mulberry. I'm not going to judge you for the way you live your life, and it's best you don't interfere with the way I live mine."
With those words, Michael rose from his seat and left without even sparing me one glance. At that moment I felt like the connection we'd built over the past days had just died, and it hurt more than I had anticipated. I felt my fingers go cold around the bottle in my hand. I trembled lightly while I battled with the internal conflict within me. Then without thinking, I lifted the bottle of whiskey to my mouth, and for the first time in my life downed more than half a bottle of alcohol in under one minute.