"If you are not happy with this arrangement, you could always leave," Xavier simply said, his voice laced with a hint of threat as the two men locked eyes from a distance.
Blake scoffed loudly as he clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You can't make me leave. I'm not letting you guys win this time," he spat the words out like they were poison in his mouth. "I'm not leaving," he insisted.
A low chuckle left Xavier's lips. "It's not about winning or losing, Blake." He stepped forward, giving him a firm pat on his shoulder as a small smile graced his lips. "I heard you have been doing well in this company, I know you won't disappoint us," he said with a knowing look twinkling in his eyes.
"Whatever," he muttered under his breath before leaving unhappily and letting the door shut behind him, leaving just Xavier and I alone in the meeting room.
I could feel the tension stretching between us as silence lapsed between the both of us for a brief moment. I turned to look up at him, seeing that he was just about to leave the room, I called out to him.
"Xavier," his name left my lips, catching his attention as he immediately snapped his head around and we locked eyes.
"What is it?" He asked, his voice remained cold and distant.
I didn't hesitate as I got straight to the point, voicing out the thoughts and questions that have been swirling in my head ever since last night.
"Why are you acting all weird and distant ever since you fucked me last night?" I questioned curtly as my brows were furrowed together to form a tiny frown.
I watched as his eyes widened at my sudden crudeness and bluntness. He walked towards me, closing the gap between us and covered my mouth with his hand in a hurry.
"We are in the office, Aurelia," he reminded in a hush voice. "Anyway, it's nothing. I was just tired, that's all," he said but it all just sounded like excuses to me at this point, it felt as though he was trying to brush me off.
I pried his hand off my lips and glared at him.
"I don't believe you," I said. "Where were you this morning? I thought we were heading to the office together."
He hesitated for a brief moment before he finally spoke up. "I have somewhere that I need to be at. Nothing important. It was a last minute thing."
"A last minute thing?" I tossed his words right back at him and a soft chuckle emerged from my throat. "Why are you acting so suspicious, Xavier? Can't you just tell me where you went?" I asked as doubt laced my voice, accusation dripping from the words that left my lips.
"Why do I need to tell you everything, Aurelia?" He snapped in frustration as his features hardened. "We were only married for like a couple of days out of convenience. Do you really think that we are a couple who are deeply in love?!" He blurted out, raising his voice ever so slightly.
I felt my heart sink to the pit of my stomach in that instant as my face fell.
A pang of hurt coursed through my body as I stared at him blankly and my heart pounded loudly against my chest. His words cut deeper than I thought. But why? Have I really fallen for him that quickly?
"Wow…" I muttered under my breath and instinctively took a step back while my eyes remained on his face. "Is this how you feel all this time? Then why were you so nice to me? Why did you do all of that for me?" I hurled question after question right at him.
I saw the immediate regret that crossed his face within the next second.
"Aurelia, wait –" he reached out wanting to hold my hand but I recoiled at his touch, looking up at him with hurt evident on my face. "I don't mean that."
A cold chuckle escaped my lips. "You don't mean that? Then what exactly do you mean, Xavier?"
"I was just –"
"You know what?" I interrupted as a mixture of sadness and anger clouded my thoughts and judgement. "I don't really want to hear it. Not right now, I need to focus on my work."
Before he could say another word, I spun on my heels to walk away.
Later in the day, I plopped the huge stack of files onto Blake's table with a loud thud.
He immediately stopped what he was doing to look up at me with a puzzled look etched onto his face.
"What is this for?"
"I need you to look through these files and summarise your findings in a report by tomorrow morning."
His eyes flickered back down onto the monitor screen to look at the time before he looked back up to meet my cold gaze. "But it's 430 pm now. The work day is ending."
I raised a brow at him.
"So? Get it done." The corners of my lips curled upwards into a smile. "You are capable right? I know you can do this."
I didn't give him a chance to say another word before I turned around to leave.
***
Third Person POV
The front door swung open and Stella came rushing into the apartment with a concerned and worried look plastered right across her face the moment her eyes landed on Blake.
She snatched the can of beer out of his grasp.
"Stop drinking!"
"Hey, what the hell do you think you are doing?!" He protested angrily as his hand reached for another unopened can of beer. His breath reeks of alcohol and his face was flushed red while his eyes were now bloodshot red.
She quickly slapped the drink out of his hand.
It turned out that he had drunk called her earlier, asking for her to come over. Despite everything that had happened, she couldn't bear to leave him alone and that was how she found herself in this situation.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you doing this?"
He groaned loudly as he leaned back into the couch with a blank look etched onto his face.
"It's all Aurelia's fault…" he muttered under his breath as he stared into space. "She's pregnant with another man's child and now she's my new boss? She's intentionally making my life difficult at work. Can life get any worse?"
Stella leaned closer to him, placing her hand on his shoulder in a comforting manner.
"Don't care about her anymore, she's just a cheater. You know I won't ever do that to you right?"
He let out a sigh.
"Why don't you just quit your job? Don't you always want to pursue your dream to be a director? To shoot your first film and movie?" She urged with a smile. "I will be here to support you."
"I can't. I don't want to." He sat up straighter this time. "I can't give up so easily. I don't want to be this loser, to be the butt of their joke."
"You are not a loser, Blake," she assured. "You can just –"
He shoved her hand off his arm in a moment of impulse. "You don't know anything, Stella!" He said, raising his voice. He let out a breath as he finally calmed down "I need to press on. She cannot win," he said through gritted teeth as his eyes swam with contempt for his ex-wife.
"No, yeah… of course. You are right. She won't win…"
The very next morning, she found herself standing in front of the office building, coming face to face with Aurelia.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why can't you just leave Blake alone?!"