"Mom, I'm so sorry." Eunice began to sob uncontrollably. "Silly girl, it's not your fault." Susan tried her best to comfort the poor girl. "I shouldn't have left like that... I should have stayed back with you at least." The gut-wrenching pain Eunice felt was too much to bear. She should have just put up with her discomfort and hurt. She shouldn't have left like that. Susan held her in a warm embrace.
"Does he know about this?" Eunice asked after finally calming down. Susan nodded weakly. The he she was probably referring to was Marcus. She was glad and at ease now. This still proved that she still cared for him deep in her heart. She was definitely doing the right thing! On the other hand, Eunice began to feel even more guilty. She had proudly gloated in front of him and had used him for her little publicity stunt that day without even realising what was going on in the Crestwood household. Was that why he looked strange it must have been because of -.
"Mom, I promise I won't leave your side again, I'll take good care of you until you get better!" Eunice squeezed Susan's hands tightly and didn't want to let go. "I know, my dear, you've always been so caring and sweet, always looking out for me. And for that reason I want you to come back home... with me." Susan chose her words carefully. She didn't want to frighten her off. Eunice furrowed her brows in confusion.
"I want you and Marcus to get back together."
"What?!" Eunice appalled immediately blurted out. But before she could say anything else, she heard a voice from behind.
"Mom!" Marcus had been to the Crestwood residence only to be informed his mom had left to meet someone outside. From the location of the cafe his mom had booked, he had an idea of what she was up to and rushed there as fast as he could to stop her but it seemed he was too late judging by the scene he was currently witnessing. "Ah! Look at the time I've got to go rest, this is for the meal." Susan shot up, placed some cash on the table, and attempted to rush out.
"I'll drive you back!" Both Marcus and Eunice simultaneously spoke. "Don't worry, I came here with Jack he'll take me back home, goodbye." She didn't spread a second more and rushed out, leaving Marcus and Eunice awkwardly staring at each other.
Eunice and Marcus stared at each other for what seemed like ages. It seemed neither of them knew what to say to the other. After a few more seconds of silence, Eunice spoke. "Hey,... uhm, are you doing alright?" The question stunned Marcus. He really wasn't expecting such a compassionate and concerned question like that from her. Especially after their little show down at the banquet weeks earlier.
"Yeah, I'm fine... I should go..." Marcus attempted to leave so he could save them both the embarrassment. He turned and headed for the door but stopped when he heard her shout from behind. "Wait!" Before he could even make the full turn, Eunice's slender arms were already around him. Marcus was dumbstruck and dared not to move even an inch.
Eunice began to slowly pat his back, trying to give him a little bit of comfort. In fact, she didn't even realise she had made such a bold move on him but she felt strongly that it was the only thing she could offer him at this time so she pushed out the prideful thoughts in her head.Marcus didn't know what to do at that point. He was pretty sure putting his arms around her was a big no, heck he wasn't even sure moving was a good option either. He just stood there while the little figure tried to comfort him. He didn't even realise he needed any comfort until then... Eunice pulled away a little while later. Her flushed red cheeks made her look almost cute. Marcus resisted the urge not to laugh.
"Uhm... if you need anything, here's my number you can call if... well... just call if you need to. She reached into her purse and grabbed her personal business card, and shoved it into his hands.
"Thank you. I'll do that." Marcus chuckled and placed the card into his coat pocket. "About what mom said, please don't-..." Marcus began with a serious tone but was cut off.
"Don't worry about that, there are far more important matters at hand... I'll take my leave now." Eunice rushed out the cafe with top speed. She facepalmed herself several times in her head. How could she have done something so embarrassing?
Marcus still stood in the cafe, both amused and a little confused. Later in his office, he stared at the card in high spirits. He caressed the card's hard, glossy surface.
"Eunice Parker." The name on the card was written boldly in gittering gold colours. He saved the number onto his phone.
"Eunice! Eunice!"
Eunice snapped out of her daze and gave a questioning look at her best friend Abigail. "Sheesh, I've been calling you for the past minute. What are you thinking about?" Abigail frowned. "Nothing... It's nothing. What did you want to say?" She hurriedly asked to avoid any further questioning. "Oh, I was wondering where you were this afternoon?" She batted her eyelashes suggestively. "Hey, what the hell are you thinking, I suddenly had to meet someone important nearby, that's all!" She rolled her eyes at Abigail and slapped her on the arm....
...Eunice closed her eyes, feeling the gusts of wind on her face as their her car accelerated back to the company at night. She had come back to the company under the ruse of having a backlog of work in the office. Work was the only way to keep her from consantly recalling her encounter with Susan and Marcus that afternoon. Especially since her thoughts kept drifting to 'other' things like the smell of his cologne... the feel of his chiselled body under his clothes... "Shit! Youve really lost it, haven't you?" she cursed in her head. She shook her head to clear those thoughts out of her head and took a deep breath to compose herself...
...and the first quarter of the year saw a 10% increase sales and a 12% increase in profits....
"Sir... Sir?" Secretary Sam called out to his boss multiple times but received no reply. Marcus finally lifted up his head to meet with the stares of Secretary Sam and the rest of the board members all on him.
"Meeting dismissed, Secretary Sam, just leave the files on the report I'll read through them later." They all gave him a deep bow and quickly walked out of the conference room. "Did you see that?" One of the board members nuged his colleague. "Yes, our boss distracted. Is that even possible?" All of the board members, including Secretary Sam, were perplexed. In the past five years since his separation, their boss had worked like a machine 24/7 without taking a break. He had formed the biggest Conglomerate in the country with three major companies; Dusk Distribution; Dusk Studios, and Dusk R&R, which ruled over all the other companies in Country C.
He had taken over Dusk Distribution from his father and added two more subsidiary companies to create the great Conglomerate it now was. All this while he was always critical about his work and never got distracted and never fazed out during a meeting. What was going on?