If Only I Knew

CHAPTER XII

He looked a little less of a person that I knew in his black tuxedo and red tie.
"What are you doing here?"

Of course, they would invite him! He was a coveted personality and his presence was of strategic importance to the company.

"Never mind, don't answer that. We both know why you're here." I cut him off before he could respond.

"I didn't expect you to meet you so soon..." he carefully thought lest he picked up the wrong words "considering our situation." he completed his sentence.

I raised my eyebrows "Situation? We are in no situation whatsoever-so you can just chill or whatever!" My hands moved around frantically in the air.

"I'm sorry, Brooke. I am sure both of us wouldn't have imagined in their wildest dreams that our first meeting after 7 years would be this way! I'm sorry for creating a mess the other day." I looked at him with a softened expression on my face.

Don't blame me if I'm astonished that Will Sanderson just apologozed to me.

"But I want you to know that I meant each word that I said- everything! If you could just give me another..." I sensed where this conversation was headed towards and I immediately interspersed "You're forgiven, but you're surely not forgiven for conspiring with my best friend behind my back and making her a partner in your ploy!"

"She told you?"

"Yes! She's my best friend if you don't remember, Will Sanderson and Friendship comes before love!" He was equally shocked at my choice of words. Screw me for using the wrong words at the wrong time. Love! Seriously?

"Excuse me. I'll go get a drink." I made the most random excuse to avoid the unsettling silence, not long before he followed me and said the most unexpected thing.

"Do you want to go on a drive?" I spat out some drink back into my glass and asked in stark horror- "Wha..What?"

"Look, I know you're completely unwilling to be here and so am I." He said matter of factly. "We could just skip this and talk. I know there's a lot we need to sort out." His eyes reflected utmost sincerity and the proposition was much more alluring than being in a room full of strangers. Besides, Sarah was there to handle things on my behalf.

'That's what you keep telling yourself.' My subconsciousness never gave up on a chance to taunt me.

I nodded in agreement and his face lit up immediately. He gestured his hand for me to move and I followed suit.

Once outside, I immediately undid the choker resting on my neck that had made breathing for me quite an agonizing experience.

Will asked me to wait on the sidewalk while he quickly fetched his car.

Within few minutes, his sleek black BMW stood in front of me and I wasted no time to sit inside. The interiors were breathtakinn and I realized that I'd underestimated this man's potential.

"I'm sorry that Sarah had to be the one to tell you everything and I'm even more sorry that I did it in the first place. I just needed to talk to you once" I shot him a blank glance. I didn't know how to respond to that statement. The car was in motion and I diverted my attention to all the skyscrapers around me.

"I shouldn't have asked Sarah for her help in the first place. And It was highly unfair for me to put you in such an awkward position in front of your family." He continued.

I guess I was relieved that at least he realised his mistake.

"Yeah! You really should be sorry for that. It really got awkward with you and Noah in the same space." I don't know why I had a smile on my face as I chided him mildly.

"Noah was so envious; his face turned red when you agreed to come with me to the park." My mouth formed an O-shape in amazement. He wasn't supposed to speak that out loud.

"Do you have any tact, whatsoever? He wasn't jealous! Why would he be?"

"Exactly! He doesn't needs to be; he's bethroted to the most beautiful woman I've ever known." He looked at me shortly, before divesting his attention back on the road.

The roads were black with cars since it was evening and thankfully that gave Will a very minuscule chance to steal glances of me.

"I am happy where I'm at in my life right now, Will. I have the best husband and an extremely loveable and adorable son. My career is hopefull going to sky-rocket in the near future. In other words, my life is Perfect!" I said in my defense.

The car came to a halt due to the red-light and Will sounded frustated as he said "There's no such thing as PERFECT!" His eyes were red and glossy and honestly, that scared me a little bit because-

He was right.

Flashback:

"I don't think 'marriage' is the solution to any relationship problem. It does complexify the situation though." Will said.

I scoffed in sheer disagreement. People were subjective and so were relationships. It was not a rite of passage that marriage would lead to doom of a relationship.

"Noo!" Will and I were currently watching a rom-com on the television. The main male-lead proposed to his lady-love for marriage in the hope of spending a beautiful life with her. Much to his dismay, she refuses and he is left with a broken heart and a tons of memories.

It was such a petty thing to fight over but when Will laughed at the efforts of the poor man, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"Brooke, you need to think practically; she lives in Philadelphia and he lives in London! Their relationship was bound to fail from the very beginning. They didn't think it through." His words stung.

"So, you thought it through before you asked me to move in with you? Are we bound not to fail?" I threw those words at him venemously.

"Brooke, are you out of your senses? Don't compare fiction with reality." He didn't expect me to act in such a way.

"You didn't answer my question, Will? Did you think it through? Or better, let me give you a situation- if I asked you to marry me right now, would you or would you not?" I was fuming with rage.

He tried his best to get my mind out of this topic when he said "Brooke, don't ask me such ridiculous questions. We're in a perfect place right now."

"There's no such thing as PERFECT!" I threw those words on his face as I slammed the door and walked away.

Author's Note:

So, I finished this chapter with a lot of things going on in my head! It wasn't such a delightful weekend, if I'm being honest.

Coming back to the book—there's a lot of tension between Will and Brooke right now. Poor girl, I hope this conversation with Will does not mess with her head! I missed Noah and Sam in this one but surely they'll be back in the next update.