I love him, not

chapter xi

I was woken up by a knock at the door. I opened my eyes and saw the receptionist from last night laying on the other side of the bed. I sighed and got up from the bed.

I walked out of the bedroom, grabbing a robe from behind the door. As I approach the door, the knocks became more persistent.

"Give me a minute." I snapped. Who the hell would be knocking so loud so early in the morning.

I opened the door, purposely placing a scowl on my face.

"Hi Nic, sorry to bother. Do you perhaps have a pair of training shoes that you aren't planning on using with you?" Amanda said.

She stood in front of me in a ridiculous pink two piece gym set that had ridiculous pink shoes to match.

"What?" I asked. It took me a while to process to what she had said because I was so starstruck because of how cute she looked, despite how ridiculous her whole outfit was.

"I said tha-"

"I heard what you said. I just want to know why you need my training shoes." I stated.

"Oh. I need them because Daniel forgot to pack a pair of training shoes." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh." I replied defeated. "Come in." I said, showing her to the lounge area in the room. "Wait here."

I saw her sit down by the dinner table and I rounded the corner into the bedroom. I saw that the receptionist had woken up. I placed a finger on my mouth and indicated to her that she should not utter a word. She nodded slightly as she quietly fell back onto the bed.

I went to the closet where I tried to rummage through my duffel bag in hopes of finding the shoes, but it was of no use since the bag was so full. I sighed and began taking the clothes out one by one, placing them neatly on the floor beside me.

It took me a while before I reached the bottom of the bag where the shoes were but eventually I got them out. Just as I was about to stand up, I heard Amanda's voice coming from the room.

"Hey Nic, it's fine if you can't find any..." Her voice trailed off, "Oh hi. I did not know that you were in here." She said, her voice was a bit higher than usual.

"It's alright ma'am." The receptionist responded.

I proceeded to walk back into the bedroom.

"Where's Nic?" Amanda asked.

"Right here." I interjected before the receptionist could say anything. Amanda was looking at her up and down with a look of slight disgust plastered all over her face, while the young girl in my bed sat up with her head hung low. "Here." I said to Amanda, bringing her attention onto me.

She walked further into the room and took the sneakers from my hand. "Thank you." She said.

She began to walk out of the room and I followed her out with the intention of walking her out. When she reached the door, she turned back to me. There was a weird tension between us.

"Uhh...thanks." She said walking out of the suite.

"Look, Mandy, I did not mean for you to see that." She slightly blushed.

"It's alright Nicolas. I'm not the one you should be apologising to." She shrugged her shoulders and stepped out of the suite. "Thanks again for the shoes."

"No problem." I sighed. I closed the door behind her and stepped back into the living area of the suite.

I threw countless punches into the air in hopes of calming myself down. How could I have been so stupid. Of course Amanda would have stepped into my room at some point during this trip and now she probably thinks that I am do not care about my marriage. On the contrary, I do not, but she does not need to know that.

I sighed and stepped into the bedroom.

"Good morning," the receptionist said as I stepped back into the room. I resisted rolling my eyes at her tone of voice. She was trying too hard to sound soft spoken. I let out a chuckle.

"Look, Miss you have to leave. Last night was fun, but you need to leave." She stared at me as if I had grown a second head, "What is it? Do not act like you did not see the ring on my finger when you walked in here last night."

"Wow!" She said with an exasperated sigh. I honestly did not care how she felt, I just wanted her gone.

"I am going to hop in the shower. Please be gone by the time that I get out." I said. I casually strolled into the bathroom, letting the water run while I stripped naked.

"Do you even remember my name?" She yelled after me.

A feeling of guilt quickly ran through me, but I ignored it. I ignored her and I stepped into the shower.

***

By the time I stepped out of the shower, there was nobody in the room. I let out a sigh of relief as I sat on the bed in the towel that I had wrapped around my waist. I grabbed my laptop from the side desk and I ran through the schedule that was set for me and I realised that I had a quick meeting with Daniel and Amanda to brainstorm, before we headed to the meeting with my father and his investors.

I got up and quickly got dressed. I walked out of the apartment and found Amanda doing the same. She was alone, so I assumed we were to go in the same car. I noticed her take a deep breath when she noticed me. I could not tell whether she was happy to see me or if she was frustrated that she was seeing me again.

I walked to the elevator and waited for her to stand beside me before I pressed the button. I looked at her and eventually, she felt uncomfortable under stare as she shifted from one foot to the other. She has not changed a bit in the five years that I had not seen her. She tried her best to look in front of her and not at me. I let out a low chuckle and shook my head.

The elevator dinged and the doors flew open. She took a step in and held the doors open for me to enter with her.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" She said as the elevator doors closed in front of us.

"Enjoying what?" I asked, knowing very well what she was speaking about.

"Me being uncomfortable." She said, turning back to me.

"What?" I threw my hand to my chest dramatically, "you wound me Mandy."

She let out a soft giggle and rolled her eyes.

"Still dramatic as ever." She turned to the front of the elevator.

"You know that is my default setting." She shook her head, and I just knew she had a small smile playing on her lips.

I wanted to continue speaking to her but I did not want to try my luck or to get her agitated. So I just kept quiet as the elevator went down.

Soon enough we were on the ground floor that we had to step out on and this time I stepped out first, holding the door open for her. After that, I walked slightly behind her. That gave her enough space to be in her own world but also acknowledge that I was there.

We both stepped out of the building and we saw a car waiting by the door. One of my father's drivers opened the door for us and we both slid in the back.

Felix walked around the car and quietly slipped into the drivers seat.

"Good morning Sir." He greeted me, "Ma'am." He greeted Amanda.

"Good morning Felix. How are you?" Amanda enthusiastically chimed while I returned a simple nod.

"I'm doing great Miss. Mr Daniel asked me to inform you that he is already at the boardroom at The Tower." She nodded.

"He can't see you." I whispered to her before slightly chuckling.

"Oh sorry. Thank you Felix." She said.

"No problem Miss."