𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐬 (𝐌𝐚𝐱. 𝐖𝐨𝐥𝐟𝐞)

XVI

"Hmm," Audrey inspected Zoya's very fancy outfit "did you go to the opera first?" I laughed a little 

"In Europe, we dress for dinner" Obie's mom defended "it's a shame that never caught on here" 

"Kiki is still in the hospital mama" Obie reminded her "Audrey's come from there" 

"I was sorry to hear what happened, I had no idea your mother was struggling so," Aki's dad said, that would have been really nice if he hadn't exposed her mom in an article not even a year ago 

"Even though your papers reported in great detail about the failure of her company almost daily" Audrey retorted 

"I may own the papers but I don't believe in preventing journalists from doing their jobs. However, I'm personally sorry that it all went so public"

"Most people would make exceptions for friends" I sniffed picking up my water glass "friends should expose friends let alone bring them down" I took a sip of my water 

"Well," Aki's dad turned to Zoya "you needn't have worried Ms.Lott, I know you're new here but you'll soon see that we're all very close I mean Helena and I have known each other since before our sons were born, Jody and I were married for a decade, and Carter and I met just after college so none of us have got any secrets here" 

"The settlement made sure of that" Jody added 

"Plus, all the wiretapping?" Zoya asked I sighed and rested my head on my hand

"Cat, I haven't seen you in a very long time and Aki tells me you are dating Max Wolfe," Aki's dad said, I gulped, Audrey rubbed my arm soothingly 

"Yeah uh, we broke up," I told him awkwardly "it just wasn't meant to be" the table was silent, no one had any idea what to say 

"Zoya" Obie's mom said brightly "tell me about your family" this was going to be a very long story. Twenty minutes later they were still talking about Zoya and Julien's dads and the fact that JC and Zoya had just met "you haven't met until recently?" 

"Oh no, our dads don't speak or didn't," Zoya told her

"And you were raised?"

"She's from Buffalo" Obie spoke up 

"Hmm, I've never been" Obie's mom confessed, "what's it like?" 

"Yes, please regale us with the history of its chief export and chicken wings," Audrey said sarcastically 

"Actually it's pretty interesting historically" I rolled my eyes, this was going to be a very long dinner 

👑

"Ten texts from Julien asking how I am but nothing from the hospital," Audrey said, dinner was finally over and it would probably go on the list with Kiki's dinner for worst dinners in the history of the world. Zoya had completely attacked Obie's mom and Aki's dad the whole time, she just wouldn't stop and it was making everyone uncomfortable 

"I'm sure Kiki is fine" I assured her "I promise they would have called you if something went wrong" 

"Oh god" Aki's dad growled 

"What's wrong?" Aki asked 

"Nothing, just a lawsuit that won't go away" 

"It'll settle"

"Ahh, not sure about this one" he sighed "the press is all over it"

"What is it?" Zoya nosed in 

"It's none of our business" Obie snapped, he was annoyed with her rude behavior at dinner, and to be honest I think everyone was 

"It's an in-house dispute," Aki's dad told her "a few years ago one of my CCO's asked an employee to stop discussing his marital problems in the office"

"That's a lawsuit?" Zoya asked in disbelief 

"Well it is when the spouse is a man" he spat "he gets divorced and we get accused of showing preferential treatment to heterosexual staffers" Aki shifted uncomfortably and I nudged him softly 

"Are you alright?" I asked, he nodded but I knew that was a lie, Audrey took his hand trying to make him feel better 

"In a lawsuit that has the temerity to suggest that NetCorp cultivates a pervasive anti-gay workplace environment" 

"Well do you?" Zoya asked 

"Zoya, stop" Obie growled, Audrey and I gave each other concerned looks while Aki couldn't stand still 

"We made a company-wide request that any conversation regarding personal relationships should stay outside the office, look, I'm not homophobic, neither is my company, we're one of the first to give partners health care to grant paternity leave, we treat them equally"

"Not if you use the term them" Zoya snapped 

"Well what am I supposed to call them now," he asked annoyed 

"I'll meet you two outside," Aki said walking away 

"Oh, what did I say now?" his dad asked 

"You know, you can be a little more sensitive ok? you never know how someone at the table identifies" Audrey told him angrily, what she didn't realize was that she had just outed her boyfriends to three different families.