Hammer & Anvil (Steel Rebels MC #2) [Ongoing]

THREE - Déjà vu

Isabella

Isabella exhaled the breath that she had been holding when she saw that is was Roman, who had followed her.

"Hey," he said quietly.

"Hi."

She didn't move. A lot had changed yet again since the last time they had been able to speak freely and it was creating an invisible wall between them.

"Bad night?" He asked looking concerned at her wet face.

Isabella shrugged.
"It's getting easier." She wiped her cheeks. "How did you find me?"

"I was sitting on the terrace getting some air. You didn't notice me," he replied and came closer.

"Oh."

She had been too caught up in her quest to get out and it had made her careless.

"I thought everyone else is asleep."

"The rest is probably," Roman agreed. "But I've found it hard to fall asleep in the last months."

Isabella knew what he meant.

"Yeah," she nodded. "Me too."

Silence fell between them.

"I'm sorry I haven't been home much," Roman finally said.

Isabella shrugged a bit.
"I don't think you could have changed something about that."

"No, not really," he said and exhaled. 

Then he came even closer and sat down on the bench. Isabella took the seat next to him.

For weeks she had wished to have him around, so she could talk to someone that didn't make her feel like she was a complete failure. But now that she got the chance, she didn't know what to say.

"How are you?" 

The question was as superficial as it was coming from real concern.

Roman exhaled loudly.
"Not good, to be honest. I'm just so exhausted. Father is dragging me everywhere. He has this ambition to place me in the C-level management in a couple of years. I think it's way too early but as usual he won't listen. And now he's trying to cram decades of business and technical knowledge into my head that a normal person would probably learn within ten years or so. He doesn't want to accept that I'm neither as workaholic and ambitious as him, nor as super smart as you."

"You're smart, Roman," Isabella argued back.

Her brother was hardworking and had always done well at school.

Roman smiled tiredly.
"But not as smart as you. Even father realizes that. Of course, he doesn't acknowledge it. Because it's him we're talking about. But I'll make it work. Don't worry about me, little sis."

The fountain kept making swishing sounds as the water flowed from the top into the basin. The same water kept flowing hour after hour. Day after day.

"What about Theresa?" She asked.

"What about her?" Roman asked back.

"Do you get along with her?"

Isabella hoped that her impression earlier had been wrong. Maybe they were just not the type to show affection publicly.

"Considering that I maybe see her once every two weeks, I can't really say whether or not we'll get along in the future. But probably it will work best for us, if we don't spend too much time together. She also doesn't seem like she cares much for alone time with me. I've offered her to come along while I travel for work but she wasn't interested. She literally told me that I should focus on work and she'll keep up appearances."