Giving Love Another Chance

Chapter 5

I blinked my eyes a few times to make sure my mind was not playing tricks on me. Nevertheless, regardless of how many times I blinked, the image in front of me remained the same. The person standing in front of me was none other than the guy I wished to get away from, Ryan Collins.

He smiled at Lisa and Adelyn, and when his eyes found my stunned face, he froze. He did not move from his spot and stared at me with his eyes wide and mouth slightly open. I stood there silently, uncomfortable under his gaze, and gulped. Not in my wildest dreams could I think of meeting Mr. Collins there, and I could say that he felt the same.

Fortunately, it took him only a few seconds to come out of his shock and he masked his face with his usual cold stare.

“What do you want?” He asked me rather irritably. I was taken aback by his rudeness, it’s true I was not expecting anything good from this guy, but he could at least act civil in front of others.  I opened my mouth to speak, but snapped it shut.

“We are here to see Peter,” Lisa who was watching our ‘oh-so-friendly’ encounter told him coldly. That’s how she is; never civil to uncivilized people. I silently thanked her for saving me from the awkward situation.

Before he could reply, we heard footsteps behind him and a beautiful woman in her mid thirties came into our view.  She was tall and had strikingly deep blue eyes, and had dark brown hair that cascaded down her shoulders. By just looking at her, I could see that she is closely related to Ryan.  She smiled at us warmly and opened her mouth to ask something, but then her eyes found Adelyn and she smiled broadly.

“Hey sweetie,” she beamed. “How is my favorite girl doing?”

Adelyn grinned at her. “I am doing well, Aunt Rachel,” she replied and then pointed at us excitedly.  “This is my mommy and this is Aunt Lisa. We are here to see Peter.”

Rachel looked at us cheerfully. “It’s great to meet you finally. I heard a lot from Adelyn about you,” she chirped as we shook our hands. I offered her a small smile. She looked nice and friendly.

“Oh, I almost forgot. This is my brother, Ryan,” she turned towards Ryan. “And Ryan, this is Adelyn. You already heard a lot about her from Peter, I am sure. And these two, you heard who they are."

I looked at Ryan and he looked shocked and… pale. There was an unreadable expression on his face and his eyes were on me.

“We work in the same company, she is my subordinate,” Ryan announced coldly.

Rachel looked at her brother with wide eyes “Ryan, is this the way to greet our guests? Where is this attitude coming from, young man? You better behave,” she scolded him.  He didn’t say anything. He looked at me with a disgusted face and stormed inside.

There was an awkward silence and Rachel looked at us apologetically. “I am sorry about him. He is not always like this, I don’t know what came over him,” she apologized.

I want to tell her that he is always like this, but instead, I shook my head and smiled.  “No, it’s fine. We will come later if you want,” I offered. 

“No no, please come on in. I almost forgot that we are standing in the doorway,” she said embarrassedly. I chuckled at her expression and tried to tell her that we were okay, but she was stubborn and almost dragged us inside.

We made our way inside the house and then to the living room while Adelyn held my hands rather tightly. I looked at her questioningly.

“That man is mean. I don’t like him,” she mumbled.

I squeezed her little hands to comfort her. “No baby, don’t say that,” I whispered. It’s not that I disagree with my daughter - the guy is mean and rude - but I don’t want her to say it out loud. She nodded her head tentatively and didn’t say anything after that.