Forbidden

Chapter 4

Simone

The meeting had come to an end, Diane left the boardroom and I sat back on the chair as I watched her hips sway out of my view. The woman was good, she handled everything like a professional that she was. After all these years, I get to meet with the girl who made my heart skip all those years ago, only she was a woman now , a full grown woman.
Behind that mask of calmness I could tell she recognized me, I saw the flick of pain her eyes reflected when our eyes met, I was only aware of her presence in the room then,everything kept coming back to me, our memories, the love we made, taking her to meet my mom, her disappearance and the damn note she left behind.
Pain and anger tore through me like a knife, I'd been too lost in thought I didn't hear my assistant call me.

    "Mr Simone?". Fiona tapped my hand nervously and I snapped out of my reverie and turned to her.

     "Is everything okay sir?" She asked with concern.

   "Everything is fine Fiona". I replied as I got off the chair and walked out of the room, my head throbbing with a dull ache. This must've been the reason for my nervousness earlier, fate had been trying to tell me something.

Diane

I sat in my office and took a long gulp from the bottle of water in my mini fridge. My throat was dry, my eyes itching with tears that threatened to spill.
He had recognized me and had not taken his eyes off me throughout the meeting. I could feel his hot gaze roam my face down my body and up again as I gave illustrations on the graphic screen.
After all these years I didn't know if I should be happy or sad, I thought I'd moved on but seeing him again made me realize I had been stuck in time only pretending to have moved on. I felt all kinds of emotions ranging from sadness, rejection, betrayal,pain and anger. 'What was I expecting? A hug or perhaps a kiss'. I scoffed into the silence surrounding me.
      No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't shake off the feeling that Simone would be back here soon and this time around not just for some business talk.

2months later (Diane)

I jogged the last block back home, punching in the code to the house I unplugged my earpiece and let myself in. The welcome relief of the cool air conditioner wrapped around me as I plopped into the nearest chair in my sitting room. My phone let out a buzz at the back of my jog pants as I reached for it.

  "Well well well look who's decided to answer the phone today" Emily's voice rang out from the other end.

"Hey girlfriend and good morning to you too ". I replied.

"Oh don't you start with the greeting young lady what the hell is going on?  I thought you'd died or something, oh wait a minute are u avoiding me?..." She kept ranting on and on.

"Em! Nothing is wrong with me and no I'm not avoiding you and uhmI don't think I'm dead yet considering I'm still talking to you and yeah everythin is okay...." I tried keeping up with her questions until..

"What? What did you just say"

"You heard me Di don't pretend you didn't cos I know you did ".Em fired back.

"You''ll be in New York tonight? I thought... wait aren't you supposed to be on tour with Brandon?" I asked, my face scrunched with confusion.

"It's a long story and I'll explain it to you once I'm back okay". She sighed at the other end.

"Okay Em do be careful and have a safe flight, call me when you get to the airport..."
The call disconnected and I let out another exasperated sigh.
Don't get me wrong I miss my best friend Emily Jonas but she can be such a pain in the ass sometimes. I can only wait for her to come nag some more about how I should go out a bit more to have fun and let some man into my life because she thinks I need to produce some cute little 'minions' that look just like me. She never lets up.

  I went off to have my bath after which I had breakfast and went sight seeing. It wasn't until 6:30 before I let myself into the mansion I called home, I'd had enough time to clear my head at the park and taken some pictures on my camera. Sometimes at the park I felt as if someone was watching me but I shook the feeling off as I convinced myself I was just being paranoid thinking about Em and how she'd hound me when she gets back just as I'd convinced myself that Simone may not come after me like I'd thought, he has a wife after all.

At 10:35pm my doorbell rang.Who could it be? For the person to have gotten past the security at the gate means it must be a familiar face, perhaps Em has arrived, but Em would've called before coming over. I used the peep hole on the door and saw Emily at the other end with her head hung low.Em? By this time and with so many bags?  I unlocked the door and pulled her in.

"Couldnt you have waited till the next morning before racing off to my house since you didn't deem it fit to call me...Em?". I stopped ranting, my best friend was crying, Emily Jonas was really really crying? Woah it must be snowing in the dessert right now.

"Oh my God Em what's wrong,come here". I pulled her in a hug and secured the lock behind her.

"Brandon is cheating on me." Em blurted out, her eyes now red and puffy.
I could only sigh and rake my fingers through my hair.Brandon had never been up to any good but Em totally adored him still.

"I know you'll give me the I told you so speech but please can we just save it for later"she continued.

"Jeez Em I'm not that insensitive come on, I mean it's not like you didn't know he was a cheat".I retorted and rolled my eyes. Spinning around to face her I took her hands in mine that's when I realized she was shaking, her hair like a curtain covering her face.

"Em?". I pulled her air behind her ear and found her laughing, laughing and crying. Oh gosh was she going crazy? This was terrifying, what was I supposed to do.

  "Oh my God Di, you should see your face right now!" She exclaimed.

  "Huh? Look I'm so sorry I didn't mean to..."

"Snap out of it Di, twas a prank okay". She said and collapsed on the couch laughing like some crazed woman.
Realization dawned on me.

   "What the hell Em, how could you do such a thing? And you think it's funny?" I got up and stormed up the stairs with fumes literally coming out of my ears and slammed my bedroom door shut.
  Five minutes later the door was cracked open and in came the devil with the sheepish look.

   "Di.. I'm sorry, I had no idea you'd get furious I'm sorry" she said with her head hung low .

   "Seriously Em, when have I ever joked around with your problems or joked around with it. Gosh I feel like a fool right now". I replied while pinching the bridge of my nose.

  "I'm sorry Di, I really am please take me back" and then she held into her ears with both hands and shook her head left and right.  "I promise I won't dare such again"

"Mutt" I said under my breath hoping she didn't hear me.

"What did you just call me?" She asked with a mischievous smirk on her face.

"What? Did I say something ?" I feigned ignorance. Only I was a bit too late as she whacked me from behind with a pillow.

  "Ow you silly.....oomph" another blow to the head and stomach. We played around until we both collapsed on the bed.

    "So tell me Em, why are you here with all your luggage" I asked as soon as our charade was over.

"And here I thought you missed me too and wanted me around" she rolled her eyes.

  "Come on Em you know I do, it's just kinda  weird you showed up with your things in my house" I retorted.

  "Weeelll can we have this conversation tomorrow? I mean girlfriend I'm stressed out and phew I need rest". She said instead.

   "Fine,I'll help you to the guest room then,tommorow I'll have the juice of your tour,every drop of it." I narrowed my eyes at her and wiggled my little finger.

  "Not to worry Di I won't go running off into the night and hey don't worry yourself I'll help myself to the guest room." She pipped in quickly.

  "Emmm?" I stretched out her name purposely,I knew she wanted to stop by the kitchen to steal some chocolates, it has always been a habit of hers.

  "I'm fine trust me". She quipped and skipped out o the room. I let out a small laugh and yelled after her.

  "Goodnight bestie".