I gasped as I quickly picked it up, pressing the answer button.
"Hel—" I was about to greet but got interrupted by an angry Mr. Mogul.
"What the hell, Andy! I've been calling you for almost half an hour now. Where were you? Why didn't you answer the phone?" William shouted at the other end of the phone, causing me to push it away from my ear.
I grimaced at his tone and rolled my eyes. Now he had the nerve to be pissed at me. "Cool it. I'm at work right now," I muttered in annoyance when I finally got the opportunity to talk. "While we are still in the zone of pissing each other off, I should probably ask you the same thing. Why haven't you contacted me last Saturday?" I continued, my voice low since it was still working hours. I wasn't supposed to take personal calls while I'm at my desk.
There was a brief silence on the end of his line, making me snort in disbelief. "You sure have some guts shouting at me a few moments ago. Now, when the table is turned, you keep your mouth shut," I implied with thick sarcasm.
"I'm sorry, Andy. I got tied with a business deal over the weekend. It's difficult to find reception when you're stuck on an almost deserted island," he replied softly but trailed off in an annoyed tone. Though, from the tone of his voice, he sounded pissed with himself.
I pursed my lips at his reply. "You didn't tell me you were going out of the country this weekend," I said sternly, not sure whether to be angry about it or not, but I wasn't comfortable that he hadn't told me about it in passing. It was like he was getting back at me with the Evan thing.
"It wasn't really necessary. I was only there for a day, anyway," he replied in a dead tone, making it obvious why he didn't tell me. Although he didn't admit it, I could tell that he was affected.
I sighed in defeat as I scratched the back of my head in exasperation. "Okay, fine, we are even now. I will tell you next time about something as uncontroversial as men that I've befriended in the near future."
I heard William sigh on the other side before he gave me a reply. "I wasn't getting back at you on that, Andy, but I appreciate you volunteering."
I rolled my eyes at his denial. "If that's all you want to talk about, I need to get back to work," I said as I made a quick glance around me, feeling relieved that no one had bothered to interrupt me on my call.
"Do you have plans for lunch today?" he asked, changing the topic quickly.
"I don't think so," I replied as I turned towards Sydney's empty cubicle. "I always have lunch with Sydney, though," I added on second thought.
"How about we have lunch together?" he suggested, his voice sounded a bit hopeful.
"What if Sydney wanted to come with me? She doesn't really like eating by herself now that I'm here," I asked, a smirk tugging at the end of my lips.
"Well, you can bring her if she wants. It's about time I get to meet this Sydney," he agreed without a second thought.
A little taken aback at his answer, I remained quiet for a moment. "Well, that is settled then. I will meet you in front of your workplace around fifteen minutes past twelve. Be there on time please," he instructed when I didn't reply.
"You're so demanding," I mumbled in disbelief and chuckled. "I'll see you later," I said with more volume before ending the call.
I didn't wait for him to say his goodbye properly since it will take another minute for that to end. I placed my phone back on my desk, a huge smile plastered on my face. It looked like my worries meant nothing. One call from him and my mood shifted.
When Sydney returned to her desk, I told her about the call I had with William. She looked shocked for a second before she squealed in excitement. It caught the attention of most of our co-workers, who eyed us with disbelief. It made both of us chuckle in response.
When lunch came around, Sydney looked too eager as we both walked towards the elevator. I felt a little amused yet shy by her mood.
"Is there something good happening between you two? You looked like you just won something," Ally stated as she walked out of the lift, stopping us for a second.
"Ms. Coleman. Good afternoon," Sydney dropped the huge smile on her face, nodding towards Ally in greeting.
Because of her sudden appearance, Sydney and I missed the lift. Before greeting her, I pressed the call button again.
"We are heading out for a special lunch at a restaurant today," I replied to her question while a smirk tugged the end of my lips.
Ally raised an eyebrow at me in question as she processed my words. Then a small secret smile broke her calm expression. "I see. Well, enjoy, and be careful with swarming bees," she stated with a chuckle as she continued walking towards the direction of her office.
I couldn't help chuckling at the meaning of her words. She understood that we were meeting William for lunch, and it was likely that the paparazzi would be spying.
When Ally was beyond hearing range, Sydney turned to me and smiled again. "I still couldn't believe that you and the editor are friendly with each other. It's not like I'm scared of the woman, but she's our boss, you know," she said a little seriously.
"We used to be neighbors before I got this job. She's really nice once you get to know her away from her professional persona."
When the elevator opened, we got in the lift without hesitation. Sydney started chatting with me, asking me some random things about William without mentioning his name. One of the reasons she earned my trust was because she understood the grounds of someone's secret. She respected their privacy, and she doesn't pry much about it unless you are willing too. Though she would ask a lot, it was for her own gain. She doesn't like being kept in the dark.
I doubted her at first, but she never did anything that was doubtful. She always stayed true to her words, and she was very blunt like me. It kept things real in our relationship.
Once we reached the lobby of the company building, I was about to give William a call when he beat me to it.
"Are you done with your work? We are already outside," he asked after I placed the phone on my ears.
"Yes. We are downstairs. Where did you park the car?" I asked a little lax.
"We are in front of the building," he replied just when I saw the familiar black SUV parked outside the door.
I hissed at his reply and quickly ended the call without a proper goodbye. I grabbed Sydney's wrist and pulled her towards the exit. "He's outside," I said aloud to explain my hastened action.
"He's already here? Wow, he's fast," Sydney commented as she allowed me to drag her outside.
When we got to the car, I roughly opened the door and jumped in quickly. I didn't greet him and turned around to see Sydney got in behind me and closed the door.
"I'm sorry for intruding on your lunch date, Mr. Maxwell. Andy offered, and I can't refuse a free lunch. It is free, right?" Sydney spoke up first, making me turn towards William, who was seated on my left side.
"It's free, Ms. Clark, and I'm glad you could join us. I always wanted to meet Andy's new friend," he replied with a small smile as he addressed my friend coolly.
"Don't worry, Mr. Maxwell. I will not divulge anything about your relationship. I'm glad that Andy made me a part of the small circle of people that knows about it," she said sincerely, making me look back at her.
I gave her an appreciative smile as she glanced at me for a moment. I mouthed a 'thank you' to her, which she replied with a wink.
I smirked in amusement as I playfully nudged her with my elbow. She returned the gesture and giggled along with me. Beside me, I could feel William's stare.
"So, you're just going to ignore me for the rest of the drive?" he finally said to me.
I saw Sydney stiffen at his tone and embarrassingly glance at his direction before looking at me knowingly, telling me to answer him. I sighed as I shifted in my seat to face him.
"Can we do this some other time? I don't want this to be awkward than it already is for Sydney," I added softly as I looked at him deadly.
"Fine," he replied in the same tone.
After our awkward exchange, I turned to Sydney and started a conversation. I was about to mention her brother, but I held my tongue when I felt William brush his knee towards mine. Why was I so stubborn sometimes? Seeing him again after our lack of communication last weekend feels like we were starting all over again.
I didn't get why I was pissed. I might have expected too much from our reunion. What did I expect, a romantic scene? This wasn't like the movies.
The rest of the drive to the restaurant was an eerie silence. It had lasted for five minutes before William broke it to point out that we had arrived. I nodded in reply without saying a word. Beside me, I felt Sydney's awkwardness to the situation.
"Wow. Are you sure we are eating here?" Sydney whispered to me, looking a little awestruck as we stood in front of a five-star restaurant — a restaurant that holds a lot of memories of William and I's first meeting.
"Yeah, I think this is it, and don't worry. This place has some good food. I used to work here, so you can trust my judgment on that," I pointed out with a smirk.
"Is this the famous meeting place?" Sydney asked in interest, her eyes gleaming at the information I just gave her.
Maybe it was wrong to tell her about how William and I met. I couldn't really resist telling her back then since it was such a tale to tell, but now that we are actually in the place where it occurred, it seemed awkward. I blushed a little as I remembered my internal debate when I first laid eyes on William Maxwell.
"Is my table ready?" William asked a familiar employee standing by the podium as he entered the restaurant.
I eyed Reyna, who still looked the same as the last time. As always, her eyes grew wide as she looked up towards William. Why can't people change their reaction towards him, even after how many times they had seen him?
"Mr. Maxwell, good afternoon. Your table is ready, sir," she replied a little breathlessly as she gestured for us to walk inside.
William gave her a brief, expressionless nod before he turned towards the door ahead of us and walked in. As we followed him, Reyna finally turned towards our direction and met my stare. I gave her a smug smile before entering the restaurant. Beside me, Sydney chuckled as she looked at my ex-co-worker.
"She looks pissed," Sydney stated softly when we were out of hearing range.
"She always looks pissed every time I see her," I pointed out nonchalantly as I smiled in amusement.
"I find it unbelievable that you're not annoyed that a lot of girls are staring at your man. Doesn't it get annoying at some point?" she asked out of curiosity.
I stopped for a second at her question and stared at William's back as he continued to walk towards his usual booth table. "I couldn't say I find it annoying. I mean, it could be annoying sometimes, but he rarely reacts to them. So that might be why I hardly react to it," I replied more truthfully than I expected it to be.
"Wow. This might be the first time I saw you looked so whipped," Sydney teased me as she lightly shoved me forward towards William.
In my surprise, I fumbled out of balance and bumped into his back on the process. William staggered a little but gathered his footing before turning towards me. I didn't notice I was gripping his back until I let it go so he could to face me.
"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly as I looked up to him.
I quickly looked away in embarrassment. "I'm fine. Let's just seat down before I continue to embarrass myself," I mumbled in annoyance to myself.
William didn't comment on what I said and let go of the grip that he had on my elbow, which I just noticed. I walked on ahead of him since I didn't have the courage to look at Sydney, who I knew was snickering behind us from my clumsiness.
As we reached our table, I was about to gesture for Sydney to sit down beside me, but William beat me to it. He slid down and sat beside me, making me move further on the other end of the couch. I glanced up at Sydney just as she sat across from me, giving me a playful wink. In reply, I rolled my eyes at her in disbelief.
When we were seated, a waiter approached us with the menu. I was a bit disappointed when I realized it wasn't Terry's shift. It would have been fun introducing him to Sydney.
After pretending to read the menu for Sydney's sake, we ordered our meal. I unconsciously ordered an identical food with Sydney, which made us both smirk in amusement. It was uncanny how we chose the same things sometimes.
"Thank you so much for allowing me to crash your lunch date, Mr. Maxwell," Sydney turned to William beside me as the waiter retreated after getting our order.
"It was my pleasure. Andy insisted," he replied with a tight-lipped smile, which made me stare at him for longer than I intended.
He noticed and looked at me. When our eyes met, I raised an eyebrow at him in question, mentally trying to figure out what he was thinking. In reply, he smirked and shook his head in amusement. I lightly shoved his arm with mine before I turned back to Sydney and talked about something else. I heard him chuckle at my actions before I spoke.
For a few minutes, I was under the impression that the lunch was exclusive for the three of us. When a haggard-looking, out-of-breath Evan showed up, Sydney and I were in a deep surprise.
"Evan! What are you doing here?" Sydney was the first one to speak up, not even hiding her surprise as she stared at her stepbrother.
"Syd? What are you...?" he countered in surprise but trailed off as his eyes quickly landed on me.
His eyes lingered for a moment before he looked away and turned towards William, who looked a little stiffer and more indifferent than how he was before Evan came.
"Mr. Maxwell. I'm sorry for being late, sir. I have the paper you needed for the meeting this afternoon," Evan said in a business-like manner.
I glared at William for a second before glancing back at Evan with sympathy. He was now working for William Maxwell. I had a gist of how exasperating that man can be.
"Please sit down, Evan," I said when there was a brief silence between the two men while William received an envelope from him.
Evan glanced up towards me and smirked. He nodded in reply and quickly sat down beside Sydney. I took a stealthy glimpse at William as Evan and Sydney caught up for a bit. He looked like his old brooding and serious self. What changed his mood all of sudden?