I hear the office door snap open from the next room, knowing instantly who it was. The phone call with Zane from the night before jogs back into mind as I let out a sigh.
But while lost in thought, my attention becomes drawn to my own office door opening, Zane welcoming himself in.
'You came in today.' He states whilst staring me down with expressionless eyes.
'Yep... I can see that.' I laugh before dragging my eyes back down to the screen in front of me, trying my best to avoid his tempting gaze.
'So what was the real reason you didn't come in yesterday?' He begins to approach my desk, each step of his feeding my anxiety.
'What do you mean...?'
'You know exactly what I mean.' He suddenly grips hold of the arm rest on either side of me, spinning me in his direction with his eyes directly looking into mine.
'I felt sick.' My eyes stroke up and down his face, examining every look he gave to see what he may be thinking but I had absolutely no clue.
'You don't look sick to me.' He observes me intently, his finger gently grazing against the skin on my cheek.
'Well I feel better now.' I whisper as I feel his warm breath fan against my face. The small distance between us was becoming almost unbearable, I wasn't sure whether to push him away or pull him closer.
Seconds fly by, the two of us only getting closer by the moment but neither of us made any sudden movements. The wait was sickening yet part of me wasn't sure about any of this. About Zane.
But with little thought, I lift my hand to meet the bottom of his arm, my thumb gently grazing his soft skin as I anticipate my next move. I wanted to know. How it would feel with Zane. As wrong as it felt, I wanted to know.
But before any move could be made, the deafeningly loud ring of the desk phone startles me back to my senses. My hand drops to my lap as he backs away. I waste no time to answer the ringing phone.
'Hi, I have a visitor for Mr Forbes.' A women speaks down the line.
'Who is it?' I question as I switch the call onto speaker.
'Danielle Price.'
I look up to Zane for an answer, his face instantly showing nothing but irritation. 'Tell her no.'
He leaves my office with no warning, his arms tucked into his pockets as he lets the door slam behind him.
'Um, Mr Forbes doesn't want any visitors right now.' I inform the women on the other line before hanging up. I'd be lying if I wasn't slightly curious as to why Zane didn't want to see her. But I guess it was none of my business.
I return back to the mounts of work I had left for today, hoping for no more distractions in order to get this all done on time. But not even a few minutes in, I notice a figure rushing by the office in a hurry, headed directly for Zane's office.
'Is that-' I think out loud as I come to the realisation that it was Danielle.
'It's none of my business...' I remind myself before facing back down to my screen but not a second of my thoughts were spent on the work I still had.
So I give into my starving curiosity, leaving my office cautiously as I slowly approach the door of Zane's office. And as I was about to twist the knob open, the sudden raise of voices stops me from doing anything further. Instead I just stood there and listened.
'Why, Zane? Why!?' I recognise Danielle's voice, clearly distressed.
'What do you want me to say, Danielle?' Zane responds, his voice much more calm than hers.
'Why her!?' She screams once again.
'Who are they talking about...?' I think to myself as I continue to listen.
'Who?' Zane questions, seeming just as clueless as I was.
'Milan!' Her tone raises as she yells out my name in full volume into the room, my eyes widening in response. 'You think I haven't noticed it... I've noticed it all!'
Moments pass of just silence but I wasn't sure whether the argument had settled or the both of them had dropped dead.
'Just leave, Danielle. I'm not doing this with you.' Zane huffs with exhaust but knowing Danielle, I doubt she'd leave so easily.
'No. Tell me why you would pick that bitch over me! I've always been by your side, Zane.'
I fail to take the actual sentence into mind, the only thing I focused on was what she'd just called me. Hearing her choice of words stung more than I thought it would but my body jumps at the instant need to confront her. My hand returns to the knob, ready to open wide until I hear another voice.
'Don't call her that.'
'Why the fuck not?' She challenges.
'I thought you were her friend.' He snickers in disbelief.
'I guess you thought wrong.' The lack of hesitation in her tone made my fists tighten in rage. She was the only person I'd truly consider a friend in this new place and yet it all seemed to be a lie.
'You wanted a reason, right?' He switches the topic as I stood there, still having no clue what they were actually arguing about.
'Everything you're doing right now just because you see someone else as a threat... I know she would never do the same to you in a million years. So do yourself a favour and just leave.' Throughout majority of the argument, he managed to remain completely unfazed as if he wasn't bothered but this time, his words came across in the complete opposite way.
But I almost miss the sudden drop in sound, the room falling under complete silence again, until the door knob twists itself open.
But it was also too late to react, the door was almost half open and my eyes already met with Zane who was stood at the opposite end of the room. His expression laid blank as his eyes took a quick scan of my figure by the door.
And soon after, I was met face to face with Danielle, neither of us saying a word at first. Her expression on the other hand seemed anything but blank, maybe a little startled but she was clearly trying her best not to show it.
'Oh, so you came up after all.' I pull her into a sudden embrace, a wide smile spread across my face. I could feel the reluctance in her arm as she lifts them to my back. But as my face rests on her shoulder, my smile instantly falls, all out of her sight.
I look towards Zane for any sort of silent explanation but I wasn't sure whether he'd realised I'd heard every word she had just said. His face wasn't giving me much either. And honestly, it didn't seem like he was planning to tell me anything at all.
'Yeah... I did.' She mutters besides my ear.
'It's good to see you. But I guess you were just leaving, right?' I curl my lips into another forceful smile.
'Yeah, I was.' She nods, scrambling past me in a hurry to escape the situation. I stand firm in my position, watching each step of hers to the elevator. She takes another look back as I give her a friendly tilt of my head and an exaggerated smile but she gives me nothing in return, stepping into the elevator as soon as it opens.
Every muscle in my face instantly numbs once she was finally out of view, the smile itself was becoming tiring to keep up. I let out a sigh, not having a single clue of what to do now. Perhaps I should've acted in the moment and reacted on the spot... But we all know I'm the last person to do anything of the sort.
I take one final look into the office, noticing as Zane hadn't made a single move since I'd first seen him.
'I thought you didn't want to see her.'
'I didn't. You know how she can be.' He shrugs, leaning against the office desk.
'Well, what did she want to talk about?' I take a step inside, folding my arms across my chest as if I had no clue.
'Nothing important.'
He really had no clue I heard every single word. And it hurt even more knowing that he'd keep something like that from me... Especially since it directly involved me.
'Good to know...' My eyes turn sharp, giving him a subtle glare before turning my heels in the direction of the door.
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