"Joane, I'm starting to believe your source was wrong," I groan, sitting down behind my desk. We're half past the day and no sight of Caleb. "You can't take Patricia's word for these things, she's an airhead."
"They might have postponed the visit," Joane says, sitting in front of me. "While it is true that she's our worst source of gossip in the company."
"Quite ironically so, given she's head of the Journalism team," I murmur, letting myself fall back on my chair. "Or not, you know how journalists love to add dots to the plot."
"Do you mean add tails to the tale?"
"Have you never heard of the Portuguese saying 'quem conta um conto, acrescenta um ponto'?"
"Not really, I took the Spanish classes..." she says, amusedly raising her eyebrows. "Just admit you forgot."
"Whatever."
There's a moment of silence in the room, and even though I rarely find them uncomfortable or awkward, the events of yesterday came crashing in. I can't believe I nearly kissed her, it sounds surreal to me, as if it was a dream and never happened... but it did, and it's taking everything in me not to avoid her eyes every time we talk.
"Do you want me to bring you some coffee?" she asks out of the blue, breaking the silence.
"I'm fine," I answer simply.
"You've been a bit off today."
"I thought we agreed on not talking about yesterday, so do you really want an answer to that?"
Thankfully, there's a knock on the door, breaking the awkwardness of the situation. John hastily opens the door, looking at us with terrified eyes. "Mr. Ovadia is here." Joane shoots me a glance as I get up, walking quickly alongside me. "He's not on our floor yet, we got a heads up from the editorial department," he continues, trying to pick up our pace as we stride up to the main working space, the elevator doors opening right when we make it.
His eyes land on me the moment he steps out of it. "Ms. Agassi, it's been so long," he says, walking up to us with another man that I feel looks familiar but in an 'I think I've seen his face in a boring business magazine' kind of way.
"Not long enough," I say under my breath, extending my hand to greet both of them.
"This is my right hand, Mr. Garcia, he's in charge of checking what your team is working on while we talk," he says, only then noticing Joane. "Mrs. AlHadid."
"It's Kassab now," she answers simply, ignoring his attempt at a handshake.
Caleb and Joane never really got along, and it definitely didn't get any better after we split, I'm pretty sure Joane has at some point plotted to murder him in my honor. This hatred obviously didn't come out of the blue, while Joane has absolutely no reason to despise my proximity with Louise — other than maybe a little bit of jealousy — she has every right to hate Caleb, especially as seen from her eyes.
I never told her why we split up so suddenly, and I'm guessing she assumes he was abusive towards me and that I'm too ashamed to talk about it... But also because he's a cunt.
"Let's get to work then," I clear my throat. "Joane, please accompany Mr. Garcia."
She gives Caleb one last glare before nodding her head and strutting away with the man. "What did you tell her? That woman looks at me as if she wants me dead," Caleb whispers, leaning into me.
"I didn't tell her anything," I answer simply. "She never liked you, to be honest."
"That I know," he groans. "We never even spoke properly though."
"She's all about love and happiness, and she knew I didn't love you."
"Ouch."
"Did you?"
"In my own way."
"Sure," I roll my eyes. "How's Jacob?"
"Can you not?" He squints his eyes at me, lowering his voice into a barely audible whisper.
"What?"
"He married."
"A woman?"
"Ugh, yes."
"I'm surprised that stopped him, marriage definitely didn't stop you."
"Let's not talk about this here," he whispers back harshly. To think it's been 4 years since I've caught him in our bed with another man... Who would have thought that this fully grown-up man would get on his knees and beg me not to tell anyone? "Great, now I'm getting death glares from not one but two women at the same time," he says, crossing his arms.
I follow his eyes, seeing Louise watching us from one side and Joane from the other. "Just ignore them, wish I could do that myself."
"I've always known Joane had a soft spot for you but who's the second?" he raises his eyebrows. "Didn't think you were this popular among women."
"Let's not talk about this here," I repeat his words. "Follow me to my office will you? We have a lot to discuss... business-wise, keep your personal questions for later but preferentially, never."
"You're as strict as ever, Esther, you really don't change."
"What's wrong with being consistent?"
"Well, it definitely isn't stopping you from getting someone, quite the contrary."
"Mr. Ovadia, what are your prospects for this sector?" I ask, sitting down behind my desk.
"Straight to the point I see," he laughs. "I think this has already been discussed with you, and I'm aware of your disapproval—"
"We're not going to split the team," I interrupt him.
"Well, the Marketing department is broad as it is, and it is oddly accommodating the Design team too, don't you think the Design team deserves its own department?"
"Most of our employees' skills range between the two, we're complimentary, I don't see a need for a split up."
"This department is by far the largest one I've seen, it must be hard for you—"
"I'm perfectly fine, actually," I say simply, raising my eyebrows.
"You're such a hard head."
"The team has also shown disapproval of this suggestion, not to mention that splitting the department would cause quite some financial loss for the company."
"When was the last time you've had a vacation?"
"That's not the checkmate you think it is, Caleb," I roll my eyes. "This is a hill I'll die on, you can go ahead and try to persuade me as much as you want but unless you personally convince Mr. Arquette that splitting the team is beneficial enough that it's worth the discontentment of a good chunk of his employees, it is not happening."
"Well then, I won't bother you with this anymore," he sighs, leaning back in his seat. "Now tell me all about—"
"Why don't you tell me all about Jacob first?"
"Fair, you did ask first — It was much like our previous situation, his parents set him up with an important executive, sure he could have passed up the opportunity but it did seem like he took a liking for this woman in specific."
"How the tables have turned, I was left for a man and you were left for a woman, who would have thought?" I say with a hint of humor that he didn't quite appreciate.
"You speak as if you were devastated, I'm pretty sure you were happy to have a reason to leave and see yourself free of me."
"You think so lowly of me — I dated you to get my mom out of my back but I didn't need reasons to leave, if I wanted to I'd have done it at any point."
"Is that your way of saying that you did kind of like me?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.
"It's my way of saying you were bearable, and how shameless of you to question my morality when you only dated me to cover up the suspicion of you being gay."
"If you put it that way—"
"For how long are you thinking of hiding it?"
"It's my personal life, people don't need to know what goes on inside closed doors. Plus I'm the CEO of a manly magazine called Beast, do you have any idea of how many customers we'd lose if news broke out?" he says, maintaining his flawless composure despite the emotional weight of this topic.
I hum, not knowing what to say to something like this, it's not like I can simply pat his back, offer my condolences and go.
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"What would you do?"
"I don't think I would make a fuss about it but I also wouldn't necessarily hide it," I click my tongue, thinking about it for a second longer. "I'd act as if I were in any normal relationship because that's what it would be, it's not like it'd make a difference regarding the company, I guess these kinds of unconventional relationships are more accepted when it comes to women."
"Except that Mrs. Agassi would have a heart attack."
"She will get over it."
"She will, and not she would? Does this mean you're thinking of giving one of those ladies a chance?" he asks with an amused tone as a failed attempt at getting a reaction out of me. "Who's the young one?"
"Just an intern."
"That happens to know I am your ex, or does she get that over the edge every time you talk to any random man?" he asks, raising his eyebrows when his question is met with silence. "Just an intern you say."
"What are you trying to insinuate?"
"I'm not insinuating anything, you're the one getting tense over a simple question — which is a lot more indicative than any possible insinuation."
"I reckon you didn't come all the way over here to talk about my private affairs—"
"Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to talk about business," he says, giving me a toothy smile. "I will be moving into the city for the next couple of weeks to deal more closely with the interests of our company."
"How wonderful," I deadpan.
"Well, I won't take more time off your hectic day."
"I appreciate the self-awareness," I say simply, getting up from my chair as he did. "I'll lead you out, might you get lost."
"I'm pretty sure there's only one straight hallway on this floor," he murmurs just before the obvious realization that I'm being sarcastic kicks in.
"You never know."
"Meet me for coffee later today," he says in a louder tone as we walk through the workers' area grabbing the attention of the two idiots — Joane and Louise, but that goes without saying. "We can resume our conversation then," he completes, giving me a wink.
"I'll think about that," I groan, knowing damn well what he's trying to do.
"Well, I assume you still have my phone number," he smirks, and I swear I had to hold on to the grace of the Lord not to throw myself on the ground and laugh at this very gay man acting manly and flirty in front of me. You can't expect me to take it seriously, not after I've seen him bent over with a man about 5 inches deep into his starfish.
"Sure thing," I answer shortly, leading him and Mr. Garcia to the elevator. "I hope the team met your expectations."
"They've surpassed it," Mr. Garcia answers quickly with a head nod. "We're looking forward to working with you."
"I'm pleased to hear that."
It didn't take long for both Louise and Joane to barge into my office once Caleb was gone, I never thought they'd side up like this but it seems that they've finally found common ground — making my life harder than it should be.
Joane came in first with not so much as a knock on the door, and Louise came right behind her, both stopping in front of my desk with squinted eyes. "What's this about?" I ask, keeping my expression stoic as I skim through the documents Caleb left.
"Are you meeting him?" Joane asks, raising her eyebrows. "After what he's done to you?"
"Wait, what has he done?" Louise asks, looking between the two of us.
"Maybe, what about it?" I answer simply, ignoring Louise's confused expression.
"You can't be serious."
"Guys? I think I'm missing an important piece here," Louise butts back in. "Did he cheat or..."
I groan, wishing I hadn't promised Caleb not to tell anyone he's gay, which is a detail that is pretty easy to conceal but he also made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone that he cheated, so as to not ruin his good man persona — he probably didn't realize that breaking up things suddenly and silently would instead leave it to people's imagination, and you know how dramatic people are. Particularly my mom that thinks I was the cheater instead, she loved Caleb — mostly his salary.
And well, you already know what is going through Joane's imagination, and I'm especially thankful that she at least put me as the victim. I'm pretty sure most people took the same imaginative path as my mom.
"I have a better question," I say, finally putting down the papers. "Why aren't you two working?"
"We're worried about you," Joane answers, crossing her arms. "Well, I am worried about you, I'm pretty sure Louise is just jealous."
"I was just jealous, now I'm worried and jealous."
"You two don't need to be worried... nor jealous," I groan. "Caleb and I are on good terms and we're definitely not getting back together so—"
"I was actually hoping you'd say he's gay," Louise says, raising her eyebrows. "I got the impression but a confirmation would be nice."
"He isn't gay," Joane retorts.
"How are you so sure? My gaydar is pretty good."
"Your gay-what?"
"Why are you two still here?" I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Fine, but this conversation isn't over," Joane says, squinting her eyes at me.
"I thought you said you wouldn't intrude in my business."
"In your business with this brat," she points at Louise. "Not Caleb, and this is a hill I'll die on."
"You two talk about me? How cute," Louise says, raising her eyebrows, Joane simply shoots her a side-eye before leaving the room. "Good to know she supports us," she continues in a sarcastic tone.
"Go back to work Louise."
"I was thinking about yesterday," she starts, pausing to read my expression, as to determine if it's safe to proceed.
"What about yesterday?" I ask, not remembering a single thing from it, except for the absolute bomb drop that Louise's mother supposedly left her father for a woman and the fact that Louise's miserable pool skills made me lose a game for the first time in 10 years.
"You actually went to see me, it's something to think about, no?"
"It really isn't that deep—"
"Well, we also made out just a few days ago," she says slowly, giving me a knowing smile. "Instead of meeting up with that Ovadia guy, meet me up instead... you're guaranteed to have a good time."
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