As soon as the meeting was over and their lunch break started, James rushed to the terrace to have a word with Fiona.
The scene that he witnessed in the morning was not appealing. And, given Fiona and Justin's current situation, he doubted Fiona would inform Justin about the abuse.
On the other hand, Fiona desperately hoped that James would not remember the morning incident, which was highly unlikely.
She was on the office's rooftop waiting for his arrival, as he requested. She was frantically pacing around for a few minutes before standing in front of the wall railing, soaking in the view and letting her thoughts freely flow. She was thinking of nothing in particular, yet everything at the same time.
"He did hurt your hand, bad."
Fiona turned around when she heard James' voice. "It is not that bad. It will be back to normal in a day or two."
"Fiona, you sprained your wrist. It looks terrible. You will take at least a week to make a normal movement. I am calling Justin now. He needs to know about this." James told her sternly.
The incident between her and Noah is irrelevant to the situation in which she and Justin were stuck, so her husband did not need to know anything about it.
"Don't worry about it. I will speak with Justin when he is free. This is not a..."
But he interrupted her. "I am aware of your situation with Justin. I am his best friend for a reason."
This made Fiona relieved. She was tired of pretending to have a good married life. "Well, in that case, he does not have any right to know about this. It is pointless to involve him in a matter which is not his concern."
"Come on, Fiona. He is still your husband." James tried to reason with her, but she was adamant.
"Only on papers." She sighed, "Look, James. I am not keeping him out of the loop because of our so-called circumstances. I am doing this because it is not a big deal. If you want to tell him, then go ahead, but I am not going to stop you neither I am going cry to him and tell him about Noah and me and how he twisted my wrist in the spur of the moment because he was upset that he didn't get the job."
"Fiona, I did not mean it like that. As a husband, Justin has a responsibility towards you and..." James badly wanted Fiona to understand Justin, but she had already formed an opinion that was not exactly prejudiced.
"No, James. This is where you are wrong. Justin is not responsible for me. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. As I have said before, we are merely married on paper. He is free to do as he pleases. He is not accountable for me, and neither am I for him. You talk about your ex or share your problems with your friends, not strangers. Justin is simply my boss and, of course, the owner of the house where I presently reside." Fiona made herself clear. She felt compelled to clarify her position for some reason.
"I am not trying to justify Justin's actions. But I do want to tell you that he is not a bad person. I don't know exactly how things will turn out between the two of you, but one thing I can bet on in my life is that Justin is a decent guy. Idiot big time, but he is a good person." James told his best friend's wife so that she could give Justin a chance.
He knew their marriage would crumble if Justin didn't approach her sooner. That too, without giving it a fair chance.
Fiona, however, was sceptical of James' words because she barely knew her own husband, but she decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"You don't believe me, do you?" He asked Fiona.
"James, I am not sure what to believe anymore. I don't know Justin well enough to pass any judgement about him. But if I catch him cheating or if he ever physically abuses me, then the next thing he will get from me is divorce papers sooner rather than later. But for the time being, I will take your word for it." Fiona told him honestly.
"Fair enough. And don't worry about what happened in the morning. If you don't want me to tell Justin about it, then I won't."
Fiona shrugged carelessly in response to James' words. Even though he was Justin's friend, she appreciated him doing this for her.
"James, you can tell Justin if you want to. I am not going to put you in any kind of peculiar position. You are his best friend, and I don't care if he knows about it because it would not make any difference. Plus, it is just a sprain. Noah didn't kill me or anything. Like that would even make Justin care." The last line was a whisper, which she didn't mean for James to hear. Unfortunately, he did. "The point is that if you want to inform him about the morning fiasco, you can. You don't have to lie about it for me."
"Fiona, I am really sorry." James couldn't think of anything more to say.
He felt terrible for her and was furious with Justin even more than before. James had always considered Fiona as a pleasant person since the first time he met her. She is sweet, polite, and humble. He just wished that his best friend would come to his senses sooner rather than later.
"You haven't done anything wrong. In fact, I should be thanking you for interrupting Noah." Fiona was grateful that James butted in because, at one point, she had become a little frightened.
"Don't fret about it. Please, let me know if there is anything that I can possibly do for you." And he meant every word he said.
James was well aware that it is not easy to be the wife of the CEO. The gossip, taunts, biased opinions, and judgments can take a toll on anyone. He wanted to make Fiona comfortable and help her through the mayhem until Justin stepped up. This is the least he could do as a friend and a colleague.
"Actually, there is one thing," Fiona said with hopeful eyes.
"Anything." James' said.
"I wanted to meet you before the entire Noah fiasco happened. I heard that you are looking for an associate?" She asked him.
"Yes, Briella has to leave now. She is calling in for early retirement. I will have to start searching for her replacement asap. Do you have someone in mind?" He asked Fiona with hope. He desperately needed an assistant-cum-associate as soon as possible.
"As a matter of fact, I do know one. She isn't as experienced as Briella, but she is competent. You could call me a bit biased, but I was hoping you could meet and interview her at the very least. If she fits the qualifications, then it is a win-win situation. I am not trying to cash in any kind of favor or trying to play the CEO's wife's card. Just scan her resume, and if you think she is a good fit, then maybe you can call her in for an interview?"
The last thing Fiona wants is for anyone, let alone James, to peg her as an opportunist. She believed James to be a sensible person. Especially given the conversation they just had. Somewhere, she found a genuine friend in him.
"Fiona, I know that you will not play that card; you are not that type of person, so you don't have to worry about it. You can tell the person to send her resume to my email address, and I will schedule the interview accordingly." James agreed, which made Fiona elated.
Every word he said was spoken with sincerity. Not once had he observed any kind of menace in her. She was simply a victim of Justin's idiocy.
"Thank you so much. And I mean, thank you for everything. I really appreciate it." At least one good thing happened to her throughout the day.
"You don't need to thank me. I assume she is your friend, so I don't think I will have a problem hiring her, provided she meets the requirements. As for Noah, no guy should treat a woman in a manner like he did in any circumstances whatsoever."
"Yes, I don't know what got into Noah today. I suppose there is a first time for everything. But yeah, you assumed right. She is my best friend. Her name is Emily Martin. But she is nothing like me," she added after a brief pause. "In terms of personality. Anyway, duty calls. The break is over." With that, Fiona left to resume her work.
James was intrigued to meet Emily Martin. He really wished that Emily was the one.
It will definitely save him a lot of time and effort from interviewing other candidates. As discussed, Fiona mailed her resume, and the interview was fixed for the next day. Emily's profile did look impressive and promising. When Justin entered his cabin and sat in front of him, he was engrossed in studying the copy of her resume.
"Why are you staring at the screen so intently?" He asked James curiously.
"Nothing in particular. What are you doing here?" James asked his friend calmly while closing the browser. He was still upset with Justin's behavior towards Fiona.
"I am worried about Fiona." This caused James to raise his eyebrows. "Her hand is sprained, and I have no idea why. I hope she is doing fine. Last night her hand looked normal, so something might have happened in the morning."
"Why don't you ask her yourself?" It was a statement rather than a question.
Before Justin could say anything else, James cut him off. "Forget it. Tell me one thing, why does it even matter to you whether she is hurt or not? I know for a fact that you two rarely exchange words. So, in a way, it doesn't give you any right to know about her deeds. But I will definitely tell you one thing. You are lucky that Grams married you off to Fiona because if it had been anyone else, that person would have either given you a hard time or, worst, left you dangling in the ropes." James was seriously pissed at his best friend.
"What's the matter with you? Did something happen?" Justin asked him in confusion. James doesn't lose his cool easily, but he seems enraged with him right now for some reason.
"I am annoyed by the way you are handling the situation. Seriously, Justin, go talk to Fiona." James tried again, hoping that this time Justin would talk to his wife.
"Do you have any idea how she was hurt? Did she say anything to you?" He asked James anxiously. Both were heading entirely in different directions. James wanted to pull his hair in frustration.
"I am not going to delve into your personal matters. If you are so worried about your wife, then ask her yourself." With that, James stood and left his cabin to get himself a cup of coffee while Justin remained seated in his chair, pondering how to approach Fiona.