Chapter 2

"Keith Evans is personally taking you the cocktail party? Unbelievable!"

"I know!," Phoebe replies enthusiastically. "Wait, is my lipstick okay? My dress?"

Paige grabs Phoebe and shakes her hard. "So worrying, you look great! But, if you feel a little ill, I could take over for you?," she ask with a hope in her voice.

"You nuts? Nothing can stop me from going to this party with Keith!," Phoebe said.

***

"Have I mention how great you look tonight?"

Phoebe laugh nervously. "Like the 26th time". When the doors swept open at the elegant revolving restaurant, Phoebe took one look at the animated crowd milling around, and a rope of tension coiled around her chest, suffocating her. "Wow, I didn't realize this many people would come". Phoebe felt her hand tuck into Keith's warm hand. She looked up at him with surprise.

"Relax, they won't have you for dinner. Besides, I'll be with you the whole time," he assure her with a smile and squeezes her hand.

Escorted to a cocktail party by Keith and flirted by him? How lucky can I get!, Phoebe thought. At the bar, as Keith ordered their drinks, and Phoebe cautiously glanced around just as a group of people shifted to one side.

And there was Cole...

She immediately stiffen. What is he doing here?! He's not a member of this company..

He was standing across the room, his dark head thrown back as he laughed at something being said. Phoebe's heart pounded uncontrollably as her gaze took in his handsome, tanned features; the elegant ease with which he wore his impeccably tailored dark suit; the casual way he held his drink in his hand. She noticed every painfully familiar thing about him. And then she noticed the beautiful blonde who was smiling up at him, her hand resting familiarly on his sleeve.

Anguish poured through Phoebe's veins like hot acid. It was the same woman who told her about the affair she and Cole was having when he was dating her..

"Phoebe?"

Phoebe's head whipped around and saw Keith confuse face. She quickly relaxes her features and smile at him. "Yes?"

"Phoebe, apparently you haven't a heard I said? Is something the matter?," he ask even though he knows perfectly what was bothering her.

"No.. nothing! I'm cool, I'm okay. I'm okay Keith," she replied. "What did you say just now?"

"Oh, I wanted you to meet my good friend across the room," he took her elbow and started to guide her toward Cole and Patricia. "I'm sure you'll love Cole. He's a hoot I tell you.."

"Cole?," she whispered and quickly jerk her arm out from his grasp. "You know Cole?"

"Oh, you've met Cole," he ask in a fake surprise. "I didn't realize both of you already know each other. Common, let's go meet them"

"Wait Keith, I don't think I can do this. You see, we have this history thing and.. I rather not explain. It's complicated," Phoebe explained.

"I see. But, sooner or later we'll have to greet the host"

"He's the host of this party?!," she demanded, and her head started to throb. "But.. he's not a part of this company. This is your company!"

"Emm, apparently you haven't read into the history of our company. He co-founded this company. We both owned Mantafor (Keith and Cole's company name)."

"God..god.. this is getting worst and worst," Phoebe said and started fanning herself with her hand. "Look, I can't.."

"Do you need a drink? Not unless you need one to bolster your courage to face Cole."

Phoebe shook her head. "I don't need courage. He means nothing to me."

"I gather you want to convince him that you no longer have any romantic interest in him, is that it?"

"That's right," she admitted.

"In that case-" Keith notice that Cole wasn't in front of them anymore" -I'll give you some unsolicited advice. Why don't you spend a few minutes chatting with him about the party or your new job job and then, with a very charming smile, excuse yourself with walk over to someone else-me, if I'm close at hand, and I'll try to be."

Phoebe turned toward him with a soft smile of gratitude. "Thank you," she said. Feeling calm and confident, she relaxed.

"My, my, what do we have here? Our Keith has finally gotten himself caught"

Phoebe's whole body snapped into rigidity at the sound of Patricia's sulky voice, then forced herself to turn. Patricia's smile stay frozen for the benefit of the people surrounding her but her eyes has turn into ice of fury. "Why this is a nice surprise, Keith"

Phoebe's hands started trembling and felt Keith's warm fingers closed around hers. She then turned a bright, expectant smile on Patricia, whom Keith promptly introduced to her.

"I've been admiring your dress all evening, Phoebe. Tell me, did Keith buy the dress for you? It looks really expensive," Patricia said nastily.

Phoebe temper flared but her face didn't show it but replied calmly. "Sorry to disappoint you but I made this dress myself."

Keith was surprise. "You made this dress? Wow, you've got talent!"

"Thank you." Without looking at Cole, who was standing there the whole time, just staring at her, Phoebe added, "Oh, there's Mr. Jonathan. He's been trying to talk to you all evening, Keith." With the last remaining ounce of her vanishing poise, Phoebe raised her eyes to Cole's inscrutable features and said politely, "Will you excuse us, please?"

Shortly afterward Keith became absorbed in a conversation with a vice-president, so Phoebe made an effort to be charming and witty and to mange on her own. She was soon surrounded by a flatteringly large cluster of interested, admiring males, and for the rest of the evening she scrupulously avoided looking in Cole's direction. Twice she accidentally turned and encountered his piercing stare, and both times she casually looked right past him, as if she was searching for someone else. After two hours, the tension of being in the same room with him had become unbearable.

She let herself be leaded out by one of the interested males to the outdoor patio portion of the restaurant. Gordon..or Ted, thinking Phoebe was interested in him, began talking continuously about himself until the point where Phoebe couldn't take it anymore.

"Ted?," he looked up hopefully, "could you get me another glass of red wine? I'm done with my punch".

"Sure," he replied easily. When he left the patio, she quickly walked over to the chest-high wall that surrounded the patio restaurant and gazed at the glittering panorama of lights fanning out for miles, eighty-one stories below. Behind her, she heard the whisper of the sliding glass door opening and closing, and she resigned herself to the loss of her badly needed solitude. Why does that jerk have to do be so fast? "That was quick. Didn't realize you were so eager to see me," she tease, forcing a cheerful lightness into her voice.

"Yes I was," Cole's lazy voice mocked. "And I actually half convinced that I'm invisible."