Chapter 33
When Regina learned that she wasn't fired from her job, she didn't know what to feel. She was happy but also very confused but then Belle told her that Emmett was still against her but his parents wanted her to work. Now it has been a week since she has been working at the company, she could say she was getting used to everything and was doing a good job. But the only thing bothering her now was that she hasn't been around her boss or has seen him, it looked to her as if, he was doing a great job at avoiding her at all costs.
"Regina don't beat yourself up for it, if he wants to see you or talk to you he will let you know, I mean come the guy runs the company. He can do whatever he pleases. Just give it time" Belle has been having lunches with Regina sometimes during week since Regina has started. She wanted to make Regina feel comfortable around the workplace as much she could.
"I know….but…I have been….well actually I had thought about apologizing right away…I mean uh…."
"Regina…what is it?" Belle asked.
"I don't know how I am going to face him now…I thought I will apologize and then we could start working out our differences if it was going to be a problem…but now it looks like…..he doesn't even want me to be around him so how the hell am I going to be working for him….starting next week" Regina now had her head in her hands….this thought had been bothering her for a while now. If the person who she has been getting trained for wasn't even going to tolerate her presence then she was just wasting her time here.
"I am sure…that's not the case Regina" Belle then saw her friend stare at her. "Okay..alright…maybe it's the case but you never know he could have been so occupied that he didn't have time to be around"
Regina then rolled her eyes at her friend's comment. "Belle..he's running the company….how could he not be around it"
"Hey….I have been working here longer than you…..trust me…he likes to go deal around with the outside world rather than stay cooped up in here all day…that's where Ruben comes in..I suppose" Regina then nodded her head in understanding.
She then gave her friend a secretive smile. "Speaking of Ruben…what's going on between you two? Hmm"
Belle couldn't help but blush at the question. "I…we-well…we have been seeing each other for few weeks now…and we are having our first date tomorrow" Regina could see the happiness on her friend's face. "Aww Belle…that's so nice..well I hope you guys have a good time" Regina then offered her a smile. They both stayed for a while talking before going their separate ways to get back to work.
It was late in the evening; almost everyone had gone home for the day. Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in" came the call from the behind the closed door.
Emmett was sitting in his chair reading over a file. When the door opened, he didn't look up assuming it was one of the company's janitors coming in to clean up.
"Nick…can you come do this tomorrow morning…I will be to staying in here for a little while" Emmett spoke up not realizing whom he was speaking to.
"I could, but I thought I wasn't hired for that position" Regina blurted out without thinking. Finally Emmett looked up and saw who had decided to come into his office.
Regina let herself in when he didn't say anything and walked to the desk to stand in front of it. Emmett stopped reading the file and closed it and pulled the chair back a little and leaned back, putting his hands on the chair's arms.
"I hope you didn't lose your way back to home" When Regina shook her head for a no, he continued trying his hardest to not yell at the girl. "I see…so was there a reason you dropped by? Because I don't recall arranging a meeting with you at all" he finally asked.
"Well…since I will be working you….with you directly….I thought we should clear any misunderstandings we have had so far…..and try to be uh…more professional with each other" Regina said while feeling all of her nerves in her body on alert, and at the same time fidgeting with her hands. She tried her best to make eye contact but couldn't help but move her eyes away from those greenish eyes every now and then. But she knew those greenish eyes kept on staring at her with their intensity like before, this time not she hoped it wasn't anger.
Emmett didn't say anything; he was just sitting on his chair looking at her. When few minutes had passed by Regina decided to break the silence. "Mr. Swan?"
Suddenly, he got up from his chair and walked around the table to stand besides the other chair that was opposite of his chair. He pulled the chair out and motioned for Regina to take the seat. Regina not wanting to be anymore rude decided to sit down. When she had sat down, Emmett walked away from her to the office window that was behind his chair. He stood there with his back to Regina and then turned around to face her again.
"Miss Mills…..I would be more than happy to just build a professional relationship with you and that's all because to me only two things are important: my parents and this company. For them and for the good of this company, I am willing to put aside any personal disputes we have had so far and be civil with each other" Emmett said with a straight face.
"But for the past week, you have been avoiding…..I mean I haven't worked with you at all and well it looked like you didn't want me around you at all" Regina corrected herself at the last minute before she ended up creating an another dispute between them.
Emmett just shook his head and rubbed his face in frustration. "Re-Miss. Mills…you were getting trained during those days and I hope you are that you will work directly with starting next week, also you are to shift to…my place this Sunday"
Regina was confused for second before she realized what he was talking about. "Ah…yes, I will be there" Emmett just let out a tired sigh.
"Alright! If that is all…you are free to leave," Emmett said trying not to sound annoyed.
Regina didn't say anything back, she just got up and walked to the door and opened it to leave but not before looking back to see that her boss was now sitting on his chair with his head thrown back and eyes closed up. Regina shook herself out of her staring and walked out of the door to go meet with Belle to go home.
When she reached Belle, she saw that Ruben was there as well. She smiled at them both and Belle told her that Ruben had decided to give them a ride home. Which they accepted, it took them 15 minutes to get to their place. Ruben asked Belle to stay with for few minutes and Regina upon hearing this decided to leave the two alone.
When she opened the apartment and went inside, she noticed that Katherine wasn't back from work yet. 'I guess she's coming late today again'. Sigh. She put her stuff away and went to the room she shared with Belle to change her clothes. After she has done, she heard her stomach growl. She laughed at her stomach and decided to go to the kitchen to see if there was anything available.
As she was looking through, she heard the front door open and close. She put some of the stuff she had gotten out of the fridge on the counter and walked towards the living room to see both Katherine and Belle put their stuff away as well.
"You guys hungry?" they both nodded their head so quickly that Regina couldn't help but laugh out loud. Belle and Katherine just looked at each other and smiled. They felt good knowing that their friend was feeling much better now from few days back.
They both walked into the kitchen and started helping each other out. "Not that we are complaining or anything but what's with the smiling, Regina?" Katherine asked, curious.
"Huh..uh nothing…nothing at all" Regina said, trying to avoid her friend's interrogation.
Belle and Katherine then glanced each other. They were sure now that something good must have happened to make Regina feel better all of a sudden.
"Guys, I can feel you two giving each other the stare, where you both think I am hiding something good" She then turned around, stopping what ever she was doing to look at her friends, smiling at them. "First lets eat and then we can talk because I know you both won't leave me alone if I didn't".
They then moved to their room, and sat around the table that was in the middle of the room.
After a while when they had finished eating, Belle and Regina picked up the dishes and together they cleaned them up. When that was done they came back to the living room and saw Katherine flipping channels on the tv trying to find something good to watch. When she couldn't and saw her friends sit around her, she turned the tv off and gave them her attention.
"So…" Belle decided to ask the obvious. "I know you were still upset during lunch..so what happened?"
"Guys do I really need a reason to be happy….the day might have felt heavy but it ended on a good note" Regina then told them. they both nodded at her trying to understand the meaning behind the words.
"Okaaayyy…..now again…what happened?" Belle was not going to be fooled easily.
Regina let out a sigh in defeat and looked at her friends. They were both looking at her, waiting for her to say something.
"You know how I went to see Mr. Swan" she asked looking at Belle, who nodded at her.
"Well…it was our first ever pleasant meeting with each other compared to the past meetings we have had" Regina told them…..they still looked at her as if asking her to tell them more.
"Well that's it" she finished.
"Oh come on, so you didn't try to ask if he was actually trying to avoid working with you all week long?" Belle then blurted out the main question. Katherine just looked at her two friends, finding herself being amused with the conversation.
"Oh about that…I tried but I don't think I received a clear answer to that but he reminded me about moving to his place this Sunday…gosh that sounds way too personal out loud" Regina cringed at the thought.
"Hmm..is that all?" Katherine finally spoke up.
"I….I-I uh might have found our conversation entertaining because….for some reason….I could feel that he was holding back his anger…and well that was a sight to be seen…" Regina then laughed at her own comment, thinking about the meeting from several minutes ago. Before her friends could say anything about it Regina didn't let them.
"Oh god, no matter what…his eyes….those greenish eyes can never lie to you…..I mean I could particularly feel his eyes screaming at me….I didn't know what to feel at the moment…be afraid or just laugh or scream…I don't know…but now that I think about it, the whole situation was laughable" she then looked at her friend who were looking at her with their mouths slightly opened.
"Is something the matter?...Guys?" She then asked when her friends kept staring at her with their mouths still hanging open. "Alright…you guys stay here and enjoy catching some flies while you are at it…..I am going to bed" she then got up and went to the room but now both her friends had closed their mouths and were trying to make sense of what Regina had just told them.
"What the hell was that?" Katherine was the first to speak. Belle just shook head at her, she herself not understanding what the comment indicated about their friend.
"Did she just sort of daydreamed about the conversation she just had with him several minutes ago?" Katherine then nodded her head in a yes motion at Belle, who was also nodding her head.
"Let's just—let's just go to sleep" Belle then said. They then both went to their rooms without saying another word.
Ruben had gone back to the office to meet up with Emmett after he had dropped Belle and Regina off. They were currently sitting in Emmett's office; Emmett had opened up the window behind him to let some night's fresh air in. Ruben was leaning on the window feeling the night air hit his face; Emmett was again resting on his chair.
"You still angry at her?" Ruben then asked.
Emmett didn't say anything….he let the question sink in. "I'm not angry just careful, that's all"
Ruben couldn't help but let out "Hmph" at the statement. "Come on….Em tell me the truth now"
"The truth?" Emmett toyed with the word. He knew it was pointless to hide this from his friend because he will see through his disguise. "You know..before her when ever I would look at another girl, I would see Lilly's face in them, like a constant flashback of what she did to me. It was like, who ever I saw I would see her face and feel all the hurt, the pain and anger come back to me ten folds" Ruben turned away from the window and put his hand on his friend's shoulder in comfort.
"Em…I get it, its same with her and having her this close is probably going to be torturing for you" Ruben sympathized.
Emmett then abruptly got up "No..Ruben…that's the thing I don't understand myself…..when ever I look at her I don't see Lilly's face anymore, its like Lilly and everything about her just disappears to somewhere and that is the thing that's been bothering me and irritating me ever since I have met her"
"Wait…shouldn't that be a good thing for you Em….i mean you are able to let go of all that pain and suffering when you see her, so shouldn't you be feeling relieved" Ruben tried to look at the positive side of it and show to it his friend.
"But how can that be with any other girl I would be reminded of Lilly and her betrayal but with her I forget about it in a second….like what the hell is this? Like don't it seem strange to you?" Emmett asked him then, hoping that Ruben could solve this mystery for him.
"Hey..hey..calm down….why don't you relax a little and stop over thinking this…" When Emmett sat down again and started to relax, Ruben decided to speak again. "It could be that maybe…..you should see this as a good thing, I mean shouldn't you be feeling glad that finally there is someone who can make you see that not everyone is out to betray you Em….that not every individual is the same"
Emmett was taking in slow breaths, in and out, in and out. He got up and started putting everything away.
"I—lets just go home Ruben. I don't want to think about this anymore" when he was done clearing out his desk. He got the things he needed and started to walk towards the door. Ruben closed and locked window of the office, when he was done he picked his keys from the desk and went out the door himself and locked it behind him.
'How long will you keep avoiding everything Em?' Ruben questioned in his mind, when he saw his friend walking ahead of him, eager to go home.
'I guess its been a long day' Ruben thought to himself.
