Regina glanced at her phone as it vibrated on the table. She saw Henry's picture flash up on the phone. Shepoked her head behind her to the blonde's room seeing nothing happened and picked up the phone quietly.
"Mom! I saw Gideon on TV!"
But the sound on the other side of the line was in high volume as the exciting 5-year-old shouted back to her ear.
"Henry, I can't talk right now. I'll call you back, okay? Love you."
Regina hung up and looked around seeing no one was around and sighed in relief. It was time for lunch anyway.
As her lunch hour was up, Regina came back to her desk. She frowned as she saw a post-it note stuck to her computer. She took it out and read.
Meet me in front of the building at 13.00 a.m. sharp.
Shit
She looked at the time and it's almost one. Regina sprung up from her desk, gathered everything in her reach and put it back in her purse all at once. She had to run in her high heels in this damn company oftenly enough.
As she reached the front of the building. She saw the blonde's car start to move. She panicked so she rushed to stop it and stood against the car.
Emma stepped down from the car and slammed the door shut.
"Didn't anyone tell you, our lunch hour is only one hour?"She angrily yelled at Regina.
Regina squinted her eyes in the sunlight as sweat gathered on her forehead as she ran here.
"Snow told me."
"But you're late 2 minutes."
"I'm sorry, I'll set my time to the same time as you because mine is still 2 minutes early."
"It's not just time that you have to stick with me. But everything about me in this company, really, I'm everything to you. If you can't stand it just quit."
Emma lifted her chin and did not wait for a comeback before hurriedly going back to her driver seat and starting the car, not caring if Regina almost couldn't get in the passenger seat as the blonde sped up, taking them both to the destination.
The car was in silence. Emma drove while taking a glance at Regina who sat still on the passenger seat without saying a word.
"Why are you so quiet? Are you deaf"
"You order me not to talk to you when you're not talking to me first. So I had to abide by the rule and remain quiet."
Emma looked at Regina and her eyes accidentally caught something glistening on the brunette's finger.
It was a purple flower ring.
Her head snapped back to the road as the memory of that day came back to haunt her. She was the one who gave Regina the flower ring, made from the forget-me-not flower. She gave it to her. And why did Regina still wear it when she was the one who left her in the first place?
She was so angry and confused, maybe Regina wore it to taunt her in the face for all she knew.
She suddenly pulled the car to the side of the road and hit the brake immediately making them both slam forward but thanked to the seatbelt. They bounced back.
Regina was startled in her seat and turned to ask Emma with a frantic"What's-"
"GET DOWN!" The blonde shouted
"You don't want me to go with you-"
"I said get out!"
Regina gasped at the sudden anger on the blonde's face, she quickly put off the seatbelt and stepped out of the car. She looked expectedly as the window rolled down and Emma's waved her hand for her to get closer.
"I have a meeting with my guest at two, If I arrive and not find you there, prepare your box and quit."
Regina gasped again for the second time that day and quickly shouted back as the window rolled up.
"But I don't know any details about your meeting! Where and with whom?!"
She wasn't fast enough and the car sped up ahead, leaving Regina standing there beside the road.
Emma arrived at the hotel in time as she stepped on the top floor while the elevator's door closed behind her. She walked further inside the restaurant and saw her guest was talking to someone, hiding behind a lamppost by her sight.
She frowned and walked closer seeing it was the chef he was talking to, that put a smirk on her face. So Regina was one step not ahead of her. She stepped up to him with a greet.
"Hello, Mr. Oliver."
"Oh, Hello, Miss Swan!" He quickly stood up and introduced himself and the chef to her. "This is Paul, a chef at this hotel, his food is super delicious!"
"Hi, Nice to meet you." Emma shook hand with him too and smiled.
Not long after they talked Chef had to excuse himself back to the kitchen, leaving her and Mr. Oliver to talk about their business.
"I didn't know you knew such a good chef around here," Emma said with a surprise.
"Yeah, me too, If Miss Mills hasn't told me, then I wouldn't know." He said with a grin.
Her smile faded at the mention of the brunette.
"Wait, who told you?" She frowned again.
"Your secretary? Miss Mills?"
Emma sat there in confusion but not long before she heard the sound of the heels behind her and beside her was the brunette herself.
"Your wine is here, Mr. Oliver." Regina smiled sweetly at him.
"Oh, great!"
A cup of cocoa with seasoning cinnamon on top was served in front of her by Regina. Emma gritted her teeth, eyeing Regina.
"This is your drink, Miss Swan." A polite smile formed on a tanned face.
She looked back down at the cup. It was the same drink Regina always loved to make for her back when they were together. The brunette just knew exactly what she liked.
Regina went to sit on the opposite, seeing the blonde was lost in thought over a single cocoa, still made her lips curled up on end slightly. She quickly closed her lips as Emma looked back and turning her focus on Mr. Oliver instead.
Emma watched in begrudging as Regina presented the fabric to him. And how he was so interested in talking to her more than discussing the design of fabric with her.
"I like this one. It's classic and not too luxurious, yet, there is something for you to find and make it look more intriguing. Not boring to me."
He suddenly said about the example but his eyes glued to the brunette's face all the time as Regina was writing down notes.
Emma fumed slightly in her seat at the blatant flirting of him.
Regina looked up at him and stopped taking notes for a second there as he gave her the eyes indicating something. She abruptly avoided his eyes and looked down at her note, continued her writing.
"The silk we used for this design will be the same as the outside pattern. But for some woman who loves to make her appearance look good, it turns out her inside is nothing, but eagerto be something that she's not." Emma finished while looking at Regina in the eyes.
The brunette's glare hardened before looking away and ignoringher.
"You seem to think bad of a woman, Miss Swan." Oliver said with a raised eyebrow.
"Not at all, I used to think positively of them, but I got deceived by one of them and it almost led me to my dead." Emma took a quick look at his face "As a friend, I like to remind you of that, I don't want you to get deceived like me."
Emma finished with a daring look toward Regina. At the same time, the brunette looked up at her without saying anything back.
Suddenly a phone on the table rang and a bright flash of screen appeared. Regina glanced down at it and it was a picture of a brunette woman, with long hair and her face was pretty too. She looked up at the blonde and wasn't surprised that Emma looked intensely back at her.
It seemed like everything she said or did had captured all of Emma's attention without her wanting the blonde to or not.
"Excuse me, This call is very important to me, I have to take this." Emma said while eyeing her and emphasizing the word 'important'.
"Alright," Oliver said.
Emma stood up, gathered her phone, and walked away but not before she heard what he said to Regina while she was gone. She had to hide behind the pillar to eardrop.
"I have to stay in town for a while and look for a friend to accompany me with. Are you free?"
She couldn't see Regina's face or hear her answer because the phone in her hand still vibrating and rang. She had to take the call and let them go.
She walked out to the patio and slid at the screen, putting it up against her ear.
"Hi, Driz"
A sweet and cheerful voice bounced back against her ear.
"Do you remember that we have a date today?" A raised voice at the end but not too serious it put a smirk on Emma's face, knowing what her girlfriend implied.
"Of course, I'd always remember a date with you! See you at the dinner, babe." Emma said
"Wait! I'll be making our dinner so what are you up to?"
"Anything you make, I'd like it."
"No, no, no. That cheesy phrase doesn't work on me again, Emma! You have to help me out on this."
"I respect your decision whatever it is." Emma smiled.
"Hmmmm, you're too sweet. Fine, I'll let you go for now."
Emma put her phone back in her pocket, and almost forgot about the other conversation that was taking place in the room. She quickened her pace to their table.
"So are you free? One hour is just fine by me at this point." He asked.
Regina raised her eyebrow, kind of amused at his attempt trying to ask her out with him. She had to suck in her cheeks slightly not to laugh or smile. Afraid she would offend Emma's important client.
"Yes, I'm free. But I have to spend it with my son."
"Son?" He sounded disappointed.
"Any problem with that?" She smiled.
"And the husband?"
"He died a year ago."
"Oh!" He let out a big smile. "Well, you can take your boy with us, I don't mind. All I need is for you to agree to go out with me."
"Regina!"
Regina looked up, quite startle at the yell of her name and saw Emma looking at her with her hard stare. Her smile was all gone. She stood up and walked over to Emma as the blonde handed her a car key. She took it.
"Get my car ready at the front." Emma said.
"Where did you park the car?"
"It's your job to find it, not my problem to answer your question," Emma smirked.
Regina pressed her lips together, staring at those green gaze one last time before giving in. She hurreid out of the room and left the hotel, heading to the parking lot.
Loads of cars were parked in the area. It would take hours for her to find the damn car. Since she didn't know Emma's mind where the blonde was parking.
She sighed and walked around.
"Where did she go? She was about to answer that when you walked in." He said with a frown.
"Let's continue our business deal, shall we?" Emma said. Not caring about this little secret love affair this man was aiming at Regina. If it was in her line of sight, she would not allow it.
He nodded and she smiled.
"I'll let my secretary get back to you in two days and Snow, my assist will send you a contract for you to sign after you sigh those documents our product will be sent to you in Swiss in no time."
"Or you could let Miss Mills send me those contract?" He smirked.
"I don't think that's a good idea. She's a new employee, worked with me for only a few days. Maybe she won't pass the probation, who knows." She said.
"If she doesn't get to work with you, you can tell her to come work with me. I'm very okay with her! And will be accepting her without any damn probation." He smiled.
Emma sighed, finished the business deal as soon as possible without letting him get any information of her new employee.
She was now waiting in front of the hotel, waiting for Regina to get the car back to her.
She took her wrist up and smirked at the display on her watch.
It's late and Regina still hadn't appeared. Maybe getting lost finding her car.
A car engine sounded behind her and not a moment later her yellow bug was parked in front of her and Regina came down from it. Emma's eyes widened suddenly at the sight. And she glared as her plan didn't work. Regina stopped beside her and Emma took the car key from the extended hand.
"How did you find my car?" She asked with a suspicious look on her face, but not to outright.
"I called Snow and I let the staff here helped me, it was luck that he could remember your spectacular yellow bug." Regina almost smiled. "Really, what made you chose yellow?" Regina eye's widened as she didn't intend to let out the last part out loud.
"I loved it! And it's none of your business, be sure to remember that in the future, Mills." Emma said, clearly not enjoying the outburst from Regina.
They're not friends, Regina had no right to make a joke with her. She lost that a long time ago, when she left her.
"How did you know that I made the appointment at the hotel here?"
"I called Graham about your appointment. And I called Mr. Oliver's secretary, knowing that he would arrived early at the hotel for lunch so I asked his favorite wine and asked the staff to prepare his favorite dish for him then I hailed a cab and get here as fast as I could." Regina fisnihed with a proud smile.
Emma smirked.
"I'm stunt at how good you are at your job. No wonder you could catch such a wealthy man as your husband, huh? I have to say the man's age was almost like your father's! This must be the fastest way to find yourself a husband, I'm impressed."
Regina's face went still at the insult.
"I'm taught to be good at solving thing, not taught to catch someone. But if I got a good, kind and caring not to mention a rich husband along the way then I was so damn lucky." Regina retorted back politely, not a single raised voice by her, fire in her brown eyes as she wouldn't be offended by the petulant child in front of her.
"Good luck to you then, my company is full of those qualified men you're seeking, Mills. But if that's all your aim at I suggest you quit."
"If I want to get a new lover I don't have to apply for a job at your company." Regina's nose flared.
The conversation began to heat up as Regina didn't back down from her, correct her even.
"Why are you here?" Emma fired back her dying question. Seeing Regina went still and didn't open her mouth. She was getting annoyed. When she need the answer Regina would shut down.
"Regina, I ask again, what do you gain from working as my secretary?"
Brown eyes flickling back and forth at her. Emma didn't understand why Regina wouldn't say anything to her. Her temper rose as she saw a little spark erupt in those brown eyes. Her patient was gone.
"Answer me!" She raised her voice in anger.
"Money."
"Money?"
"To raise my family." Seeing the brunette swallow down on air made her satisfied even more.
"Good. Then I'll use money to control your life, how's that sound? Tomorrow we have a meeting with the designer team of our company. If I ask about the pattern and you cannot provide me an answer."
She stepped closer to her, intended for a threat.
"I'll hire someone else who can do a better job than you. Someone who has a better memory than you are."
Leaving her shaken slightly from the hot-headed sucked her cheeks as Emma turned around, stepped into the car and drove away.