Chapter 122

Chapter 122
Catalina could not believe her ears. He was busy in a meeting and yet invited her in as if nothing. For a moment she thought he might be joking with her and told Ali she would either wait there or at his office.

She did not want to go inside and interrupt any meeting filled with testosterone only.
\-“But then it will not be possible, as he will be very busy and I have to book you for the next month to meet him.” Ali said to her.
\-“Now this is ridiculous. Does he think I have time to joke around? If this is what he wants, then fine!” she said slightly irritated.
It looked like both loving birds were hungry for playing games, Ali smiled mentally.
Just as she was ready to throw a tantrum at him inside that room, men started to come out of his meeting room. They were six packs and biceps packed, and all were a figure to adore on their own. All of them had the same icy look that could make anyone run away with their strong physics.
Catalina knew that all these guys were not made up like this because they liked bodybuilding. No, she knew from their bruised knuckles, wide muscles and cold aura like their boss that these guys were trained in the streets, soldiers, but for the demon king himself.
If not for her recognizing their attitude like her father’s soldier once, sharp glaze ready to attack anything out of order, she would have been scared or run for the hills already. Some even carried some high-tech laptops and gadgets that looked top secret.  
They did not even exchange a glance at her when they walked out of the door. As if they knew, the slightest disrespect might bring chaos and furthermore all the people who served Ricardo treated women with respect as this was the country they were too building.

Every action, every word would leave a last longing effect and not to mention the face that had many emotions written on Ricardo’s face, meant that this woman meant business.
As Catalina waited to be sure that no man would be there as followed from the last one, she chooses to go in directly without waiting for the door to close itself.
Ricardo tried to conclude as soon as possible with all of them in the last ten minutes that he was waiting for her to come inside. Since he wrapped all in the last minute with them now, he had more time dedicated to her, as he was indeed busy.
\-“Looks like someone was eager to see me.” He said to her with his signature smirk, still seated at the head of the table.
Catalina knew that this was exactly what he wanted, that is why he came to the embassy, not to punish Ahmed, but to bring her closer to him.
And she went, not because she got the bait, but because she  
\-“Oh please, save me the speech. This is exactly what you wanted. Having Ahmed coming here to report would not come to him without a punishment for not waiting for formal approval to come with us and knowing me you could easily foresee that I would come to prevent any harm that might be caused to him by me. You already planned this! I just wonder when?” she said to him in an irritated tone, seeing him never taking off his smirk.
\-“Well… since you decided to go at the southern territory without informing me first, leaving yourself unprotected and exposed to anyone with strange ideas. And that only made you earn a punishment.” He answered her in a sharp voice now, daring her to continue with his raised brow.
\-“But your actions of distancing yourself from me, making you less vulnerable would save me from any attack, right? This is what you said when you suddenly decided to announce your marriage to another woman Ricardo. So don’t act like a bipolar to me and make me the bad one. So, tell me why did you hurt Ahmed to reach me? We all know that reporting at the central office never ends well for anyone in this country.” Catalina said while never wandering her gaze from him.
At the same moment Ricardo rose from his chair with a grave weight as if standing far was not possible for him. He walked in her direction, from the other side of the table getting closer to each other and then he wanted to say to her that he missed her even though they hadn’t seen each other, but somehow Ricardo felt that their distance became hollow.
His guts were telling him that Catalina had changed something in her, but he still could not point it.
\-“You seem different! Like the energy around you has changed. Did you face any trouble?” he asked in a low comforting voice, as if they were two friends asking each other, studying her in silence.
Suddenly Catalina’s mind went blank, recalling the experience she shared with the priestess and how she got answers in the craziest way ever. She recalled how she transformed her spiritual energy and he was the only one that sensed that.
Not even Stella or Mariana could tell the difference.
She didn’t want to appear surprised that he asked this question and said:
\-“Please, don’t change the topic to elsewhere. I am just here to make sure that no harm will come to Ahmed because he followed us to the southern territory. If there is any harm coming to him because of me…”  she paused, not wanting to really finish that sentence.
\-“Should I worry too much that you care so much for another man?”
\-“I care for a friend!” Catalina said standing on her ground.
Now Ricardo was near to her, he took a hair strand behind her ear as he leaned over to whisper at her, while inhaling her shampoo smell like a hiding thief.
\-“Then you better behave and don’t overreact to a guy friend. It is not nice from you coming here to meet me and talk about unimportant stuff.”
“Huh…. Ricardo, I promise we did nothing to harm you or anyone when we went there. Zuleica even spoke well about you that you are trying to bring both cultures to unite between them. Here is the case for you to show that too.” She said softening the conversation hoping that he would try to act nice if she used the right voice.
\-“So much politics, we need to release some steam instead.” He said, smiling at her.
But Catalina could not stop her throwing tantrum:
\-“I heard you will marry a wife to do that.” And with that she took a step back.
\-“Soon love, soon. We will not be so cold again. Everything will be as it was before.”
He then kissed her hand and called for Ali to come inside.
\-“Make sure that Ahmed finish his questioning now and send them together back safe and sound.”
And with that he left the office leaving both Catalina confused and Ali surprised.