CHAPTER 66 - Hello, beautiful

A knock sounds on the door, and he doesn’t wait for my response before pushing it open.

“Hey, Luca,” Baron says.

“Long time no see,” Victor adds as Luca walks in.

Luca waves at them. “Hi, guys.”

He walks over to my desk and settles into the chair opposite me.

“Hi,” I say awkwardly.

“Hi,” he smiles back at me.

“Uhmm…” I scratch the back of my neck, searching for the next words to say. “I guess Mr. Charles has already briefed you about the meeting.”

He nods. “And that is why I’m here.”

“Do you think it’s safe to meet with them, considering everything that happened?” The awkwardness between us is suffocating, but what do I expect after not speaking for days?

“I’m not sure, which is why the meeting has to be held here, in the company. I’ll have some men lurking around in case anything goes wrong, including Baron and Victor.” He avoids looking me in the eye as he speaks.

“How have you been?” I suddenly ask, and he snaps his gaze at me but quickly averts it again.

“Fine,” he murmurs. “How have you been?”

Pressing my lips into a thin line, I reply, “You won’t even look at me.”

He is quiet for a few seconds, a thoughtful expression on his face, before slowly looking at me. “I am.” Then he quickly diverts the subject back to our earlier discussion. “We need to prepare and be ready for whatever they’re going to throw at us. I would’ve suggested taking them to court, just like Rachel Kim, but that would be risky. You’re not dealing with only one person now.”

Leaning in, I form a steeple with my fingers. “So, what do you suggest?”

“I’ll have to think about it. But for now, I’m blank.”

I raise my brow, confused. “I thought you came here to discuss this.”

He shakes his head, his eyes pinned on me. “No. I came here to see you.”

My heart skips a beat, and I become utterly speechless. Just a moment ago, he couldn’t look at me, and now he’s saying this.

Before I can reply, he continues, “Have you been sleeping well?”

I nod.

“Eating well?”

I nod again.

Victor’s phone rings in the background, but I pay no attention to it.

“Have you been sleeping well?” I ask Luca in turn.

“Bryant?” Victor says, and I snap my gaze in his direction. Immediately, I rise to my feet and rush to where Victor is seated, snatching the phone from his grip.

“Bryant!” I groan into the phone, my anger evident in my tone.

“Hello, beautiful,” he replies, and I can tell he is grinning from the other end of the line.

“Oh, shut up! Where have you been? Your line hasn’t been reachable, and you haven’t been calling. You just went off the radar!”

He chuckles, ignoring my rant. “How have you been, beautiful?”

I roll my eyes. “If you want to know, come down here.”

“I wish I could, but you know I can’t.”

“You don’t,” I correct.

Suddenly, the phone beeps, and I stop hearing him. I pull the phone from my ear and look at the screen, realizing that the call has dropped.

“What the fuck!” I exclaim, frustrated.

“I had a low battery. I guess the battery just died,” Victor says, scratching his head.

“You've got to be kidding me!” I half-scream as I glare at Victor. “Why didn’t you charge your phone?”

I have been trying to reach Bryant for so long now to no avail, and when I finally get to speak with him, the opportunity gets cut off before his phone dies?

The frustration surges through me, urging me to smash Victor’s phone against the wall, but I control myself. I don’t want to appear like a crazy woman.

Instead, I hand the phone back to him. “Charge it now.”

Turning around, I stride back to my seat. But before I can sit, Luca stands up. It is then I notice the contortion on his face; the hurt is palpable.

“Luca…” My voice comes out as a whisper.

“So much for someone who got mad at seeing me with my cousin.” His nose flares. “Do you even care about my feelings at all?”

“Luca…” I whisper again.

“I’m here with you, by your side always. But you can’t see me or how much I care about you. You’d rather obsess over someone who doesn’t give a fuck about you.” He runs his fingers through his hair, groaning in frustration. “Fuck. Why am I doing this?”

I don’t know what to say; the confusion consuming me too much for me to handle. How do I explain that I like Bryant and can’t stop thinking about him? But I also like Luca and don’t want to lose him. It doesn’t make sense, even to me.