Chapter 22 The First Line
“Joan,” he said, and moved closer to me.
“We are at work,” he whispered.
Then he held my wrist and dragged me to the back of the building.
When we got there, I forcefully removed my hand from his.
“Is this right?” I snapped.
“What do you mean?” Alex asked, confused.
“Is it right for you to be like this?” I asked, tears clouding my eyes.
I blinked rapidly so that it wouldn’t flow out.
He just looked at me, confusion still clear on his face.
“Joan… I’m doing exactly what you asked for,” he said softly.
That hit me harder than I had expected.
“I never asked you to act like I was invisible,” I said, my voice breaking.
“Joan…” he said, trying to reach for my hand.
“Let me finish,” I muttered, cutting him off.
He stared at me as if he were looking at a different person.
“Our relationship wasn’t exactly lukewarm, neither was our relationship, but now that we’ve reconciled… can’t we just act normal,” I said, not thinking twice.
“You pulled back first!” he said, his voice firm.
“Am I not even allowed to act like this? You hurt me and you expect me to just run back into your arms?” I snapped.
“What? I hurt you?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he moved more closer to me, his eyes demanding answers.
Just then, a voice interrupted.
“Alex?” a woman called.
I looked up to see one of the site engineers standing a few feet away with a rolled plan held on her chest.
She looked hesitant, like she didn’t want to disturb him, but she also looked like she had rehearsed that moment in her head.
“Yes,” Alex replied and turned to her.
“I’ve been looking all over the place for you… I didn’t know you would be here,” she smiled and looked at me, obviously wanting me to notice.
“Can we talk about this later?” he said to me and walked toward her.
“I’m a bit confused about the revised lighting layout,” she said, tilting the paper slightly toward him.
“The client’s email wasn’t very clear.”
“Let me see,” Alex said, leaning closer to the paper that their shoulders almost touched.
I told myself not to look at them, but I did anyway.
“That part is misleading… they want intensity here, not expansion, so you have to focus instead of spreading it,” he replied.
“That actually makes sense,” she nodded, then laughed softly.
“I was overthinking it,” she added.
“It’s better to ask than assume,” Alex replied, also with a soft laugh.
That laugh bothered me, it made my chest heavy.
“He’s just acting like a co-worker should,” I told myself.
She thanked him and turned to leave.
When Alex wanted to come back to me, she turned back.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” she smirked.
“The supervisor was also looking for you,” she added and walked away.
“I will go first,” he said and walked right behind the site engineer.
I felt silly standing there, acting jealous as if I wasn’t the one who drew the line.
ALEX HART’S POV
My heart was already beating fast when she muttered those words.
“We are at work,” I whispered.
People were everywhere, even if they weren’t listening and I feared that she would become the subject of gossip again.
I quickly held her wrist and led her to the back of the building before she would say anything else that would draw attention.
When we stopped, she seized her hands from me.
“Is this right?” she snapped.
I didn’t know what she meant by that. She drew the line first so I wasn’t sure why she was acting like I did something wrong.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
Her eyes were clouded with tears and that alone made my heart sink.
“Is it right for you to be like this?” she asked again.
I stared at her, genuinely lost.
“… I’m doing exactly what you asked for,” I replied.
She looked at me like I had just said something I wasn’t supposed to say.
And I regretted saying those words instantly, but they were true.
“I never asked you to act like I was invisible,” she said, her voice breaking.
That hurt.
“Did I do too much?” I questioned myself.
I tried to reach for her hand, but she cut me off.
“Let me finish.”
Then I stopped.
She talked about how our relationship and breakup weren’t lukewarm. Then she talked about how we couldn’t act normally when we reconciled.
“Normal?” I almost laughed.
Then she said something about me hurting her.
“What? I hurt you?” I asked.
Because that part wasn’t clear.
I never did.
Just when she wanted to explain, one of the site engineers interrupted.
I excused myself and went to meet the lady. She told me her concern and I gave her answers.
But when I wanted to go back to Joan, I learned that my attention was needed somewhere else.
I had to excuse myself finally.
“What does she mean by I hurt her?” I asked myself as I walked back to the site.
“She was the one who hurt me… I remember clearly,” I muttered under my breath.
JOAN COLE’S POV
I went back to the table and pretended to work, my mind spiraling with different thoughts.
“I can’t believe I did that… at work… of all places.”
“Did I push too hard?” I asked myself.
“Maybe I even waited too long to say anything at all.”
I adjusted the paper in front of me, breathed out slowly, and picked up my pen again.
“Focus, Joan. You came here to work,” I mumbled under my breath.
I hadn’t even finished processing my thoughts when I heard some people murmuring behind me.
“Wow…”
“Who is that?”
“Gosh! He’s so handsome.”
“Damn! He’s so hot!”
I didn’t want to look at first but the murmurs didn’t die down.
Curious, I looked up to see who they were talking about.
I was shocked by who I saw. The pen I was holding slipped out of my hand.
“What! That man is…”