Love, Lies and Billionaires

“Good morning, ma’am,” Louis greeted as soon as Maren passed by her station.

“Good morning to you too, Louise,” Maren answered as he walked past without turning to her. Ignoring the fact that age hadn’t received her at the door again.

As soon as she was almost at her door, she paused, then creased her brows before walking back to Louise’s open door.

She stared at Louise, who had her eyes down on her desk as she seemed to be busy and didn’t notice her boss’s gaze.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

“Louise?” Maren called, keeping her eyes on the secretary.

“Yes, ma’am,” she answered and raised her head to view Maren’s questioning look.

Sure enough, Maren was certain that what she had seen with the corner of her eye wasn’t wrong.

Louise’s face showed a mixture of unease and somehow calmness as looked straight at Maren. Her eyes were wide with what she felt, yet she tried to force her face into what it usually was.

“Are you alright?” Maren asked gently as she stood at the doorway.

“Yes, sure.” Louise answered, forcing a smile, which just ended up looking weary and weird. Maren wasn’t buying that.

Maren’s eyes trailed to her body and noticed her feet tapping silently on the ground, but Louise stopped it as soon as she noticed her eyes.

It seemed the more Maren looked at her, the whiter she got and she looked so pale that she could faint at the slightest contact with anyone.

“Don’t lie to me, Louise,” she warned. “Is something wrong somewhere?”

“N-no.” Maren watched her eyebrows slightly bounce up and down. She’d never seen her act this way before.

“It’s just my kind fever which comes once in a while, ma’am. I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about me,” she urged and flashed more of her weak smile.

“If you needed a day off, you could have just made a request” Her voice was filled with concern.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I’ll be fine. It’s not like I’ve got anything to do aside from work,” Louise insisted, now avoiding Maren’s eyes.

“Well, you don’t look so good. Which is bad for me and therefore bad for business. So get your shit together on time cause you’re getting off work early and you’re taking tomorrow off, alright?”

“Ma’am, it’s really not-”

“That’s an order!” Maren said and walked away, towards her own office.

*****

“Oh, my god! Alexander, you can’t keep doing this every time,” Maren argued as she stormed into the room.

“I keep doing this every time because you keep ignoring my words.”

Maren just sat herself on the bed and began taking off her shoes, ignoring what he was saying. Alexander walked towards her and stood in front of her.

“I came back from a trip which I was away for a week and didn’t care to ask how it went?”

“Is this what this is really about, or you’re just looking for a way to get words out of my mouth?” She spat.

“I want you to talk to me, Maren. You’ve been acting so strange lately and it’s really not good for us.”

‘Us?’ Maren almost scoffed. He had gotten so soft that it was almost so annoying, but sweet.

“Look, Maren, I know I fucked up. I know what I did to you and Nathan. And I truly am sorry. All I’m trying to do is love you, but you’re making it so difficult”

Maren folded her arms and stared up at him. She hated when he pulled that card, which she knew deep down was a sincerity card.

The more she stared at him searching her mind for words, the more she couldn’t help but feel guilty by the way strong and arrogant Alexander had laid down his character to try to please her.

Sometimes, she silently begged for him to go back to his usual character so she could spit in his face and shove him aside. But now, even Nathan had let the name ‘dad’ slip out of his mouth once.

“I was only out a few times to clear my head, that’s all,” she finally said and looked away.

“Don’t lie to me, Maren.”

Maren’s expression changed almost instantly. “Thanks for reminding me why I’m trying to completely get over you and why I shouldn’t stop.” She stood up from the bed and walked towards the wardrobe.

I know you’ve become some kind of close friends with Kendrick”

“Oh wait, you spy on me now?” She shit and she spun around to face him. She placed her hand on her forehead and shut her eyes while she sighed. “We talked about this Alexander. Why do you keep going back and forth?”

“Because I know you don’t hate me, otherwise you’d have never agreed to moving back here or even listen to another word I say. All I want to know I’d why you’re acting this way despite all my apologies?”

“Because you counter those apologies every time, Alexander. I mean, we talked about this before I agreed to get back into your life that I was just doing this for Nathan and for peace to reign and not for you to monitor my whereabouts”

“You clearly agreed that I’d have my freewill and not be some teenager who has to take permission to live!” she said, her chest rising and falling as her eyes dug into his.

As the silence persisted, each person contemplated what they’d become. The entire situation had been a total wreck. Still, none of them had enough balls to leave the other.

Maren couldn’t deny that she still felt something for Alexander and she tried so hard to convince herself that it wasn’t pity. The more she stared at him, the more he did what he did, the more she resolved into the warmth of his act.

As much as she tried to think about Kendrick most of the time, there was just something-something that always pulled her mind back to this race, which had been there for her when William wasn’t.

“Okay, look, I know you might be hanging out with Kendrick. I mean, he’s charming, more successful-”

She folded her arms and squinted her eyes. “Are you gaslighting me?”

“Let me finish, please.” He begged and took a step closer to her. “I know Kendrick seems like the perfect man compared to what I’ve been towards you and Nathan, and I really am sorry about all of that.”

“I just want a sincere answer to this one question.”

Maren just stared at him. Not willing to risk telling him to ask or telling him not to.

“Alright. Do you still want me in your life?”