ETHAN CARTER
I dialed Landon's number, something that surprised me because no man would retain the number of a friend who betrayed you with your girlfriend.
'Ethan, nice to hear from you. You left the party way too early man"
I remained calm opening my mouth to speak,"You know very well I don't like parties that much"
'How could I forget? So what's up?"
'It's about the favor I asked you for. Did you find anything about Julian?"
I didn't know why I was even asking considering the fact that I knew what his answer would be. He worked with Julian, that much I had known, question was did Julian know that Landon was fucking his daughter?
'I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But the guy is clean, no bad records, no money laundering records. Sorry buddy"
Buddy, he even had the nerve to call me buddy?
'It's cool. Can we meet?"
'Sure"
'Circle Bar three pm. That good for you?"
'I can never refuse a free drink, can I? That is if you are the one paying",he joked.
'The drink's on me, don't worry about it", I assured ending the call.
I glanced over my contacts once more pressing Crystal's number.
'Ethan? What happened yesterday? You left without a word"
'I know. I know and I apologize. I had to take my mom home since she had a headache"
'Well is she okay? Should I visit her to make sure she is fine?"
'There's no need. She's feeling better already. Hey can we meet?"
'Sure, ofcourse name the time and place"
'Circle Bar three pm. I'll be waiting for you"
'Should I wear something nice? It sounds like you want to surprise me with something"
'If you feel like it", I ended the call not sure whether I would be able to be calm about everything.
I descended the stairs to find Mila already preparing lunch and Aliya by her side watching over keenly.
'It smells amazing", I commented dipping my finger in the sauce and licking it.
'Should we be expecting you for lunch?" Mila asked and I replied with a no.
I thought back about my behavior yesterday and I felt the need to apologize. Actually I had to apologize.
'About yesterday, Mila I didn't mean to shout at you. I was drunk and upset but that's no excuse to do what I did", I said and Aliya who stood behind Mila gave me a thumbs up with a smile.
She stopped swirling the broth to stare at me,"Lisa called, she told me everything and I understand. Though I really think you should hear her out, Ethan"
I could imagine how my mother was at the moment but she had to understand what she did was wrong. She had to know that I was hurting having figured out that she had been lying about my father.
We needed space. I needed space from her but that didn't mean I stopped loving her. She was my mother. The woman who had raised me whole hearted.
'I'll talk to her just not now. Okay, I'll be heading to the office now, take care", I said staring at her then at Aliya.
'Bye"
'Bye",Aliya said softly, her face putting up a warm smile.
'Do you guys want to kiss too?" Mila humored.
'Can I?" I asked sarcastically.
'No! Ofcourse not now go!" Mila shooed me with a kitchen rag and I left the house in smiles.
I was dying to kiss Aliya again. And again. And again till I was breathless.
The ride back to the office was full of gasps and questions from Jai. I had to tell him everything about Crystal and let's just say he was surprised more than I was. Just like him, he couldn't imagine that Crystal of all people was cheating on me.
She loved me. She was madly in love with me or so I thought and that's the reason why everytime I thought of Aliya in that way I felt guilty. That I was jilting a good woman.
Looking back at this, Crystal had done me a huge favor. To think that I was going to propose to her. To think that I was willing to give up everything I had just to be with her just so that I couldn't break her heart.
Relationships. Relationships were really complicated huh? But I believed with love, relationships were a little less complicated. Just like my relationship with Aliya would be. It wouldn't be complicated at all because she loved me and even though I hadn't told her yet, I loved her.
I arrived at the office, twenty minutes past one. I was a little late but things at the office were going smoothly simply because I had competent employees who didn't need any sort of supervision to carry out their work.
'Sir",Nina was the first to enter my office not knocking as usual.
Frankly by now, I had gotten tired of reminding her to knock the door every single time. Instead I just rolled with it, everytime she barged in my office unwelcomed.
'Yes, Nina?" I asked tearing my gaze from the documents infront of me.
'A certain Roman Cervantes was here to see you", she explained and my ears perked up.
The last thing I needed was to have a talk with my supposed real father. I didn't want to listen to what he had to say. Frankly I didn't want him near me or trying to pretend he wanted to be a father to me.
If he loved my mother, he would have searched for her. He would have searched for me.
'What did he want?" I asked trying to remain calm.
'He didn't say though he did book an appointment tomorrow"
'Cancel his appointment and if he does call tell him I'm busy. Infact make sure security doesn't allow him into my building. Do I make myself clear?"
'Yes, sir",she nodded walking out of my office so fast.
The rest of the day went with me signing documents calling Nina now and then and asking her about files that I needed to look at. I thought about Aliya all day wishing that I would text her or call her but then I remembered her phone got stolen.
I instructed Nina to buy the latest iPhone model and deliver it to the house to Aliya. By the time three pm had reached, I was already out of the office and in my way to the bar just downtown.
I took a seat at the furthest booth instructing the waitress to bring me a shot of tequila. There was no way, I would do what I was about to do without a drink.
Crystal was the first to arrive dressed in a simple blue backless dress. She took a seat beside me reaching for a kiss on the lips and I evaded it.
'What's… what's wrong?" She asked and I looked around the bar searching if Landon had arrived.
It only took seconds for Landon to appear in the doorway of the bar and when he saw me he walked towards us, his gaze more on Crystal than on me.
'What's he doing here?" Crystal snarled.
Once Landon sat down, I gazed between them wondering just how stupid did they think I was.
'I invited him. Well I just thought that it would be nice for me to have a drink with my bestfriend and my girlfriend", I commented taking a shot of my drink.
'I don't know about you, princess but I think it's a good idea we mingled, don't you think?" Landon teased and Crystal rolled her eyes.
'I thought we mingled enough yesterday",she muttered and I wondered how it is I hadn't noticed before.
They had always been like this. Fighting like cats and dogs or in this case pretending to fight. The truth was in the way they fought, they way they behaved around each other, they were clearly flirting and no one noticed.
'Funny you should mention mingling. On my way to the washroom yesterday at your party, I kind of witnessed two familiar people mingling. Two people fucking like rabbits in the storage room. Can you believe that?"
Crystal's face turned pale while Landon put his glass down trying to come up with words to say,
'I can. People fuck at my parties all the time. Am surprised you both didn't",he joked and that was enough to spike my fury.
'How could we when you were busy fucking her?" I asked and the tension continued even as Crystal tried to hold my hand.
'Ethan it's not what you think-'
'It's not what I think? Are you fucking kidding me? I saw you two going at it with my own eyes and you are telling me it's not what I think? I'm not mad, you should have told me sooner maybe then I would have stopped wasting my time on you.
And you, buddy, I'm giving her to you. You can fuck her as much as you want because she's not mine anymore"
'Y-you don't mean that!" Crystal cried but I stood up in frustration getting her hands off me.
'We are done, Crystal"
