"Yeah," I croaked out, then I excused myself, "I''d be right back."


    I managed a smile as I made my way out of the ballroom and burst out into the hallway at the back that led to the stairs. The transition from the lively party to the quiet hallway was jarring.


    I frowned. Since there were elevators, no one ever used the stairs so what could be the issue? The printing room and the break room here were rarely used too but I made my way through the hallway. Maybe there was an issue with the printers? Perhaps one of the new administrative teams needed some help with something back here. But why me? Why not Rachel or the head marketing manager? As I pushed open the door to the printing room, warm fingers wrapped around my other wrist and pulled me to the opposite direction.


    It was swift yet gentle. But it almost gave me a heart attack.


    II


    As the door to the room I have been pulled into mmed close, I turned my head so fast that I almost gave myself whish to see who it was.


    At first, I just blinked at him as my heart rate returned to normal.


    "Really?" Then I scoffed and with a hiss, I turned to leave the room but he was quick to hold the door.


    "What is this? What are you doing?" I threw at him furiously. "What''s the meaning of all this? How childish of him to bring me out here like this.


    He released the door and put his hands up. "I have no ill intent, I


    Just want us to talk."


    "Talk!" I repeated incredulously. "I don''t want to talk," I said simply.


    "Come on, Ana, don''t be like that."


    I itched tond him a p on the face; first for tricking me here, secondly for uttering my name but he was my damn boss.


    "I''m sorry, Mr Aiden. If it''s not work talk, then I''m not interested."Content from N?velDr(a)ma.Org.


    He drew back, and took a long look at me. "Really? We haven''t seen each other for years!"


    "So what?" I said, ruminating as I tried to make sense of what his point was. "Should we jump on each other now that we have seen each other again?"


    He sighed. Then he stuck his hands in his pocket, turned around and walked to the plush couch in the room where he took a seat.


    It was then I realized that it was the break room he pulled me into.


    He tapped on the space beside him. "Come have a seat, Ana."


    With a huff, I marched forward and perched on the edge of the chair. Let''s just get this over with.


    There was an overstretched silence and all the while I felt his gaze on the side of my face.


    Then finally, he asked, "How''re you?" He sighed again, throwing his hands up helplessly, "I mean, how have


    you been? What have you been up to?"


    "I''ve been fine," I clipped.


    There was another stretch of silence, but a shorter one this time.


    "Well, I just want to clear the air about what happened in the past. Ana, are you listening to me?"


    *Just like you said, it''s in the past. We should leave it there."


    "No," he said sharply. "We won''t leave it at that. It was a huge misunderstanding and I want us to clear the


    air about it."


    "Trust me, there''s nothing to clear. It was perfectly clear the first time."


    "Look, I understand that..."


    I tuned out with a scoff. A misunderstanding my ass! How shallow. He couldn''t evene up with something more brilliant. After everything and all solid evidence that I saw. "Look," I said politely and interrupted whatever he had been saying. "I really don''t want to hear anything about it, okay? What''s done is done. So let''s never bring it up again." Anastasia, you shouldn''t-"


    I was relieved when my ringing tone interrupted him. My heart skipped a beat the moment I read the caller''s ID.


    "Excuse me," I said absentmindedly as I rose to my feet and walked a few feet away from the chair. I quickly picked up the call before it would end. "What''s up?"


    And ra started to ramble.


    "Hold up, can you slow down? I can not understand what you''re saying."


    ,


    "Sorry," she breathed, then she took a deep breath before she started again. "Amie is having a terrible fever and I''d be taking her to the hospital. I just thought to let you know in case you get a call or something but don''t worry, you don''t have leave the party, keep having fun, I''ve got everything under control-"


    My mind was already moving along with a whirlwind and I think I lost her at ''terrible''.


    "What? Where?"