AIDEN


    I struggled to keep my attention on the road. My eyes were on the dimly lit road ahead of me, but all I could think about and picture was Anastasia. The yellow lines blurred as my mind drifted to rey moments from our past and imagining what could have been.


    I wished I could go back there and stay with her. I wished I could pull her in for a hug and tell her how much I missed her and at the same time rant about how mad I was that she had not even bothered for an exnation. My hands gripped the steering wheel tighter as I fought the urge to turn the car around and drive back to her.


    I wanted to kiss her and tell her that when she left, she left with a part of me. The ache in my chest felt as fresh as it did five years ago, a constant reminder of the void she had left behind. Every song on the radio seemed to speak of lost love and missed opportunities, only intensifying my longing.


    I had always known that I did not remain the same after Ana left my life, but I thought I had gotten over


    her.


    I thought my feelings of love and hurt and anger for her and over her abrupt absence in my life had be


    left in the past, never to reur again. I had convinced myself that I had moved on, that the memories


    our time together had faded like old photographs.


    But seeing her again had brought everything rushing back with startling rity.


    It was as if time had stood still, and for a moment, I was transported back to the first time Iid eyes on her.


    The familiar flutter in my stomach, the quickening of my pulse-it was all there, as intense as ever.


    of


    I had been surprised to see her at the meeting that all I could do for the first few seconds was just stare. Her presence caught mepletely off guard, and I found myself frozen in ce, unable to look away. The boardroom faded into the background, and all I could see was her.


    Then I looked away, convinced and angry that I was back to those days, years back, when I saw her in everyone. The rational part of my mind tried to dismiss it as a trick of the light or a figment of my imagination. I had spent months after our breakup seeing her everywhere in coffee shops, on the street, in crowds-only to be disappointed each time.


    Thankfully, the rest of the retained employees hadn''t looked like my ex-girlfriend, but when I looked back In the same direction I had seen her, I was dismayed and at the same time, ted to see that I didn''t make her up.


    This time


    She was real.


    Then as I stole nces at her, my heart skipped beats or fluttered. But it was not seeing her again that made that happen.


    It was the way she radiated with so much beauty and elegance, She had grown even more beautiful over


    the years.Content provided by N?velDrama.Org.


    It had surprised me that she still had that effect on me. Infact, it still surprised me that she could still make my heart flutter. I was surprised that since I had seen her again, she was all that consumed my thoughts.


    On many asion, my assistant would be babbling on about a research he had spent time and effort on and I would find myself drifting off into my mind to conjure up that beautiful face.


    It had been five years and her mere presence always made distraction and confusion set in. Thank God for efficient self control else, I would have made a total fool of myself in just the few moments we had seen each other and worse it would have been in front of my newest employees.


    I had stupidly expected that now that we had seen eachother again, we''d be able to talk about what happened and share how we had both been faring during the years we were not together. But her attitude has been strictly professional and dismissive. It was clear that she was avoiding me and didn''t want to


    talk to me.


    And then+ remembered the anger in her gaze when our eyes shed during the board meeting. She was clearly still angry but I was too. And I think I even had more right to be mad. She had just up and left without giving or seeking any exnation.


    I thought it over and decided that feeling entitled to be more deserving of the right to be mad over a departure that happened years ago would not make us working together fluid or less awkward so I decided that we should have a talk...


    At least clear the air and set ourselves free.