I stood behind Hayden as my eyes scanned around the room. Suddenly, the door at the other end of the room began sliding open. My eyes immediately focused on the door, knowing full well who was supposed to walk through it.


    "Ethan…" I whispered so softly that I hardly heard myself.


    Hayden definitely saw him too because his hand that held mine tightened. Ethan walked in alone and the door behind him began sliding close. I could feel his eyes on us, and I started feeling extremely ufortable under his confident gaze. Ethan was dressed in an all-ck suit as if he knew that Hayden would turn up in an all-white one.


    He had a confident smile on his lips, and he seemed very much at ease.


    "The rules…" Hayden hissed softly.


    "Ok…" I whispered back to reassure him that I was well aware of the rules that he had set.


    "Let’s go," Hayden said emotionlessly as he tugged on my hand for me to follow after him.


    We walked towards the extremely long table that was positioned in the center of the room. One look at how the chairs were arranged at the table and I knew what Hayden meant about ensuring that I was at least three meters away from Ethan. The table was definitely longer than three meters and three white leather chairs were positioned strategically at the table.


    One at each end and the third one next to the chair on our end of the table. The first two seats at the ends of the table were for Hayden and Ethan and that third seat was for me.


    Hayden pulled out the chair for me and gestured for me to take a seat before he took the seat at our end of the table. At around the same time, Ethan took his seat. Even though Ethan was quite far away from me, I felt his presence like he was sitting next to me. I could feel his eyes on me as he observed me closely. My body froze and I was instantly scared to move.


    "Rx," Hayden whispered as if he could sense my difort.


    I turned to smile a little at him. Hayden did not share my nervousness at all. If anything, he continued to look bored like he couldn’t wait for this to be over so that he could go home.


    "Thank you for agreeing to this meeting," Ethan said with a pleasant smile that sent a shiver down my spine.


    "Sure," Hayden replied coldly.


    "Thank you for bringing, Malissa," Ethan continued diplomatically.


    "You’re weed," Hayden replied tly.


    "How are you, Malissa? Has Hayden been treating you well?" Ethan asked with slight concern in his voice.


    I knew that those questions were directed at me but under the rules that Hayden made, I couldn’t answer them unless I got his verbal permission. My eyes nced over to Hayden who didn’t even spare me a nce. His mouth remained shut. I bit my tongue, knowing that I was not allowed to answer those questions.


    "She’s fine. Is that all?" Hayden asked like he was more than ready to get up and leave.


    "You seem well. I’m relieved. I was honestly worried about you when you suddenly disappeared. The other teachers at the art school and your students are very worried too. I went to visit them a couple of times…" Ethan said before he smiled at me.


    He went to the school and met the other teachers and my students? Really?


    It had been such a long time since then that somewhere at the back of my mind I hadpletely given up on returning. To them, I must have been ’very sick’ to disappear for such a long time. Without a doubt, no one knew the truth about my sudden disappearance. I wondered how the school was doing and if business was still going well. I wondered how my students were doing.


    Are they continuing to do well as they studied under a new teacher?


    I thought back to those busy days when I just started teaching at the art school. Everything was quite new to me, and it was challenging. My grandmother was sick at the hospital and Hayden had disappeared from my life. I was alone and fighting hard to build a future for myself.


    The smiles and encouragement from my students and the other teachers gave me so much joy and gave me the strength to continue pushing forward.


    Suddenly, I wanted to know more about what was going on in the world outside. I wanted to know more about the people who were a part of my life.


    I felt a cold stare and my eyes met Hayden’s when I nced over at him. His gaze snapped me back to reality and I realized that I must have been thinking exactly the things that Ethan wanted me to think and feeling exactly how he wanted me to feel. He could do all that to me just through his words? Suddenly, I began to understand why Hayden wouldn’t let me engage in a conversation with Ethan.


    What would happen if I spoke to him? Would he control my body and soul…or something?


    My hands clenched together tightly on myp as I tried to get a hold of myself. Not knowing how else to focus my mind, I began reciting the three rules that Hayden made in my head. If I followed them, I won’t be a burden to Hayden in this negotiation, right?


    "You didn’t call me out here on this private ind to talk about Malissa’s old life, did you?" Hayden asked.


    I didn’t’ miss him stressing on the fact that what I was daydreaming about was my ’old life’. Rule number three indeed. I’ve already made my decision and I’ll remember which side that I’m on. Hesitantly, I nced at Ethan and saw that he was smirking as if he also caught Hayden’s message.


    "You’re right. Let me get straight to the point. I want a partnership between Torex and Silva," Ethan stated.


    The room suddenly felt very cold, but I was sweating from the pure tension between the two men who sat so far apart at opposite ends of the table. We both knew that Ethan was probably going to talk about this. However, I had no idea how Hayden would respond.


    --To be continued…