Chapter 174 - 174 Lingering Emotions

174 Lingering Emotions

Logic and emotions struggled for dominance over my actions and my body. I had just told him to leave and that he shouldn’t come here again, so why was I about to chase after him.

Why would I do that?

Nothing seemed to make sense to me for a while. Instead of opening the door, I let go of the door handle before forcing my arm back down to rest at the side of my body. My mind told myself that I was doing the right thing. I had told EROS the right thing that was best for all of us and I was doing the right thing for not stopping him from leaving. Even if my words had hurt him or offended him, it was still the right thing to do and that he would get over it soon enough.

He might not even feel hurt in the first place, and it could have just been my own imagination running wild. I heaved a sigh and turned on my heels to head back to my room before I would have the chance to change my mind again.

…

The day that I had to return to work arrived unavoidably. To my surprise, I felt bored enough at that point that I did not dread going back to work. I woke up feeling quite refreshed just to realize that I had nothing planned for my first day back to work. Justin had advised me to take it slow for my first day going back to work and that basically meant that I just had to drop by his office to see him. My best guess was that he would ask me about which client I would be most comfortable to start with.

Honestly, it was hard to pick given the complex situation that I seemed to have placed myself in based on my last interactions with the three of them. I sat up in bed and reached for my phone to see that I had a text message from Adrian. It was as if he knew that today was the day that I resumed my work. Perhaps Justin was the one who told him. For some reason, I wasn’t that surprised that he had sent me a text.

‘Are you free today?’

The text was simply, very to the point, and it was signed with his name as usual. I was free to see him today, but I still felt awkward about meeting him. Our last encounter didn’t end so well and he probably knew that as well. I sighed to myself softly when I realized that this was probably why Justin told me to take it easy on my first day back to work. Seeing the text from Adrian truly gave me mixed feelings and suddenly my body felt heavy and lazy. I had to drag myself out of my bed to prepare for the day.

.....

It was almost lunch time by the time that I arrived at Justin’s office. As expected, he was there to greet me with a gorgeously wide smile. There were few people in the office, and I was glad for the peaceful atmosphere.

“Welcome back to work. Should we have lunch?” he said before flashing me another beaming smile.

“Sounds good. Something healthy…” I readily agreed.

“Oh, I was thinking of pizza…” Justin said with clear disappointment in his tone.

“I don’t want to gain weight. It’s bad for my health…and also the job…” I replied without relinquishing on my idea of having a healthy meal.

I knew very well that there would be tough times ahead where I would need to binge on icecream late into the night when I was all alone and so saving the calories for that would be essential.

“Fine. Fine, we’ll go with whatever you choose,” Justin said as he threw up both hands in apparent defeat.

“Thank you. I appreciate it…” I thanked him before winking at him.

“You look better. The break must have been good for you,” he said while sounding relief.

“You can tell?” I asked while I found myself smiling easily.

“Yes. It was the right choice for you to take time off. Let me know if you need time off again,” he said encouragingly.

“Thanks. Shall we head out for lunch? Let’s find something healthy around here,” I suggested.

“Sure, let’s go!” Justin exclaimed excitedly.

Although he wasn’t getting his wish of having pizza for lunch, I was glad enough that he was looking forward to having lunch with me. It didn’t slip my mind that I haven’t sent a reply to Adrian yet. Normally, I would reply to his message as soon as possible, so by now, he probably knew that something wasn’t right. Even though I knew that I must be worrying him needlessly, I still didn’t feel like sending him a reply. Deep down, I was probably still quite mad at him.

We arrived at a restaurant that fitted what I had in mind after a short walk from Justin’s office. Justin looked a lot less excited when he saw the menu, but he did make the effort not to complain.

“This will be better for your health as well,” I told him.

“Yeah…I know that…” he mumbled without any enthusiasm.

I called the waitress over and we quickly placed our orders. The place was quite popular and most of the tables around us were occupied by other customers. When we were alone, Justin turned his full attention to me, and I could tell that he had many questions that he wanted and probably needed to ask me.

“Just take it easy, you don’t have to meet any clients today…” Justin said before showing me a look of concern.

“Thanks…” I thanked him again.

“I’m not trying to rush you but do let me know when you’re ready to meet your clients again. Also, I can adjust your schedule for you as well. So, you can tell me whom you want to meet with first or whom you’re not ready to meet up with yet. I’ll try my best to talk to them or their representative so that it won’t become a problem,” Justin explained patiently.

–To be continued…