NOVEL NEXT Chapter 179 - 179 Second Hurdle
179 Second Hurdle
“About that trip to the orphanage that we were talking about…” he began before looking at me as if to gauge my reaction.
“I’d still love to go if you still want me to,” I replied almost immediately.
“Really?” Adrian asked with such an excited look on his face.
Suddenly, he appeared much younger and a lot more innocent. Just like an excited little boy who had successfully invited his friend on a trip, he beamed a smile at me. With what had happened between us, maybe he thought that I would have changed my mind about going on a trip with him. If he was someone else, that might have turned out to be the case. However, if I was being honest, I really looked forward to going on that trip with him.
It wasn’t just because it was a chance to spend more time with Adrian, but the idea of visiting orphanages felt like the right thing to do for me. Getting in contact with my past life might do me some good and help me figure out something about my sense of self and who I was. After being adopted by my ex-adoptive parents who have already chosen to abandon me, I was forced to distance myself from my past especially my association to the orphanage.
“Yes. Let’s go!” I replied just as excitedly.
…
Adrian drove me back as close to my place as I would allow it. Our little reunion turned out much better than I could have ever hoped for. Adrian was respectful of my personal space as always and he was as worried about the fact that I had to walk the remaining of the way although it was dark out as he was before.
I found myself rooted to the spot in front of my building entrance as my eyes fell on the spot where EROS was waiting for me that night when he suddenly dropped by. While shaking my head and letting out a sigh, I wondered if I would always think of him whenever I walked into my building from now on. That wasn’t going to play out well.
.....
This is exactly why I should have been stricter about maintaining my personal space and keeping this place a secret. Now that I thought about it, running in EROS that first time made keeping this place a secret from him impossible.
“How did it go?”
Justin’s cheerful voice as he answered my call told me that he already knew that things must have gone well. Whether that was because of his trust in me or his absolutely accurate sense of foresight, I had no idea.
“It went well enough,” I replied vaguely.
“I knew it. There’s no way anyone could stay mad at you. So, I take it that now you don’t have issues meeting Adrian anymore, right?” Justin asked cheerfully.
“Yes, that’s right. I can continue working for him as per normal,” I replied.
“Good, good. So, when are you going to meet your hot and cold CEO?” Justin inquired with a small laugh.
“You mean Brandon?” I asked.
“Who else is there? Your other client is a superstar,” Justin pointed out rightfully.
“I don’t know about that,” I murmured.
Things with Brandon seemed more complicated and I had to admit that I’ve always thought that dealing with Brandon was challenging. He wasn’t someone that was easy to understand and crack. His manipulative nature didn’t help at all and just added to the burden. On top of that, his mood could change 180 degrees like he had bi-polar or something similar.
“I’ve heard that he’s always been hard to deal with…” he murmured.
Justin probably heard that from me and that was indeed correct. What Justin probably didn’t know was that as time went by and he grew up, he got even harder to deal with.
“He’s not easy to handle, that’s for sure. Even now, I can’t even begin to predict what would happen if I were to meet him now,” I replied honestly.
“I see. What should we do? Should we keep holding it off until you’re ready?” Justin asked patiently.
Running from this wasn’t my style of dealing with things because I knew that I would have to face him one day anyways. The problem was how I’m supposed to deal with him. I didn’t think that he would simply apologize and I would do the same and we could easily move on with our lives the way that things unfolded with Adrian. Brandon just didn’t operate like that.
He was mad for sure, and he probably still is.
“What do you mean by you’re holding it off?” I asked curiously.
“Well, the truth is, he’s been asking to see you,” he disclosed before chuckling.
Brandon asked to see me?
“But he didn’t contact me. He contacted you instead of contacting me directly?” I asked in disbelief.
“He got his representative to contact me. I guess things are a little more than complicated between you two right now, right?” Justin guessed knowingly.
“Definitely…” I muttered darkly.
“So, what do you want to do? I can turn his request down but are you sure about this?” he asked.
I took in a deep breath as my brain raced to figure out my best next move. In the end, I had to rely on my instincts instead of my brain to choose my next course of action. If I just listen to my intuition, then I should meet Brandon and the sooner the better.
After all, what was the worst that could happen if I were to meet him?
“When does he want to meet me?” I asked.
“Tomorrow evening,” Justin replied.
“Where?” I asked for more details.
“I wasn’t told anything. I was instructed to tell you that he wants to see you and if you want to meet him, you can reach out to him directly for the details,” Justin replied.
“He’s the same as always…” I muttered underneath my breath.
Brandon was as manipulative and calculation as always. No matter what, he would be the one to set the rules and he would always be in control.
–To be continued…