The Guy She Never Met

CHAPTER 6: Trouble?

"Where were you?" I see Ari sitting on the couch watching TV with narrow eyes.

I bite my lip nervously and avert my eyes.

"I am asking you something Elizabeth. Where were you?" She turns her head and meets my gaze.

I sighed. "It's a long story..."

I walk to the kitchen counter and drink a glass of water. I take off my shoes and sigh in relief.

"If it's a long story then we have got all night." Ari says softening her eyes on me.

I look at her and think whether to tell her everything or not. Ari realizes my hesitation.

"You can tell me anytime you want. I'm not gonna force you, you know?"

A minute of silence passes through us.

"I was with my boss." I said nonchalantly. Ari gives me a dumbfounded look.

Three...

Two...

One...

"What the hell?! Your boss? How? He wasn't supposed to reach here till morning right?"

I narrate her the whole incident from the meeting on the street, the ridiculously expensive restaurant conversation and the new England branch.

"Wow. This is a very new side of him."

"That was the same thing I was thinking of."

"Well what did you say?"

"About what?" I ask her.

"About the branch you dumbass!"

"Umm...I...well..." I think of an excuse to lie but I think it's better to tell her the truth.

"Beth, what did you say?" Ari asks in panic.

I sighed in defeat. "I said that it was a great idea but he shouldn't take his thinking directly into action."

"What? Why?"

"I thought that maybe he should first consider focusing his company in US more. It's not that he should not continue to expand over seas, but—"

"But he should first visit his other branches and check their progress personally and then decide to open another one." She completes my sentence.

"Yes."

"Beth, that's really nice of you. So what did he say about your opinion?" She gives me a small smile.

"He didn't say anything." I whined.

Her eyebrow shoots up. "What do you mean?"

"He didn't say anything. He was quiet the whole time. I think I might lose my job." I whisper the last sentence.

I feel her hand hitting my head. "Oww! Stop it. What was that for?" I rub my forehead.

"You are not going to lose your job, Elizabeth. You stated your opinion to your boss when he asked for it. That's a good sign of relationship between a boss and assistant." She grumbles

"About that..." Ari look at me with wide eyes.

"About that what? Beth what else happened?" She starts questioning again.

"Something happened before he said about the branch."

"Go on." Ari encourages me to say.

"I couldn't shake off the feeling that he was going to say something else instead of the news." I voice out thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"He was very nervous and was even stuttering before he spoke about the branch. I felt that he was going to say something else but he didn't."

Ari thinks for a bit. "Before his nervousness and stuff did something happened?"

"Well...we kind of had a bit of staring and he was acting very weird too. Smiling and frowning in matter of seconds."

Silence.

An absolute silence.

"Ari?"

Silence.

"I'm not gonna ask you anything except for one." She said in a very serious tone.

"Okay." I answer unsurely.

"Did the rest of the environment just simply vanished when you looked into his eyes?"

"Maybe..." Yes it did.

"Okay."

Ari now has a very mischievous glint in her eyes. Am I in trouble?

"Is everything all right?" I ask getting worried.

"Everything will be fine soon, Elizabeth. Soon." She places her hand on my shoulders and gently squeezes it.

She gets up without looking at me and walks to her room.

What the hell was that?