As it turns out, the man Andy fell in love with is more of a mystery than she first thought. When they give their relationship another chance, it's not long before Lex's secrets begin to unravel, threatening their happily ever after.
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— Three weeks earlier —
I stared at the door, trying to conjure the strength to knock on it. It was ridiculous. I'd been in Lex's office on dozens of occasions, passed its door countless times. I shouldn't be scared by this door. But I couldn't help it.
Despite my best attempts, I was worried about what would happen once I'd knocked. I shouldn't have broken up with him in the first place. Fuck feminism. Fuck being a strong and independent woman. I couldn't do this without him. I needed him. I'd tasted bliss, happiness, love with a capital letter, and I wouldn't go through life without them.
Breaking things off had been rushed, and stupid, and uncalled for. He had his insecurities, God knew I had mine, and I'd just thrown his back in his face, not willing to even try to understand him. Yes, what he'd done was wrong, and he'd been wrong in his assumptions about my feelings for Oli. But I could only sympathize with the way he had felt back then. I would probably do some bat shit crazy things to keep him.
This was why I needed to knock on his door. I needed to trigger this conversation, to find a way to repair the damages I'd caused. We could make it work, we had to. Communication was key, and I would be as open and truthful as I needed to be for our future together to work out. No more room for false assumptions and wild scenarios.
I lifted a slightly trembling hand, not ready for this. The first knock was a little weak, but the next two were more firm, as I forced myself to show more confidence.
His command to enter came quickly, and I took a deep breath before putting my hand on the handle. We would have this talk, fix things, and everything would be better. Surely, we'd have more work ahead of us, to make it all possible in the long run, but this was the first step. The hardest one. And then we'd resume where we'd left off, he'd take me out on a date, and we would live many more happy moments together, blissfully in love.
As soon as I pushed the panel open, my eyes found him in the room. He was working on his computer, behind his desk, focused on whatever was on his screen. He lifted his gaze from his task, and when he saw me, his concentrated mood faded. Instead, a slightly concerned look took over for a split second, before he conjured one of his stern, expressionless faces. Well, this isn't a good start...
I willed my feet to take me inside and closed the door behind me. "Hi," I let out, my voice much thinner than I'd wish it to be.
"Good morning." My heart clutched at his indifferent tone. He was supposed to say 'Hi' back. It was our thing.
He seemed so detached, so unfazed, I worried this would go wrong in every possible way. He was probably pissed at me because I'd been an idiot, and I'd broken his heart as much as mine. Come on, Andy. Fix the mess you've made.
"I was wondering if we could talk for a moment."
"I have a videoconference I can't miss in ten minutes." Once more, his tone was hard to bear, but I could work with this. He would forgive me, just like I was forgiving him.
