Chapter 8 - His family
2260 Words
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Lia
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It’s 2 p.m., and I’m on a lunch break. I usually have lunch with Ty, but I’m avoiding him.
Last night he called, and I didn’t answer. I don’t know what to say to him. I may not be in love with him, but I still love him, even if it's not in a romantic way. I'm scared I might have ruined our relationship. I don't want to lose him.
I let out an internal sigh of relief as I step out of the elevator. Glad I didn't see him, and I quickly head out. We usually sit in the cafeteria during our lunch break, but since I’m avoiding him, it’s not an option. I successfully make it outside without bumping into him, but the relief is short-lived when I hear him call out to me, chasing me. I decide to act as if I don't hear him, walking faster, but next, he catches hold of my arm, causing me to stop before he stops in front of me.
"Hi," he says, trying to look me in the eye, but I look away.
"Hey,"
"How are you?"
"I’m good. How are you?"
"I’m okay. Are you going out for lunch?"
"Yeah, I feel like a drive might do me some good," I reply, still not looking at him, and he takes my hand.
"Lia, we need to talk about what happened. We can't keep on avoiding each other."
"I know, but I–I can’t do this right now, Tyler. I'm sorry," I tell him, trying to walk past him, but he blocks my way.
"Stop, please," he says, placing his hands on both my shoulders, but not in a threatening way. "I’m sorry," he softly adds, and I feel tears pooling in my eyes and stop trying to walk past him.
"I know you can’t look at me; hell, I can’t look at me either. I f****d up, okay? I’m sorry. I should have been better. I deserve for you to hate me, but Lia, I don't want to lose you. Our friendship means everything to me," he says, placing his hand under my chin, causing me to finally look at him, shocked by the words coming out of his mouth. He’s blaming himself when he should be blaming me? I feel a tug at my heart, and I hug him. He hugs me back, and we stay in the hug for a long moment.
"I can never hate you, Ty. You’re my best friend, and our friendship means everything to me too. I'll always love you," I tell him, pulling back from the hug, and he tells me he will always me, too, hugging me again."
"You’re driving," I say, handing him the keys when we pull back from the hug, trying to smile as my heart continues aching at the fact that he was blaming himself for everything when he didn't do anything.
We get in the car and drive to our favorite place, where we sometimes have lunch when we don’t want to eat cafeteria food.
"So you really don’t hate me?" he asks as we wait for our food, and I shake my head.
"Ty, if anyone deserves to be hated here, it's me. I initiated the whole thing and then turned around and gave you the cold shoulder, making you feel like a bad person," I say, reaching across the table and taking his hand, "Please forgive me," I add, and he places his other hand on top my mine.
"There's nothing to forgive. I don't blame you for any of it. I should have been a better friend and stopped the whole thing. All I want is for us to be good again. I miss my friend."
"I miss you too. And we are good, as long as we both agree never to talk about it again."
"Deal."
"Tyler?"
"Mm."
"Before we close the subject, I just want to say that-" I start to say but pause when the waitress walks over to our table with our food. “I want to say that Saturday was... amazing, and I’m glad it was you. I'm really sorry for freaking out and running out on you like that. I didn't mean to make you feel like a bad person. I was just afraid of ruining our friendship and hurting you," I continue, and he gives me one of his heart-melting smiles.
"You were amazing. I’m glad it was you too, and I’m not going anywhere. You are stuck with me forever," he says, and I return his smile, glad we finally spoke and put everything behind us. We dig into our food, and I glance at him while he's not looking and smile, happy to have my friend back.
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I’m back at work and about to check on a patient when my pager goes off, and I’m called to the reception area. I quickly head down, and Tania, the receptionist, informs me I have a visitor, her eyes trailing to my left with a big smile on her face, which confuses me even more. I follow them, and I'm met with the last face I expected to see again.
"Hi," I say, surprised, as Chris walks up to me with a bouquet in his hand.
"Hi, these are for you. I didn’t know which ones you liked, so I sort of did an ini mini maini mo," he says, his smile turning into a nervous one, and I chuckle at that.
"I love them. They are beautiful. Thank you. But what are they for?"
"I'd like to thank you for your help the other day, and I was hoping you would let me take you out to lunch —sometime? To properly thank you," he says, and I tell him I appreciate that, but it's not necessary. He's already thanked me enough. But he says he wants to.
"I-" I open my mouth, not even sure what I want to say, but he cuts me off, saying this is the final thank you.
"I promise," he adds with a sweet smile, and I find myself unable to say no.
"Okay, I guess we can do lunch."
"Great. When are you off?"
"Not any time soon, but I knock off at 2 p.m. on Thursday. We can do it then."
"Great, 6 p.m.? If that’s all right with you."
"It’s perfect."
"Good. That's my number," he says, giving me a missed call. Text me your address, and I’ll pick you up."
"Oh, no. It’s not necessary," I can meet you there."
"I wouldn’t be a gentleman if I let that happen now, would I? I insist.”
"Okay, I’ll text you my address." I give in, and he thanks me before I see him smile at someone and follow his eyes to see three men and a woman walking over to us. The second young guy looks like him, but the older man is the one that looks like him the most, and I know him. He is Stephen Muller. He’s a well-known businessman and the name behind Muller & Sons, a law firm with powerful attorneys and branches worldwide. They once represented my father in a lawsuit and won. No one wants to go against them. The other guy is Matthew Muller; he’s one of the sons and the one that's always in the media. Everyone knows there are two sons, but the other one I’ve never seen. The woman is Lynette Muller. She’s a very famous interior designer.
"Lia, this is my father, Stephen Muller; my brother, Matthew; my best friend, Kyle Botha; and my mother, Lynette Muller. Guys, this is Natalia Logan," he introduces me, and they all shake my hand, telling me it's nice to meet, except for his mother, who hugs me, taking me by surprise.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Natalia," she says as we pull back from the hug, and I tell her it's a pleasure to meet her too.
"Oh no, no need for formalities, dear; call me Lynette," she says when I address her as Mrs. Muller, and I smile and nod at that.
"So how do you know my son?" she asks, and I did not see that coming. I look at Chris, not sure how to answer, stuttering, and he cuts in, telling me not to answer that before telling his mother they need to go, ushering her forward.
"Thursday." he mouths, winking at me after everyone bids me goodbye, and starts walking away.
"What was that all about?" A voice speaks on my left, startling me as I watch them exit, and I turn around to look at Ty. He apologizes for scaring me, and I tell him it's okay; I just didn't hear him come up behind me.
“It's Chris, the guy from the gas station."
"What do you mean? What happened at the gas station?" he asks, and I remember I haven't told him yet about the incident.
"Sorry, I forgot I spoke to Sabrina, not you. I’ll fill you in later."
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A Few Minutes Earlier
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Tyler
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“s**t!" I cuss, rubbing my finger after hitting it with the door as I head out of the staff room, but I stop and frown after closing the door, seeing Lia talking to a guy. He smiles at her and hands her flowers as if they are old friends, but I’ve never seen him before. He sees me standing and looking at them, and he looks me straight in the eye before his lips curve into a smirk that he quickly wipes off the moment Lia takes her attention away from the flowers and back to him again. I don't like him.
I take the elevator and go up, but when I reach for the folder to continue with what I was doing, it's not here. I realize I left it downstairs when I went to change, and I go back to get it. Lia is still talking to the guy, and other people are approaching them now. I look at them again when I walk back out. They are wealthy and well-known. I don’t recognize the guy who was giving her flowers, but he resembles the Mullers, so he must be one of them. I recognize the other guy with short, sandy blonde hair too. He’s the CEO of a big car manufacturing company. His name is Kyle Botha or something along those lines.
They all shake her hand, with Mrs. Muller hugging her before that guy takes her away. And I watch as they walk towards the exit before the guy turns around and walks backward, mouthing something to Lia. She waves at him, and I don't miss the bright smile on her face. “Who is he?” I mutter, the whole interaction making my stomach churn. I don’t like how she's looking at him.
I walk up to her and ask her what that was all about, and she says it’s the guy from the gas station. I don’t know what she’s talking about, but I do get that they’ve met before. She says she'll fill me in later, and I suddenly get the feeling I don't want to know.
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Chris
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I take out my phone and look at my little nephew's photo before putting the phone away. Kyle's driving me back to my office, and I will come and check on them again later. I was going to call Sam to come get me, but he wanted to talk to me first, so he's going to drop me off.
I know he wants to ask me about Lia. Even though he hasn't said it, I know he has a problem with me pursuing her. Ky likes Rene, and for weird reasons, I will never understand he feels I owe her some loyalty or some s**t. Rene and I have an agreement. We don’t see other people even though we are not in a relationship, but we don’t have an agreement that says we can’t move on if we wish to see other people, and she read the contract and knows that.
"So, Lia, huh?” He finally speaks, and I ask what about her.
"She’s pretty."
"Just say what you really want to say, man."
"Okay, are you going to pursue her?"
"Yes."
“Why?”
“I want her."
"After you get her, then what? Do you just want to f**k her?"
"Yes, and maybe no. I don't know yet. I haven't decided."
“Why? Why is it taking you long to decide? Better yet, why are you not sure what you want to do in the first place?" he bombards me with questions, and I tell him because she's different.
"What makes her different? Paying for your gas?" he asks, and I tell him it's not only that. Her eyes make me feel things, things I can not explain.
"So, it’s love at first sight, then?" he asks again, but I disregard his question and ask him to say what he really wants to say.
"Fine. I’m worried about Rene, man. She loves you."
"She knows what our arrangement is. She caught feelings at her own risk. I don’t owe her anything. I’m paying her well for services-"
"-I know that bu-"
"-No, no buts. I don’t want to have this conversation. That's why I drew up a contract – why I pay her what she wants."
- Writer
