The Romano Affair

Chapter 9

Chapter 9She didn't reach the penthouse that morning. Neither did she call to explain. Colin had patiently waited to see her and...maybe just see her. It would be embarrassing after what he had said to her but the truth was, he really did want to see her again.

***

"Callie, are you coming out today?" Aria knocked at the door to the room in which her best friend had slept in the previous night.

"Don't you have somewhere to be?" came the response.

"Don't you?" Aria countered.

There was silence for a few minutes. Aria didn't know what to do.

"He's going to come back. You know that."

Again silence.

The door opened and Callie stood there in her pajamas.

"I don't really care about that," she spoke. "Like I said, he can marry the band, for all I care."

She walked past Aria and headed to the kitchen. Aria followed.

"Come on, Callie. Snap out of it," she told her best friend.

"I can tell you what I want to snap right now," Callie countered.

"Okay, fine," Aria gave up. "Don't go to work today. Stay here. Watch some TV. Stuff yourself with chocolate. Hell, I'll even go out and buy you some."

"Don't you have someone to dress?" Callie asked.

Aria shrugged. "I do. I'll head there in the afternoon. Now about that chocolate."

"You're the worst best friend, ever," Callie said.

"He's gonna be back. Then he'll explain to you in detail why he took off so suddenly. Just stop sulking in the meantime. Okay? I'm pretty sure you're going to forgive him."

Callie turned to her best friend and smiled coyly.

"Do you think Colin Romano is a forgiving man?" she spoke. "Especially to employees who skip out on their duties?"

What she didn't know was that the situation was reversed. Colin was the one who needed to be forgiven.

***

She was at the expensive but beautifully crafted penthouse at around four o' clock. She would have given anything to get out of bumping into Colin but well, it wasn't her day. The meet was inevitable, I mean, this was her job.

The ping of the elevator sounded as it came to a stop. She stepped out of it and into the posh residence. Neither Colin nor his son was in sight but she could vaguely hear him speaking.

Stepping into the living room, she spotted Riaz who, immediately, called out her name and went to her. Colin had his back to her and was speaking on the phone when he turned around to face her.

There was a blank expression on his face. He looked at her unsmiling and unblinking but he still spoke on the phone. Riaz was asking her where she had gone the previous day but she shrugged it off lying about something she had had to do. In a minute, Colin was done with his phone call and walked towards her.

"You didn't show up this morning," were his first words.

She stared at him standing there with his arms crossed in front of him like he usually did.

"Yeah, I had an internal conflict, probably something you know about," she responded boldly causing his brows to raise.

He pursed his enticing lips and nodded. "Fair enough."

No one spoke for a little while.

"Is someone going to say something or are we mourning someone's death?' Riaz broke the silence.

Aria raised her right hand to her brows and ran her nails through them.

"So what are you here for," he asked, "now?" he added.

Aria held up the garment bag in her hand. Colin nodded. He ushered her towards his bedroom.

"Actually," she said, "I need you to try them. All of them," Aria barely spoke. Her voice came out like a croak. "Now," she added, more of ordered.

"For grown-ups, you guys have weird chemistry," came a remark from the silent Riaz.

"Oh shut up!" Aria joked as she smiled at the kid. "You're in middle school. What do you know about chemistry? "

Riaz glanced at her. A coy smile plastered on his face.

"Combustion." He wiggled his eyebrows. Aria's eyes almost popped out of their sockets but Colin didn't notice.

Father and son conversed in Italian before Riaz nodded and left the room. The boy looked back towards Aria and smiled again before stepping into the elevator that was going down.

"Shall we?" Colin suggested pointing towards his bedroom again. Aria nodded and started her way in that direction.

She'd placed the bag on his bed and had started to open it when he walked past her and stood to her right; not so far away. He placed his hands at the neck of the shirt he had on and pulled it off.

She wasn't looking but from the corner of her eyes, she could see his movements and inhaled sharply. A shirtless Colin was really not what she wanted to deal with especially after his accusations just the previous day.

She pulled out a flat, ironed and well-folded light blue shirt from the bag and placed it on the bed while trying her very best not to look up because of what she'd have to see and how she'd react.

"Are you going to look up? It's not in my nature to stand around shirtless," he spoke.