Loving My Best Friend

Ch 13 - The Miami Culprit

Emily was having breakfast when she saw her father come to the dining area and she felt her mood turn sour. He was engrossed in his phone and hardly paid attention to what his wife was saying and Emily felt angrier.

She felt like taking his phone and crushing it under her car’s tyre. But she controlled her thoughts and concentrated on her breakfast. It was difficult to do so since the question from Oliver plagued her mind as she stared at her father. He was curious to know about her predicament in Miami. She wished she could tell him, but that would mean humiliating herself and her family. For her family’s reputation, she had kept quiet and evaded the topic. But sometimes she wished to uncover the secret and let the person who was responsible handle the humiliation, but that would mean hurting her mother.

Emily still remembered that cafe in Miami when she was having a cup of coffee with Raymond Artair and she had seen something that had hurt her deeply. It wasn’t the first time, but each time the blow was alike. Like someone had poured icy water over her head and woken her up from a dream of a lovely family that she had.

A laugh bubbled up her throat recalling the days when she used to think that her family was perfect. That her parents were perfect and loved each other and their children immensely. And then one day her reality was shattered.

She had seen her father in a hotel with a woman. Her mind had tried to come up with excuses as to why he could be with her except for the s****l one. But the more she followed him, the more her chest hurt, seeing him making out with a strange woman who wasn’t her mother.

It was heartbreaking. And Emily knew that day had changed her for good. Something in her was broken permanently, beyond repair. And she wasn’t going to forgive her father for that.

Ignoring her father at the dining table, Emily got up from the table, leaving her breakfast halfway, and went to her room to get ready for the office.

She quickly got ready and grabbed her bag, then left. On the way, she ravaged her mind for any possible way of stopping her father in his doings. He was cheating on her mother continuously and, for the sake of her mother’s happiness, Emily had kept quiet. But she wasn’t going to let him continue his stunts. What if someday, instead of Emily, her mother saw him? It would break her thoroughly and Emily couldn’t let that happen. For a moment, she thought of calling Oliver and telling him everything. He could be better at dealing with this, but then she shook her head, knowing that it was her family matter and she shouldn’t involve Oliver.

She would tell him later when everything would be resolved. After all, he was her best friend. She couldn’t keep it from him for ever.

Reaching her office, Emily quickly stopped by her secretary’s office.

“Hey Erwin. There’s something urgent and private that I need you to do,” Emily said, and Erwin nodded with a frown on his face.

“I need a trustworthy private investigator. Get me in touch with one of them as soon as possible,” Emily said with a pleading face.

Erwin nodded. “Sure, Emily. I will get back to you asap.”

“Thanks,” said Emily, and proceeded to her office. What she missed was that Oliver was standing right around the corner and heard her instructions to Erwin with a frown. He was curious as to why Emily would need a private investigator.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Dad, I need to talk to you,” Oliver said, seeing his father in the study room working on his laptop.

Bernard Hansen looked up in surprise. Seeing Oliver, he was flabbergasted. Ever since he had instructed Oliver to work with Emily, he hadn’t asked for a single thing from him, let alone money. It was a pleasant change in him, but Bernard had started to get worried if Oliver was going to leave. But now that Bernard saw Oliver standing in his study room, asking for a discussion, Bernard felt relieved that his son wasn’t going to desert him.

“Why not? Sit down and we can talk,” Bernard said, gesturing to the seat beside him, and Oliver quickly followed.

Oliver sat down and ran a hand through his hair. “I have been working for quite a while now and I believe I have learned enough. Rest I can learn along with you,” Oliver said, and saw Bernard putting his reading glasses away.

“You don’t want to work with Emily anymore?” Bernard asked, and Oliver averted his eyes, in fear that his father would see through him.

Oliver was sure that he needed to be away from Emily for his desire to get under control. Emily and him were finally in a great place in their friendship and he wasn’t going to ruin it. In order to do that, he had to first leave his company. It would make a great deal of difference if she wasn’t in front of him most of his days.

“Yeah, I want to work in your company now. I think it’s time I took my responsibility,” Oliver said, and glanced at his father who was watching him with interest.

“I will think about it.” Bernard said, and Oliver looked at him in disbelief.

“What? Haven’t I proved myself enough?” Oliver snapped and told himself that he couldn’t get angry over this. It was reasonable that his father required time to think it over, but his frustration over his feelings was getting to him.

“I need to inform Emily, at least,” Bernard said patiently.

Oliver sighed and closed his eyes. “Don’t tell her that I requested the transfer.”

Bernard narrowed his eyes at first, then nodded. “I won’t.”

Oliver got up and left. He felt like a huge weight was lifted off his chest. At the same time, he knew he would miss having her around him, relying on him to get things done, but he couldn’t do that to himself anymore. It was a torture to not touch her when she was with him.