The Price of Freedom

Chapter 17: Endgame

DINAH

It’s been a few weeks since that picture of Elsa and I ‘arguing’ was released and Liam was able to get it taken down. I’m not sure how he did it, but he made it happen and I appreciate it.

There haven’t been any new stories released, but that’s probably due to the fact that I haven’t left the apartment too often.

I have a doctor’s appointment today to see if my ribs are finally healed. The bruises are long gone, my nose healed a few weeks ago along with my ankle, and I can finally walk outside without feeling self-conscious.

I still feel a bit uneasy with men, but thankfully they were okay with keeping one of the female nurses in the room when the doctor came in.

“It looks like the fractures have healed beautifully. You should be able to go back to business as usual,” the doctor informs me as he’s looking through my scans.

Right. Business as usual.

I’m fine, I can move on. I have accepted my reality, and I know I am stronger than what the demon spawn did to me. I will manifest my own destiny.

I sound like one of those fake shamans telling you that drinking tea and doing yoga will make everything right in the world.

I called Henri earlier to set up an interview to see if I could get a job at his company, so hopefully it goes well. I picked out the perfect outfit, a pair of fitted navy blue pants and a white halter button up. I’m going to get this job and I’m going to look cute while doing it.

I take the tube further into the city for about half an hour, I’m a bit early because I thought I would give myself time in case I got lost. I learned very quickly that you don’t wear heals for the journey, you put them on when you arrive to your destination.

Looking up, I am utterly amazed at the large structure, every building around here is a titan. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the financial district. I enter the large building and find a restroom to change my shoes in and fix my makeup so I don’t look too flushed.

I make my way to the reception desk and let the woman know that I have an appointment with Henri. Her judgmental gaze does not go unnoticed. She takes a moment to call up and ask if I am allowed, and a few seconds later she is showing me to a private elevator.

“Just take the lift to the top floor and Mr. Kwan’s assistant will escort you the rest of the way,” the receptionist says with a fake smile. I thank her and I press the button to close the doors on her.

The elevator doors open up to a lavish office, and just as promised there is a young man waiting for me as soon as I step off. I say young man, but he’s probably around my age, so maybe he’s in his mid 20’s.

“Mrs. Muñoz, Mr. Kwan is waiting for you, this way please.” I follow the young man all the way through the room to a set of double doors and he knocks. I hear “come in,” and the assistant swings the doors open, he allows me to walk in and closes the door behind me.

Henri is sitting at his desk and as soon as his eyes meet mine, he is standing up and buttoning his suit jacket, “Dinah, beautiful as always.”

“Hello Mr. Kwan,” I greet him with a huge smile on my face.

He comes up, gives me a warm hug and kisses my head, “Oh please, there is no need for formalities, we were best friends at some point,” he chuckles.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I heard his laugh. I used to hear it every afternoon when he would come over and hang out. He would even spend time with my dad for whatever reason, he really liked Henri.

“I’m just trying to keep it professional,” I joke, which he frowns at and quickly replaces it with his award-winning smile.

He ushers me to a couch in his office near the glass wall overlooking the city and the view is breathtaking. Maybe London won’t be so bad.

“You know you don’t have to interview,” Henri states, interrupting my gawking at the view.

I turn to face him crossing my legs and shake my head, “I don’t want you to hire me just because we’re friends, I should be able to get a job because I’m qualified.”

“Okay, so what position do you think you would be fit for?” He asks, leaning back into his seat and crossing his leg. I would be lying if I said I didn’t notice how handsome he was. Call me Cady Heron, because this man’s hair looked sexy pushed back. His eyes were beautiful, he was always smiling which softened the darkness of his black irises.

My stare moves to his lips that are relaxed into a half smirk and only then do I notice that I have been staring at him for too long. I blink a few times and his smile grows bigger, but I ignore it and just proceed to answer his question. “At my old job, I organized charity events and kept track of all the money that the company donated, I mainly worked on public relations since most of the donations were done for good PR.”

“I could definitely use someone in the public relations department. If you’re interested, you could run the department since you have previous experience, we’re still in the hiring process for the rest of the team, but we could definitely use your input there. I would like to hold a charity gala in two weeks to announce the new branch here and build partnerships with the other businesses in the financial district. Would you be able to get something ready by then?”

“Don’t you want to speak to any references first?”

“I could, but I trust you. I’ve never known you to half ass anything so I believe you could get the work done.”

To say I’m bursting with excitement would be an understatement. This is probably the first time I am genuinely excited for anything since I’ve moved here. Things are finally looking up; I am on an eternal high.

I nod my head in agreement, “I’m sure I could get something ready in two weeks.”

He stands up and I follow suit, “Perfect, welcome to the team Dinah,” he congratulates me holding out his hand. I take his and we shake on it, his hand lingers on mine a bit longer than usual, and I don’t miss the soft gesture of his thumb rubbing circles on it either. I can feel myself heating up, and I can only imagine how red I look right now.

“We can worry about all the details tomorrow first thing in the morning, why don’t we go out and celebrate?” He asks me with an innocent smile playing at his lips.

I thought I was over my crush; I feel like I’m back in high school. “I would love to but I have to meet a friend for coffee at 2p,” I tell him remembering that Catarina and I have a coffee date.

“I won’t keep you long I promise, lunch?”

“Sure,” I respond, He takes my hand in his and leads my out his office doors and into the main lobby of the floor. Henri lets his assistant know that he’ll be gone for a couple of hours and then we head to the elevator.

The entire way down he is still holding my hand and doesn’t let it go even when we walk out onto the main lobby. The receptionist from earlier smiles at Henri, but the it turns to a scowl when she notices that he’s holding my hand. This is not a good way to start here.

Henri had called for his driver and by the time we were outside, he was already waiting for us. He held the door open for me, and I climbed in thankful that we weren’t going to walk to our destination. I didn’t need to embarrass myself by asking for a timeout to change out of my heels.

After much deliberating, we decided on Italian, he chose a place called Gloria. When we arrived, it was the cutest most homey place I have ever seen. We sat down in a comfy booth, and it felt like old times when we would go out on Friday nights after his football games.

“I missed you Dinah,” he said as we drank a bottle of Borolo wine.

My heart swelled and sped up in my chest, as soon as those words left his pink lips. Am I thinking too much into this?

I’ve wanted to hear him say things like that to me since I was sixteen. I was so in love with him that it hurt when he went on dates with cheerleaders. He left, even as my friend he should have said goodbye, he might have not felt the same way, but I deserved as much.

“I missed you too Henri, but you didn’t even say goodbye,” I brought up. I knew I might regret it later, but I have to get it off my chest.

He takes a deep breath and another sip of the wine before looking back up at me.

“I tried,” he sighs. “I went to your house, I knocked on your door and your mother opened up. If you remember, she didn’t like me very much. Dinah, I loved you, I always had. She told me you had brought some guy home; I was heartbroken and angry and I left without saying goodbye. I will regret it every day. Dinah, you and I, we were supposed to be endgame, we still can be.”

“Henri that was a long time ago,” I mumble.

He places his hand over mine making me shiver under his touch. Hi gaze draws me in and his eyes keep me pinned to my seat, “It doesn’t have to be.”

“Henri...”

“Just think about it Dinah, I know that you’re seeing the soccer player, and I can’t hold a candle to him. But I know you, you were never one to crave attention, and now you have the world watching your every move. You aren’t happy with this”

Just then the waiter saved me from having to come up with any type of answer to his confession. I didn’t want to deal with this, not now. I’m about to start working for him and I don’t need another complicated relationship. I can barely deal with the one I have now.

Yes, I just need to focus on Liam, Henri is in my past.