The Thrill

47

I walk into the elevator, my head hung low, similar to my mood. I really didn't want to come into work today, not only because things weren't too good with Emilio... I mean they rarely are these days, but also because there was no doubt that Zane was curious about what happened last night and I'd have to explain it to him somehow.

'Uh- There you are.' I hear a voice chime from behind the doors of the elevator.

'Danielle? What are you doing here?' I step out of the elevator and towards her.

'I wanted to see you, of course!' She smiles eagerly, taking hold of my arm as she tugs me to her side.

'Does Zane know you're here?' I look to her suspiciously.

'Yes...' She responds. 'Okay, fine! I came here to talk to him.' She finally admits.

'What did you guys talk about?' I ask, continuing in the direction of my office with Danielle at my side.

'I'd rather not talk about it...' She shrivels her shoulders, evidently uncomfortable with whatever their conversation was about.

'Was it bad...?' I pause outside my door as I take a moment to look at her properly.

'Nothing that I couldn't handle.' She gives me another heartily smile, pushing the door to my office open herself.

'Let's go in.' She urges until someone's presence interrupts. The two of us look back to the sound of a door rattling, a person we both didn't exactly want to see stepping out of the room.

A moment of just silence passes by, the three of us standing in a state of speechlessness. On Zane's face sat a blank look, little to no emotion shown as he stared deep into my eyes.

'I guess I'll just leave...' Danielle breaks the uncomfortable atmosphere with her simple words, my eyes diverting back to her.

'No!' I latch onto her arm, stopping her from taking a step further. I feel both eyes now on me with a puzzled look to them. 'I mean you just got here...' I quickly try to correct my actions, sharing an awkward smile with the two of them.

'It's fine, I've got things to do anyways.' She shrugs as she drops my arm from hers.

'But you said-' I try to argue but she was already at the elevator.

'I need to speak to you.' He gives me one lift of his brow, signalling for me to follow him to his office. He steps back into the room he'd just come out of a few moments earlier which I also hesitantly enter. He suddenly reaches over my shoulder, shutting the door behind me as his palm rests against it. His frame unintentionally towers over mine, his eyes darting down in my direction as I take in one last deep breath, preparing myself for what he was about to ask.

'What happened last night?' He questions, his voice turning slow.

'What do you mean...?' I act clueless but I knew exactly what he was talking about.

'Don't play dumb, Milan. I see right through it.' He rolls his eyes but I barely focus on his words as my mind begins to focus on how close he was right now. With his chest only inches away from mine and his arm resting close besides my head, my heart starts to pound forcefully against me. I quickly step back in realisation to only have my back hit the door behind me.

'Emilio. What happened with him?' He repeats his question, being more specific this time.

Emilio... That's who I should be thinking about right now, not the unbearably little distance between Zane and I. And I was done keeping this secret up. If Zane thought of me any differently because of my relationship with Emilio then so be it, but it wasn't fair to Emilio to keep him a secret.

'Actually, there's something I need to tell you.' I begin, ready to tell him everything right here and now.

'What is it...?' He looks to me with curious eyes, a look which almost makes me rethink what I was about to tell him. But I knew I had to tell him at some point.

'Actually, Emilio-' I start but before getting a chance to finish, the noise of a ringtone cuts in.

He takes a look down to the phone ringing in his hand, his expression shifting to a serious one. 'I need to take this. You don't mind, do you?'

He looks to me for approval which I respond to with a smile and a nod. 'It's fine. Take it.' And just like that he answers the phone as he walks over to his desk, starting a conversation which looked like an important one.

I make the decision to leave, not sure of how long he would be taking but most of all, I just needed to get my thoughts straight.

For the past few weeks, I've been so against the idea of Zane finding out about my relationship. He's only my boss after all, it's not like I owe him any type of explanation to my personal life. But for some reason, in those last few moments I had little to no doubt about letting him know.

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I arrive home, going straight for the kitchen as my stomach churns with hunger. I reach for the bread, planning to make myself a quick sandwich. A few minutes go by, the silence in the air suddenly being disrupted as I hear the door unlock.

I look over my shoulder, watching as Emilio walked into the house without looking in my direction. I turn back down, continuing with my sandwich until a few minutes later I feel a pair of arms gently wrapping around my waist.

'You're home early tonight.' I state the obvious, my eyes still focusing on the bread laid in front of me, already knowing exactly who I was talking to.

'Yeah... I wanted to see you.' Emilio speaks into my shoulder, his face buried into the crevice of my neck. I sigh, reaching my hand up to the back of his head, making gentle strokes across his hair.

'I miss this. Us. Being around each other.' I reveal, my voice heavy with emotion.

'I miss it to...' He speaks, his breath whispering against my skin.

'But it won't be like that anymore... Will it?' I finally twist my body to face him, releasing him from my touch.

'What are you talking about?' He shakes his head in disapproval, backing away slightly.

'It's the truth, is it not? With work and how everything is now... We don't get to see each other as much and it will probably be like that for sometime...' I sharply inhale before carrying on.

'You got lucky today. And that's rare, Emilio.' I walk away to the cupboard a few inches away from him, bringing some distance between us.

'Where are you going with this, Milan?' He faces me, leaning against the counter with his hands in both pockets.

My face scrunches with reluctance, not wanting to answer his question... Because even I didn't like the answer.

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