Downgrading Miss CEO

Chapter 36

"Lucy, please. Can we talk?" Julian kept his cool like a pro. Normally, I would have appreciated this. Whenever you sit in a restaurant, there's always a couple fighting. Most of the time, a girl keeps ranting on and the guy sits there, taking it all in, knowing she'd calm down, eventually. I always used to admire them. But now, when it was Julian, I wanted him to lash out. I wanted him to show me he cared.

I took a deep breath. "Maybe later. Right now, I need to be alone. I'll text you when. I'm ready... or not." I turned around and walked in the direction of the hotel I was staying in for the duration of my stay.

The bigger the distance between us became, the more I calmed down. The calmer I became, the easier it was to look at what just happened from a different point of view. He made the grand gesture. Heck, he hopped on a plane and came to find me. And what did I do? I refused to even listen. Listening to him, wouldn't mean I'd have to marry him.

Without thinking about it any more, I turned on my heels and made my way back. I increased my walking pace but figured it still wasn't fast enough. What if he went back home? Before I realized it, I sprinted my way back. When I arrived at the sunbed, he wasn't there anymore. Was I too late?

I frantically looked around me, trying to spot him. But he was out of sight already.

Again, I turned back in the direction of my hotel. I felt hollow. I felt like I had screwed up, again. Of course, I was angry with Julian. But most of all I was hurt. I wanted him close, but only if I was one hundred percent sure he was there to stay.

-

The next morning I woke up feeling empty after a long and restless night of sleep. I couldn't shake off the feeling that I've screwed up. I needed to talk this out with Julian. No matter what the outcome would be. So, before I could change my mind, again, I picked up my phone and sent him a text. We were adults, we could keep this civil.

Lucy:

I'm sorry about how I walked away yesterday. I'm ready to talk if you are.

For the first time since university, I skipped a day of work. It was no use to dive into work today. I couldn't focus, anyways. The fact I didn't turn to work for solace or distraction, didn't pass me. And, truth be told, I felt proud because of it. Maybe, this was the realization I needed. Maybe I needed to want to change my ways, not just for someone else, but for me as well. For the first time in a long while, I put myself first.

I stepped onto the elevator, watching my phone intently. When would he reply to my message? Would he even apply to my message? Was he still here on the island? The elevator dinged, signaling I've made it to the ground floor. It was time to get off. I stepped out, without as much as a glance, and collided with another body. Soon enough, my top became wet with some kind of cold fluid. You've got to be kidding me.

Hope peaked in my chest. Would it be him?

When I looked up, a girl, who couldn't be older than sixteen years old, looked at me with an annoyed expression. "Excuse you. You totally ruined my iced coffee." She pushed past me, rolling her eyes. "Old people are just so annoying," I heard her mutter under her breath. Then she stepped into the elevator and threw me one more look. She knew I heard her, I was supposed to.

All that commotion with that snobby teen had made me oblivious to my surroundings. If only I had paid more attention. Because, if I would have, I wouldn't have been so startled.

He stood there. He saw it all happen, a smile on his face. The irony of the situation with the iced coffee hadn't gone unnoticed by him. It hadn't gone unnoticed by me either. The ice was broken, quite literally, as I stepped on and broke an ice cube. I should have known that ice and a slippery floor didn't make the best combination one could think of, but I was too distracted by that smile that I've wanted to see for so long.