How we meet

Chapter 37

You had gotten better with in a few days. You were "resting" in bed. You had gotten N to bring you the float plans that you had been assigned to work on. You happily talked to N about how the plants would need just a bit of fertilizer in the water. If we wanted to go with the plan of handing out the flowers used on the float you had recommended a small simple one to help the flowers last longer.
When you and N walked side by side into the final meeting you weren't surprised by who was all there. It didn't surprise you at all. Even as your heart froze and your eyes dropped to the floor and your fingers dug into your palms. Even as you stood in the back of the room, the bumps of your spine pressed into the wall. As N spoke about the plans and relayed the information you had. Your eyes never left your father's feet.
The black leather shine stood out against the pale tile. You remembered how he always wore that brand. Your heart kept racing. You continued to stand like a doll, quiet with downturned eyes.
As the meeting ended and people started filing out of the room, you stood watching. He stayed sitting. His hand rested on the table. He tapped with his pointer finger as he waited. You looked up at him without saying a word. Your father continued to look forward at the empty chair at the other end of the table.
"This is where you've been."
You flinched. You wanted to reach out, to grab onto his arm beg for his forgiveness, you wanted to beg him to leave you alone to just let you stay here. You wanted to grab onto N, you wanted to run away again. You wanted to move, yet you stayed frozen and unmoving. You couldn't know if your expression was un readable.
The large man stood. His suit was tailored, expertly shaped to his lrge shoulders. He ajusted it and you stared at the back seems and at the two vents. You think that he perfered italian cut suits. Though you aren't sure what that ment anymore.
"You weren't easy to find." he spoke as he looked at you. He looked down his nose at you and N. "Shouldn't we have this conversation in private?"
You nodded. You didn't turn to N but you watched him leave, just like everyone else had.
"You don't have Liepard with you."
You didn't want him to talk. You wanted his mouth stitched and sewn shut. To have his words stuck in his throat whenever he thought about opening his mouth. You wanted him to add invisible question marks to his sentences. You wanted him to search through his thoughts, to second guess himself when he wished to share.
You knew how awful it was to live like that.
"I left her back at my hotel," he explained haphazardly, he knew that you didn't care in the slightest. He knew that cat scared you. You found yourself wanting to grasp that silver bell around your neck. The cool silver was grounding. It tethered you to the ground but even then it felt like your heartbeat was causing it to rattle.
"I should have known that you would have been living like a hermit." He stood straighter than a pole, his arms crossed. You noticed the twitch of his nose, the one he always got when his assistants made a mistake. "The fools were checking in homeless shelters and food drives." Only one of which you considered going to so far, you were at least glad that your father's employees were still so useless. "When you showed up at my excavation site, it was like I didn't have to waste my time or my money on finding you."
You wanted to run, you wanted to disapear. The room felt so cold, his eyes felt like they werre stabbing you. You stayed silent as rage bubbled up in your stomach. As you burned from the inside out, and as blood rushed to your face you wanted to scream.
"Well now that I've found you, we can finish up the work here and then get you registered for that school. You've proved that you could be successful in biology. Perhaps we should have you minor in that?" He turned away.
It let you relax but it pissed you off at the same time. Did her not take you seriously? He never had before. You weren't going back. You would not go back.
"I'm fine where I am now."
"Nonsense, you will inherit my company, you will inherit my position. You can do your, whatever it is in your free time." He dismissed your words with a wave.
"I-" you paused. You knew your father wasn't a good person. You wanted nothing to do with his company or his powerful position. It was more than ironic that you needed money desperately but your claim to fame and success was infront of you. "What does your even position intail?" you crossed your arms looking down at the floor.
You were weak, small, fail. You're still a child. You can be used as nothing more than a pawn. You are nothing. You are all of those things because he won't suppect a thing if you play his game.
"Wonderful, you can come to dinner with me, afterward we'll talk about the details." He nodded to himself pulling out a phone. "Bring that boy with the long hair too. I suspect that you're close to him?"
Your father left the meeting room before you did. The door didn't shut after he left but you heard someone else enter. The sound of a chain and a keychain made you know that it was N. You felt exausted. You practically collaped into N's arms. Your fingers clung to his shirt. His hands held you firmly against him. His hand was pressed against the back of your neck and he could smell your cheep shampoo. It grounded him, it kept N focusing on you, it prevented him from having spiraling thoughts of his own father.
His world had come crumbing down once. He didn't have much support either. N held onto you tighter as you told him that he had to go to dinner.