Entangled (Phoenix 1)

CHAPTER 16

Justin woke around eight o'clock in the morning. He was worn out the previous night but managed to sleep through the entire night. After his inevitable talk with his Grams, he decided to check on Fiona, hoping to catch her awake, but unfortunately, she was fast asleep, so he went back to sleep.

Even though the talk he had with his grandmother was not pleasant, he knew that he couldn't have avoided it for long. So when his Grams called, instead of disconnecting like he usually does, he picked up. A lot of unpleasant things were said on his side, and as usual, his grandmother was trying to justify her stand.

In the end, he finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

In the morning, he was making coffee for himself, and he was trying to get a glimpse of Fiona every few minutes. Much to his dismay, there was no trace of her, and he realized this when he was ready to go to work. He called her name, but there was no response from her end, so he tried his luck by going to her room, but the bed was vacant. Therefore, he assumed that she had already left for work.

He was disappointed as he thought that they had made some progress, but he did not want to overthink about Fiona not greeting him in the morning.

When he arrived at the office, he was greeted by his employees. He went to his cabin and started with his daily work. He was feeling odd, like something was missing.

'Maybe because I have not seen Fiona yet,' he thought.

It was almost lunch time when Justin shut his laptop. He was feeling highly aggravated.

"What's wrong, dude?" James asked him when he saw his best friend ruffling his hair in annoyance.

Justin and James were both working in the same cabin as Emily had to leave for a family gathering, and James was too bored to work alone.

"I don't know. Something doesn't feel right..." He told James honestly.

"Is Fiona okay?" James asked him.

"She should be. I don't know. I haven't seen her since last night." Justin stated.

"Some marriage you two have. Call her and ask her to join us for lunch. As it is, Emily isn't here today, so she might as well sit with us. It will be fun." James suggested.

"I am not sure. I don't want her to feel awkward. I know we are kind of talking now, but things are still delicate between us." Justin explained.

"Dude, stop overthinking. I am calling her." James took the landline of the room and dialed Fiona's extension.

But no one answered.

"What happened?" Justin asked when he saw a frown on James' face.

"No one picked up. I will try her cell phone." But her phone was switched off.

James was deep in thought for a minute when he finally asked Justin, "Did something happen between you two?"

Justin was confused. "No, nothing happened. Why?"

"Her phone is turned off."

"She might have forgotten to switch on the plug again." He rolled his eyes but was a bit worried. "Try and call Adrian. Maybe those two might have gone out to meet Mr. Shanghai or some other client." James acknowledged with a nod.

When Adrian picked up, James kept the phone on the loudspeaker.

"Hey James, what's up?" Adrian greeted. However, he sounded tired.

"Hey, where are you and Fiona? I have tried your extension, but no one is picking up." James tried to investigate as subtly as he possibly could.

"I have got a cold, so I decided to work from home today, and whereas as Fiona is concerned, she will also be working from home for a few days."

This made both James and Justin look at each other with a confused look in their eyes. Justin's expression was enough to know that he wasn't aware.

"Fiona is working from home?" James confirmed what he had heard by repeating Adrian's words.

"Yes, she called me in the morning to tell me that she would be unable to come to the office for a few days because of a personal emergency but that she would be working from home. She has even mailed and informed the HR." Adrian explained.

"Did she say what kind of emergency it is?" James tried to inquire further.

"No, man. I wasn't feeling well myself, so I didn't press. I asked her if she was fine, and she said that she was okay. I think you should ask Justin. He must be aware." Adrian stated the obvious.

With goodbye, they cut the phone.

"Personal Emergency? Justin...." James had a warning tone.

"Dude, I swear I don't know anything about it." Justin raised his hand in surrender.

He was as perplexed as James, if not more so.

"Let me give Emily a ring and check if she is with her." Before Justin could tap on her number, James interrupted.

"It is pointless. You do remember what happened last time, don't you?"

He did remember, but he could not hold that against her because it did help to break the ice between Justin and Fiona.

"I do. Let's go to her apartment. I am confident that we will find Fiona there, or if not, she might be at Mason's." Justin stated.

After that, they both headed to Emily's house. Twice in the span of a week. Justin hoped this was not a recurring occurrence with Fiona, and if it was, he needed to talk sense into her for constantly worrying him.