We, a family?

Chapter 2

I blatantly stare at the man speaking. He is tall, has light brown hair, mesmerizingly blue eyes, a great set of muscles and judging by his suit and shoes I'd say he is filthy rich. I doubt I know anyone with that much money and class. I mean my family wasn't poor, nor were my friends. But there's a difference between well off and filthy rich. For instance, I can always go and buy a ridiculously over priced latte from the corner café if I feel like it, but he seems like he could buy a coffee shop a day if he wanted to.

He keeps on talking and instead of his deathly handsome appearance I concentrate on his voice. He keeps going over last week's KPIs and I can't seem to shake off the feeling that I know him. His voice is rough, but he talks in a hushed voice. As if he knows that people take him seriously enough and fear him even if doesn't raise his voice. Listening to him makes me shiver and I repeat one phrase over and over in my mind: "I know that voice, I know that voice,"..

And when it hits, it truly hits. I intake a sharp breath as I realize who the person in front of me is. I've heard that voice millions of times in my sleep, telling me to take his cock like a good girl and praising me as I do. That man standing in front of me is Mikael's dad, and he is our new CEO. At this point I'm pretty sure I look like a deer caught in the headlights. My head spins and I use all my willpower to stay put and silent. In reality all I wanna do is run the fuck out of here and never come back. Or maybe first fuck him, and then run. Because if my drunken memory serves me right, he was good. And I mean REALLY good.

At the end of the meeting, when everyone is already gathering their belongings, he coughs again over the quiet murmurs to let everyone know of my return from maternity leave. He barely even glances at me when welcoming me back and I'm quite confident he has no clue who I am. I sigh in relief as I rush out of the door and towards my desk. To my colleagues who try to welcome me back I must seem like a bitch, as I don't even stop and acknowledge them. But my mind is running and I just need to sit down and be alone.

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After lunch I feel a bit better. Though I still cannot shake the anxiety of realizing who our  new CEO is. That night he introduced himself as Matt, which I now know is quite far away from the truth. His real name is Nikolas Hunt, or Niko as everyone apparently calls him. But to be honest I cannot really judge him for giving me a fake name, as he still thinks he slept with someone named Emma. So at least we are even.

To my colleagues I must seem rude as I sprinted out to eat by myself when lunch time approached and avoided everyone like the plague. I felt like a creeper as I was trying to walk so quietly around the office that no one could spot me. And every time someone even remotely seemed like they might approach me, I set my eyes on the floor and ran back to my desk.

At least Niko didn't come out of his office at all. If he would have, I might have crawled under my desk to hide. After lunch I saw an email from him and for a while I just stared at it blankly, too afraid to even open it. Pep talking myself into opening it, I scanned it quickly and felt releaf flood over me as it was strictly professional and only listed things that I should take to my to do list. After releaf came heavy annoyance as the first thing on the to do list was the same project I had worked on before going to my maternity leave. How is it even possible that I've been away for a year and literally no one has done anything to progress any of the projects I left. I become even more annoyed as I go over the project and remember how horrible the whole thing was. For the millionth time today, I just want to run home and not come back.

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On my way home I receive a message from my mom, saying that everything was going smoothly with Mikael. I was so grateful at my family for all the help they have provided me since I told them I was pregnant. Both my mom and my sister were competing to spend time with him and he was really fond of them too. They had both promised to help me with the pick ups from daycare, as I knew that most of the days it would be nearly impossible for me to get there on time, as they already close at 5 pm. I smile at the picture my mom sent of her and my little boy and I cannot wait to get back home and hug him.

After I get home my mom leaves and I finally get some alone time with Mikael. He clings on to me and I just breath him in. And for the first time after getting to work I'm not obsessively thinking about Nikolas.

As I'm ready to get up from the floor, I hear someone ringing the door bell and then the lock turning. I smile as I realize that Vanessa is here as she is the only one besides my family who has the keys to my apartment. We've been best friends since first grade and she has been one of my only friends that stuck through my pregnancy and the baby year. It feels like everyone else has just vanished from my life, but to be honest, I'm not sure I even mind.

"How nice of you to ring the bell before entering", I grin as I go in to hug her. The hug is only one sided as Mikael is still clinging to me like his life depended on it. And maybe it did, I had after all abandoned him for the whole day. She quickly smiles at me before ignoring me and going straight into hugging Mikael. Mikael grabs her long curly hair and twists it around his tiny fingers.

"I thought that maybe we could order some food and I even have some wine for us if you're interested", I say winking as she steals Mikael away from me. The traitor he is, the kid doesn't even mind. He just pushes his head against Vanessa's shoulder and seems content, still holding onto her hair. She nods, "Well, I'm always down for some wine, so let's do this."

When the food arrives we hurry to set up the table and while Vanessa sets Mikael to his chair, I go and fetch us some wine glasses. I put some of the food to Mikael's plate and the kid starts eating it up before I'm even fully done. He is a fast eater, even if he doesn't yet understand the concept of forks and spoons. Eating with his hands doesn't slow him at all and he gobbles the food as if he is starving. We smile at him and I give the kid some credit, he definitely is his mom's son.

Over Chinese and some cheap Italian wine, I tell Vanessa everything about today. She just stares at me in disbelief until swallowing and finally opening her mouth, "Oh wow, what a first day, huh. But are you entirely sure he doesn't remember you?" I think over it before answering. "Nah, he didn't even look at me. And I'm pretty sure he was just as drunk as I was back then. And I definitely wouldn't have remembered him if it wasn't for his voice."

The conversation quickly steers away from Niko and we keep it light, because even though Mikael doesn't speak yet, and at times I wonder if he understands a word I say, I truly don't want his first words to be about my lacking sex life or the drunken state I was in when we did it with his dad.

After dinner I bathe Mikael quickly, wash his teeth, and then I go and and read him a bed time story. He points at everything in the book, and I try to patiently name everything. But when he keeps on pointing at the bird without any intent on moving forward, I decide we've had enough. I hug him tightly to my chest and give him a good night's kiss before turning off the lights and returning back to my best friend.

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Hey again, and thanks if you're still reading. Would love to know your thoughts on the start 😊