"It's you and me. Together," he says. "Us against the world."
*****
All my life, I've never trusted men. The image of them planted in my head is the figure of my abusive stepfather who has made my mother and I live in hell.
But then, an encounter w...
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The car stops in front of the hotel lobby, and I get out of it, staring at one of the best 5-star hotels in the heart of New York.
There are four of us arriving here -- Jake, Sarah, George and myself.
The LNG negotiations meetings will start tomorrow. We're going to go through an internal briefing later today in the afternoon before dealing with our potential buyers tomorrow.
The driver opens the compartment at the back of the SUV to unload our suitcases, and before I can take mine, Jake helps me.
"Let me carry it," he says.
I watch as he lifts my suitcase along with his and carries them toward the lobby. Sarah eyes me with a look of envy.
"It's okay. It's okay. I can carry mine on my own," she hums, rolling her eyes, before the bellboy does the job for her. "Thank Goodness."
George stares at us and chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief.
I can't help but feel uneasy -- my instinct tells me that both of them already know about my relationship with Jake.
It's harder to figure out when we're in the office, since Jake and I have our own workspaces separated from others', but things are more suspicious for them now that we're having a business trip together.
Jake is a natural when it comes to taking care of me, and he keeps feeding them hints with small gestures like this.
I don't know whether he realizes it or not, but it seems that he doesn't mind if anyone in the office knows about us -- we're going finish our internship period soon anyway.
After we're done with the check-in procedures and get our room keys, George tells us to have a rest for a while after the journey from the airport.
Once I step into my room, I flop myself on the big comfortable bed and huff. That's when the doorbell rings.
I approach the door and peek through the hole. It's Jake.
A smile curves on my lips as I open the door for my boyfriend to come in. I turn around and walk toward the glass window, feeling him following behind.
Staring at the beautiful view of Manhattan skyscrapers, I sigh. Jake wraps his arms around my waist, holding me close from behind before placing a kiss on my cheek.
"I miss this city," I say.
All the memories come flashing back in my mind. The good ones, and the bad ones.
The good ones are those I spent with Mom. The bad ones are those that remind me of Tuck, and of me struggling alone for a living while letting him rob the money that I'd earned myself.
"I'm going to make sure that we'll create more good memories from now on," Jake whispers in my ear, as if he can read my mind.
"Do you think that Sarah and George already know about us?" I ask, recalling Sarah's murmur and George's stare earlier, which strengthens my suspicion that they indeed already know about what's going on between me and Jake.
