Chapter 9

• As I struggled to find my words, Cassy took my silence as affirmation, "My mother had told me that you never had a partner because you never found someone that you liked enough. You had always sounded so lonely in her stories that I found myself becoming curious, which was why I wanted to go on the date with you in the first place. But after tonight, I can see that you obviously already in love with someone. It was nothing like the emotionless, cold stare that I had originally expected. Instead, your eyes seemed like they were yearning for something else, someone else." She paused for a moment and continued, "I guess what I wanted to ask was why are you here with me right now when you already have someone?"
• I clenched my jaws while diverting my eyes, feeling ashamed for making her feel like that. To be honest, I wasn't expecting her to tell me all that.
• Did I really seem like a man who was in love? I, myself, wasn't even 100% sure of my feelings yet.
• I chuckled sadly at the thought of Ms. Belcalis. "She... She would never feel the same about me."
• Cassy's eye rounded in surprise. "But you're Rafael Achilles Cordova."
• Remembering how sweetly she professed her love to another man and the taunting ring on her finger, I mumbled, "Sometimes that doesn't matter. She already has someone else in her life." I sighed heavily and gave her a despondent smile, "It's just something I need to get over. Hopefully, these worthless feelings of mine will fade with time."
• "They're not worthless. You can't control your feelings. They are a part of you, so you shouldn't beat yourself up over it."
• Cassy looked so confident at the moment, so radiant that I wondered why I couldn't just forget about my feelings and focus on her instead.
• When she noticed my silent stare, she immediately blushed and nervously waved her hands, "Ah, I mean, I'm not trying to tell you what to do or what not, but I just think that you should be a little more accepting of yourself, you know? Oh my god, what am I saying? I didn't mean to be rude, Mr. Cordova. I just got caught—"
• I held my hand up, effectively silencing her rant mid-sentence. "It's alright." Lowering my hand, I gave her a warm smile. "I know that you were just trying to make me feel better, so don't worry about it. If anything, I really do appreciate it."
• She nodded mutely with wide eyes.
• "I think you are an amazing girl, and I'm actually kind of surprised you don't already have a boyfriend. But, my feelings are too much of a mess right now for me to give you any proper answers. I hope you can understand."
• Her cheeks turned a light pink color. "I-I understand. I won't rush you, but do you think we could at least stay friends?"
• Surprised by her response, I nodded quietly.
• She instantly brightened up at my answer. "Then, I'll see you again?"
• I nodded again.
• She grinned at my answer and suddenly hugged me, making me reflexively tense up, not expecting physical contact. She released me without any notice of my stiff body and happily waved goodbye at me as she walked off to her car.
• I numbly watched as she stepped into her car and drove off.
• My heart was beating a mile a minute, and I couldn't tell if it was due to the unexpected hug or something else.
• But either way, maybe my unnecessary feelings could finally fade away with the right remedy.
• Thump.
• Thunk.
• Thump.
• Thunk.
• I slammed my fist down on my desk in complete and utter irritation from this man-child, hissing, "Don't you have your own company to run? What the hell are you doing in my office on a Tuesday morning?"
• Benedict froze mid-swing with another pen sitting loosely between his fingers. He cocked his head side, feigning innocence. "But I'm visiting my friend?"
• I frustratingly rubbed my circles against my temple, grumbling, "I need more coffee."
• Thump.
• Unable to withstand his nonsense any longer, I abruptly stood up from my seat and stormed out of my own office, slamming the door behind me. I strode straight down the corridor toward the micro kitchen, exuding such a dark aura that all my employees immediately turned away in hopes of avoiding my wrath.
• As I took a sharp turn into the micro kitchen, I faltered in my step when I saw the back of a familiar light-colored brunette standing next to the coffee machine. The anger simmering in my body instantly calmed down.
• Ms. Belcalis turned around to look at me with a surprised expression. "D-Did you need something, Mr. Cordova?"
• I shook my head as I walked closer to her, trying to ignore how she side-stepped me to keep some distance between us. "Just needed some coffee."
• Before I could open the cabinet to rummage through our several bags of coffee beans, a steaming cup of coffee was pushed in front of my face, taking me by surprise. I glanced down at the coffee in confusion and then at Ms. Belcalis, who had pink-tinted cheeks as she held out the cup to me.
• "Y-you can have it. I l-I didn't d-drink from it yet."
• I hesitantly accepted the cup. "Thank you, but didn't you get this for yourself?"
• "I-It's alright. You're m-much busier than me. I-I can always make m-myself another cup." She lowered her eyes as she fiddled with her fingers behind her back.
• I nodded appreciatively. Deciding that I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable any longer, I quietly excused myself and quickly made my way out of the kitchen.
• I mindlessly sipped at the familiarly aromatic coffee as I made my way back to my office. Even after my night with Rose, a perfectly nice girl, I still couldn't ignore how my chest fluttered at the mere sight of Ms. Belcalis.
• I sighed as I opened the door back into my office. When I glanced around my office, I frowned in confusion at the sight of a missing body on my spare chair, the seat Benedict had originally been sitting on. Did he leave already?
• My question was immediately answered when I heard a loud thud from behind my desk and a high-pitched howl in pain.
• Shaking my head, I closed the door behind me and made my way behind my desk, only to find my man-child of a friend who was sitting on the floor and rubbing the back of his head in pain. He had yanked open all of my drawers and had piles of my once organized piles of paperwork scattered messily around him.
• I clenched my fist, trying not to blow up at him. I lowly bit out, gritting my teeth, "What are you doing?"
• He perked up at the sound of my voice and looked up at me with bright eyes, almost like a puppy, when his owners finally came up. Ignoring my question, he cheerily commented, "Your coffee smells so good. No wonder you were gone for so long."
• I rolled my eyes at his obvious change in topic and grunted, "Get up and put my shit back into its place."
• "No, no, no!" He scrambled around on the ground and held his arms protectively out in front of my desk and its haphazardly drawn-out drawers. "I needed to talk to you first."
• With plummeting levels of patience, I snapped, "About what?"
• "About your date, of course!"
• I eyed him incredulously. "Why do you need to know? Nothing interesting in particular happened."
• He exaggeratedly gasped, feigning the feeling of offense. "What do you mean nothing happened? How could you lie to me?"
• "What on earth of your talking about? I'm not lying. Nothing happened. It was just dinner."
• He rummaged through my drawers and yanked out a little box with a clear lid. "Then, how do you explain—"
• I immediately snatched the box out of his hands at the sight of a pair of familiar antique crystal pins and stuffed it into my pocket. Glaring at him, I snapped, "You shouldn't touch what's not yours."
• He held his hands up defensively. "Look, I didn't know you'd get so riled up over it. I just wanted to know if it was for Mellisa's daughter."
• "It's not," I mumbled as I walked across my office. I pulled out a safe from behind my bookshelf and typed in the passcode before tossing the pins inside and locking it.
• "Then who's it for?"
• I stayed silent as I walked back to my desk and leaned down to gather up the scattered pieces of paper that Benedict had messily dumped onto the floor.
• Paying no mind to my actions, Benedict continued, stroking his chin with a pretend thoughtful expression, "I know it's not your mother. Otherwise, you wouldn't have reacted like that, so I can assume it's for some special lady in your life. But I also know that your icy cold heart would not know of such things like romantic feelings, so I am..."
• His voice trailed off when he noticed how I reflexively stiffened at his last few words.
• Trying to ignore him, I straightened out my papers and started filing the important paperwork back into its appropriate files. Yet, even though I wasn't looking at him, I could practically feel his eyes burning a hole into me.
• "Are you... are you actually in love with someone, Rafael?"