I stood behind Hayden as my eyes scanned around the room. Suddenly, the door at the other end of the room began sliding open. My eyes immediately focused on the door, knowing full well who was supposed to walk through it.
"Ethan..." I whispered so softly that I hardly heard myself.
Hayden definitely saw him too because his hand that held mine tightened. Ethan walked in alone and the door behind him began sliding close. I could feel his eyes on us, and I started feeling extremely uncomfortable under his confident gaze. Ethan was dressed in an all-black suit as if he knew that Hayden would turn up in an all-white one.
He had a confident smile on his lips, and he seemed very much at ease.
"The rules..." Hayden hissed softly.
"Ok..." I whispered back to reassure him that I was well aware of the rules that he had set.
"Let’s go," Hayden said emotionlessly as he tugged on my hand for me to follow after him.
We walked towards the extremely long table that was positioned in the center of the room. One look at how the chairs were arranged at the table and I knew what Hayden meant about ensuring that I was at least three meters away from Ethan. The table was definitely longer than three meters and three white leather chairs were positioned strategically at the table.
One at each end and the third one next to the chair on our end of the table. The first two seats at the ends of the table were for Hayden and Ethan and that third seat was for me.
Hayden pulled out the chair for me and gestured for me to take a seat before he took the seat at our end of the table. At around the same time, Ethan took his seat. Even though Ethan was quite far away from me, I felt his presence like he was sitting next to me. I could feel his eyes on me as he observed me closely. My body froze and I was instantly scared to move.
"Relax," Hayden whispered as if he could sense my discomfort.
I thought back to those busy days when I just started teaching at the art school. Everything was quite new to me, and it was challenging. My grandmother was sick at the hospital and Hayden had disappeared from my life. I was alone and fighting hard to build a future for myself.
The smiles and encouragement from my students and the other teachers gave me so much joy and gave me the strength to continue pushing forward.
Suddenly, I wanted to know more about what was going on in the world outside. I wanted to know more about the people who were a part of my life.
I felt a cold stare and my eyes met Hayden’s when I glanced over at him. His gaze snapped me back to reality and I realized that I must have been thinking exactly the things that Ethan wanted me to think and feeling exactly how he wanted me to feel. He could do all that to me just through his words? Suddenly, I began to understand why Hayden wouldn’t let me engage in a conversation with Ethan.
What would happen if I spoke to him? Would he control my body and soul...or something?
My hands clenched together tightly on my lap as I tried to get a hold of myself. Not knowing how else to focus my mind, I began reciting the three rules that Hayden made in my head. If I followed them, I won’t be a burden to Hayden in this negotiation, right?
"You didn’t call me out here on this private island to talk about Malissa’s old life, did you?" Hayden asked.
I didn’t’ miss him stressing on the fact that what I was daydreaming about was my ’old life’. Rule number three indeed. I’ve already made my decision and I’ll remember which side that I’m on. Hesitantly, I glanced at Ethan and saw that he was smirking as if he also caught Hayden’s message.
"You’re right. Let me get straight to the point. I want a partnership between Torex and Silva," Ethan stated.
The room suddenly felt very cold, but I was sweating from the pure tension between the two men who sat so far apart at opposite ends of the table. We both knew that Ethan was probably going to talk about this. However, I had no idea how Hayden would respond.
--To be continued...