No Love Greater

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

The bed in my hotel room was so comfortable I didn't want to leave it, but my alarm had come off and I knew I had ten minutes to prepare for the dinner. Mattia, the principal also informed me he was going to formerly introduce me to the team and for me to get familiar with the outgoing chief data analyst and strategist Mauro Coletto. This was the only dinner I planned to attend because of the clauses in my contract.

I chose to wear a simple shift dress that was comfy and paired it with flats while I left my hair down. My face was pretty much in its natural form except with the little lip gloss I applied and set out to leave for the dinner.

The elevator wait was beginning to make me feel uneasy but it eventually came to a stop and opened in front of me. To my surprise, Lewis and Angela were inside, but I was quick to mask whatever shock I experienced seeing him there at that time, so I carefully walked in and stood in an opposite corner. I didn't utter a single word to the both of them. We reached the ground floor and I was the first to walk out and ask for directions of the dining reserved for Ferrari staff from the receptionist who pointed me in the right direction. The relief I felt after I walked out was unexplainable for me as it seemed I was practically holding my breath inside the lift.

LEWIS POV

Angela and I had left the tenth floor and entered the elevator to the ground floor for the Mercedes team dinner. She was talking about the need to brighten my mood and try to have a bit of fun with everyone but my mind was focused on someone else. I wondered if I was going to bump into Selena and partially hoped for her to try to establish communication with me.

"Lewis, Lewis", she called out, snapping me back to reality.

I didn't even realize I wasn't listening to all what she was saying till she called my name.

"Sorry, my mind was somewhere else", I replied her.

Then the elevator stopped on the fifth floor and alas, Selena walked in. Immediately my hearts rate increased and I could feel the palpitations in my chest. She was equally surprised but quickly got in and stood on the other side of the lift while she attempted pressing the button for ground floor but realized it was already headed there.

There was silence. She didn't acknowledge my presence nor that of Angela and said nothing. She was facing the doors of the lift and didn't turn her neck once. When the elevator got to the ground floor, it stopped and opened up for us to get out but Selena was the first to exit and walked straight to the receptionist.

"She looks different", Angela said to me as we walked out of the lift and I nodded my head.

Selena looked prettier than the last time I saw her and she wasn't even wearing any form of makeup. She appeared calmer than her usual self who was always bubbly. She had changed and seemed to have matured.

"I know this is what you wanted especially for her not to talk to you, but it felt strange Lewis, she didn't even acknowledge us, it was weird", Angela said.

"We'll get used to it", I replied her even though internally I was stricken.

This is what I thought I wanted but I seemed to be having a hard time now accepting the reality. I was the one who broke up with her because she cheated on me but here I was being totally bothered about her not even saying hello. I consoled myself with the thought of Caroline arriving later and tried to push Selena out of my thoughts.

"She might have moved on or she's doing a very good job pretending", Angela spoke and then continued. "Anyway, you have equally moved on Lewis and been with multiple women since you broke up with her so I won't judge her for trying to find a new pathway for herself", she said to me.