My Beautiful Liar

Chapter 9 Under Her Spell

HIM

I miss her. It has been a couple of weeks since I've seen Cassie at Alecx's engagement party.  I've been going to the office lounge every afternoon hoping to catch her, but still, there's no Cassie.  She's a very busy woman.  Who would not be?  Being the new CEO of a company is a taxing job.  How I wish I could even catch a glimpse of her beautiful face.  I have never thought I could be a masochist.  Even though I'm fully aware that I couldn't have her, just seeing her for a short time will make me happy.

"Hey Chief!  Lia is already in the boardroom.  She's getting ready with our presentation. We better head there right now."  Mike suddenly cut me off from my deep thoughts.

It's our luncheon meeting. All the departments of the company usually gather at the end of the quarter for a big meeting.  It's a big huddle.  We pitch creative ideas for new designs and products of the company.  We also get updates on our sales, financial status and performance of the company.

As soon as we entered the boardroom, I held my breath as I saw her.  She's sitting at the head of the large mahogany table.  She looked absorbed at her laptop.  Her expression is so cute with her wrinkled forehead and pouty lips while she's seriously typing on her keyboard.  I would never get tired of staring at her.  I just realized how much I've missed her. 

Sitting beside her is a familiar face that I know I've seen before.  She glanced at me and Mike as soon as we entered the room and she smiled at me.  She stood up and approached me while Cassie was still oblivious of my presence.

"Hi Mr. Rivera!  Do you remember me?  I'm Brie, one of your students before!"  She said excitedly.

"Oh, yes! Of course, I do remember you, Brie!  How are you?  By the way, just call me Paul."

"Not Matthew? Isn't it you're Mr. Matthew Rivera?  I will never forget you; seldom did we have good looking professors in the university back then."  She said teasingly.

"I only use my second name when I introduce myself to my students.  I really go by with Paul."  I replied while smiling.

"So, you don't teach anymore?  You're a great professor. I love being in your class even though you were just a substitute, then."

"I would still love to teach but work was very demanding these past few months, so I lay low. Maybe soon. I'm not closing my doors on academics."

"Good to know.  They need your caliber in the university.  We won't be where we are right now without great teachers like you." She replied sincerely.

Suddenly, we saw Cassie stood up and looked at us.  She has a serious expression on her face and motioned for Brie to come over.  She didn't even manage to smile.  Brie politely excused herself and went back beside Cassie.  I wonder what Brie is doing here in our meeting.  I went towards Lia who was busy with her power point presentation and sat beside her. 

She's still mad at me for telling Cassie she's my fiancée.  To make it up to her, I agreed to be her "slave" for the past week and do errands for her.  I hope she'll forgive me by now.

"Hey, Master! I already got your car oil change.  It's already in the green parking spot near my bike.  You owe me, okay?" I said to her.

She rolled her eyes at me.  "Excuse me! That should be free after what you did.  I'm not going to pay you.  By the way, you do the presentation.  I didn't know our boss would be here.  I'm nervous in front of her.  I don't want to do it."

"Why? Don't you want her to see how brilliant my fiancée is?"  I teased her.  She gave me a death glare and slapped me on my arm. That hurts! I suddenly saw Cassie looked at us with a blank expression on her face, then went back to talk with Brie.