MY TOXIC TAURUS

CHAPTER 11

"Did you seriously have to drive that fast? We literally almost crashed back there."
"Come on. I already apologized and besides that car came out of nowhere so you can't possibly blame me. Also,we  didn't crash did we?"
"Goodness Cassandra Clare. You're imposible."
"Why would you call me that, you never call me by my full name."
"But it's your name right?"
"No. I'm Cassie. C-A-S..."
"Okay okay, I get it  Cassie. Can we please go in now?"
"Go ahead, I'll catch up with you later."
The place was  packed with most of the guests having arrived. Each guest had a specific reserved table and for Veronica, it was table one alongside Chris and his family. She could feel eyes on her as she walked in and she had to fight the urge to look down or take out her phone and pretend to have received a call. That would be so dumb anyway. She gripped tightly onto her clutch bag moving towards Chris who immediately got up when he saw her. He hugged her with a kiss on her cheek before pulling out a chair for her. She had a plastered smile on her face as she faced Mrs. Thompson, her husband and her personal favorite in the family, Chris' younger sister Rose whom she had not seen in a while since she had gone to college. She was without a doubt the only fun person in this family.
"Veronica dear,it's so nice that you made it. You look wonderful in that dress"
"Thank you very much Mrs. Thompson..."
"Oh please, just call me Elizabeth."
" Okay."
"Would you all please stop with the formalities. You are making this feel like it's some sort of business transaction, hi -hello-oh please call me Elizabeth..."Rose interjected, "before you bore her to death can I at least get to talk to her."
Veronica could only smile politely letting mother and daughter have their little argumentative talk, unsure of what to say with her mind constantly traveling to last night's incident.
"Hey, are you okay? You seem rather quiet today," Chris asked making her chuckle nervously thanking the gods that there was no such thing as mind reading. Heaven only knew what Chris would do if he had the chance to get into her mind especially then.
"I'm okay"
"You're sure?"
"Yeah I'm totally fine."
"I'd like to take you for dinner after this is over."
"Dinner? Won't you be tired from all this- and besides Cassie needs a ride back home."
"Don't worry, we'll use my car and Cassie can go with yours. I already told her about it."
"It's just that it's so sudden..."
"I know but it's because we've barely spent time together recently and I wanted you to have something special."
Veronica did not have a choice and yet the last thing she wanted was to be alone with Chris. All it would bring her would be guilt and confusion with her mind all over the place trying to figure out what she wanted or who she wanted between Chris and Ethan. The obvious answer would be Ethan but Chris being her boyfriend made things a bit complicated. She could not just leave him for Ethan but she also could not keep seeing Ethan if she was dating Chris. She had to make a choice. A difficult one for that matter and regardless of her intentions, she was definitely going to end up hurting someone or herself.
The event did not take too long, what did was the lunch and the interactions afterwards  where Chris had to meet anyone and everyone who was part of the company. It was all boring till one thing happened that definitely caught Veronica off guard when Chris met one of the investors of the company. It was her father, the last person she expected to meet.
"Chris Thompson officially CEO," he said having not noticed or paid attention to the meek silent figure standing beside him. She was not surprised. Her dad only took notice of 'important things' as always. Some things about him were clearly not changing anytime soon.
"Always a pleasure seeing you Henry Sanders. May I introduce to you Veronica Mares, my girlfriend."
That's when she grabbed his attention. After so long he was seeing his daughter, his prodigal daughter, and he could not think of what to tell her. She seemed unmoved by his presence and even acted like she had never seen the man before her. Was she still so angry she could not acknowledge her own father?
"Pleasure making your acquaintance Henry," she said as she held out her hand to him to formally shake his hands. Chris' phone rang and he immediately excused himself saying it was important.
"Veronica? What -what are you doing..."
"Please father. For my sake just act like you don't know me. At least infront of Chris."
"Why are you being..."
"Dad please, just do as I ask. For once just don't make this about you and do me this little favor,"she addressed him in such a cold tone and so directly. She was nothing like the loving girl she used to be before. She had changed. Her attitude towards him had changed but he failed to understand why she did not want Chris knowing who he was to her. Despite all that, he wanted to fix things with his family and he had to start by making things better with her even if it meant giving in to her demands.
"Sorry about that," Chris said getting back from his call and Veronica silently made a prayer that her father would not mention anything about her. This definitely was not the way she intended to introduce her 'dead' father to her boyfriend.
"It's okay. I was just catching up with Veronica here. I must say you have yourself a very uniquely intelligent girl."
Was that supposed to make her owe him some form of gratitude? She did not need his compliments. All she wanted was for him to leave and not act like the good supportive dad he sure as hell was not.
"Oh trust me, I am well aware of that."
"The both of you will have to excuse me though. It was really nice meeting you and congratulations Chris. No one deserves this position better than you do."
Thank heavens. For once her father actually did something he was asked to do even if it was against his will. At that moment all she wanted to do was leave even if it meant having to be with Chris. She had had more than enough surprises the past three days than she had her whole life. She was not ready for any more.
She left with Chris on a two hour flight in his private jet to the restaurant they would have their dinner at in a different city. It was already 4pm so high chances were that their dinner would be at 7pm. But it was all better than staying there. She would try to keep herself sane enough for the night. As it was, her father being on her mind was already enough distraction from Ethan.