Never Have I Ever

Thirty-Fourth Shot

Calix

"Do you know why you're all gathered here today?" I asked the ten handpicked individuals from various departments that I've assembled for a very important meeting. We're all inside the biggest conference room on the 50th floor of Wright Headquarters which is usually utilised for board meetings since it's the perfect location for confidential discussions.

I stood tall in front of them at one end of the long rectangular silver metal table where only ¼ of it is filled while they all were sitting down in their plush leather seats, five of them on each side. They all looked at me with confused expressions on their faces as they shook their heads in unison as if practised. I can't really blame them because this was all done unbeknownst to their knowledge and out of the blue.

A brown-skinned, middle-aged woman with big curly black hair wearing a loose long-sleeved orange top from the middle seat on the left raised her hand, "As far as we were told, Sir Calix, this is about a special project." She answered formally.

I nodded to her, "Correct. I put you all here together for a very special project." A project that could either potentially ruin me or make me the happiest man alive on this goddamn planet.

"Is this about a new partnership, Sir?" A lanky, white-skinned, straight male intern in a plaid shirt with his brown hair gelled smoothly with a side part wearing round clear glasses who was seated next to the woman who just spoke, asked as he raised his right hand.

I shook my head to his assumption, "It's a kind of partnership, yes, but nothing business. This is purely personal." They all glanced at each other, appearing more muddled with questions. I understand that it'd be difficult to process what I'm saying but I nodded to Theo who was standing beside Saint who was the last person seated on the right side of the table.

Although my secretary was against this at first, he didn't have any choice or else, he'll see himself out of this room in an instant. He'd rather eat his pride than lose the opportunity to spend more time with my new driver/bodyguard. Or that's how I can see it from my perspective.

"To better explain, Theo will be giving out different iPads where all the details are in one file." He started giving it out to each one of them where there was a complete Keynote presentation expounding on what I'm going to do and where they come in.

"Read through it first and tell me if you have any questions," I ordered then sat on my leather throne to check my phone. Karina just texted me that her first class of the day was finished and she was off to have lunch with BJ and Mei.

Although I would have wanted her to eat with me, I didn't want to take away her time with her friends. Or is it our friends now? Creating boundaries is an essential element to forming a healthy relationship or so I've been told by my therapist so I must compromise for that part.

Besides, Karina and I promised to eat breakfast and dinner together every day–not only ones where I make up excuses for it–so it was easy for me to wave the little flag for that lunchtime with her peers. We also easily eased back to our routine since we made up two days ago and I've been relishing every second of it.

Sometimes, it makes me think if I am allowed to be this happy but maybe it's a form of redemption from the heavens for more than two decades of misery.

"Oh god, I love you." When I said those words to her, I knew I fucked it all up but in retrospect, it was a liberating experience to let it out. Now, I don't have to hide how much I yearn for her. She needed to know sooner or later anyway so it was still a good call. But I do wish I could have handled it better.

Although I avoided her initially because of my panic, Saint also suggested that making Karina 'miss' me would help in the progress of our relationship. Even if I held the short end of the stick on that one, I went along with it but I was only planning to see it through for a week.