Beauty and the beast

48

Nadia's POV

Today's agenda was full and I already felt myself panicking.

I was at a hotel where I was hired to cater for a room of 200 socialites. There is a movie premiere screening happening so only the best of the best were here today.

That means a bunch of picky eaters in one setting.

To make my job even more difficult there was a menu set out so people could choose whatever they'd like to eat.

"We need to start rolling out plates people.  It's almost dinner time, " I yelled moving through the kitchen.

I helped set up the hundreds of orders in my dress and I tried not to spill anything on myself.

Once I double-checked the orders and plates they were out of the kitchen in trays.

Now is the most nerve-wracking part of catering. Waiting for feedback from the customers.

I wiped my hands on a paper towel and threw it away on my way out of the kitchen.

I decided to get myself a glass of wine from the bar instead of sitting around awkwardly.

"A glass of your best red please, " I ordered and sat down on the barstool.

"Coming right up," the bartender replied and turned to fetch the bottle.

He poured me a small amount for tasting and I smelt it before tilting the glass to my lips.

I hummed and nodded for him to fill the glass.

"Nervous?" A deep voice asked making me turn.

"Isaac?" I asked in disbelief and put my glass down on the counter.

"In the flesh. Hi Nadia," he greeted and took the stool next to mine.

"One whiskey neat," he ordered

"What are you doing here?" I asked dumbstruck.

"I could ask you the same but I just finished a delicious lamb chop and I wanted to give my compliments to the chef," he replied and leaned back in his chair.

"Thank you,"

I turned back to my wine after that.

"But to answer your question, I'm here on business. I represent the lead actress in the movie," 

"You're an acting manager?" I asked and turned to him.

I don't know much about Isaac, and this seems like a good time to learn more about him.

"Yes, I am. I have my own agency but no one really talks about it since I'm not a multibillionaire like Mateo," he chuckled almost sadly and drank from his whiskey.

I didn't know what to say so I just let him continue his rant.

"I did a lot of thinking since I last saw him and I realized why I did what I did to him,"

He glanced at me to gauge my reaction so I nodded and he continued.

"It's been hard growing up in his shadow, that's why I tried so hard to outshine him. He was always everyone's favourite. It was very clear, even though no one said it. He was quiet, naturally smart, and charming. The golden child,"  he took another sip of whiskey before continuing.

"He was even more exalted when he went off to study tech and business while I wanted to be a football player. You should've seen the look on my parents' faces when I said that I wanted to become an NFL player. That's when Mateo comes along with his admission letter. I got injured not even a full year into my contract and I was let go. It was permanent so I couldn't play after it healed. Just like that, my dream was over,"

I ordered my second glass of wine and he did with his whiskey.

"Mateo's life was going great. He was doing interviews. He got an internship and then he popped up with Zoe. Zoe was beautiful. Inside and out. I hate that I ruined her. The affair started on her second trip to our parents' house. Mateo was out on an emergency trip with work and he wasn't answering her calls. I found her crying so I comforted her and things escalated from there,"

He spoke with so much remorse that I might actually believe that he was sorry.

"We got caught when she came over as his fiancé. She wanted to end things but like the prick I was, I convinced her to do it one last time. That's when Mateo caught us. I knew that we would get caught eventually but I thought seeing the look on his face would make me feel better but it hurt like a bitch,"

I took a big swing of my wine and continued hearing the story from another perspective. 

"He broke off the engagement right there. He left the next morning and Zoe left a few hours after that. I haven't heard from them in a while until I got a call from Zoe. She was balling her eyes out and she told me she was pregnant. Obviously being the last person she was intimate with, it was mine."

"Now this happened as I was preparing to move for acting school. My parents were livid, as expected, so aborting it wasn't even an option. I manage to convince her to move in with me while I go to school and I thought that would be it. That was all the support I could offer,"

"She became sick. Always throwing up or having a fever. Low energy levels. Her vitals would randomly drop and she'd get dizzy or faint. She miscarried at like 5 months and I felt sad. In no way did I want a kid but I grew comfortable with the idea of having one and now we wouldn't. I drowned myself in my schoolwork and alcohol. That's how I coped,"

He looked ahead at the bar and took a deep swallow before continuing.

"I found Zoe one day when I came back from a party. She was on the bathroom floor. An empty bottle of pills lay next to her and she was pale. The blood coming from her nose told me all I needed to know. She was dead. The dagger to the chest was the fact that she only addressed her family and Mateo in that note. Not me. Even in her dying moments, she thought of him,"

I swallowed my gulp of wine along with the information and let him spew his emotions.

"I didn't attend her funeral. I was hungover and I missed it. Mateo didn't either. I don't know why really. After her death, I disappeared for my own sanity. Finished grad school and set my life somewhat straight again,"

"Anyways, I don't know how to apologise to him and I don't think he would accept it," he finished and I sipped my wine before replying.

"Do you want to apologise to him to make him feel better about what you did or do you want to apologise to him to make yourself feel better?"

I watched as his face morph into one of deep thought and I took that as a cue to leave him with his thoughts.

"Think about that before approaching him because I guarantee that it would get worse if you're doing it for the second reason," 

I took my clutch and walked away after that.

~~~~~~

Life update

I got a new pc since the other one shut down so that means I'm back.

Well not really.

It's exam season so I'll be uploading every second Sunday.

Thank you for 41.3k reads <3