When I found you

chapter 4

The next day when Emily walked up to her cubicle and placed down her bag, she heard hushed voices coming from her left. She saw Jenny and Sandy, who works in the office and now her close friends, huddled together looking at something on Jenny's computer.

I walked up behind them and cleared my throat trying to catch their attention.

They swirled around, eyes wide and expression like that of a deer caught in the headlight. With that kind of a reaction, my interest all but picked up.

They visibly relaxed when they saw that it was just me.

''Ohh it's just you. You scared the shit out of us. Who would want one of the boss to catch you stalking him on the internet during the office hours?'' Sandy's eyes gleamed with mischief.

Baffled, I tried to look past their shoulder on what was displayed on the computer screen. ''What are you guys talking about?''

That's when it caught my eyes. A picture of a handsome man in a charcoal coloured suit sticking his tongue down the throat of a provocatively dressed girl in blue gown.

It didn't take a genius in me to realise who the man was. Xavier Harrison! A man with whom I had spent the dreamiest five minutes of my life in the elevator.

The article was about a little make out session they had shared last night in Hawaii.

''Wow! Who wouldn't want to kiss that mouth?'' Jenny said with her dreamy eyes.

I have to leave from here...before elevator incident slips out of my mouth.

''I'm just going to the ladies room. I'll be right back.'' I half ran from there to make my escape.

As soon as I reached the ladies room, I splashed some water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror. What's wrong with me?!

How can I let five minutes spent with a stranger in an elevator affect me so much? We are two people from completely different world. In the end, it's going to be me who'll crash and burn.

I have to protect myself from him. Besides, I don't want any drama in my life. I've made up my mind on what I'm going to do now. I'm just going to forget that I ever knew Xavier Harrison in my life! I'll respect him as my boss's boss but that'll be it. Nothing more than that.

With a firm resolve on my face and shoulders squared, I walked out of the ladies room, ready to face the day at work!

~~~~¤¤~~~~¤¤~~~~

''What the hell dad?! What makes him think that we'd ever sell grandfather's place to him?''

I never expected to receive a call from my dad the minute Liam and I came back from Hawaii. Without any pleasantries exchanged, he had asked, more like ordered both of us, to come to his place right away. And we dare not disobey him when he's all business.

Upon reaching his massive bungalow, mom and aunt had ushered directly to his study. Every male memberof the family was present.

Uncle Leonard looked straight at my father. ''George, there is no way we're going to sell that house to him. That's where we grew up . A heaven on earth. Besides, every member in this family loves that place.''

It's true. Every single person from the family loves that old house. We often pack our bags and plan a getaway weekend at the house. It gives a chance to our family to mingle and have fun. We should definitely plan a trip there, probably this weekend or the next.

My father's voice shook me out of my thought. ''Ofcourse, we're not selling that house. Not now, nor in future. But I just wanted to let u know that...' he stopped abruptly, looking bothered.

Christian spoke up for the first time. ''Go on dad.''

I could see dad's troubled eyes, as if searching for the appropriate words, and I knew that next words out of his mouth wouldn't be something my family would like to hear.

''That pathetic excuse of a person has threatened us.. that we'll have to face dire consequences if we don't sell him the house. He threatened his own flesh and blood, his own brothers. I don't know to what length he's prepared to go to take the ancestral house from us but the least we can do is be careful.''