In Love With Mr. Billionaire

CHAPTER 5- NEW JOB

No words were exchanged between my family and me after my short dance—that I later realized was not short at all and had gone for three consecutive songs straight. It had not felt that long while dancing, to be honest. For if I was aware of the music, I would have tried to get away from Mr Woodwords the instant the first song came to an end.

I was not sure if the momentary loss of my senses and hence the obliviousness of my surroundings was because I was too engrossed in trying to compensate for my behavior the previous evening, or it was because I was too lost in the man's words that had held no anger whatsoever. It was strange that a man in his position was not offended, for I had seen how my father reacts to the simplest of mistakes. It was even stranger how he had avoided certain subjects and deliberately brought up a few, but all that was nothing compared to his last statement.

After the dance, Mr Woodwords had walked to the other side of the room. Twice, dad had tried to start a conversation with him—once taking Lahaina along and once without her—but had failed miserably to capture his attention.

Mr Woodwords was obviously a person of importance. There was always someone wanting to exchange a few words with him. Even now, as he stood at the other end of the hall, he was talking to a group of men and women who were listening to him attentively. It could be because he was extremely busy that he had failed to acknowledge my father, but his earlier statement to me made me wonder if he was doing it deliberately. Did he not like him?

I shook my head trying to get rid of the ridiculous thought. There was not much that I knew about my father's company but the fact that Woodwords Corporations was one of the biggest investors in his company was a public affair. And there was no way Mr Woodwords would put such an enormous amount of money in my father's company if he disapproved of him.

There were certain moments where I felt him looking in my direction but the lack of courage to match his gaze deprived me of a confirmation. Dad, along with Lahaina and Juliea, was socializing with other business people. They had not said a word to me since that dance and it worried me for what was to come.

I emptied my glass of white wine when I saw dad talk to the hosts. By the looks of it, he was thanking them for the party and I made my way towards them from the little corner I had chosen to stand alone, away from the crowd. None of them seemed to notice my presence as I came to stand with them. I stayed silent and followed them out to the car.

Fortunately, Lahaina decided to go with dad and Juliea in their car and I was relieved to not have to share the vehicle with them. I was about to head to the other car where Jake, our chauffeur, was waiting with the door open, when dad spoke.

"Wait for me at home. I need to talk to you." His voice sounded like he was holding his calm by barely a thread.

There goes my relief of not sharing the car. My whole ride back home was spent dreading the talk that dad wanted to have with me. He was going to blame me for wrecking their plans. He was going to accuse me of dancing with Mr Woodwords when it had to be Lahaina in my place. And there was nothing I could say or do to make him think otherwise.

Since my luck has been on a vacation for the past few days, dad's car reached home just ahead of mine. I thanked Jake for the drive and went inside. I hadn't even entered the living room properly when I heard Juliea speak to me.

"You might want to explain what happened back there at the party," she said, coming forward to meet me midway. Her eyes were ablaze as she glared at me.

"I did nothing," I told her, looking directly into her eyes.

"You did nothing?" Lahaina screamed, standing only a few steps behind Juliea. Her shrill voice resonated around the room, threatening every ear to bleed. "You're fucking telling me you did nothing? You're such a whore, Caroline. I was supposed to be with him. He was going to agree to make more investments in our company. You ruined it all!"