A Hate To Love

f i f t e e n

"Mistakes are the usual bridge between experience and wisdom." - Phyllis Theroux

•••

Tane

I don't know why but I couldn't keep Blaire out of my mind. I don't even know why I had decided to sponsor their practice. It's probably guilt.

"You know your mood has been very sour ever since you knew that Blaire moved to London. Which I understand, you won'g see her as much anymore. What a pity," I heard Lewis say from the couch in my office. He just wouldn't stop talking about her.

"That's enough," I screamed. I didn't mean to raise my voice at him but I couldn't help it. He has been playing with my nerves these past couple days and I was starting to lose my patience with him. "Leave me alone, Lewis. You have work to do anyway. I'm not paying for you to sit on your ass."

Lewis stood up and walked towards the door. Once at the door, he turned around. "I know you like her man so do something about it before it's too late." He was out of the door before I could say something.

I'm not capable of liking a girl and especially not Blaire. We would never last anyway. But what if I did end up dating her? The thought of us dating gave me a mind of peace. No, I need to forget about her.

Good luck doing when you're sponsoring her practice.

I let out a breath. Even my mind is testing me.

I blocked other thoughts away and focused on my work. Today would be a long day.

-

Blaire

I couldn't stop overthinking the situation of Tane sponsoring us. Why would he do such thing? I thought we finally had our closure so we wouldn't have to see each other again. I wish my mind had an off button so I could focus on my task.

Emily and I were currently decorating our practice. These would be our final touches. We had everything ready and set up.

"I can't believe we're finally done with everything," Emily said. "I'm thankful that we met each other and that we get to do this together."

She threw her arms around before I could say anything return. We held onto each other for a few seconds. Emily then whispered a thank you in my ear and we let go of each other.

"This will be our journey together and I know that we'll do great," I said while looking around our building. Who knew I would own my own practice with an amazing friend by my side.

My awestruck thoughts were interrupted by the ringtone of Claire's phone.

"Oh it's mr Eaton. Hold on, let me put it on speaker," Claire said while picking up. "Good afternoon, mr Eaton."

"Good afternoon, ms Winter. I just called to ask how things are going so far?" Hearing Tane's voice stirred certain emotions within me.

"We've just actually finished everything we had to do. If you would like, you could come by to see it all." I gave Claire a look which she understood. "I mean if you have time, mr Eaton." I gave her a nod.

"Alright. I'll come by later on around 4. Till then ms Winter and ms Marston." With that he hung up.

How did he know I was here? But the thought of it warmed my heart, he knew. I tried to look as neutral since Emily didn't know about us having a bad history.

"Shall we order some food and while we're waiting for it to arrive, we'll just clean the place a bit?" I asked while grabbing my phone and opening the postmates app, not really giving Emily a choice. We both decided to go with a large pizza to share.

While eating the pizza, I was preparing myself on how to react towards Tane by making conversations up in my mind. Would he act like he doesn't know me? The thought of him acting like I was a stranger to him made my heart clench. I should be happy if he did do that.

"Blaire are you alright? You've been in a daze since ever our conversation with mr Eaton. You don't have to worry about anything. We'll be alright. The worst he could do is not sponsor us but even then we could find someone else," Emily said in a reassuring voice. If she only knew what the man was capable of. He could shut our practice down by a blink of an eye. I need to stop working myself up.

"It's nothing. I'm probably nervous to meet such an influential businessman," I said in a neutral tone. To avoid further questions, I stood. "Are you finished with your pizza so I can throw the box away?" Emily nodded and handed me her empty pizzabox.

Just as I returned, mr Eaton stepped into our practice. I immediately felt myself weaken. Please don't let him ruin anything for us.

"Good afternoon, ms Winter and ms Marston." He greeted as he gave as a nod. "So far everything looks good. Could one of you give me a tour so the other can grab all the investment put into this all?"

"Of course, I'll go grab the papers and Blaire will show you around," Emily said as she walked towards our office. I know she doesn't know about my problem with Tane but why would she do this? I could've grabbed the papers.

"Shall we, ms Marston?" Tane asked as he gave me a charming smile. I just gave a nod. It felt like I couldn't breathe as he stood next to me.

The faster I do this, the faster I'll be away from him so I gave him a quick tour. I could feel his eyes on me throughout the door but I was too nervous to make eyecontact.

"I hope everything looks fine, mr Eaton," I said as I turned around to finally look at him. His eyes were already set on me. For a moment I forget where we were. Tane's beauty was mesmerizing. I was so deep into my thoughts that I forgot that I was staring at Tane. So when I was out of my trance, I saw a smirk on his face.

"Everything seems fine," he said. Just as he was about to say something else, Emily returned. Thank you, God.

"Here are the investment papers, mr Eaton." Emily said in her usual cheery tone but I could hint the nervousness in her voice.

For a few minutes it was quiet except for the sound of pages turning.

"Well all looks good but make sure that you keep up with all your data and I'd like to see a summary of everything you've done each every 3 months," Tane said while he handed the papers back to Emily. Emily and I both just nodded and then Emily returned back to our office.

Once again I was left alone with Tane. There was this some kind of tension between us. I bit into my lips. Why won't he just leave?

"Blaire, how about we start new? I'll take you to dinner so we can get to know each other." Tane asked. Did he really think I would make the same mistake twice?

Or should I risk it?

•••

I just noticed that I called the co-worker of Blaire Claire.. Their names rhyme which I don't 100% like. So I changed Claire to Emily.

Have a nice day.

Don't forget to have you time. Even if you're busy.