Love Hates Me

YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN IN LOVE

CHAPTER TWO.

I entered my office and was greeted by Ken. He handed me a cup of cold coffee and we started walking towards the elevator. “Ken, tell me something about the author we are about to meet.” He nodded, the elevator came and we entered. He pressed the floor where the meeting was supposed to be held. “Mr. Antonio, the author we are about to meet, was your mother’s favourite. Mrs. Brown really enjoyed his books, she always used to tell us that Antonio has a magical mind and he always has some different kind of twist in his books, which the readers would never understand till the very end. Although, he has written science-fiction, thriller and many other genres, Mrs. Brown was particularly fond of his rom-coms.” I nodded, walking out of the elevator and towards the conference room.

I took my seat, kept the coffee on the table and my handbag on the chair next to me. I gave a small smile to everyone present there, no idea who the author was among them. I haven’t seen this person ever, I have heard about him but this is the first time I’ll directly be dealing with him.

The copy of the draft was handed out to everyone, I was going through the draft when I heard the door opening and the footsteps of someone entering. I looked up and there was a guy standing near the door, with a cup of coffee in his hands. He removed his sunglasses from his face and tucked it in his blue denim shirt. He looked really familiar. He was staring at me with confusion and then he gave me a small smile.

Wait, that is Cedric, from yesterday. Evan’s cousin, Cedric. What is he doing here?

I ignored all the questions I had in my mind and looked at him directly in the eyes. “You’re late.” I told him. He looked at his watch and then back at me, “But it’s just 8:02” He told me. I raised my eyebrows. The meeting was at 8.

“Yes, you are two minutes late.” I said, giving him an intimidating look.

“I’m sorry, I guess?” He said, not at all feeling sorry. He walked towards me, picked my handbag from the chair next to me and stood there holding my handbag. I took my handbag from him, hung it on the armrest of my chair and started going through the draft again. I heard a continuous clicking of a pen and I looked sideways. Cedric was restlessly sitting on the chair, using his phone with one hand and fidgeting with the pen from the other hand.

I took a deep breath. “I feel like the female lead needs improvement.” I said. Cedric looked up from his phone and made eye contact with me, he bit the inside of his cheek and kept the phone on the table. I looked around and everyone’s attention on the table was on me.

“Improvement, as in?” Rose asked. I have met Rose before, she was Antonio’s agent and was one of the smartest and sweetest person I’ve ever met. I gave her a small smile, which she returned. “It’s a bit dramatic. Like the girl, in the first few chapters, was so passionate about her career and all. But after she met the guy she started ignoring all the things she wanted and she cared only about his happiness. Isn’t this way too cheesy. Like who does that? I know it’s fiction but it should still have some sense, right.”

“You have never been in love.” Cedric asked, oh no, he clearly stated that. I looked at him and he straightened up. I was waiting for him to elaborate on that statement but he was maintaining eye contact with me and didn’t say a word. “Excuse me?” I said, still maintaining the eye contact. “Me being in love or not doesn’t actually make a difference-“

“You have no idea what love makes you do.” He chuckled. He fucking cut me off. He interrupted while I was speaking, where are his etiquettes? He’s very annoying. I cleared my throat and said, “I feel like you have seen a lot of Romantic movies back to back. What was the last movie you watched?” He was about to say something when I spoke up. “Nevermind I’m not even interested.” I said, trying to be patient. “And why are you even here, who are you, the author?”