"Vanessa?" Rey muttered under his breath, recognizing the tall feminine figure.
Sparkling red dress. Lush blonde hair...falling in curly waves down her back. It was unmistakably her. It had been seven years, but she hadn't changed a bit. Seven good years since they last spoke, yet her voice still was a familiar sound in his ears, and he still remembered the alluring sensation of her fragrance as she stepped closer.
"How've you been?" Vanessa asked, with a sad smile as her gaze traveled towards Mia, sitting on the other side of the table and back to Rey.
"It's none of your business," he said clenching his jaw, trying to avoid the overwhelming emotions boiling almost to the surface of his face.
"Won't you try to be nice at least? We haven't spoken in so long, Rey," she said, tilting her head and furrowing her brows.
The space was slowly filling up with building tension as Mia kept searching her mind in confusion.
"Sorry to interrupt, I need to use the bathroom," Mia said, pulling back her seat and standing up a little skeptical if that was the right moment to do that. She felt the need to give them some privacy although she didn't know who exactly Vanessa was.
"I thought you'd never move on, but it seems you already did," Vanessa said, smirking, watching Mia walk towards a waiter to ask for directions as her heels clicked away.
"Did you think you'd just walk back into my life after seven years?" Rey chuckled and continued.
"You must be pretty delusional if you did."
"Who gives a fuck about your damn life? Just wanted to say 'hi' to my ex. Was that a silly thing to do?" Vanessa's brows shot up.
"You still visit McGelato? Probably hoping you'd meet me somehow. Rey said, his eyes never leaving hers.
"Excuse me?" Vanessa paused, sighing simultaneously, "Why would you do that?"
"Our favorite place, remember? Do you still come here whenever memories of us haunt you?" His voice cracked, barely above a whisper, as he raked his hands through his hair, struggling to conceal the turmoil brewing beneath his composed facade.
"Wait, give me a break. What are you talking about, Reynold Davies? Haven't you still gotten over me?" Vanessa said, spreading her lips in a dry and mirthless laugh that disappeared almost immediately.
"You must be insane to think I'd still be pinning over you," she narrowed her gaze, moving closer to him, as her voice lowered into a whisper, "We are in the past, Young Davies."
"The "we" you still live off its reminiscences, died seven years ago. So, please, put your shit together," She spat her words in his face, her gaze slicing through him coldly, before walking away, and for the first time since they broke up, he felt everything within him weeping, except his eyes.
***
Mia paced back and forth in the bathroom, her mind racing with thoughts, as the steady humming of the air conditioner seemed to brew the air hotter as she pondered the identity of the blonde head. Under the fluorescent lights' glow, she stared at her reflection in the mirror with conflicting emotions and overwhelming thoughts.
She wondered why the sight of that lady—Vanessa, the name she remembered him muttering—disturbed her. She felt like a pawn under his thumb, an object he could play with and get rid of the next minute. Then it flashed before her eyes how shallow their contracted relationship was, and how delusional she had been to be blinded by a lie.
"I think I should go out now," she muttered to herself.
"But what if they are in a heated argument? No, that would be such bad timing," she said, rolling her eyes as she sighed.
"What exactly should I do?" She wondered, rubbing her forehead, trying to calm herself down.
After a few more minutes of indecisiveness, she took the lion by its tail, stepped out of the restroom, and walked towards where Rey was sitting, slumped down like a fallen rose.
"Mr. Davies," she called him, growing concerned as her pace quickened but he didn't bulge.
"Mr. Davies, are you okay?" she asked, resisting the urge to touch his shoulder when she was now beside him. He rose his head slowly, his eyes with a flicker of sadness, but he still had his composed facade.
"I'm fine," he said, straightening up almost immediately, feigning a smile, and Mia wondered if the sadness she saw flash through his eyes was imagined or if he was just able to tuck it in so perfectly.
Rey stood up and walked past Mia, who followed suit and headed toward the counter to pay for the food while her eyes scanned the room for the blonde head who seemed to have disappeared in her absence. It was dark when they got out of the restaurant. The sky glowed in a dull blue, softening Rey's facial features but his eyes look a little sadder in this light.
As they walked towards the garage, his steps were slow and heavy, and Mia could see that something had gone wrong when she left him with the blonde.
"Why?" She heard Rey ask, his voice low and weak, as he stopped in his tracks.
"Pardon?"
"Why did you leave?" His question became less vague as he turned slowly towards her, his eyes softening into her gaze.
"Why didn't you stay?" he asked, the cold evening air sending shivers down her spine as she searched for words to respond to his question, but they seemed to burst into thin air each time her lips parted.
"Why couldn't you fight back or say something?" His voice grew a little louder, his eyes seemingly dark in the twilight.
"I—uh, I don't think I have the right to," she blinked a teardrop away.
"I shouldn't interfere with your private life. I don't think it was part of the contract," she continued, as her breath grew warmer.
"You should have said something. We are business partners, Mia." He said, running his hands through his hair, with his other hand on his waist.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot...thanks for the reminder, Mr. Reynold Davies.
"We were having an official meeting. Do you think it is proper for anyone to interrupt a business meeting?" he asked, his eyes locked in hers.
"Maybe, I don't know," she shrugged.
"She could have been someone important to you, maybe your close friends or acquaintances, or even a lady from your office. I can't just go around ordering her not to speak to you."
"It doesn't mean you'd have to order her around, Mia."
"But, that's what it seems like."
"But, that's not what it is."
"Well, I'm sorry, Sir, If my conduct didn't suit what you may have wanted," her voice quivered.
He didn't respond, as his eyes held hers for a moment. He just turned away from her, his hands swaying by his side.
She worked in slow steps, trailing his footsteps till they got to the garage.
"I'd send my driver to get you home. I need to be somewhere right now," he said, with his back to her eyes, as she watched him disappear into the driver's seat.