Chapter 39
Oliver’s POV
Pitching her solution to the eleven seated board members came to Imela as easily as breathing. She was already used to selling excellent ideas, and she did it gracefully. I expected more hands up when she asked if anyone had any more questions, but only one had his hand up. Jake Ritchson.
He asked what the plan for revenues would be, and even though she had answered this during her presentation, she went on to explain the financial assistance that the Garcia Group would provide us in exchange for a percentage of our yearly revenue following this new, innovative direction.
Jake looked satisfied with her answer, and he said nothing else.
The meeting adjourned, with the new agenda now being the implementation of the Garcia Group’s solution. We had a lot of work on our hands, but knowing this would save us all, it wasn’t really work.
While others took their leave from the conference room, I stayed back as Imela picked up and rearranged her files and documents. It was the job of her P.A., Ingrid Mason, but Imela offered her a hand so they could finish on time.
“Is there a reason you have yet to leave, Mr. Plane?” She asked even though her head was bowed and her eyes fixed on her PA and her final task of zipping up the bag.
“I just wanted to have a few words maybe.”
She then glanced up at me with a furrowed gaze. “A talk? What for?”
I suddenly felt stuck on what to say. “I don’t know, like old times.”
“As what?” she demanded. She nodded at Ingrid as soon as she finished, and the other lady took her leave from the conference room, and we were now alone. “We were never friends, and neither do I plan on becoming one now.”
I wanted to tell her she was wrong and that we were friends, but I realised she was right; we had begun dating the first day we met. Yes, friendship was cultivated as we became a couple, but it wasn’t before.
“True, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find common ground.”
She placed her hands on the conference room table and leaned forward. This act pushed up the two full sets on her chest, and unlike the last time, I saw the skin there. I felt a chill within, testifying to the effect she still had on me.
I swallowed and pulled my gaze away from her. “We do not need common ground, Mr. Plane.”
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I groaned, frustrated with her use of any surname. She treated me like she had never known me before, and I didn’t like that I was once Oliver.” I reminded her.
She rose to her feet. “Yes, and you were once husband‘, but that is all in the past, and it is for the best that # be kept there.” If she remembered being married to me once, why did she act like I was just someone she met for the first time? The act itself was annoying.
“Cecil told me you had visited Stop.” I changed the topic.
Emotions flickered in her eyes but disappeared before I could make sense of them. “I went to pay a visit to an old friend; I didn’t know there was something wrong with being a nice person.”
“You don’t, and there isn’t.”
“I was civil in my visit and was happy to see her in one piece; did your fiancée report something different?” She raised a brow,
“She didn’t, Ela,” I called, and she glared at me. I knew I had used a name she no longer went by. “Ms. Garcia,” I corrected myself.
She walked to the door, and I spoke, making her stop, but she didn’t turn to me. “The past happens to give way to the future, you told me that.”
“I did,” she agreed
“Did that ideology of yours change?” I asked.
When she replied to my question in silence, I proceeded. “We will be working side by side in the coming months, but we won’t make it work if we can’t form a sort of friendship.”
She turned around, and there was a smile on her face. “I don’t have to be your friend to do my job, Mr. Plane. Or do you believe differently?”
She was still as stubborn as she always was with her views. It was one thing I loved about her.
“No, I think we can work and keep a strict business relationship for as long as we can make it work,” I
answered.
“Exactly what I thought. I’ll see you around, Mr. Plane.” She said and walked out of the conference room,
leaving me alone.
“Is the news real? Is Imela really back?” Nina inquired as she took her seat beside me, clutching baby Jesse. I stretched my hand out, and she handed him to me.
I nodded while playing with Jesse’s cheeks, and the baby tried to grab my hand so he could suck on it like he usually did.
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Chapter 39
Nina married Eddie McQueen three years ago. He was a multimillionaire in the fashion business, just like his father. The announcement of their wedding was the biggest shocker I got because three months before that, Nina had been dating Mycole Cruz, a young practising lawyer from Yale, and they looked to be so happy and in love. Despite Ivory’s objections, I looked forward to their marriage because she had dated Mycole for more than two years, and they were perfect for each other.
Mycole complimented Nina in many ways that I didn’t see Eddie do. When I asked her what happened, she told me not all love stories had a happy ending, and she meant my love story with Imela.
Ivory and Robb unsurprisingly supported the union and gave their blessing, but I didn’t support it. When I voiced my disapproval of Eddie, Nina told me she didn’t approve of Cecil for me either; her response shut me up. Through it, I stayed loyal to Nina. It’s been three years, and they were fine from what I could
see.
I probably misjudged Eddie; maybe the news about him in the tabloid wasn’t true after all. I was wrong to think an arrogant asshole with no respect for anyone wouldn’t know how to take care of his wife.
“Yes, two weeks ago.”
“Then why am I just hearing about it?”
“Probably because we want to keep her involvement with the Plane Enterprise a secret for as long as we can.” As I continued to play with Jesse, I struggled to keep my hand away from his mouth.
“Imela was my friend,” she said, and she handed me a sucker for Jesse.
“No, she wasn’t.” I took the sucker and pushed it into Jesse’s mouth, and the boy began to suck profusely. “You sure you don’t want to feed him?” I asked, raising a brow at Nina, who sat across from me.
“I fed him not so long ago.” She answered, “And Imela was my friend. You should have told me immediately that you saw her.”
Imela’s search might have ended six months after her disappearance, but Nina kept her search going. She searched the internet for a trace of her, but she never found it. We fell out during those times because she believed I should have done more. I reminded her Imela and I were divorced and that it wasn’t how it
worked. She didn’t care, and she never took back her words. She gave up her search three years ago,
right before her marriage to Eddie.
“I am sorry, it’s just a lot has been happening,” I didn’t even tell Cecil, and that didn’t go well. I almost added, then realised Nina looked forward to the downfall of my relationship with Cecil.
“How is she? I looked her up immediately after Dad told me. The years have been kind to her.”
My mind went back to the discussion we had earlier.
“She’s fine. She’s created a whole new world for herself, and in this world, she’s the ruler.” I replied, only
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to turn to Nina and see her giving me a knowing look. “What?”
“When you two first got married, you always had that look when you spoke about her,” she replied, smiling happily.
I rolled my eyes and said, “No, I do not; besides, I have Cecil.”
She huffed and rolled her eyes. “If you say so.”
“I do. How’s Eddie?” I asked, changing the subject.
The smile on her face died at the mention of his name. “He’s fine, and you are a buzzkill.”
I laughed. “I know, and how’s Stanley’s firm welcoming their newest associate?”
“Like hypocrites,” she bit out. “I hate them all, but if I hope to someday get to the top of the food chain, I have to adapt and work my way up.”
That’s the spirit.
We ate lunch, but Nina’s words about how I looked while talking about Imela rang in my head.
Cecil and I have moved on from our misunderstanding, and we are no longer keeping secrets from each other anymore. Well, Cecil didn’t keep secrets that I knew of, and she rarely lied. I was the one who kept secrets and remained inconsistent. I promised her to do better, though, and that was what I wanted to
keep.
There was a reason Imela was in my past, and I had to keep reminding myself of that.
